(unedited)

Earlier when team Thailand engaged in fighting with Flora in the deeper parts of the forest, an enemy team that was not too far away from their location sensed them. This foreign team from the Philippines followed and observed the battle from a safe distance as its members waited for a perfect opportunity to attack. 

Specializing in reconnaissance, assassination, and concealment skills, team Philippines managed to get ahead of everyone with ease in the beginning. Just like team Thailand, this team would also like to get resources from the river located at this mountain. According to the intelligence that they have gathered before coming to this dimension, there was an ancient blue gemstone in the river that could be used to summon a legendary water elemental beast.

(A/N: You already know where this is :) Ragnarok Online)

Although team Philippines was great with reconnaissance and concealment skills, the team lacked strength. The leader, who was the most powerful one in this team, only had a High Epic grade contracted beast. The rest of his teammates had a mix of Epic and Rare grade beasts. This was the reason why they would like to attain the ancient gemstone from the river.

Coincidentally, on their way to the river, they learned about team Thailand's presence in the forest. Team Philippines could not fight them directly since they knew there was a huge gap of strength between their teams. Thankfully, the legendary beast Flora seemed to notice the powerful presence of team Thailand and decided to attack them. Knowing the capabilities of the legendary beast, the leader of the Philippines team concluded that even if team Thailand managed to destroy Flora, the damage to their team would not be small. 

Right after the battle between the two sides, team Philippines would immediately seized this opportunity to finish off the entire team as soon as possible. They were confident that they would be able to defeat them, so they did not decide to hide themselves further from team Thailand.

Can and his teammates, who believed that they were safe, would now have to face another threat. How could they be so unlucky!

Most of the members of team Thailand were injured and exhausted. Can just also used all of his spiritual energy. Unfortunately, it would take some time for him to regain enough spiritual energy to fight his enemies. Ae and the others have still not arrived and their current situation turned for the worse.

"Your team did a great job at defeating this legendary beast," the team captain of the Philippines team said as he smiled while applauding them. Meanwhile, one of his teammates took the Seed of Flora on the ground and examined it.

Pannin clicked her tongue. It was easy to tell that these people were hiding and waiting for an opportunity to attack them. They are a bunch of cowards!

A short-haired female member of the Phillippines team heard Panin's insulting gesture.

"You b*tch! Where are your manners?" the irritated short-haired girl said.

"Puhaha!" Pannin laughed condescendingly. Even if she was injured, she would not back down easily, especially with those people who think they have won.

"Manners? Why should I respect an ugly b*tch like you and your sly trashy team? Don't pretend that we don't know that your entire team hid somewhere and waited for us to defeat Flora," Pannin continued as she spat on the ground.

"Who are you calling ugly!? YOU!!!" the short-haired girl screamed. She was about to attack Pannin with her contracted beast when her captain blocked her with his hand.

"Don't fall for her trap," her captain said.

After hearing her captain's words, the short-haired girl looked at Pannin. She realized that Pannin currently has two Epic grade beasts by her side. If she went to attack with her Rare grade beast without thinking, she could have been killed in an instant. This made the short-haired girl felt goosebumps all over her body and immediately became silent. Still, she would not forgive Pannin's rudeness. Just you wait and see!

Pannin could only roll her eyes after the enemy team figured out her plan. Assessing her teammates and the enemy team's strengths, it seemed to be that they were both equal in power. Still being injured and spending a lot of their spiritual energy, team Thailand was still in a disadvantage.

"We should finish this quickly. We're going to attack them as a team. The items that they have will be separated equally amongst us afterward," the captain said as his expression became serious as he licked his lips.

"Hmph! Don't be too confident that you'll defeat us that easily," Pannin said as she smirked. This statement made everyone in team Thailand feel somewhat confident as they took a defensive stance. Can, on the other hand, was thinking of a way for his team to defeat the enemy team and escape. He then suddenly realized something.

The captain of the Philippines team issued a command to his team. The other four members of the team understood his command as they nodded. Immediately, they turned invisible as they disappeared into thin air.

"Wh-where did they go?" one of the members of team Thailand asked in confusion.

"Form a circular defensive formation," Can commanded his team. The five other members did not hesitate and followed Can. Everyone in the team owed Can their lives, so they felt that they could trust him.

(A/N: This is what I mean by Circular Defensive Formation.)

Pannin quickly dragged the still unconscious Trump inside the circular defensive formation. The outer part of the defensive formation was guarded by their contracted beasts.

Everyone felt that Ae should have been here to lead. Where was he when you actually need him! It felt like they were abandoned. Even if Ae did not purposely abandon them, the fact that he was not present during crucial times could impact their opinions about his leadership. Right now, they have to put their fate on Can.

"Everyone, please listen to me carefully. I would need to borrow most of your spiritual energy. With that energy, I should be able to use Holy Dome to protect us for a little bit," Can said in a serious but calmed tone.

His teammates looked at one another with questioning gaze.

"You have the skill to take spiritual energy from other people? " one of the member's said in admiration and amazement. For someone to be able to have this sort of skill, that person must be exceptional. Well, Can is exceptional, but he did not know that he was this amazingly exceptional!

"Isn't that dangerous? Also, wouldn't we have more chance of winning if we fight them directly?" another member asked worriedly.

"I could purify other people's spiritual energy, so it could be compatible with me and I could prevent negative effects of the absorption to my body. Also, the enemy team seemed to be skillful at assassination. They would most likely attack at unexpected places while still hidden. It would be hard for us to attack our enemies blindly, so it would be better if we have the Holy Dome in place since it would protect us from all sides," Can continued. His teammates were continued to be amazed by Can's capabilities and quick analysis of the situation.

"But wouldn't they just attack the Holy Dome directly and aggressively since there would be a point where you would not be able to keep it up? Knowing that we all have exhausted our spiritual energy, they would most likely try to break it as soon as possible and murder us," Pannin responded. Even if she hated Can, her life still matters more, so she had to make sure that she cooperates in order to survive.

Although Can was surprised about Pannin's response, he did not hesitate and said, "You guys already know that Flora is considered a legendary beast because it has the ability to revive itself, correct?"

Everyone in the team nodded, but they were not sure where Can was going with this conversation.

"Yes, that's true. It would take Flora about a month to revive itself," the other member said.

Can nodded as he added, "That's actually not true. None of you guys might know this, but Flora could revive itself quickly within minutes depending on the amount of pure spiritual energy present in the area. A new Flora would not have the demonic element, so it would rely mostly on pure spiritual energy around it."

Can received this information from his master. Since he has the ability to absorb people's spiritual energy and purify them, he thought that he could speed up Flora's revival. Still, he was not sure if this would work, but he has to try.

"When the Flora finally revives and regains its consciousness, it will try to sense for the nearest  powerful source of spiritual energy to feed on. Since all of us will have exhausted all of our spiritual energy because of the Holy Dome....,"

"Then the other powerful source of spiritual energy would be from the members of the Philippines team!" Can was quickly interrupted by one of the members after finally figuring out his plan. Can is truly a genius!

Can nodded.

"Alright, let's finish this quickly. Your plan might not work, but it seemed to be the only chance that we have for survival," Pannin said as he looked at Can. Pannin's view about Can slightly changed. He seemed to be really capable. Everyone else agreed except for Trump who was still unconscious. They just decided to ignore him at this point.

"I'll do my best," Can said as he closed his eyes. He needed to concentrate and locate everyone's spiritual core, which is the main storage for the spiritual energy of an individual. This would be the first time that Can would try to absorb such energy from multiple people at once, but he trusted himself that he could do it. His teammates are trusting their lives on him, so he could not let them down.

Meanwhile, the members of the Philippines team were just observing. They were not sure what was happening, but they knew it was not good.

Quickly, the captain of the team gestured the rest of his teammates who were hiding in the shadows to concentrate their attack directly at one person at a time. After getting the command, everyone in the team and including their beasts headed towards team Thailand. Their first target was Can.

Unfortunately, they were a step too late.

"Holy Dome!"

After successfully absorbing and purifying the spiritual energy from his roommates, Can was able to recover fifty percent of his spiritual energy. He believed it should be enough.

When he created the Holy Dome through Valkyrie, the Philippines team was pushed back. Still, it did not stop them from attacking the defensive barrier. The members of the Philippines team knew very well that their enemies would not be able to keep up such a huge barrier for a long time, so they started attacking simultaneously to speed up the process of removing the barrier.

The powerful constant attacks on the barrier have caused the ground to shake. None of the members of the Philippines team knew that the shaking of the ground did not only come from their attacks but also from the revival of Flora.

Can's enemies were focusing mostly on destroying the barrier since it was about to break. Unfortunately, they did not notice the fast approaching thick black vines full of thorns from the underground. When they realized the existence of the vines, it was too late.

The vines were very fast. They were able to wrap themselves greedily and hungrily around each of the members of team Philippines completely. The members who were wrapped by the vines were unable to resist as they started screaming for help. The powerful force of being wrapped around by the vines caused the members to start bleeding profusely. The force from the vines was so severe that one of the member's hands was cut off. The owner of that arm could only scream in pain. Hearing that sound of the owner of that voice caused everyone to shudder, but not Pannin. She was smirking. She immediately knew that the owner of that arm and voice was from that short-haired girl.

"Let's retreat into the woods and meet with Ae and the others while Flora is busy," Can said. Everyone in the team agreed. None of them wanted to be Flora's next meal anyways. Before team Thailand retreated, Pannin commanded his beast to grab useless Trump back into the woods. At the same time, Can took this chance to grab something on the ground that fell from one of his enemies: the Seed of Flora. He quickly put it in his storage ring that was on his finger.

As team Thailand retreated back to the forest where they came from, the sound of the loud struggle of the other team gradually faded. What was left in that area were the man-eating plant that was enjoying its first meal and a piece of an arm on the ground which was a reminder of the cruel reality of this world.

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Hello guys so I'm back! So now that i'm done with school, expect for frequent updates from me from now on. Also, I would start publishing my other fanfic about Zhao Zi x Jack.

Alright! See ya all later!