The Genius Evolution Store

”I believe there are at least 100 beasts coming toward us.”

”100 beasts? In this small space?” Arina clicked her tongue. The beasts started coming out from the other corner.

They started overwhelming the corridor with their numbers. Even if they could stop the beasts at the front, the beasts behind them would bulldoze everything and continue onward.

These beasts were also releasing their energy, so even with their most powerful strikes, they could only crush at most two dozen beasts.

”Kill as many as possible and retreat to the upper floor. Auric, take Arina. I will go myself after killing a few more.”

Auric stepped forward. ”There is something I want to try, though. Let me try it first.”

Ellia was confused. On the one hand, it didn’t look like a good idea. On the other hand, Auric didn’t seem to be joking around.

”All right.” Ellia chose to trust Auric this time.

Auric took a deep breath. He raised both hands.

He had been wondering about one thing. Although his current ability wasn’t enough to completely fuse two elements from different categories, he wondered if he could activate two elements that belonged to the same category at once.

This time, he wanted to use the forest root element and the wood element simultaneously.

He split the energy between his right and left hands.

Then, he activated a battle technique that could be used for both of those elements.

Forest Manifestation.

This was one of the three books he got from the library of another university.

To his surprise, the plan actually worked. The wood element sprouted up and created wooden pillars. Then, the forest root element manifested roots from the ground and started circling around the wooden pillars.

They acted like supporting beams intended to strengthen the wooden pillars.

The beasts released their energy. A few of them let out a breath of their respective elements. Some of them slammed into the wooden pillars with their bodies.

However, his plan worked.

Thanks to the forest root element reinforcing the wooden pillars, the structure maintained its function as a wall for much longer.

It stopped the beasts.

It didn’t matter if it hurt the beasts or not. After all, Auric was ready to unleash another technique from that library.

He placed his hand on the floor and poured out the ice element.

Ice Wave.

Three big ice crystals sprouted from the floor. Then, four ice crystals formed behind them. Their number increased again and again, creating a wave of ice crystals that expanded in a fan-shaped area.

With the enemy’s momentum halted by Auric’s little structure, the Ice Wave simply emerged from beneath them and pierced their bodies.

The beasts were trying to get away, but they couldn’t jump up because of the ceiling or jump to the side or the back because of other beasts.

As a result, they had no choice but to take this attack with their bodies.

Auric ultimately killed five of them in one attack.

However, the beasts immediately released their respective attacks and crushed the ice crystals, stopping them from expanding again. The beasts became furious as they unleashed everything they could to destroy the wall.

Auric had another plan. He first used the Forest Manifestation with his wood element, creating another wooden wall.

He also added the Earth Wall to create a massive steel wall to reinforce it.

Then, Auric used ’Imagine,’ creating horizontal iron blocks to reinforce the wall.

He knew the beasts would break his first wall, so he was ready to intercept them with the second wall.

The second wall was even harder to break compared to the first wall.

But there was another reason he picked this shape and materials to create the second wall.

First, he sent forth flames and burned the wood, causing the fire to spread to the beasts that touched it.

Since he had erected a steel wall and iron bars, he didn’t have to worry about the wooden portion that would be reduced to ashes.

As soon as the wooden pillars were burned away enough to create a gap, Auric started throwing one technique after another.

Night Arrow.

Void Blade.

Ice Wave.

Piercing Thunder.

Golden Finger.

Those techniques brutally slew many beasts, using the corpses to further hinder their advance.

Ellia and Arina were surprised. The efficiency of killing these beasts was simply too high.

Auric had one big advantage. It was the number of elements he possessed.

He had more energy than any of his peers. He simply had to throw more battle techniques at them and overwhelm them with his firepower.

If there were a water-element beast, he wouldn’t be able to kill it with his fire. But the Piercing Thunder would crush it.

The same applied to the other beasts. If he threw enough battle techniques, the beasts would definitely die.

In just three minutes, he actually killed 50 beasts on his own. Still, the energy consumption was through the roof.

Because of all his progress in the ruins, he managed to keep up with the energy consumption.

Unfortunately, his overwhelming power didn’t last long.

All of a sudden, a powerful burst of lightning hit his wall and destroyed it.

”!!!” Auric widened his eyes. He could see it. The majestic lion, whose mane had turned yellow as if it had turned into lightning. Its body had been covered by yellowish energy.

More importantly, the beast had power that could overwhelm Auric’s ability. In other words, this beast was rank 2.

It wasn’t just any rank 2 beast. It was the boss of this floor.

Other beasts seemed to be following its command, even though they were of different kinds.

The lion opened its mouth and sent forth a bolt of lightning toward Auric.

Auric raised his palm, planning to block the lightning with his Diamond Wall.

But Ellia moved in front of him and slashed the lightning bolt.

”We should get going soon. Is this all?” Ellia asked.

”Yeah. We should do another all-out attack before retreating to the upper floor.” Auric nodded.

”All right.” Ellia nodded. ”Arina!”

”Got it.” Arina came to the front and used Plant General to create obstacles for the enemies.

Auric, on the other hand, sent forth his fire to burn them, using Arina’s power to create an even bigger flame.

More and more beasts began to get ablaze. Not wanting to have more of its underlings die, the lion personally went to the front and used its lightning to destroy the flame barrier.

It let out a deafening roar, telling its followers to charge forward. The lion approached them while gathering its energy in its mouth.

Then, it launched a lightning blast at Auric.

Ellia didn’t meet the lightning blast with her blade. Instead, she tilted her body to the side and used the momentum to hit the lightning blast with her scabbard.

Her scabbard was also covered in her energy. Despite not having the sharpness of a blade, the scabbard actually split the lightning blast in two.

Ellia took another step and sheathed her sword. She bent her knees and spun her body, positioning herself for a blade draw.

Gamma Blade.

Ellia drew her blade at a speed that Auric found it difficult to follow.

When she drew her blade at normal speed, the energy that formed after it would be quite thick, which allowed it to contain more power.

However, this blade moved so fast that it could only unleash a thin line of energy. In exchange, the speed became much quicker, and the sword strike would fly much farther.

”!!!” The lion was dumbfounded. It leaped forward and tried to smack the attack down, but the speed was too fast, so the sword strike ended up hitting its body instead.

Fortunately, the lightning energy covering its body was thick enough to withstand this power, leaving only a cut on its stomach. It wasn’t deep enough to become a fatal wound, but it couldn’t be considered a small wound either.

The energy continued moving forward. It split into two because of the lion’s body, but it still sliced many beasts behind it. Some were cut in two; some managed to survive with heavy injuries.

Roar!

The lion was furious, but it couldn’t take revenge.

Auric grabbed Arina as he used the Void Step, teleporting to the floor directly above them. Ellia followed right after.

Ellia said, ”We are going to meet them again and kill them all. If that’s not enough, we will continue to kite them until we kill them all. Understood?”

”If that’s the case...” Auric rushed toward the entrance of the fourth floor, which wasn’t that far from their original location.

Auric poured out the heavy water element, letting a massive amount of water flood the first floor.

This was heavy water, so the power it contained was much more immense than a normal one. The weight pushed the beasts back, and the water’s properties soaked them.

”Now... It’s showtime.” Auric smirked and raised his right hand as the white lightning sparked. He channeled that power into the water, using it as a medium to electrocute the beasts.

”Your fighting style is annoying and very convenient, but good work. Now withdraw it.” Ellia came to him and jumped down. There were only a few beasts left. The lightning lion wasn’t injured because its body was covered in lightning, but there weren’t many beasts surrounding it anymore.

Arina used her power to stop other beasts from stopping Ellia. Auric, of course, supported her in killing the remaining beasts.

Meanwhile, Ellia closed the distance between them.

The lightning lion swept diagonally with its lightning claw, but Ellia smacked it with her scabbard before drawing her blade. The draw carried the energy to extend the blade, looping around her like a crescent moon.

It hit the lion from the other direction. The lion took the hit head-on. While enduring the pain, it used the other paw to hit her.

Ellia used the Void Step to teleport herself above the lion before cutting both front feet, which the lion had raised to attack her. She then dropped a kick onto the lion’s head, knocking it down to the ground.

The lion sent a massive spark in all directions. Ellia covered her body with energy, but it wasn’t enough.

Bam!

The spark hit her directly, but surprisingly, Ellia didn’t get hurt. Ellia had already prepared herself to endure a bit of pain, yet the lightning didn’t even hurt her.

She couldn’t help but glance at Auric. At the last moment, Auric actually used the Earth Wall but with his wind element, making it a Wind Wall.

Sadly, the lightning still broke through the wind wall even though the wind possessed the elemental advantage, as one would expect from a rank 2 beast. Still, it was more than enough for Ellia to handle the rest.

Ellia landed on top of the lion and severed its head.

”Huuu...” Ellia exhaled deeply before glancing at Auric.

”No need to thank me.” Auric waved while walking toward her.

After making sure all the beasts had died, Arina came to them. ”Good work, everyone!”

”You too. With this, the expedition is completed, right?” Auric asked.

”It should be, but we have to check the floor above ground level. There should be a water park on the right side of the mall, so we—” Before Ellia could finish speaking, a high-pitched cry echoed from above.

They didn’t know how far it was, but it was very far. The cry was followed by multiple crumbling sounds, as if something were destroying the floor above them.

”!!!”

It moved so fast that by the time they raised their heads, the wall above them had crumbled.

Diamond Wall!

Auric activated the wall to protect them from the falling concrete. They finally found what caused the ruckus.

It was a massive bat. With a four-meter-tall body and an eight-meter-wide wingspan, it broke a massive hole in the ceiling.

The bat released its energy, which turned out to be gray.

”A unique element?” Auric gasped.

The bat let out another cry, shattering the diamond barrier. The deafening cry caused everyone to grit their teeth and try to cover their ears.

”Ahhh!”

Ellia and Auric witnessed the bat grab Arina and carry her upward.

”!!!” The two of them definitely didn’t plan to let it get away. ”Wait!”

Auric jumped up, using the Levitation to lift himself through all the holes. Meanwhile, Ellia leaped from one spot to another, launching herself to the ground floor.

The ground floor had a massive open space, especially in the water park. They saw the bat carrying Arina to the ceiling.

Ellia was ready to make another jump while Auric channeled his power into his hands to launch an attack to support her.

At the last moment, their eyes widened in shock. Even Lindwurm couldn’t help but warn aloud, ”Watch out!”

They could feel the presence of another beast behind them. It was another rank 2 bat of the same size, also a unique-element bat.

”Screee!”