As the blue wave of Swordforce flickered from the Willful Sword along with the activation of the Skill, screams instantly rang out as some were directly put in unimaginable pain when they suddenly stiffened at where they're at.
Counter could only stop them for a bit and it depended on the difference between me and them. And with the Metagen enhancing the output of that Sword Skill, it certainly didn't just stop those weaker than me by a huge margin. Most of them lost consciousness on the spot, while their bodies were frozen in place.
Even so, for it to be a hasty move to shield us from unavoidable attacks, this result was more than what I hoped for.
However, using Counter at that moment didn't mean the Metagen wouldn't receive any damage at all.
At the same time as I activated the skill, their barrage of attacks arrived and instantly shook the whole All-black Metagen at its core, lighting up numerous warning signs. Even if I tried to activate more defensive skills, the time was insufficient. The attacks would have already subsided before any skills activated.
So having no choice at the moment, I could only let the Metagen stand there and raised its arms to block the cockpit and endure most of their attacks at the same time as making sure that the ones behind me wouldn't be implicated.
The Incarnation tried to sacrifice herself as she knew that she's just an Incarnation. She's part of the World's Will, if she dissipated here, then the World's Will of this world will be damaged at this point in time. Who knows what kind of drawback it will bring us? Even if it's possible to recover if given time, I wouldn't let a really valuable ally be reduced to that.
There's a lot of possibilities that I could think of happening if she was weakened and each of those was worse than what I thought of first.
When the barrage of attacks subsided, I stared in front of the screen. The hovering interface glowed in deep red as it tallied the damage this Metagen received.
Calculating the total damage received…
Arms module - 80% damaged…
Leg module - 40% damaged…
Regenium Armor Plates - 70% damaged…
Regenium Circuits were cut off…
Total Repair is recommended…
Meta Energy Depleted…
Shutting down…
After that last message turned up, the Metagen made a few mechanical sounds before it kneeled down on the ground and deactivated. A few seconds later, the cockpit opened automatically, revealing the smoke-filled surroundings.
At least none of their attacks managed to penetrate the Metagen's armor. But this… I might need to apologize to Leianne for ruining this Metagen up to this extent.
"Daisuke!"
When the cockpit fully opened, Jayna's worried voice was the first sound that entered my ears.
I looked up and saw her worried face as she peeked inside of this giant metal chunk.
"I'm fine, you don't need to worry."
A few seconds later, Fleur appeared behind her who let out a sigh of relief after seeing me uninjured. Though it's easy for me to climb out of the Metagen, the two girls stretched their arms out for me.
Since they already did that, I just took it and climbed out of the Metagen with their help.
Looking at them, the purpose of using it was successfully realized, there's not even a speck of dust on their breathtaking appearance.
The two Heroes were also fine as they are already casting a spell for a counterattack. The Incarnation was behind the two as she helped them to easily form the Spell Nucleus and fill up the Elemental Nodes with the help of her Energy Control.
"What the hell? How can they survive it?! Move and attack again!"
At the same moment, one of the Transcendents who appeared after being hit by the counter had a look of confusion on his face. He tried to understand what had just happened but after spending a few seconds in that state, he shook his head and shouted to the Mortal Ranks and to the other Transcendents who were just starting to regain control of their bodies.
I counted them and there were five Transcendents in total. All of them were someone we never encountered yet
However, that time was enough for the two Heroes to unleash the spell they were casting.
In a blink of an eye, most of the Mortal Ranks who were still moving sluggishly failed to evade the two Heroes' unleashed Elemental Spell.
From Hikari's staff, numerous balls of light were conjured and blasted towards her targets at high speed, preventing them from moving. Those who were hit by it had the ball of light seeped into their bodies and made them brilliantly shine as if they became luminescent. A few moments later, the ball of light quickly spread out in their bodies. Some were fast enough to control their energy and contained the light away from their vital organs while some were slow enough to be completely covered by it.
When the light settled down, the parts of their body which were seemingly infected by the light, burst open as the light imploded in their bodies, producing more balls of light that latched onto new targets near them.
That light spell she did looks like an infectious virus that multiplied by making use of the host's Energy.
Those who either died or were severely injured by it were Mortal Ranks while the Transcendents who got hit only had a small hole where they confined the ball of light that invaded their bodies.
From Boris' whip, a giant snake-like Water Elemental was conjured as it encircled a group of Mortal Ranks before squeezing them all together. Some instantly screamed from the pain while some tried to endure it as they circulated their Dark Energy to form some kind of defense.
Looking at it closely, it looks like the snake of that 'Miss Saha' earlier. Did he just create a new Spell or he improved an existing one after that encounter? Either way, that guy is really something. No wonder he could reach the Elemental Fusing Realm a lot faster than any Heroes I know, not even Yuko or Raiden reached that point within three years.
I guess. Some of the merit for his progress could also be attributed to Fleur. She put Boris under many difficult training regimes to raise him as a new Elemental Supreme to help her defend their race.
With the two Heroes launching a counterattack, the same pattern happened… somehow we already got used to these Dark World denizens who were only good at the start. There's a term for that if I recall correctly. Intro Boys.
They could only perform their best during the early parts or in other words, the introduction. Soon afterwards, they wouldn't be a threat anymore.
When the dust settled from their Spells, a fourth of the Mortal Ranks who attacked us lay dead on the ground while another fourth was still immobilized from the effect of Counter.
The Transcendents, however, were all gnashing their teeth but they didn't act hastily like the previous Transcendents we encountered. Perhaps it's still early to say that they're Intro Boys as well.
I have no idea who among these Transcendents is the one who has just descended. But, it's surely his misfortune that he won't be able to enjoy his first day in this world and there's also the possibility that this will be his last.
"Stop dawdling and be amazed at what they can do. Go and activate that! Move!"
The Transcendent who shouted earlier was once again the first one to regain his senses.
His voice was directed not to the Mortal Ranks but to the four Transcendents who were somewhat out of sorts due to the Counter as well as the two Heroes' counterattacks.
As if awakening from a dream, the four Transcendents' body jolted as they turned around and retreated.
Further back from the entrance, four circular plates flew up with the use of their Dark Energy, when it reached a certain height, the four Transcendents jumped and stood on those circular plates and channeled their enormous amount of Dark Energy as a Transcendent.
Though it took too long for me to describe what happened, all of it happened in a few moments giving us no time to react to it.
As their combined Dark Energy circulated and combined together, a black surge of light exploded but it's not in any way harmful to us.
The black light completely dimmed my vision before the Nullification Zone fully opened. Also, the presence of the two girls at my side vanished.
When my sight recovered, I hurriedly looked for the two and to the other three below the Metagen.
However, the previously spacious plain in front of my eyes was replaced by the sight of a towering wall whose height reached up to the ceiling of this Dark World Zone.
Now only that, in the other three directions, there's nothing to see but the same towering walls.
I know I'm still at the same place as earlier, I'm even still standing on top of the deactivated and damaged Metagen, however, Fleur, Jayna, the Incarnation and the two Heroes as well as the enemies in front of us vanished alongside them.
Observing the walls closely, I instantly deduced that I am currently caged in this square room with no door in sight…
There are no notifications from the system which means, there's no additional restriction from the Zone. What they activated was probably some sort of Formation that should've teleported all of us to who knows where. But my Nullification Zone negated that effect which led to me being stuck at the same place…
The Interdimensional Communication is still on cooldown so I have no way to check on Jayna and Fleur's current status.
But that Incarnation, why didn't she activate her Nullification Zone? No time? Or she also got caught off guard after helping Hikari and Boris?
I also have no way of knowing that.
There's no other choice but to go at this alone and get out of this cage to look for them.
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