After a few bouts against the Dark Elves, Harlan, Ezyn and Yse finally finished them off by engulfing the sneaky enemies in their Domains as well as their conjured Oceans. Even though those were still not as amazing as Yumiko's Spirit Ocean, their Ocean brought about the highest connection to this world's Spirit Ocean. Like what Ezyn mentioned before, they could control a part of the Spirit Ocean and turn it into their strength.
As soon as they finished it, they warily looked around their surroundings for more enemies.
After a while, Yse eyes shone brilliantly as she seemingly observed what's in front and when her gaze turned to our direction she finally noticed us from a distance.
What we killed were probably some of the last elites of the Dark Elf Mortals here. Back then they could only spare two Peak 4-Leaf and around twenty 4-leaf Dark Elves to hold onto that Portal trace that they're trying to forcefully open.
Now, not only were there Rank 5 or 5-leaf among those who attacked us but none were below 4-leaf.
With Yumiko's relentless assault against them as soon as she became a Transcendent, they're now on their last legs.
"Is there any reason for them to make three paths when the end routes are all this same room?"
Jayna asked in curiosity.
"I think so. They have that Formation in place. They probably thought we would not be able to see each other after arriving here, or they only tried to separate us. Dealing with separate small groups is better than taking our whole group head-on. Also, if we're separated, not everyone will be included in my buff. If there's another fork later, let's not split up again."
I don't know if I should keep overestimating them or just take a wait and see approach. Either way, this room has way denser Dark Energy which was proven when we first opened the room.
If I have to guess we're approaching closer to the Core.
"Daisuke, can I suggest something?"
Yse asked by using telepathy after they arrived near us. Her eyes were still shining like earlier.
After observing it for a while, it's probably a unique skill of hers tied to those special eyes she possessed.
For her to use telepathy this time, she's probably afraid that someone else could hear her. Did she see something with those special eyes?
My Energy Sense was already spread out but apart from the thick Dark Energy permeating the room, there's nothing else to take note off.
But thinking about the trait of the Dark Elves, they're good at concealing themselves. With the reduced stats of my Incarnation and the effect of the Formation, my Energy Control isn't as strong so there's a possibility for me to miss something.
"Alright, let us hear that while we move. Tell Yumiko about it as well."
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According to Yse, when activated, her eyes allowed her to see more than just someone's destiny. It also let her see the lifeforce that was emitted by every living thing within the range of her eyesight, even if the living being was thoroughly concealed.
Like destiny, it was something that couldn't really be comprehended by a normal eye. However, I'm aware of what the lifeforce is. Those Ogres whose potential were being forcefully drawn out by their ritual, they were using the lifeforce of the Ruin Dwellers to make that possible. Lifeforce was also being used by the Corrupted to forcefully adapt themselves to the higher energy, oftentimes though, a lifeforce of a Mortal wasn't enough to do that.
If Yse's eyes could also let her see that then I've underestimated her eyes. Among all the Mortal World denizens I met, she's the most special. Even Transcendents weren't as unique as her eyes.
Apart from the Dark Elves who we managed to dispatch as soon as we entered the room, she also saw the hidden Dark Elves' lifeforce further inside. She acted like she didn't notice them when they moved to regroup with us.
As per her suggestion which she shared with us, she wanted us to ignore the hidden Dark Elves and continue on our way to move to the next room.
Though it's unclear why she wanted it to be like that, we followed her to an extent and tread the remaining steps towards the huge metal door that was possibly connected to a corridor leading to another part of the Labyrinth.
Halfway through our steps, my Energy Sense also started to pick up the hidden Dark Elves. They're weaker and were probably there just to collect information about us.
"It's to give them the sense that our detection abilities weren't as high as they thought. We could expect that in the next or the next one after the next, they'll put more ambush or traps and that would spell the end of them."
Yse explained once we passed over and exited the room. To check it, my senses went back inside before the door completely closed behind us.
The hidden Dark Elves let out sighs of relief before they pulled out something like a communicator to relay what happened to their superior.
Upon seeing that, I held the door open, just enough for one person to enter.
As soon as they finished relaying information, I stepped back inside the room which instantly startled them. And because of that, they made a lapse in their judgement.
Before they could gather their thoughts to flee or vanish again, I already activated the Bedevilled Outburst. Numerous Energy Explosion Projectiles immediately launched from my position and homed in towards them.
And on my side, Yumiko, Jayna and Yse also appeared and targeted those who were able to dodge the projectiles.
A few seconds and a few screams later, every Dark Elf who thought they managed to miraculously live from certain death, lay lifelessly on the ground.
Leaving them alive could still become a possible threat for someone. If they're using that communicator, this room wasn't monitored.
"It appears our thoughts are aligned."
I commented and that earned a smile from the three women.
Yse was now proven more valuable than the Spirit King. If she reached Transcendence, will that eyes of hers evolve into something better?
I could only hope so.
There's also another reason to close the Portal here. It was to hide the existence of that Ancient Ruins. Though I doubt they would be able to excavate and harvest everything inside it, it would be bad if they send stronger Transcendents to explore it.
As we continued to the next room, there were times when some of them went off on their own even if we're together. The effect of the Daze debuff was continuously affecting them that if I'm not alert, those who got separated would be lost even if the passageway we're treading on was a straight path.
It's kind of funny but they probably chose this kind of debuff when they set up their Formation. Instead of a Killing Formation that would probably be endured by Yumiko, this kind of Formation would be able to buy them more time.
They only want to waste our time as they wait for their Transcendents to descend which will flip the situation on the denizens of this world.
"Wait! Don't enter yet."
As we opened the door to the next room, my Adaptability instantly warned me of the danger that was waiting for us inside. Before they could even take their first step, I went forward and stopped them.
Since it was me who stopped them, they instantly trusted my judgement as they all back off.
"How is it, Daisuke?"
Yumiko asked after seeing my brows creased.
There's a trap right in front of us. With that kind of trap, Yse's eyes are somewhat useless and a simple step on it would instantly set it off.
I sent a clone inside to try and it failed to trigger it. It was probably set not to react to anything other than flesh and blood. Which means… Even me, as an Incarnation wouldn't be able to trigger it.
"Wait here."
I answered before stepping inside the room.
Like I thought it didn't trigger on me.
The Trap Formation was carefully placed deep beneath the ground. It was supposedly undetectable but the slight hint of energy undulations coming from the ground let me sense it.
Once it is triggered, it will surely set off a chain reaction from the other traps placed in this room. Like the one hidden beneath. They're not reacting to me. But if it was Yumiko and the others, these traps are enough to kill everyone below Transcendent and seriously injure a Transcendent.
"This room is full of traps and it doesn't react to me since I'm formed by Energy. However, that's not the same for you. I will need your strength here, Yumiko."
"Leave it to me!"
The room was the only way to move forward so we need to clear the traps to advance further.
After marking the place where the first trap was located, I went back to their side.
Without the need to instruct her, Yumiko instantly moved to the front while I had Ezyn and Harlan get ready to close the door.
Using her Transcendent Strength, Yumiko conjured her Spirit Ocean and four Seas. Shaping her Seas into some sort of a bomb, she then enclosed it with the miniature Spirit Ocean.
After she finished that, she used her gohei to send it flying inside the room, right on top of the marked ground.
"Close it!"
Yumiko shouted to the two holding the door.
BOOM!
As soon as the door closed, a resonating sound of an explosion followed by more explosions instantly filled our ears and made the ground we're standing on tremble.
With the trap beneath the ground dissolved by her full-powered attack, the disappearance of it instantly set off the other traps inside the room. If someone's inside, that guy would surely be blasted into pieces.
Only when the sound of explosions died down did I instruct the two to slowly open the door.
When they did, we were met with a scene of utter destruction.
At the other end of the room, a door also opened which revealed a gleeful group of Dark Elves as they used their eyes to search for bodies that should've been blasted off.
"Yo! We're still alive here."
I called out to them and their gleeful expression was instantly replaced by terror upon seeing us at the other end.
"T-they didn't get caught by the trap… Hurry! We really have no choice but to use that!
The leading Dark Elf shouted as they all ran back inside the passageway without bothering to close the door again.
Those guys, are they dumb or what?
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