The insects came at Tara viciously, Devilfly after Devilfly; despite their mobility and flight, the swarm of bugs had to get in close to use their weapons against Tara, who was able to repel the far more fragile insects.
A Devilfly swung its scythe-like limb towards her, the erratic swift movements from the bug giving her little means to manoeuvre as she found it swiping at her flesh.
The Devilfly was ruthless in its attacks as its cold insectoid eyes regarded her, yet the insect did not anticipate the toughness of her flesh or Tara's kamikaze approach.
She knew she was far more durable than the bug and took full advantage.
As the blade-like limb of the insect descended on Tara, she found the sharp appendage cutting into her flesh with difficulty, meeting tough resistance. Tara thought the giant insect seemed stunned by the result all before she crushed its insectoid head with her claws.
[You have defeated {Devilfly}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 4137/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]
Though the insect's quick demise did not pause the Devilfly swarm's deadly intents for a second, they threw themselves recklessly at her.
In a mishmash of action, Tara clawed and bit at the insects who came at her with calculating efficiency. The blade-like limbs of the insects left many wounds, with the insects targeting her vital areas.
If any other magical beasts took such injuries, eventually, they would be worn down by the onslaught, but Tara's regenerative capabilities maintained her ability to continue fighting back.
And though Tara was finding it more challenging to target the numerous insects, who worked in groups to pin and restrain her at times, latching onto her appendages with their barbed-wire-like legs, despite this, they could not entirely overpower her equally vicious response.
The insects' mandibles clacked as they tried to latch onto her flesh, one of the insects even attempting to tear at her leg, bringing up memories of the time she lost the appendage.
However, the stalemate of their struggle with each other did not last, as Tara could once again free herself enough to crush another of the offending insects into pieces. A powerful swipe from her lead claw sent the insect exploding into an assortment of green blood and insect bits.
[You have defeated {Devilfly}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 4157/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]
Tara viciously splattered another few of the bugs who strayed far close to the reach of her claws.
[You have defeated {Devilfly}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 4177/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]
[You have defeated {Devilfly}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 4197/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]
The bugs individually were not very strong, but their numbers seemed endless, so Tara did not even bother to utilise her poison as she was in for a long fight and may need her Qi.
Looking over, she found Lady handling herself well, better than she was; the larger Salamander was far older and stronger than her, and though Tara had more versatile abilities, Lady was far above her in pure physicality.
Lady appeared as an absolute tank of ferocity amidst the buzzing wings of numerous insects flying around her. With each swipe of her massive claws, she downed some insects.
Tara quickly found herself downing more and more of the insects herself. She threw herself into battle, not caring about injuries. More often than not, an insect could swipe at her before Tara could react. The insects' flight gave them the maneuverability she could not compare to, allowing them to escape from her outreached claws. However, the swarm of insects was dense to the point Tara had countless targets to choose from.
And where Tara could absorb all the damage inflicted by the rampant insects, the same could not be said for a Devilfly, who would be severely injured or killed if she landed one of the powerful swipes of her claws.
[You have defeated {Devilfly}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 4217/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]
The number of notifications continued to increase, indicating a Devilfly's death another ten times.
[You have defeated {Devilfly}, gaining 20 EXP. You are now 4417/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]
The Devilfly swarm showed no signs of thinning, though. The initially dense trees began to thin as more bugs revealed themselves.
At this point, the Emberwing Devilfly, which was waiting menacingly in the background, made its move.
Despite the bizarre nature of its appearance, the weirdness of bug-wielding flames did not require her to suspend belief that much with the strange things she had already seen.
The Emberwing Devilfly was not alone; more and more Devilflies appeared, glowing different colours that seemed to represent other elements.
The Swarm of Devilflies avoided these insects, similar to the Emberwing.
Suddenly, Tara found the swarm of insects thinning around her and Lady, and she suspected something big was coming.
Utilising {Insight} on the other unique variants among the Devilflies, she found them similar to the Emberwing in cultivation.
[Species: Waterblade Devilfly
Cultivation: Qi Gathering 6]
[Species: Whisperwind Devilfly
Cultivation: Qi Gathering 6]
[Species: Rockbullet Devilfly
Cultivation: Qi Gathering 6]
The variants were powerful and seemed a class above the other Devilflies. Tara began to grow concerned they would not be able to handle this. The swarm proved as deadly as Lady warned; she wondered if it was time to retreat; despite her not achieving her goal, it did not seem wise to remain here.
However, right when she was about to question Lady, a mass of flames shot out of the Emberwing directly at her.
Suddenly, she felt a scorching heat blazing across her body, and for the first time in the confrontation against the Devilflies, she felt severe pain, indicating a serious injury.
Tara's toughened skin was unable to cope with such means of attack. It was the first time she saw the benefit of gaining a trait with specialised resistance towards such attacks, as her toughened fleshes durability meant little to the penetrating flames from the Emberwing.
The flames that burned her flesh seemed magical, and the marshy environment around her did little to stop the burning.
Being inexperienced in dealing with such attacks, Tara felt the urge to panic despite her regeneration doing its best to repair the damage.
Lady took this time to intervene as she felt her presence in her mind. 'Tara, if we wanted to, we could make our way out of here now, and the insects would be unable to follow. These variants are unsuited to the water; however, I have seen you utilise some bloodline ability. Where you control metal, this is pressing, but you have a bloodline ability, so this should be instinctive. When you manipulate your Qi to utilise the skill, separate the energy you pour into it and spread it evenly to a multiple of those spikes of metals you form. Those insects are fast and will attack from a distance; you will not be able to do what you previously did to the big fish…'
Lady's voice came into her mind as she gave her information swiftly. It seemed the variant bugs arrived sooner than she expected. She gave the option to retreat but additionally another path. The bugs held powerful attacks and stayed a precise distance when launching them. Tara had already experienced the flames of the Emberwing.
Unlike the other bugs, they can attack from range and were not foolish enough to close the distance like the other insects forced to attack Tara and Lady within striking distance.
They believed they were safe at a distance and did not think Tara and Lady had the means to attack them in the air.
However, Tara had one opportunity, yet Lady told her they would see the attack she utilised against the Pikeake coming. She needed to utilise her {Metal Manipulation} in a way that she had never done before, but in a way Lady said should come instinctive to her.
Minutes had already passed since the Emberwing and the other variants involved themselves in the battle.
Lady and Tara found themselves bombarded with elemental attacks from the Devilfly variants; their regeneration kept them alive, but they could not remain idle like this for much longer.
Drawing into her {Metal Manipulation} trait, she did precisely what Lady told her: instead of concentrating all her Qi on one attack, she would cut it off, then draw on the trait again; doing this activated the trait repeatedly until she formed a myriad of metal like bullets around her.
Feeling the sudden strain on her mind at controlling the varied spikes of metal formed from her Qi, she found the Emberwing high above in the air, its flames shining bright as it launched more projectiles towards her.
The swarm appeared restless in the surroundings, awaiting the command from the elemental variants to continue their frenzy.
All Tara knew was she had the Emberwing and the one nearest to it, which turned out to be the Whisperwind Devilfly in her sights.
The Emberwing and Whisperwind Devilflies' cold insectoid eyes were fixed on her, detecting the strange movements.
Yet they did not believe in her ability to reach them, so they continued their casual attack of whittling them down before they planned to send in the rest of the swarm of insects.
At this moment, Tara could not hold any longer and created the absolute limit of metallic spikes she could; she and Lady had already taken much damage from the Emberwing and the variants and needed to do something.
At this time, she launched all the spikes towards the Emberwing and Whisperwind, who, sensing the movement of incoming projectiles, attempted to dodge.
However, Tara let out an inescapable number of metallic spikes, which flew at the insects like bullets; most missed, but a few landed true and, like the other Devilflies, durability was not the insect's strong point.
Both insects took severe damage and were sent spiralling from the air.
The Whisperwind was eradicated from the first impact of the metallic spikes; it was unlucky that it was hit directly in its insectoid head, causing it to explode.
[You have defeated {Whisperwind Devilfly}, gaining 160 EXP. You are now 4577/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]
However, the Emberwing managed to survive, suffering non-fatal injuries, but its flight was damaged, causing it to fall near Tara.
Tara began rushing the insect as soon as it fell, and a high degree of rampant flames left the Emberwing as it attempted to hold her off, yet Tara was far too determined.
Fiercely burnt by the flames, she smashed into the Emberwing, finding the insect weak in a frontal fight as she could finish the bug without much difficulty.
[You have defeated {Emberwing Devilfly}, gaining 160 EXP. You are now 4737/5000 into progressing to Level 5.]
The remaining variants, the Waterblade and Rockbullet Devilfly, stared in apprehension as they regarded Tara.
Tara felt nervous. She had bottomed her Qi out in that attack and no longer had the means to attack the duo.
Yet it seemed they grew wary of her, knowing she had the means to reach them even with their flight; they vacated the area not before sending the swarm on them once again.
It looked like they were about to get reinforcements, so Tara and Lady needed to finish here fast, as more variants of those insects might be their end.
It was then Tara found another notification from the system. Something new.
[NEW! Based on your recent actions, you have unlocked the skills interface. You have gained Qi Manipulation {1}. The system can not improve skills and advancement; additional skills depend on the host.]
Now, that was interesting. However, Tara needed to deal with more of that swarm before they could leave. She and Lady cannot remain here with stronger variants of the insects inbound.