Seeing her stuck like this, eyes wide open, unable to move, there was nothing Kain could do for her. He wasn’t sure the spirit shield would protect him from the toxin. He would rather not test the theory in a fight.

"Don’t let the needles touch you, there’s a paralysing agent," he shouted.

Kain hovered close to Verdana, cutting down any mosquito that got close. He also kept a close eye on the others.

Slowly, he noticed their frantic swinging became organized. Though not skilled, it was better than the previous brute force.

After approximately two minutes, he noticed Verdana was having trouble breathing.

’Shit. Now what?’

Her breathing became more laboured with each passing moment. Kain almost rolled his eyes. What was he supposed to do now?

He kept killing while thinking of a way to help her. He wouldn’t risk his own body to save her. He thought for a while and circled back to the only thing he could think of.

"Meditate," he said beside her. "Calm down, meditate, and see if that helps."

That was the only advice he could give her.

The battle settled into a rhythm. Each person provided support when one person was tired. They learned when to swing, when to dodge, and gradually they became more cohesive.

Kain had no idea how long they had been fighting.

The little ones were able to endure because of their power level, but looking at them, he knew they could no longer continue. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

He could see Jon and a few others getting tired. Marcus was holding his own, but the sweat dripping down his forehead betrayed how tired he really was.

He knew they couldn’t hold on much longer.

Scanning, he confirmed the number of mosquitoes left. There weren’t many, approximately 50. The ground was already littered with their bodies.

Seeing their tired expressions, he made a decision.

He checked on Verdana and found her breathing wasn’t as laboured as before, but she still couldn’t move.

He didn’t have time to wait for her to recover, so he simply kicked her. There were mosquito corpses everywhere; she would be fine.

Kain loosened his grip on the broadsword about to let it fall, then thought better of it. It wasn’t simply a sword for him currently. It was a companion who would help him in life and death.

He sliced through another mosquito before sheathing the sword.

"Everyone, get down," he shouted.

He wasn’t tired. He had been waiting. Waiting until it was time to act.

The moment they heard him shout, they didn’t hesitate.

The heat rose from his arm and burst from the center of his palm. The mosquitoes, feeling the heat, instinctively moved back. The orange flame began to spread in his palm.

The others looked over when they saw the light. Those who hadn’t seen Kain use the elements before were in awe.

It unfurled like a long tendril, spreading from his fingertips and stretching outwards. It burned hot as it stretched outward, creating heat ripples.

It stretched ten feet long.

All of this took no more than a second. Kain controlled the elements to create a fire whip.

As he swung the fire whip, there came the sound of crackling fire. The ribbon of fire surged outwards, catching the closest mosquito.

It wrapped around the mosquito, tightening on its shell until it was crushed. The next whip didn’t crush; it sliced. The heat from the whip split the mosquito down the middle. Black smoke swirled from the corpse as it fell, the smell of charred meat following.

One after another, the whip cracked, and with each move, a mosquito died. Sometimes three, sometimes four. He moved quickly as if dancing. No matter where he moved, an enemy was struck down.

He lashed and lashed again. Each snap was louder than the last. He didn’t stop until they were all gone.

Retracting the energy, he felt the heat permeating the air.

He wiped the sweat off his forehead.

With another movement of his hand, he forced the heat to become a cold mist.

He stumbled slightly. Damn, he thought, that was a bit too much energy.

Without a care for anything, he sat down to meditate.

The others, dumbfounded at what they just saw, reacted slowly. The children and Amelia made their way over to Kain.

He felt them coming and knew he couldn’t meditate here.

"Kain," Amelia started her voice tight.

"Don’t worry. I just need to relax for a bit," he reassured her.

"Dad, Dad," the small children were cheering and crowding around Kain.

"Dad, you need to teach me," Avery said.

"Me too, me too," Ashton yelled. Even Dominic was infected with their enthusiasm and shouted.

"I’ll teach you anything you want to know. But not now. We still need to clean up."

Hearing this, Ashton suddenly remembered the mosquitoes.

"I want some for the lab."

Kain put a finger to his lip to silence Ashton. Ashton folded his lips quickly, having remembered the lab was in the secret place and they weren’t supposed to talk about it in public.

Kain changed the subject quickly. "Tell me, did any of you get hurt?"

The fight hadn’t lasted for two hours, but there were multiple times he was caught by a mosquito. If they could sneak up on him, they could do the same to the children.

At first, they tried to deny it, but seeing they couldn’t deploy the spirit shield, they could only hang their heads and admit that they were almost ’needled’ multiple times.

"Stop thinking about it. Your parents were hit too. How could we expect you not to be hit? That’s exactly why I made you wear the shield."

He ruffled their hair with one hand.

Where they couldn’t see, the hand he placed behind him was curled into a fist and trembling.

The others approached him slowly, a sense of awe in their features.

Kain felt that sudden hit of dopamine when they looked at him. Outwardly, his features didn’t change. He knew he couldn’t let their awestruck gazes go to his head.

Sooner or later, they would all be able to do the same.

"Don’t look at me like that. You can do it too when you get to my level. It’s just a matter of understanding the elements. Why? Do you think Awakeners just mean you get a little stronger?"

Before anyone could say anything, a groan came from behind Kain.

He turned around to Verdana, still in the pile of mosquitoes.

"Huh? How did you end up like that?" The genuine surprise on his face could fool everyone except Verdana.

She gritted her teeth when she heard his concern. As if he wasn’t the one who kicked her into the pile.

"Someone go help her out. Be careful, we don’t know if the paralytic effect is viable even if they’re dead."

It might be, he thought. When he kicked her down, she could move a bit, but now she was as stiff as a board.

He cleared his throat. "Maybe circulate some Source Energy into your hands before you touch her. Ashton, show them what to do."

With everyone taking the time to help her, Kain found a clean enough spot to meditate. There was a lot of blood all over the place. He needed to clean it up before it dried.

He was also waiting for the system to tell him what he got as a reward.