Chapter 60: All Out


    "We''re done. Let''s move out! Now!" Sera yelled as she immediately began to run away. Aire, Altina, and Kymei didn''t waste time and followed her. Just as they were running away, Kymei fired behind him, dying the other Riser following them. Not long after that, the Ster Beast noticed that the Riser on its side was closer than Aire''s group, which ran away, and changed its target.


    "Fuck!" the guy cursed out loud before he defended against the Ster Beast. In the end, Aire and the others made sure to keep the Ster Beast at bay but didn''t defeat it. With it, this strategy showed its effect.


    *Roar!*


    Not even three seconds went by before more Ster Beasts began to appear in the area. Nevertheless, Sera found time to check the map and everyone''s position. Sure enough, her team wasn''t the only one taking advantage of the chaos. Juana and Wace''s groups now had more Ster Bubble Energy, thanks to it. ''Well, the more they have, the less of a target we be,'' Sera thought for a moment.


    However, she soon noticed other Risers heading in their direction. "Altina, Aire, Kymei, we''re charging back into the Ster Beast horde again."


    Altina and the others didn''t understand why she wanted to do that, but they knew that Sera wouldn''t ask for it if it wasn''t necessary. In the end, there were quite a few Risers in front of them and some Ster Beasts at the back. That being said, it was easier to deal with mindless animals as long as they weren''t ambushed.


    And just like that, the time passed. Less than 30 minutes were left when the Ster Beasts appeared. Besides, the fact that they defeated another Riser meant that their timer was reset once again. One must not forget that every thirty minutes without defeating an enemy meant losing 50% of the team''s whole Ster Energy reserves.


    Eventually, thest five minutes arrived, and things got really heated and crowded. The Ster Beasts didn''t stop appearing. At this point, tactics didn''t matter anymore since anywhere one went, one would find Ster Beasts or perhaps a struggling Riser.


    With that said, Aire''s group was nowpletely focused on defense.


    *Bang, bang, bang!*


    "Aire, protect Kymei," Altina said as her arm shone with silver light before punching a Ster Beast. The Ster Best fell into the swamp and began to struggle toe back. However, Altina''s expression didn''t improve as she thought to herself, ''I''m running out of Ster Energy.'' Before, she was able to dispatch a Ster Beast with a single attack while using the Ster Suit Arm, but now she couldn''t even knock them out cold.


    Without any other choice, she touched her defensive bracelet and began to extract Ster Energy from it to replenish herself. Of course, that bothered her since it was quite a wastepared to using that Ster Energy for training.


    Aire, who had received the order, immediately moved to where Kymei was, who was just about to be surrounded. He didn''t hold back and activated his Ster Suit Arm as well, sending one of the beasts flying. Simultaneously, Aire grabbed Kymei by the arm and used the gap left by that same Ster Beast to flee from the encirclement. Of course, he didn''t forget to turn off his Ster Suit Arm as soon as he pulled him away.


    "Hey, dead weight, fire back," Aire said while carrying Kymei.


    "What the hell do you think I''m doing?" Kymei was indeed shooting. It''s just that Aire was annoying him.


    "Hahaha! When we started this mission, it was you bothering me that I couldn''t do anything. How about now?" Of course, Aire wasn''t stopping any time soon.


    "Hmph! All you know is thanks to your grandfather right here. I, your benevolent grandfather, was there to protect your back with my Ster Rifle." Kymei didn''t back down either.


    Sera and Altina didn''t know whether tough or cry while listening to the two. Their situation was as bad as it could be, so how the hell do these two find time to annoy one another? "Just ignore those idiots. At least they''re faring well."


    Both women nodded in agreement to those words and focused on their own job.


    Little by little, one Riser after another was saved by the protective gel. However, it was quite useless now since no one had the time to obtain their Ster Bubble Energy... or so they thought. The smart ones simply grabbed those Riser''s bodies and ran with them while trying to move away from thepetitors and the Ster Beasts. While doing so, they also absorbed the Ster Bubble Energy from those defenselesspetitors.


    "Here''s another sheep!" Wace shouted as he headed back to his team encirclement with another gel-covered body. Sure enough, there was an advantage in having one member with most of the Ster Suit parts. They could risk more.


    Altina didn''t consider doing the same thing, though. By now, she wasn''t crazy enough to risk all their Ster Energy.


    Only one minute was left when out of nowhere, Sera was attacked from three different positions. Aire was protecting Kymei, while Altina was a little too far from her, fighting a stronger Ster Beast.


    "Fuck!" Sera cursed as her bracelet shone, ready to activate. However, Sera wasn''t going down so easily. At the veryst moment, she jumped towards one of the Ster Beasts charging at her. With that, her bracelet activated, covering her body in a protective gel before it hardened.


    *Bang!*


    The Ster Beast then mmed into Sera, making her body fly in Altina''s direction. That was her final effort. Since she couldn''t escape, she might as well make it easier for her group to catch her body and absorb the Ster Energy in her bracelet. One must remember that the total Ster Bubble Energy for the team will be shared equally at the end of the mission. As long as they absorbed it before time was up, there wouldn''t be any losses.


    Altina''s eyes lit up as she kicked the Ster Beast in front of her and jumped back, catching Sera''s body. At the same time, Aire and Kymei arrived. Aire then put Kymei down before saying, "Absorb everything. Altina and I will keep the beasts as busy as we can."


    "Alright!" Kymei immediately nodded in response as he touched his bracelet on Sera''s.


    Aire and Altina looked at each other before nodded. After that, their Ster Suit Arms appeared as they began to fight back. This time, it was all or nothing. Even if they passed out, they wouldn''t take the Ster Suit Arm off.