217 The Pursuit of Understanding

Spencer retrieved the spear from the floor when it was of a normal color again, it was still hot, but it was bearable for him considering all his resistances, he put it on his back for the moment si it will cool down but without losing it. The scimitar was lost, he can remember the place where he left it, but knowing how chaotic the battle was it would be impossible for him to pinpoint its location in a short amount of time.

Thanks to the massive debuff that he was able to apply to the beasts the fight wasn't that difficult unless a strong beast appeared, no E-Rank beast could pose a threat to Spencer and Gerhard, at least in the floor level, both of them being melee everytime a flying beast appeared was troublesome because they could counter-attack.

Still, using his broken marble quarterstaff and with Gerhard covering his back, the pace of the battle accelerated in the left flank. They had finally started to gain the upper hand and push back the Cow's minions.

The flying duck tried his best to hurt them, but with some of his feather melted and no strong beast to take their attention his attack power was severely decreased and was unable to hit them.

*Bang*

Another shot came from Hope's MRGR, she has been consistently hitting the same wing, the wings might not be the reason the duck could fly, but that didn't mean that each of the shot that pierced through the wing didn't hurt. The duck decided to abandon the meaningless assault and go for another pray…

At the sniper's nest, they noticed the incoming duck and the guards that until now where thankful that they had the chance to be here instead of the fight down there, started to regret their decision.

It might be wounded, but it was still an especially annoying beast to fight against. Standard bullets didn't hurt it, and unless it dies, it was unlikely for it to fell from the sky.

The feather flies into the apartment, but the guards step up and put their shield at the windows to prevent the attack.

*Crack**thump*

The sound of a shield breaking followed by the fall of one of the guard's bodies was all that the other's need to ran away while the feathers went back to its owner. Hope with the help of Gabriel and one of the guards managed to drag the body to the corridor before the next attack, but it was too late to save the guard, a feather pierced through his eye and was likely that it went deeper into his head.

"What are we going to do?"

Even if it was a small unit, the sniper was a vital part of the attack. People like Spencer, Blake or Zak might not need their support, and it might be almost useless against high ranked beasts, but their precise attacks managed to take off a lot of the pressure that the regular troops had to handle, a well-timed shot had saved countless people in the last fights. They needed to get back in actions quickly but just changing rooms wasn't enough.

"I think I can handle it…"

Everyone looked at the young girl that just talked. Most of them thought that she was overconfident, or just plain stupid… 'you think that because your brother is amazing, you are the same?' Some of them thought when they heard her words. It was impossible for her to handle a beast that even her brother and the frontlines had troubles facing. It even one-shoted one of their guards… how long you think you can resist?

But none of them really knew Hope, she knew she could do it, and after seeing this fight, she couldn't help but feel as if she was being left behind… Rose has grown a lot, she even took down an Alpha by herself, and there was no sign of her growth slowing down. Right now, Hayley was a cornerstone in the attack, her versatile ability helped her bring down a chimera that almost destroyed the remains of the right flanks and when there is the need for it she could turn around the whole battle by debuffing the enemies…

Her brother and Gerhard were also in a whole different level, even if their abilities weren't as strong as Hayley's and Rose, they still manage to take down dangerous enemies, and the beasts bodies kept piling up without end around them.

"I know I can…"

She looked at Gabriel with pleading eyes.

She knew she could do it…

Usually, there would be no chance for Gabriel to let her try something that dangerous, but Hope's big eyes were burning with determination… there was nothing that he could do to stop her.

"Are you sure about this?"

Was all he could do as a last try to prevent her from going by herself. She nodded.

"Yes."

She left her MRGR on the floor and took the Vector…

Gabriel noticed the weapon. The other just shake their heads as they felt that it was just a dumb girl sacrificing herself trying to prove something.

"You know that that will not hurt it right?"

"I need to call his attention first, and the MRGR would hinder my mobility if I take it with me. I have a plan."

He nodded and gave her a magazine

"These are explosive bullets for handguns… they are not as good as the one for our rifles, but they might help… be careful"

Under the surprised gaze of everyone else, she took the magazine and put it on one of her pockets. Their boss has talked so there was nothing they could do… they all felt conflicted, and some even thought of grabbing her to stop her from doing this nonsense but that moment of doubt was enough for her to slip away.

She went to the roof and tried to be sure that it was good for her to slide. Here, if it failed she would need to go elsewhere to put her plan into action.

She could see the duck floating around still looking for his preys at the windows and aimed with the vector

"Up here stupid bird!!!"

She yelled at it while letting a quick burst hit the duck on the same wing. The recoil was more than what she expected, so she missed a bullet at the end.

*Quack**Wak!!*

The duck became angry after the sudden attack and moved near the roof. The first assault started, and Hope slid around escaping from the feathers. To the duck's surprise, the feathers always were pushed back when they neared their objective.

The feathers turned around against his will and missed the girl time and time again.

Hope would make turns and jumps around the roof as the bird kept getting angrier at his inability to hit her.

The Vector lightened up as three shots whistled out of it and fell on the duck's body.

*Boom*

Without worrying by the bullets, the duck didn't even try to dodge the attack, but he was taken by surprise by the explosion.

It fell a couple of meters before recovering, but the duck noticed that there was a force pulling him down.

…

One month ago, Hope didn't know anything about electromagnetic force. When she got her power, she had no idea what it really was. She didn't want to look stupid in front of his friends or be a liability in this situation so just followed her brother's instructions blindly to train, but it was when she started to read and learn physics that she understood what her power really was.

She started to understand the contents of the books, and she got the meaning behind some of the exercises that her brother recommended her.

When Hope was at school she saw no value on any of this stuff she didn't care, none of this would ever be of use was what she kept saying to herself, she didn't understand it, and even mocked his nerd brother and best friend from time to time because they liked such things like maths and science… now she wanted more knowledge, she wanted to understand what she was really capable of.

Her brother told her that her power was amazing, and now she knew why and the way she could make it even more amazing.

She needed practice before she could apply some of the ideas she had… but right now she has a chance to utilize one of the concepts that she learned and loved…

Magnetism…

It was almost useless against any beasts, so she mostly applied it to herself to improve her mobility, but against the duck it was perfect.

All she had to do was transform the roof in a giant magnet to catch it…