At first, the Formation they set up was a bit baffling and hard to follow through. However, after rescuing Jayna, it's easy to see that it's too simple. It only really allowed them to separate us and deal with us one at a time while having a huge advantage on top of that.
If what I thought of earlier was correct, it would either be Fleur and the Incarnation who would be faced against the other free Transcendent.
And upon arriving at another place where there was a crowd of Mortal Ranks, one look at their currently trembling bodies in fear of entering the room behind the tall metal door was enough to know the current state of whoever's inside it.
Lifting her head from my shoulder, Jayna pointed at them.
"What are they so scared about?"
"Not what but who."
Even if I only followed a general direction, I arrived at the place where Fleur was most likely transported. If this didn't prove that my intuition was enough to bring me to where my Companions are, then it could only mean that the structure they built for this formation was too simple that one wouldn't really get lost inside.
"Sister Fleur… She's really strong, unlike me."
"Don't beat yourself about it. You did well holding out against them."
Their circumstances were different. She was faced with a Transcendent who's at full power. On top of that, she was hit by two of those Chains.
For the Transcendents of the Dark World to have those at this moment, is the supply that scarce which made it impossible for the others to have the same equipment or it was only distributed to the Transcendents in these Zones as a countermeasure for the Incarnation?
Out of all the Transcendents we encountered apart from those twins… it's that Sir Brave and those Mortal Ranks he was commanding were the only ones holding the same Energy Restricting Equipment.
The others didn't even bother showing something like those. In a way, it's as if only some of these Zones have a countermeasure against intruders that were strong enough to penetrate these series of Dark World Zones to reach this point.
"Un. I shouldn't think about how weak I am currently. Instead, I have to think about how I will get stronger from here. I don't want to see you making that scary face again."
Jayna nodded before jumping off from my back.
By the time we reached this place, I'd already used a lot of boosts on her, replenishing her used-up Energy and the continuous use of Cure healed the external wounds she received. She's almost back at her peak state already except that she's still somewhat mentally exhausted
She stayed on my back just for the sake of staying close to me and it's also because I'm just too worried to let her go in fear of her overexerting herself.
"Let me go and take care of them, Daisuke. I've already rested enough. Go and get Sister Fleur."
Without looking back and waiting for my answer, Jayna already conjured her miniature Spirit Ocean beneath her feet and rushed towards the sea of trembling Mortal Ranks waiting outside the tall door.
"Enemy!"
"She's alone! Get her!"
"Are you an idiot? That one inside is also alone. Do you think you can beat an absurd Transcendent alone?"
"That one and this is different. Why don't you at least try?"
"Then you try. Let's see if you'll live past 5 seconds."
"This coward…"
Upon seeing her rushing to them, they reacted accordingly. One who's probably at a higher position than most of them commanded but someone else retorted due to the fear of facing another Transcendent.
Most of the Mortal Ranks here were most likely already afraid to engage a Transcendent just by judging from how they're crowding outside. None of them was daring to enter the room behind the tall door.
Jayna who went ahead of me and ignored their conversation produced instantly her vines which shot towards those brave Mortal Ranks who listened to the first guy and jumped with their weapons raised to stop her.
"Are all of you idiots? Our Transcendents used a Formation to separate them. Having one here means she already escaped one of the Restriction Rooms. Someone hurry and report this!"
Oh? There's someone with a brain with them… However, he's all too late at realizing that.
Jayna who's probably trying to show off to me that she's already fine reached her way to him and took him down. With the colorful vines knocking most of the brave ones out, those who were too scared and tried to run away from her ran into me instead. Upon seeing me, they got another bout of fright resulting in some of them losing consciousness on the spot.
A little over a minute later, Jayna successfully cleared a path for me to continue onto the Tall Door. Even if I try to scold her, there's no point in doing that anymore.
Upon looking closely the passageway where they should enter was closed. Instead of entering to gang up on her, these Mortal Ranks imprisoned her instead by closing the only way out of the place.
Maybe at first they truly tried to kill her after being transported inside that room but as time continued to pass, they realized that those inside were just dying against her. Hence, they stood in fear outside and closed the passageway.
I observed the surroundings and found the switch to open the passageway. Whoever was in charge of it either joined those brave ones to attack Jayna or joined those others who ran away in fright. Either way, their fates were the same. There's no point thinking about them anymore.
I pushed the switch and the small passageway opened, revealing the scene inside that room.
I sneaked a glance at Jayna first to check her condition before going inside.
-
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"Have they treated you well here?"
Upon entering the tall passageway and arriving at the other side of the tall door, I asked Fleur whose eyes opened instantly when she noticed my arrival.
Surrounding her was another circle of small Trap Formations, some of which were already destroyed. There were also heaps of corpses all around her. Each of them only has one hole on their heads as if they were shot down by a gun. A far cry from what I did back there.
"You're late… again."
With a smile on her face, Fleur repeated her words when she ended up in the ambush before. However, after saying that, she stood up and flew towards me before pulling me in her embrace… for the first time.
Well, usually it's me who takes the initiative to become intimate with her. For the first time, she hugged me on her own.
I don't know what happened to her here but I guess it made her think of me?
When we left that Restriction Room, I asked her what actually happened there and according to her, once she realized we got separated, she found herself in that room surrounded by those Mortal Ranks who tried to kill her.
However, she's already close to Rank 2 Transcendent. Even with those restrictions in place, she only needed to skillfully make use of her instacast Spells to reduce their numbers. And from there… the rest of what happened was how we saw it.
The Mortal Ranks outside locked her inside the room because they're afraid that they would receive the same fate as the others before them. She tried breaking the walls or the door down. After several attempts, she gave up and found it as a waste of Energy.
That's why instead of looking for a way out, she started absorbing the Dark Energy inside to further her cultivation while waiting for me.
It's not that she predicted my arrival, she just thought that if there's someone who will open the passageway to get her out, it will be me. And her guess was right. Upon seeing me, Fleur overjoyed from having a correct guess that she flew over and hugged me.
After telling her the current situation, I asked both of them to tell me their thoughts about what should be our next move. The fate of the other three with us was still unknown but a lot of time had already passed. If the Transcendents from the other Zones were called to reinforce this place, they would arrive soon.
"I'm more inclined to stay with you… However, we were running against time. I believe you should go to the Portal instead."
"Sister Fleur is right, leave the rescue to us. Our real objective is the closing of it. The World's Will gave you the method to close the one here, right?"
Separate, huh? Upon hearing their suggestion I couldn't help but look at Jayna. Her weakened appearance was still fresh in my mind that it was still riddled with the worry that the same thing might happen again, fearing that if it truly did happen, I would be too late.
Perhaps she saw the worry on my face, Jayna stepped forward and hugged me.
"We will be fine, trust us this time. I know I'm still lacking but I'm more of a Support like you. Have you forgotten? If we work together, even Sister Sofiel will find it hard to deal with us."
Jayna talked about the sparring session they did inside the Virtual Simulation. In one of those many scenarios they did, there's one where they would be faced with a Rank 2 Transcendent.
And Sofiel being a Rank 2 Transcendent herself, became the one they had to overcome. At first, it was one on one which all resulted in them losing against Sofiel.
The difference between Rank 1 and Rank 2 was really vast that even if Fleur was already approaching the 300 UPL mark, Sofiel could easily overpower her.
Then it became two against one. Sofiel still won but it was proven that they could escape if they wanted to. Only when it became three against one did Sofiel found it hard to overpower the three girls. Nonetheless, she would still win against them after a drawn-out battle.
"Yes. We can hold ourselves even against a Rank 2 Transcendent. If things go south, we will retreat immediately."
Fleur chimed in to convince me.
These two… they forgot that they're in a restricted state here… or they knew about it but didn't mention it to lessen my worry.
In the end, it became a struggle whether I will trust them or not. Their determined eyes stared straight at me as they waited for my answer.
"Alright. But take these."
After releasing a sigh, I took out two orbs and handed them to the two girls. Ailment for Jayna and Improvement for Fleur.
Since they're adamant at their decision, I could only add an extra layer of protection. This way, I will be more assured of their safety. Even if they couldn't use it to the fullest, even half of the effect was enough to get them out of any dangerous situation.
I thought of giving them the Concealment but that one initially needed World Energy and neither of them adapted to System type yet.
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