Knowing an opponent's specialty could be an edge most of the time, however, it also needs someone's higher than normal insight to see the intricacies on a written record. Although my Adaptability allowed me to understand and be familiar with what's written in the two books, given that I'm still weaker than most of the Transcendents here, it will be hard to truly implement it.
That's the reason why I didn't put a lot of attention to it after reading it once. For Monady to say that it could be used against our opponents, it sounds like an exaggeration.
However, it appears that I underestimated these Dark World Transcendents. Not only Irja but also Udann and the other two also agreed to her statement.
That is why in the following hours when we went back to hunt down the scattered scouts of the reds, the five of them demonstrated and proved to me that it's not an exaggeration.
During the first hour, we encountered a red scout who accidentally entered the 100-meter range, Monady immediately chased after him using her own Movement Skill which allowed her to appear like a crimson meteor speeding through the ground.
In a panic, that red scout burst forth his Energy to try and get away from her.
Under my eyes fully observing that situation, before the red scout could enlarge the lower part of his body to run away, I saw Monady shot two compressed energy attacks to the joints which connected his legs to the upper part of his body. Those energy attacks were filled with the properties of her Transcendent Pathway, when the two energy attacks reached him, it tried to drill a hole onto his legs.
Because the guy was moving, it failed to accurately hit him but the horror in his eyes could be seen clearly.
Upon seeing that, I recalled some of the contents of the book where it talked about that certain weakness. The enlargement of the part of their bodies will be almost invincible when it solidifies completely. However, if they are slow enough to be interrupted, they will suffer a backlash.
To mend that weakness, the Gigant World denizens, it was also written there that they have to make sure that those vulnerable parts of them are protected.
Nonetheless, that point was what Monady exploited.
When that scout noticed her aim, the panic in his heart grew that he used everything he could do to get away from us.
Following that encounter with the red scout, more similar instances happened, sometimes with a group of two, three or even five.
Because of the loss of the five Rank 2 Transcendents from us, the area of activities of the Gigant World denizens shrank down to half of their original reach. Instead of letting their scouts go past the giant golden circle in the circle, they restricted it to just before it to avoid being ambushed by us once more.
That's the reason why those we encountered could safely escape, we couldn't chase after them or we would become surrounded by them in their territory.
Also, thanks to that exploitation of weakness, whenever the reds noticed that our aims were based on those supposed weaknesses of their skills, they would immediately retreat.
Perhaps they had already started to think of a countermeasure to our current strategy
When we couldn't encounter Gigant World denizen anymore, Monady made us retreat back to deal with the scattered golden statue. Along the way, she also relayed the information back to Grenol and Grenol informed the others about the exploitable weakness of the enemies
"Too bad, we couldn't get more rings. They became a turtle in their territory." Faren commented after delivering a crimson-colored energy-based attack towards the foot of a golden statue.
With how relaxed it sounds, it's easy to guess that we're having an easy time dealing with the golden statue in front of us.
"Don't be too greedy. Grenol and Rodney are devising a new plan for us to take this win. We have to wait for that, for the meantime, let's clean these golden statues." Monady reminded her fellow Dafirae Tribe member after following up with her attack which made the golden statue stagger.
Like Faren, Monady also seemed to be relaxed even when the swings and attacks of the golden statue could threaten any of us if it successfully connects.
It's not that they were stronger than the ones with us earlier, it's because I kept my Domain of Valor and all five of them were buffed by it.
"Can you please stop chatting? Take it down. Remember, his skill cannot last longer than a few minutes." Irja whose role was to bombard the golden statue once more irritably commented.
This girl is the one complaining for me. No wonder the others think that there's something going on between us.
Upon hearing her words, Monady shook her head and started intensifying her attacks on the golden statue's right leg. Udann and Axter were the ones in charge of the left leg.
Unlike before, although I'm just standing and watching the whole process of taking down a golden statue, apart from observing if the statue is about to be destroyed, my Transcendent Senses was also spread out to keep an eye out in case the reds appeared.
Thirty seconds later, one of the golden statue's legs was destroyed by Udann and Axter's joint attacks. Following that, Monady and Faren increased the intensity of their attacks to hasten the destruction of the statue's other leg.
Thanks to the Domain of Valor, although some of them would be occasionally hit by the swift swings and seemingly overpowered attacks of the golden statue, none of them suffered a serious injury.
This feels like a normal raid battle that could often be seen on an MMORPG. Ganging up against one mob like this whose specialty is just its hard defense and higher hit points, it's just a matter of time to take it down.
And that is if there are no distractions…
Not long after the golden statue fell down, Irja and I moved closer. She started targeting its head while the four melee fighters turned to its arms.
And like the first time we took down a golden statue, I jumped in when it's about to be destroyed, using the same still-unnamed Sword Skill.
Under their eyes a seemingly desperate attack landed on the golden statue's head, ending its struggle.
Upon seeing that, Monady and the others who weren't there during the first golden statue takedown disbelievingly stared at me. Ignoring their stares, I faked another exhaustion when in fact I was waiting for the energy from the stolen kill to gather above my head.
"Is that necessary?" Faren asked, a little distrust in his eyes. Perhaps for him, my jumping in at the end was unnecessary. Well, everyone will surely think of that, they can finish it without me after all.
That's why I pulled up an excuse. "Is it bad? I want to help as well. It's a skill I can only pull up once per hour but as you can see, it's a bit destructive."
"True. Besides, it saves us some time to deal with it. Pick up the dropped stones and let's move onto the next." Monady stared at me for a while before slowly nodding.
Observing the others' reactions, apart from Irja who had a slight smile on her face and Udann who's already used to me dealing the last blow, Axter also had the same expression as Faren. He also thought that my meddling is unnecessary.
Perhaps, my reason could convince them now but if I continue doing it, they might start suspecting something, especially if I suddenly broke through in front of their eyes when I got enough.
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Time continued to pass and the number of golden statues indicated on the map started to dwindle. After that first instance, I didn't steal the kill for the second and third golden statues. Instead, being the one who's bombarding its head, Irja got the two kills. Only when it's the fourth statue did I swooped in again to get another kill, leading for my progress to steadily climb up to my next breakthrough.
And now, we're dealing against the fifth statue. At the moment, most of them are already too relaxed at taking it down.
With a smile on their faces, they're all in a good mood thinking about the basketball-sized stones that we got. No one knows how beneficial to use it yet but from how much energy is stored in it, they believe that it can help them progress in their Transcendent Pathway.
Going by the same tactic that's already felt like a routine, the four were destroying the statue's legs while Irja continued to rain down different types of energy-based skills towards it, reducing the pressure on the four.
Like the first four instances, I kept letting my Transcendent Senses spread out.
When Monady and the others managed to take it down, my senses picked up something from the darkness from beyond the 100-meter mark, like a surge of energy from a rushing opponent.
Upon sensing that, I pulled out some of the Blast Stones we got and threw it in that direction.
Thanks to its explosions, the darkness parted for a bit revealing a tall figure covered in a yellowish aura dodging the other blasts following the first one.
"They're here!" I immediately shouted upon spotting him even if I only managed to see one.
As soon as my words ended, I also sent out Energy Explosion Projectiles to the place I predicted he would appear from.
However, before the projectile hits, I clearly saw how the Energy Explosion Projectiles were deflected easily before the tall figure emerged from the darkness.
"You four, no five. Are you having fun?" Along with a somewhat crazed laugh, the newcomer stretched his arm and an overwhelming Energy gathered on his pointed finger.
Because Irja and I were beyond his 100-meter range, he only first saw the four surrounding the golden statue and changed it to five when he saw one of Irja's skills landing on it.
Upon taking in the face and figure of the newcomer, I instantly recognized that he's not among those Gigant World denizens they were fighting against when Udann and I arrived in this space.
He's one of those scattered red circles. And judging from his Energy Intensity, the way he easily deflected my Energy Explosion Projectiles and how confident he sounds, this guy's UPL is probably more than 500 or 600 at worst. He's in the later parts of Rank 2 Transcendent!
Looking at him, there's that certain feeling that no matter what I do I will be able to beat him, alone. However, it's not as hopeless as when I was faced with Alwyn or Remilia.
"What the?! Are the scouts blind?" Ignoring his question, Monady almost cursed upon seeing the newcomer. Judging from how she instinctively took a step back, she also felt the difference between the two of them.
Now… is he this confident because he thought no one can beat him or are there any other things at play here?
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