After getting Max's signal, she had started casting her new spell [ Metallic Sand Spear ] which she used only one time before during the training because of enormous mana consumption and time it takes for casting.
Therefore it wasn't possible for her to use this spell if she was fighting alone but she was not alone right now and had teammates to give her enough time to cast it.
As the name suggests, this spell uses the tiny metal particles present in the sand to make it more powerful.
After she was done casting it, a 3.5 meter long and one feet thick spear with black Metallic sheen materialised above her. This spell was a middle-grade, mid tier spell. Because there were very few sand elemental disciples and elder Nena found her talent promising, she has given her the privilege to choose this one tier higher spell than what was permitted.
Last time Haory used this spell was when they fought against a group which had two earth elemental mages. They had made a thick earth barrier around them which even Max's biggest fireball ( 300 mana points ), was only able to half destroy it.
But they could reinforce the barrier quickly because both of them combined had more mana and Max could only used three 300 mana point fireballs before his 1300 mana points would be emptied out.
(A/N: Please remember that when casting a spell, for example a 300 mana point fireball, the total consumption of mana is higher because the casting and controlling process also uses the mana. The same is applicable for each spell.)
At that time, Haory used this spell for the first time and it utterly decimated their turtle shell. If it wasn't because of elder Jack's intervention in time, those disciples would have been severely injured if not dead.
...
The yellow flowered ape had just recovered and was about to attack them, when Haory used every last bit of her mana and shot the spear at the ape.
Whoosh!
The ape felt the intimating pressure of the spear as it cut through the air and arrived in front of it before it could do anything.
Roar!
The ape roared defiantly and the yellow flower once again glowed with yellow light. All its muscles seemed to become crystallised.
*Bang*
*Boom*
Haory's huge black spear banged into ape's chest and pierced before both flew more than a hundred meters away and crashed into a boulder, destroying it.
Max, Leticia and others stared at this with wide eyes. Even though it wasn't their first time witnessing the black spears might, it was still shocking.
Plop!
While they were being amazed by the power of the black spear, Haory fell on her knees and was about to fall on the ground.
Whoosh!
Max appeared beside her and gently held her waist, preventing her from falling. He knew that she will be weakness after the attack as it happened the first time too.
"Are you okay?" He asked in a slightly concerned voice.
Haory nodded as she tried to move away from his hands "I've exhausted all of my mana and it's still far from perfect. I wonder how powerful will it be when I can perfectly cast it. Ugh..." As she took a step away from him, she again felt like falling but Max once again held her.
Max was amazed by her spirit. Even after being on the brink of falling unconscious due to complete mana drain, she still acted like this.
"It should be enough to kill a peak three star mage." Max commented. Haory nodded at him. She also thought the same.
"Belén, take care of her. I'll go check if that ape is dead or not." Max handed her over to Belén as she wasn't feeling comfortable with his support.
"Let me go with you." Leticia also followed Max as they walked towards the crashing site.
Rustle! Rustle!
As they reached there, they heard bushes rustling in front of them. When the looked in that direction, a bloodied the ape was limping away in the forest, trying to escape.
"Huh? It's still not dead." Leticia frowned.
"Although it's not dead yet, it not far away from dying." Max said. He clearly saw the black spear penetrating its chest and all this blood was proof that the injuries it got were rather serious.
"We should go after it and kill it then." Leticia excitedly ran after it.
Seeing this, Max glanced at Haory, Rima and Belén before following after Leticia. After catching up to her, he smilingly asked "What would you do if it calls other apes for help?"
"Huh?" Leticia froze for a moment before continuing to run in the direction ape had left and said "I'll retreat if that's the case." She then glanced at him and winked playfully "And with you by my side, I'll be safe."
Max only smiled at her flirtatious acts and quietly followed after her while looking at her swaying body 'Your time will soon come.'
The reason he came after her wasn't because he wanted to protect her but because he wanted to know where this ape will go. (A/N:What did you think, hehe)
If it goes to other apes, he will retreat in a heartbeat. However there was a chance that this ape lived alone. If this was the case then its living place will be safest shelter for them to stay as normally no other beast comes into the territory of another beast.
If they just wandered around looking for a safe place, then there were high chance that they would encounter other beasts like they did this one and he didn't want to fight another Two-star beast before increasing his strength.
Although the ape was seriously injured, but because it was familiar with the terrain, they quickly lost sight of it.
Thankfully, there was blood trail that they followed and found a cave. Blood trail went inside it.
Seeing the cave Max became excited. If there wasn't any companion beast of the ape in the cave, they should easily be able to kill and claim the cave as their shelter.
Max turned toward Leticia to tell her that they should first check if there was any other beast in the cave but he saw her already skipping toward the cave without any worry.
He felt a headache seeing this, it was clear that she hadn't hunted any beast before. If she did, she wouldn't be so carefree just because the ape was already on its death bed.
He quickly ran toward her and lifted her in his arms before taking her a few meters away from the cave.
"Ah..." Leticia was startled when he suddenly lifted her while she was running. However, she didn't resist while her heart started beating rapidly.
After they were far enough, Max rebuked her in a displeased tone "What were you doing? What if there is another Two-star beast inside."
Leticia became sad after he chided her and her eyes became misty. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it through." She apologized while looking down at her feet.
Seeing this he helplessly shook his head and whispered in her ear "If you don't do anything rash, I'll reward you with a kiss."
"W-What?" She shouted, her face becoming red and unconsciously blurted out "Really?"
