Brance’s eyes never stopped darting around as he, Selene, and Benny slowly descended into the depths of the cave system. In the distance, the faint rumbling of thunderous explosions lightly shook the cavern walls, freeing batches of dust or rock fragments every so often.

Cyn, wanna take it easy with the explosions up there. Every volley rocks this whole place, and if you keep it up, there may be a cave-in due to your recklessness. Brance complained after losing track of how often he felt the ground shake.

Easier said than done, little brother, we’ve got over forty Yetis staring us down right now, and if I don’t put out enough AOE chip damage, then there is no way to keep them in check.

Brance was unaware that Cynrik and the rest of C-Squad had moved from the Cave 400 meters due to the influx of new enemies. Even so, their bombardment could still be felt from such a distance.

Shaking his head and sending back some discouraging words, Brance continued navigating the winding maze of underground tunnels.

B-Squad crept quietly, careful not to make any noise since if they did, the two Stealth skills hiding them could easily be broken if Brance or Selene’s concentration was broken.

Having noticed the lack of enemies as time went on, Brance eventually found an indentation in one of the caves and called his squad to a halt before having them tuck their bodies into the recessed and rocky area.

Selene and Benny knew what Brance was doing, so they posted up on either side of the open position and watched opposite ends of the tunnel, with Selene watching the way they came from and Benny the way they were heading.

Once the other two were in position, Brance placed his hand against the smooth, cool rock and focused on one point before attempting to take control of the Mana particles.

At first, there was no response, causing Brance to frown because of the high concentration of Water and Ice particles mixed in with the Terra particles. It took about a minute for him to see some movement in the Terra Mana Particles, and when he noticed this movement, Brance pushed his arm forward, causing his hand to begin sinking into the wall as if it were made from sand instead of stone.

Exhaling softly in relief, Brance disengaged his hand, bringing out a small pillar of deep blue rock in the shape of a handle.

Status report on the so-called “Earth Bender Shit,” although it’s difficult, and the conversion ratio of My own Mana to the Ambient Mana is abysmal, I can confirm that Plan B is sustainable. Brance said after turning around and tapping Benny and Selene on the shoulder to continue their descent.

—

Hundreds of meters away above ground, Cynrik smirked upon receiving this information and drew both his Kodachi. With Brance able to make a speedy exit after retrieving the Objective, all that was left was for him and the rest of C-Squad to wipe out all the enemies above ground and move in to clear the evacuation route of Yetis.

‘Just got word from Brance, he can manipulate the underground Terra particles, so target practice is done, move in and eliminate anything that breathes.’ With that said, both of Cynrik’s kodachis burst into flames, and he rushed forward into battle with a slightly crazed look.

—

In the studio, Roni flinched when she saw Cynrik change his plan at the drop of a hat and rush forward to meet the well over forty hulking creatures with two flaming swords.

Cesar: “It must have something to do with Brance’s Terra Affinity; oh, THAT is a brilliant Idea.” Suddenly piecing together what was happening, Cesar began explaining his theory.

Cesar: “Cynrik has proven he is anything but a fool, and he must have some idea of the size of their Objective. Thus, he sent down the two physically strongest team members hoping they could carry the Mana Gem to the surface.”

Cesar: “However, I believe he sent his brother down with a secondary goal, to see if his Affinity will work on the rocky underground tunnels. As you may have noticed, the Cave has a very high density of Water and Ice Mana Particles, making it difficult for Terra Users to manipulate the terrain.”

Cesar: “But what if the very same Terra user who created a makeshift sled could replicate that process underground and create a smaller one to carry the Objective to the surface?”

Finishing his statement, Cesar followed up by pulling up the camera drones following Brance’s group, which had been switched over to a special lens, allowing everyone to see them even under the use of Selene and Brance’s stealth skills.

Roni: “If that is the case, then yes, it would explain Cynrik’s sudden change of pace; however, there is a pretty big issue here that isn’t being addressed…how are they able to communicate. From what we know, Gabriella Sanford is the only Psychic User on the VSFA Tier-3 Team, and she is topside fighting alongside Cynrik and the others.”

Cesar: “That is something I do not have the answer for; it is common knowledge that Watcets and most communication technology don’t work in the world created with the VR Capsule. So they must have some other means to transmit information between themselves.”

Cesar scratched his cheek in thought before something on the left monitor caught his attention, and he gasped loud enough to pull Roni’s attention away from VSFA.

Cesar: “Romeoville has lost their first teammate due to the intense weather presented. The youngest member of their group could not keep up and, in a ruthless display by the Team Captain, was left behind to die in the storm.”

Cesar: “That isn’t all either; since Derrek no longer has to carry six people, the cost of his Teleportation has dropped enough that he can further increase the distance he can jump, as well as reduce the recovery time.”

While Cesar explained, Roni started crunching the numbers and frowned when she noticed a few inconsistencies that couldn’t be brought about by reducing the weight Derrek needed to carry.

Roni: “Cesar, we have grossly underestimated how much Derrek’s spatial skill has grown. Based on the reading I am getting back and the calculations I’ve conducted, he has a far greater range than previously analyzed.”

Roni: “That isn’t all, I am not sure if he is under a lot of pressure due to the intensity of the snowstorm or has grown impatient due to losing the first event, but he is now pushing himself far more than the last several hours. So by my estimate, Romeoville will arrive at the Target location in 35 minutes, a far cry from the initial 2 hours we predicted.”

On-screen, Derrek had everyone linking through physical contact as he jumped 1500 meters, rested for thirty seconds, then jumped 500, covering 2km in the time it previously took him 15 minutes to cover.

This increase in speed was a drastic change from how he traversed most of the map, creating the façade that he was impatient or had been holding back, when in reality, he had been monitoring their time and pushing ahead to attempt a record break.

Derrek was already aware that the only way to guarantee the W for his Team in this round was if he broke the record he set last year. Even then, he still needed to win the next event; this way, he would trigger a tiebreaker giving Romeoville a chance at beating VSFA.

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