After consuming a massive amount of heat and energy from Tyler’s Giant fireball spell. A little over a hundred Asure dragonflies charged at him, their auras had skyrocketed by more than two-fold and they all simultaneously used a skill.

The psychic buzz attack had almost rendered the Kobolds and Dwarves on the ground unconscious but it had little effect on Tyler and Erin. However, the buzz attack was only the beginning.

All one hundred Azure Dragonflies with increased auras gathered the excess energy on their wings and as though they were a sort of helicopter, their wings immediately halted their assault as it pulled them back and higher after getting closer to Tyler. The energy that had been transferred into their wings was once more transferred into their six claw-like legs which were then swiped at him.

•Fiery Wind Cutter•

Over six hundred razor-sharp wind blades that looked as though the air had been lit on fire shot at them with the same furious intensity as his fireball spell. The insanely wide-range attack had literally changed the temperature in the area as it descended upon the entire settlement like meteorites.

With the addition of Tyler’s energy, this was an attack capable of damaging even a demigod. It would seem these bugs did more than just eat his flames. The fact that they were able to convert most of his energy into their power and send it back at him could not be underestimated.

This meant trying to overload them with even the greatest energy would be a waste as they could just release the excess energy before any damage came to them.

While this was indeed a troublesome ability for most to deal with and may have proven to be a challenge for him to handle in the past. That was no longer the case as any projectile attacks were still useless against him.

‘Pity.’

Raising one of his gloved hands before him, a crack suddenly appeared on the palm of the glove and a creepy mouth could be seen drooling on it. The mouth immediately began to suck in everything around him and all the flaming wind blades were drawn to his location and devoured in less than a minute. Fortunately, he hadn’t even used his mana this time.

“Hmm, y’all seem to be quite proud of your ability to consume flames. Do you really think you can consume any flame? How amusing, allow me to test that theory. Eat this if you can.”

At his words, the air around him suddenly got darker as an oppressive black flames engulf his hand. The flames had an ominous aura and seemed to be absorbing the light around them. The dark flames would consume any and everything it comes in contact with, even light.

Gathering a massive ball of black flames in his right hand, Tyler launched it at the hundred or so empowered Azure Dragonflies and they once again tried to feed on it.

However, although the flames contain heat that could be devoured. The flames were the fire of absolute destruction and had no rejuvenating qualities. Unless one could consume destruction itself, consuming it was a very bad idea.

Therefore, the moment the massive Dragonflies came in contact with it, they have reduced to smithereens as the massive ball of flames continued in its wake and devoured everything in front of it.

However, while he had thought they were mostly unintelligent creatures, Tyler was surprised to see them learn from their mistake and avoid his attack after it had consumed the original hundred Azure Dragonflies.

The massive swarm of over a thousand monster flies had all simultaneously avoided his attack with perfect coordination and his flames had only claimed the lives of a hundred of them.

Tyler’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the bunch. They no longer charged at him and it seemed they wanted to retreat but also didn’t want to recklessly turn their backs on him.

‘Are the Dragonflies in this world of a hive mind? Why are they acting in such unison?’

{Andwer: A psychic wavelength has been confirmed in the area. The Azure Dragonflies seem to be connected mentally and are receiving constant mental cues and commands.}

‘Wait what? They’re having a chat in the midst of battle? Side note, didn’t dragonflies only communicate visually?’

{The signal sensed doesn’t seem to simply be for communication Master. There is a 98.5610% chance this swarm is under something’s control.}

‘Is that so. Makes sense then. A bunch of insects should not be this cautious.’

Tyler’s conversation with Uriel usually took less than a second in real-time so he wasn’t just standing around having a chat. However, the swarm of Azure Dragonflies didn’t wait for very long either.

From what Tyler could tell, they wanted to create a chance for a retreat so they sent a few Dragonflies at him from both sides as a form of distraction. Tyler sighed and was about to use a skill when several dark water bullets suddenly bombarded the incoming Dragonflies to oblivion.

“There was no needed for that you know.”

Tyler turned his head around to look at Erin who had a large black serpentine dragon floating in the air around her.

“I’m sorry Lord Ty, it just seems rude to use such tactics against you. I couldn’t help myself.”

“Well, it’s fine. Let’s just locate whoever is controlling the swarm and Ed this.”

Expanding his perception range, Tyler searched through the massive number of dragonflies in the air and noticed a cluster of them that seem to be surrounding something.

“Found it.”

•Gravity Pulse•

The moment he noticed the cluster, a dense black ball of gravity gathered in his palm and he launched it at the cluster of monsters in the air having appeared in the midst of the swarm with teleportation.

Upon impact, the fist-sized ball of dense gravity expanded then exploded in a repulsive force that shattered the cluster of Azure Dragonflies and revealed an individual within the cluster.

This was a semi-humanoid and insectoid being. The best way to describe it was a young blonde girl with short hair. Two pairs of transparent wings, a pair of insect-like legs, and a dragonfly-like tail protruding from her back.

She had four arms but the rest of her body looked human-like. However, two of her arms were broken and she seemed to be gravely wounded.

“Hm, you must be the one controlling these creatures then.”

The girl didn’t answer him. Her face looked pale and she was panting heavily. Indeed she must’ve been retreating from the Darknar forest but must’ve encountered a strong enemy along the way.

Judging by the direction they came from, they must’ve originally migrated towards the Sentro region. It’s possible they were then attacked by Hunters and had to escape after being badly wounded.

Although these monsters were only intermediate class monsters, their numbers should compensate for their individual strength and they should be able to overwhelm almost any opponent.

However, Hunters weren’t stupid, they were professionals when it came to slaying stronger monsters and just as he had gone straight for the leader of the swarm, they would’ve eventually figured it out and from the looks of it, they had done just that.

The Dragonfly girl seemed apprehensive in facing Tyler but she knew she needed to do something if she wanted to survive. The Azure Dragonflies around Tyler all seemed to panic at his arrival and had already charged at him in an attempt to save their leader.

“Delay magic- Floating Mine.”

With a snap of his finger, Tyler activated his delayed spell and several mines exploded amid the swarm of Giant Dragonflies had had to blow a few to pieces. However, that didn’t even slow them down as they all Desperately flew at him.

“It seems I was wrong.”

What he had realized by their actions was that the swarm of monster’s only priority had been to retreat to save their heavily injured Master and were only passing by the settlement. It was a shame they had to run into him otherwise the Kobolds defense would’ve only made them take a detour and they would’ve been fine.

However, today was certainly not their lucky they as seeing their leader had decided their fate. He could not let any of them escape. Not that they were trying to but still.

•Energy Burst•

Tyler decided to stop texting his skills on these pitiful creatures and just end the fight with a single attack. His entire body was then warped in mana and in an instant, a massive burst of a sphere of pure energy gusted out of him in a wide radius and knocked every single monster out of the sky.

Of course, the energy he used wasn’t powerful enough to kill these creatures even though a few of them had died from the impact with the ground.

However, the insect girl in front of him and blocked his attack. A barrier of sorts had shattered around her but it had still saved her from his skill.

“Impressive. For someone in such a state to withstand that attack. Hmm, I guess it’s not really that impressive if you think about it.”

It didn’t look like she could do anything much as Tyler could see him slowly moving away from him. She must’ve had a strong desire to survive cause it looked like she was already out of energy but was still fighting to remain conscious.

“Hmm, this might be a good time to test that skill. You see, I currently have a problem with transporting large quantities of raw materials through dangerous terrain and I’m beginning to think these massive insects of yours might just be perfect for the job. What do you say?”

Although Tyler was just muttering to himself, it seems the insect girl had keen senses unlike actual dragonflies as she panicked and instantly took off running. (Well, she flew away. The same thing.)

She had reacted preciously when it was just speaking about her but the moment he had mentioned the bugs. She had thrown causation to the wind and fled.

‘How fascinating.’

However, it was far too late for that now. Tyler chuckled inwardly as he disappeared from his location had appeared in front of the fleeing bug girl whose retreat was forced to halt as she slammed into an invisible barrier in front of Tyler.

Her beady eyes hesitantly looked up at him and his hazel-colored eyes changed colors in an oppressive and dominating red glow that froze the girl in the place. Her face went deathly pale as an invading force tightened its grip aground her mind.

Her already fragile mind was incapable of resisting the mental pressure that instantly destroyed all her mental defenses as her will to resist was utterly shattered.

•Dominating Demonic Eyes•

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