Suddenly everything The Great One told me about the missions seemed like one big scam. There were more enemies than we anticipated, which led things to go sideways, and that made me angry.
The outcome, though, could easily be predicted from the start. After all, we knew from the get-go that it was supposed to be a suicide mission. I don't know if it was because of the fact that I had a long streak of victories, or, perhaps, because of all the books I've read and the movies I watched. They all had a happy ending, so I, in a way, expected one for myself, completely ignoring the logic.
And the logic was brutal.
I found myself surrounded by more than several definitely strong opponents, who didn't play any games. They were adamant about killing me. I could feel a variety of attacks and magic influencing my body while the physically strongest tried to attack at once.
My movement was slowed down by several spells. Some just were restraining types, others focused on draining my life force. They all had one thing in common, though - they barely worked. My recently acquired skills, plus the fruits I've consumed, made me so resistant to touch tricks, that I could easily shrug them off, not even using the one special skill I had for such purposes.
When the weapons dived at me to take my life, I used some Ki, then approached the situation in a wary "harmonizing" way. With a few quick moves I redirected all the attacks in a way that they all interrupted one another, and the outcome was that none could reach me.
The guardians surely didn't expect this, so they immediately retreated, but I didn't want to allow that.
I stormed after the few closest, and with a could of powerful blows took them down.
The whole city could feel each of my attacks, despite its enormous, beyond-continental size. The parts of his enormous complex were simply collapsing, unable to withstand the shock waves.
It made me feel more positive about the situation. I really started to think I could resolve it quickly. Not without any effort, but fast enough to make the victory ours before my friends were to even reach the battlefield.
As I tried to take down as many as I could, the next group showed up, clearly supported by all the weaker guardians in the vicinity. I went straight to confront them and attacked the first one that got close enough to me.
He had thick armor and was clearly a defensive type, but he didn't expect me to give him such a hard time. As he tried to block my attacks with his shield, I instead grabbed it, end pulled it out of his hands while striking with my left fist. I slammed him in the head, then counterpunched him in the side, with my returning right fist, so he wouldn't end up flying.
As I was about to finish him off with the knee to the chest, another alien proved to be bold enough to get engaged with them too.
He was armed with chakrams and judging by the lighter armor, he was an agile offensive type. I tried to backhand him, but he actually proved to be fast enough to strike first. To my surprise, the attack penetrated my protection, and the round blade dug deep into my files, cutting a few of my fingers.
This encouraged everybody else. I was suddenly stormed by a whole group.
Unfortunately for them, despite how it looked, the wound was almost meaningless, as the missing fingers began to regrow, and would return in a second or two.
I blasted the guy in the face, ignoring his weapons. The defender, although I didn't deliver the last blow, was more than done. He was unable to keep himself in the air and instead started to fall down.
Then a true carnage began. I was being attacked from every possible direction. Despite the large numbers, the enemies had enough skills to execute the whole thing flawlessly. I could feel the attacks piercing my body, as I tore through the guards dumb enough to get in my immediate range.
They clearly didn't care about their lives. They behaved like cannon fooders the moment they had the slightest clue indicating there was a possibility for them to take me down. The truth was that thanks to my regenerative powers, it was a failed attempt from the start.
If you are wondering why I didn't put up barriers, or anything else to defend myself, it was mainly due to 'Shadow walk' not working. I couldn't get the necessary space to do it, since I was constantly engaged.
Normally, if I felt in any danger, I would try to escape, create distance, and then fight in more suitable conditions, but since I could take everything thrown at me while taking them down in large numbers, there was no reason to do that.
I slaughtered the strongest enemies, then went after the weaker ones, staying at a distance and providing assistance.
All it took was a couple of seconds. Enough time for my friends to show up. I joined them all bloody, mainly because of the way I was killing the guardians because my own blood at this point was hard leaving my veins at all.
- You are stupid - said Druoag.
- I did the right thing! - I protested.
He raised his hand to punch me but stopped.
- Look at yourself. You won this time, but if you repeat it in the next city, do you think this will end as well as this time? - he asked me.
I couldn't respond.
- He is right - said Nobuo. - We have two more places to clear, with much stronger aliens guarding them. You need to save your strength.
I knew he was right. If the guardians were twice as strong as the guys I killed, I couldn't allow myself to take all those blows. We were reaching the limits of what we could do here. Ahead only death awaited if we made any mistakes.
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