CHAPTER 128: YEET

Yeet

"... THE HELL YOU MEAN ’I didn’t think we’d get this far’?!" Kurt yelled and Osho winced.

"To be fair expecting me to know how to dispose of a nuke made from corrupt Mana is overestimating me a bit, no?" He meant it as a joke, but the looks of pure fury he got from each of them made him aware of how poorly it landed, making him force a cough.

"Well you better make some plan with that impulsive brain of yours, because I am NOT dying after all of this," Sam growled.

"Yeah okay... wait you guys brainstorm too!" Osho barked. Sure, he might have put them all in this situation, but ain’t now way was he gonna come up with a solution by himself. Besides, their lives kinda depended on them finding a way out of this.

The group immediately started brainstorming, and very quickly realized their lack of options.

"Perhaps condense it enough for it to collapse under its own weight and turn into a black hole?" Kurt suggested.

"In the extremely unlikely scenario where that works, do you seriously think there will be anything remaining of us or half the Citadel if we SPAWNED A BLACK HOLE?!" Ellie yelled at him.

"How about letting it leak out in minute amounts at a time? The natural Mana around would be able to make it disperse harmlessly." Irene suggested.

"Yeah, but I doubt any of us can last long enough to complete such a feat. We’d collapse from exhaustion before we were even a quarter of the way there." Osho shot down the idea before wincing as a sharp throb hit his head. He was approaching his limit fast.

"Well, the dome is collapsing, the Expert Ranks could come in and help." Sam also ventured.

"Somewhat valid. But we have no idea how long that would take. Also, we’ve already kinda gotten used to this thing. If someone strong injects their energy, the chances of it becoming unstable and blowing up are way too high." Ellie shot it down.

"Then why don’t you come up with something that’d work rich girl!" Irene hissed and Ellie grimaced.

"I’m trying..." She trailed off as some blood dripped down her nose. She wasn’t the only one as the others were also bleeding from their noses, a clear sign of Mana exhaustion.

"Osho!" Emma exclaimed and everyone turned to face him, their eyes widening upon what they saw.

"I’m... fine..." Osho said with a hoarse voice. However, the intense bleeding from every hole on his head didn’t exactly agree with that assessment.

’Any more and I’ll start burning my life force.’ Osho groaned as he felt his Mana reserves reach dangerous levels.

Still, he couldn’t let up. Allowing Gale to withstand all this pressure—seeing as he was already bearing the brunt of it—wouldn’t end well. He—

’Why not just yeet it?’ Gale’s voice which sounded oddly thoughtful reached him through their bond.

"Huh?" He exclaimed aloud, looking at the bird in confusion as his pain was temporarily forgotten.

’Like, why not just yeet it high into the sky? High enough for the explosion to not hurt anyone and for the passive Mana in the air to dissipate it before it can cause any fallout?’ Gale explained.

"... How would that even work... wait a minute, that’s not a bad idea." Osho tilted his head at the idea as his mind spun. Why not?

"You have something?" Ellie asked, her voice coming out in faint wheezes.

"Kinda," Osho said before coughing, a bit of blood leaving his mouth, but he paid it no heed.

"Gale suggested we shoot it high into the air. And before you say that it’ll just explode the instant it leaves the domain, well, how about this." He took a breath and explained seriously.

"Gale can compress it even more than this. It’ll cost a lot of effort, but it’s possible. Then he will give you guys some control over the domain and the Mana within. We will create as many layers of Mana around it that can exist outside the domain as long as possible, and Gale uses his domain to shoot it into the sky." He explained quickly as he felt his vision darkening.

"I’m sure the number of loopholes I could find in that plan would be scary were I properly coherent right now. But as things stand? Fuck it, we ball." Sam said through gritted teeth and everyone nodded.

"Great. Gale, do it." Osho instructed.

As soon as he did, the bird let out a screech of effort as the pulsing orb of volatile Mana started to compress even more. The impossible darkness became even darker as it did so.

It went from a few meters in diameter to a single meter, then even smaller, until soon, it was the size of a basketball.

Gale let out a gurgling screech as he too spat out a bunch of blood.

"Now!" Osho yelled as he controlled the Mana around the orb to pretty much solidify into layers. He felt the others follow suit, and soon, the orb was covered in numerous layers of Mana that would—hopefully—keep the thing from exploding the moment it left the domain. And—hopefully—keep it from exploding long enough for it to reach high enough into the air.

"Okay... now’s the time." Osho spoke, his vision darkening at an alarming rate, but he refused to let his body give out yet.

"Do it!" He said through bloodied teeth, and Gale let out a powerful screech. Osho observed the shape of the domain, usually spherical, forcefully change shape to what looked almost like a gun barrel. An unbelievable amount of wind pressure built at the bottom—just below the orb—before erupting upwards.

Like a bullet was fired from a gun barrel, the orb shot out of the domain, and—thankfully—it didn’t immediately explode.

Nor did it explode when it was a hundred meters above ground.

Or 200

Or 500

Or a kilometer

Or ten

Until finally, just as it crossed 12 kilometers, the height where commercial planes in the old world topped out, the layers of Mana containing the orb gave way.

What followed was the orb expanding rapidly. In just a millisecond, it had grown to be several hundred meters in diameter before abruptly pausing.

Then, it started to shrink rapidly, as though collapsing under its own weight.

It shrank until it was barely a few centimeters in size. Then...

A massive explosion of dark Mana erupted high in the sky. The intense force blowing away the surrounding clouds. The explosion stretched out for several hundred meters around itself. However, it started to dissipate rapidly.

If anyone with a large enough Mana sense could see it, they would see the Pure Mana in the atmosphere rapidly breaking down the corrupt Mana before it could go TOO far.

As soon as the orb was launched, Osho finally stopped fighting his exhaustion and collapsed, a moment after the others already did.

But just before he hit the ground, a figure suddenly caught him. They wore a hood that obscured their face, and they gave off absolutely no aura or presence.

They seemed to check if Osho was alive or not, and after a moment, they nodded in satisfaction as they gently lowered him to the ground.

"You did exceptionally, Wandering Star. Rest." They spoke before abruptly vanishing.

A moment later, all the Expert Rank Beast Tamers reached the center of the exam area, their auras flaring.

By now, all signs of vegetation were gone. The trees had become nothing but withered trunks that would dissipate into dust if anyone touched them.

Without hesitation, they surged towards the large group of unconscious students.

Mrs Jane spotted Osho and his group and reached them immediately. As soon as she spotted them, she frowned deeply.

All of them had blood running down their faces, with Osho having it the worst. Their faces were pale, and even in unconsciousness, they were wheezing.

"Someone get a medical team NOW!" She yelled as she used Mana to lift their bodies from the ground. Her gaze flicked to the corpse of Han Jiwon, her eyes narrowing slightly, but she said nothing as she turned her attention to the other students.

___

"Well... that backfired." The elf said with twitching lips. Needless to say, just like with the Skyblight Harbinger, they had witnessed almost everything that occurred with the Abyssal Scrounger, up until it tried to take control of Osho’s soul, and it suddenly went dead.

"I’m now intrigued by that boy more than ever." The suited man spoke with a hint of curiosity. However, the elf shook his head.

"I am too. Sadly, that was one failure too many. Boss said we can’t do anything to this Citadel anymore for the time being. We’ve already attracted too much attention as is." He said, sounding genuinely disappointed.

"Hm. Well, it’s of little consequence. Though, I feel like losing the Scrounger hurt you more than you’re willing to admit." The Suited man said pointedly, causing the eye of the elf to twitch.

"Look, you have to admit, the concept was just too cool. An intelligent, undetectable parasite that gets stronger the more it spreads. It would have done number even on worlds that weren’t this one." He defended himself, and the suited man snorted.

"Yeah, arrogant yo a fault as well." He shook his head.

"Enough about that. Is the first batch prepared?" He asked, and the Elf just sighed.

"Sure packaged and ready to ship." He answered.

"Good. I’ve spent too long here." He turned around and started walking.

"Don’t forget to tell boss about that boy. Him and his bird are interesting." He called out, and the suited man just waved dismissively as he left the room