"Be careful, even though he is not really a fighter, his current strength shouldn't be low, he has been here for all this time, being nurtured by the fog in order to become its perfect vessel," Aethion said in a low voice as Reign nodded at him.
Nearsch had merely been a normal person below Tier I when he had killed everybody on board. Without any capabilities, the crewmates were unable to defend themselves as the strongest one amongst them, the commander, was merely a Tier I combatant.
Even though he had killed no monsters by himself and still had nothing more than a simple understanding of mana and how to utilize it, the suit he wore gave him the strength of a Tier V being, while the fog, that had been present for months, had improved his body, nurtured his flesh and bones and made him a Tier IV combatant.
He truly didn't wish to fight Reign and the others as he knew that even though he held the advantage and had over 30 Tier IV monsters around them, the battle would be a difficult one, and who knew just what would happen?
As Nearsch looked at Reign and the others, he suddenly sighed.
"I see, so this is your answer."
The back of the ship suddenly shook as the monsters charged at Reign and the others who had still not given Nearsch an answer. He didn't need to hear it, their faces alone made it obvious that they weren't going to take his offer and ally with him.
"If you wish to fight, then let us fight!" Nearsch said as he extended both of his hands forward. Two holes appeared in the middle of the palms as a lot of energy gathered itself, as well as the fog. In an instant, the energy had peaked and a laser was shot from the hands, one that Reign and the others swiftly dodged before clashing with the monsters.
As for the laser, it simply continued forward, destroying anything in its path and only stopping once it had penetrated halfway through the ship.
"Tch." Nearsch clicked his tongue in frustration as he tried to aim and shoot at them once again, only to suddenly move to the side as Shadow appeared behind him, trying to stab him with his daggers.
Even though Nearsch was nowhere near Reign and the others when it came to fighting experience and instinct, the suit was equipped with a bunch of small sensors that would give the suit a warning and make it move by itself, allowing Nearsch to focus on other things.
"The suit seems to have a combat AI installed, even though it is nowhere near as advanced as a true AI like me, it is enough to help him out during a battle and can offer many things, such as a quick response to attacks and might even possess a basic control over the suit, allowing it to battle without Nearsch having to move it by himself, which eliminates his main weakness," Jared said as Reign slashed at a monster before charging at Nearsch.
With the suit boosting him to a Tier V being and allowing him to actually fight decently thanks to the AI, Nearsch was actually a dangerous enemy right now, and even though Shadow and the rest were strong and had much more experience than him, they wouldn't be able to defeat him.
Reign charged, passing next to a couple of monsters as he used his top speed to reach Nearsch as quickly as possible. He could use his transformation right away, but that wouldn't be smart.
He still didn't know exactly how strong Nearsch was, and until he gained more information and understood Nearsch's powers, it was better to do without the transformation as there was no certainty that he would be able to defeat him before the transformation ended.
As Reign charged at Nearsch, Shadow was still locked in battle with the man. With his teleportation, Shadow was unafraid of Nearsch as he could return to the others in an instant. His main goal right now was to occupy him for long enough before going back at the moment Reign arrives.
If they were to simply let him alone, Nearsch would continue attacking them from long-range and could deal some significant damage to them.
Most of the monsters that attacked them, although they were high-grade and peak Tier IV, were weakened thanks to the fog, making it possible for Wolf and the others to fight back and hold their ground even when the monsters held the absolute advantage in numbers.
With the monsters having triple their numbers, it was hard to keep up with them all, but Beast and Tank immediately summoned their backup and had the four generals and Beast's monsters help them out.
They were doing what they previously said they would, they made a circle and fought back against the monsters while helping each other out.
As for Shadow, he was dodging the attacks from Nearsch as two compartments had appeared from both of his shoulders and many small lasers were being shot at Shadow who was having a slightly difficult time with dodging them all.
One laser wouldn't deal that much damage to him, but if he was hit multiple times, it wouldn't be good.
As he dodged, he also attacked. Using his darkness, he manipulated the shadows near Nearsch and hit him with spikes while simultaneously summoning vines to coil around him, but thanks to his superior strength, Nearsch was able to minimize the damage they would deal.
One thing that Shadow lacked was an arsenal of long-range attacks. He only had his shadow skills that could dish out damage from afar, but they were no longer as useful as before. His [ Darkness Implosion ] could also be used from afar, but it wasn't fast enough and would easily be dodged.
[ Spear of Darkness ]
Shadow had imitated Wolf and Reign who both had created an offensive skill that was good for long-range attacks, but it was still different. Compared to the [ Lighting Spears ] that Reign could create, it wasn't as fast as the darkness element that Shadow had was one that was more focused on corrosion and not pure destruction.
He couldn't utilize it in the same manner his newly improved [ Body of Darkness ] worked, which was the improved skill from the [ Shadow Body ] he had acquired a long time ago. The [ Body of Darkness ] boosted his speed to an incredible level, but it wasn't a skill that he had truly created himself, and he still wasn't able to fully control his darkness and make his spear faster.
The spear was still relatively fast and reached Nearsch quickly, but he dodged. Still, it wasn't just one spear he had to look out for as Shadow had used his shadow spikes and vines together with multiple spears and attacked Nearsch simultaneously.
A couple of spears even landed on Nearsch, but the battle suit was seemingly unaffected as a small barrier could be seen appearing right as the attack landed.
"The suit has a built-in engine that actually draws mana in, allowing it to boost itself and have the capabilities of a Tier V, it is using that mana, as well as the fog, to create the barriers at a moment's notice, limiting the mana expenditure and defending itself."
"A combat AI can do calculations faster than a normal human can, and it won't strain if it had to do multiple tasks at the same time, allowing it to attack and defend at the same time while simultaneously keeping an eye on the surrounding area and even doing its best to predict the enemy's next move at once."
'Isn't that a bit too broken?'
"Not at all, I can do it, and I can do it with greater efficiency and speed, not to mention that my calculating capabilities allow me to do much more than that," Jared told Reign in a calm manner, making Reign click his tongue.
If he was able to get his hands on such a battle suit and have Jared help him out while fighting, wouldn't he be able to dominate any opponent?
Well, not really.
He wouldn't be able to use his body as he wished to, not to mention that he didn't like the very idea of letting another person fight for him. Still, if he could get his hands on such a suit, and potentially have Jared use it without anyone being inside, wouldn't he gain a powerful ally that could fight independently?
He would think of that latter, as now, Reign was right about to arrive at Nearsch. The man, or to be better said, the suit, had already noticed him and got ready. It suddenly opened multiple compartments at the front of its torso before delivering a powerful blast of mana, sending Shadow flying back, but not doing that much damage, before turning to face Reign.
On the left arm, a gray shield made out of mana and the fog appeared, while a gray mana blade came out of the right arm.
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