"What—so we fight them on the ground?" Chris asked, looking to Ethan.
"Ground won't work either." Ethan's eyes stayed on the incoming swarm. "There are at least tens of thousands of them, and they're all fire-type. If ten thousand of them breathe fire at once, even Henry's shield won't hold."
"…Then what do we do?" Big Mike asked, jaw tightening.
"You get Flint and the others out," Ethan said immediately. "Find somewhere to hide. I'll handle them."
"Captain," Sean said, frowning, "these aren't those Yamato idiots. This is tens of thousands of high-tier mutant beasts. A lot of them are Tier 17, and they can fly. Even you might not be able to tank this."
Ethan nodded once. "Yeah. That's why you're coming back to help."
He reached into his ring and tossed out a bundle of crystal cores. "Take these. I'm going to cut down some Tier 15s first. Chris—once I drop enough, you sneak in and grab the cores."
Chris's eyes sharpened.
