While lying on the ground, Pompa tried to perceive whatever he could around him, and it wasn't just him; several other injured Alpha Chosen were also gathered in one spot.
Amidst stood a pale-faced individual, gasping for more air as sweat formed over his forehead.
Beside him stood a female Earth's Alpha Chosen, whose palms emitted a curtain of warm light onto the bunch of Alpha Chosen inflicted with critical wounds.
Pompa was among those bunch, and with the healing provided by Andrea's Light Element, his condition visibly recovered as the lost chunk of his body began to regenerate, albeit at a slower pace.
He didn't understand how he escaped certain death but could guess the pale-faced Earth's Alpha Chosen had something to do with it.
His guess was soon proved right when space around them warped before transporting them all a hundred meters from their previous spot, which was burnt to crisp by a Plasma Energy blast soon after they vanished.
Pompa watched as the Plasma Predator paid attention to them while being chased by Jay.
Noticing that its attacks failed to land on the targeted Alpha Chosen, it spawned more such projectiles at the ones that escaped.
If it weren't for Min-soo teleporting them in the nick of time, death would have been their destination.
Still, he couldn't save everyone as a few Tier-3 and several Tier-2 Alpha Chosen lost their lives in the face of the gigantic monster's volley of attacks.
Even Jay was helpless as the monster he chased after was targeting his team members and other top bunch.
The number of collateral lives climbed higher with each passing second, and the number soon crossed five hundred as the Plasma Predator went on a rampage.
A few Atlans, Lycanthropes and Rock Magmites were also among the death count.
Although there wasn't any demise among the Earth Team members, their situation wasn't well-off from the rest.
Henry and Kasim barely clung to their lives under Andrea's healing abilities. Her anxious voice reached Jay through the Mind Link.
"Mr. Jay, I am afraid they both couldn't hold much longer. For them to have a chance at living, I have to focus all my attention on them and forego others. I......don't know what to do now?"
Despite Andrea giving her best, the effectiveness of her healing was reduced due to being distributed among several critically injured Alpha Chosen.
Jay could hear her thoughts as she wailed under the moral dilemma of whether to save her teammates or to continue healing everyone equally and prolong everyone's lives with the uncertainty of their life and death.
He wished he was in the state of harmony so that he could make a decision devoid of emotion and instruct Andrea to save Henry and Kasim.
But even if he were to do that, their predicament would still persist, and such dilemmas would continue to rise.
Min-soo neared his limit of reverse teleporting those at the brink of death. He only managed to last so long due to consuming Spirit Fruits but having anymore would only result in Spirit Energy backlash.
Once he could no longer use his abilities, the remaining would fall with no resistance. A massacre will ensue, and Jay won't be able to stop it.
Keeping all those in mind, Jay decided to go for the last straw, the strongest ace in his arsenal, .
[ (Unknown Grade Skill): A Prehistoric skill that uses Origin Energy to break past any defence regardless of Tier and Levels.
Attack damage depends on the user's stats and mastery over Origin Energy.]
He obtained it when he reached 1% mastery over Origin Energy on Day-2. Ever since then, he hadn't used it even once.
Moreover, the requirements to use it were stringent, especially early in the Trial program.
Jay would need a Glaive weapon to unleash the skill, and the weapon's grade needs to be at least Epic (Grade 4) or above.
After all, any Spirit Weapon would turn into scraps in a matter of seconds upon contact with Origin Energy. The higher the weapons-grade, the longer it takes to be destroyed.
After incessant training and destroying more than a thousand Uncommon Grade Glaive replicas that MJ crafted, he lowered the time needed to activate to 3 seconds.
Thanks to the Emerald Metal Spirit ore he chanced across in Atlanis Trial Zone, MJ created an Epic Grade weapon resembling the aesthetics of the Origin Glaive.
[ (Epic Grade): A replica that couldn't be compared to its original.]
Effect: Strength+38^, Agility+42^
Requirements: 100 Strength, 100 Agility
Inherent Skill: (Epic)
: Turns the glaive as light as a feather and increases slashing damage by four-fold whilst maintaining the weapon's structural integrity.
Consequently, the loss of weight notches down the blunt force impact by four-fold.
Cost: 200 Spirit Energy per minute.
He took the Silver Glaive out of his storage ring but didn't bond with it.
After all, once the unknown grade skill was used, the weapon would no longer be intact, and bonding with it would only cause a backlash from its destruction.
Despite being an Epic-grade weapon, it would barely hold for three or four seconds, just enough time for Jay to unleash his final move.
However, the problem lies with keeping the Plasma Predator occupied for that duration.
Three seconds might not sound much, but for a Tier-4 lifeform, that was more or less 20 times the time perception of an average human being.
Those three seconds would be as long as 60 seconds through the True Time Perception of those in Tier-4.
Once the monster senses the danger, it would have enough room to stop or interrupt Jay from casting his skill.
During those three seconds, Jay had to focus on deploying his skill, and as such, he would remain immobile and vulnerable.
Jay communicated with the strongest bunch among the Alpha Chosen using the Mind Link, "3 seconds...3 seconds is all I need to use my strongest skill. Keep it occupied till then."
Discord Link for 'Earth's Alpha Prime' :