Dyne's enemies were the same wild monsters that wandered around the field around Jeremi. But Fate was cruel to send monsters in packs like this. No longer did they travel in twos or trios at most, as they should be doing in keeping with the game. But now, they traveled in packs and groups.

Three locations had three different packs. Mixed within these packs were stronger evolution and forms that usually appear in the later parts of the game.

The Mad Ogre and the Hell’s Rat were the upgraded form of the Ogre and the Kabuki Rat. And a few could be spotted against the horde.

The Hell’s Trigger ostriches luckily didn’t have its other form, which could only be found on the last map of Legaia. But what it lacked with these forms, they made up in numbers.

Team Diablo and Agumon made their way.

Ishreth, Amorien, and Agumon began to unload their attacks at the approaching forces.

Jaden and Chad were rushing forward. But they did not stop at all.

Chad took a sip from a particular elixir.

The Power Elixir began to bestow a great amount of power, causing his Might to erupt.

“Interesting. It’s like the power of Spirit and Mantra. But while Mantra has its specific application, this one is freer. The monks here call it Spirit. And it is similar to what my Order calls it. We, Monks, train to wield this Spirit but can only use it in certain, specific ways. But this is the advanced form! This is the free Power that Master Dyne uses and calls Soul Cultivation!” He began to fall into a strange trance as he could feel the power circulate through him. He had learned things among the monks and discovery of Soul cultivation along the way. And now, the two were finally bearing fruit. His lifelong pursuit of the art, the inspiration for Dyne’s show of power, and the teachings of Legaia now merged perfectly.

“Mantra!” Chad began to chant, and his powers revealed a strong force.

Just like Gala, Chad had an affinity for thunder. And the two felt like brothers that could understand each other.

Lighting sizzled out of his fist, and whether he knew it or not, Chad the Monk achieved only what the Diablo III counterpart could learn.

“Fist of Thunder!” Chad roared as he dashed ahead and began to punch the approaching Kabuki Rats.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Each punch echoed out a thunderous blast that threw the Kabuki Rats away.

A strange streak of energy would be unleashed at the deaths of these rats, whether from Chad’s fist or the ranged attacks of the rest. This energy would fly out and be devoured by the Evil God Totem.

“I won’t be stingy. You guys have some too!” The Evil God laughed as he dispersed the Life and Death energy that he took and created an experience for team Diablo and Agumon.

Chad rushed ahead, but many rats ran past Chad and charged for the rest of Team Diablo.

Jaden channeled the martial Might force. He had drunk the Shield Elixir and knew that he needed to be a shield that could charge out.

Harnessing this influx of Spirit, Jaden caused it all to sink into his Mind and transform the energy into steel. His constant resistance to the Mist had allowed him to harness this power.

“Stop shooting!” Jaden ordered as the Kabuki Rats and Hell Rats approached.

Jaden lifted his shield and caused his Might to explode.

A wall of Spirit energy that had Steel elements exploded out.

TANG! TANG! TANG! TANG!

The sound of striking metal rang out as the rats struck something almost invisible.

Jaden’s arm trembled as he felt the heavyweight of attacks. While his cultivation surpassed these enemies, the number of attacks was causing his defenses to falter.

Finally, Jaden couldn’t hold his shield, and the shield dispersed.

“Now!” Jaden shouted, and the group behind them made their strong attacks.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The attacks of those behind struck the groups of rats.

Jaden revealed his sword and began to slash out.

The team fought and kept charging forward to brave through the crowd of monsters. They were in charge of creating the path.

Chad kept a road open so that the pressure of attacks would be lesser at the back.

Jaden had to stop the charge around him, and the rest had to clear out these groups.

Gunshots and arcing fire magic could be seen shooting from the distance as Dyne occasionally sends an attack.

“Good! They managed to push through.” Dyne smiled as he saw how the group could continue pushing ahead. They were the most crucial factor in this attack. The rest would be defending as they moved ahead, while the Diablo team would be in pure offense mode.

On the north side, the team of Arya began to travel northwest and was drawing the attention of the ogre far from the position of Dyne and the rest.

Arya and Serge rode their Chocobo and the Hunters, and the two Gomboos were on moving slimes.

At first, only a few of the stomping and rushing ogres changed the direction of their attack, but then, Arya and the Hunters started to use their bows.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

Arya began shooting a series of attacks, and the Hunters did the same. All of them could imbue Spirit energy to their arrows, causing the enemy to take damage.

Enraged, all the ogres started chasing after them.

The Slimes rushed back in retreat as the Hunters continued to send out their attacks.

But the slimes moved slower, and the Ogres were gaining on them.

But just when the Ogre was about to reach the fleeing slimes...

“Hunters, Now!” Dyne shouted at the back.

The slimes suddenly changed direction and charged toward the rushing ogres.

The slime used its form and delivered a low tackle that caused the approaching ogres to be attacked suddenly!

The hunters had leaped out of the slime earlier and had their bows aimed as they jumped and shot the ogres their slimes had attacked.

Bertugo and Brod were more direct as they used their weapons to stab and slice the ogres.

Serge ordered his Chocobo and dove in, as did Arya.

Arya had a ninja blade, while Serge had the double-bladed oar-like weapon called the 'swallow' in the Chrono Cross game. With it, he dashed into the range of the tumbling ogres and made his attacks.

Arya also used her blades to attack and decapitate the flying ogres.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

The attacks weren’t strong, and the ogres that died were too few to make a difference.

At the end of the attacks, Serge harnessed the power of the Vera and created a burst of bright light.

FLASH!

“ROAR!” The ogres that weren’t tackled or thrown roared at the blinding light, and at that moment, the team had retreated.

The Slimes could quickly move backward or forwards, and so, while it was slow, it immediately made an opening between the two groups.

The hunters that jumped off the Slimes rode their slimes as it was retreating. Serge and Arya also made a sharp turn and ran away, slashing and attacking more as they left.

Noa made a quick round as she used the power of the wind to move around, and Terra gathered the experience and began to disperse it to the allies.

The team had succeeded in causing the enemy's charge to slow down.

“Good work, team!” Dyne commended and turned to the next battlefield that would clash with the enemy.

Chrone, Tetsu, and Shiva were standing on top of the moving slime of Calamity and Catastrophe that were somehow fused and was somewhat of a moving platform for the team.

The two had even divided into several parts, which created the massive moving ring.

The flock of ostriches was approaching, and Chrone finally used the accursed stone that turned him into a monster.

The power flowed out, and Chrone became a massive ogre, bigger than those chasing them.

The ostriches raced forward and even started to climb aboard the moving slime platform, and Tetsu, Chrone, and Shiva made their attacks.

BOOM! BOOM!

Chrone’s wild swing blew the rising ostriches back, causing it to hit others in the back. But as it did, the ostriches started to slip and stumble as Shiva used her powers to freeze the ground underneath, making it more difficult for these ostriches to keep their footing.

Shiva then moved and began to attack the ostriches by clawing those nearby with her sharp, icicle fingers or whipping out her ice-blue legs that had the hardness of ice.

Tetsu was acting in precision as he would punch and kick to send an ostrich down. Each time he punched or kicked, an ostrich would be thrown back.

Vahn and Gala rode their Chocobo and began to ensure that no other ostriches would reach the Diablo team and would, at times, move closer to the group to aid by attacking some of the ostriches chasing them.

And with just that, the group managed to somehow delay the ostriches from reaching the others.

Dyne saw it and was contented as he saw the balance. He looked around him and paid careful attention to each team.

“Rena, Heal Chad.”

“Yes, Master Dyne.” Rena moved and followed.

“Everyone! Keep at this! We have to keep pushing through like this!” Dyne ordered as the team continued to move through the monster hordes.

Dyne prepared his Wild Arm, and this time, he now had a case full of bullets that the weapon crafters in Biron created at his request.

“Time to get shooting...” Dyne charged ahead and began to shoot out to aid Team Diablo, who continued to press forward.