It was a miscalculation on my part. Knowing that the Heroes were already Transcendents and some of them were even listed in my Support List, I thought they would be able to breeze through against Bronze Automatons and team up against the Silver ones. As it turned out, they were being overwhelmed by them.
They could knock them down but not disable them completely.
With more of them getting attracted to the battle, they ended up getting surrounded and wounded.
I already received a notification from the World's Will that one group was already captured while two groups were on the brink of death and were teleported to the Medical Bay which was made to be inaccessible for the others. They would stay there until it's time to leave the place.
They could recuperate and just absorb Source Energy there or they could entertain themselves with other devices installed there.
I'd already given Hikari some pointers and she came up with a plan to just gather them all up in one big group to challenge the Automatons.
That's great too since it wouldn't be one on one when the Invasive Worlds approached Earth. They're just sending Space Vessels at the moment but once they reach the World Zone and the vicinity of the Star System, they would be able to enter Earth without the need of Space Vessels.
The World's Will wouldn't be able to block all of them or rather, he wouldn't block them for the sole reason of it would make his recuperation stagnant by continuously using his Authority.
Of course, it was another story if it was me who was using some of his Authority, I was using my own Source Energy and it could only affect a small area or a small group of people like my Companions.
That's why getting these Heroes trained to the point that they would be able to stand their ground against the Invasive Worlds was one of the reasons I brought them here.
I was not that magnanimous to carry all of them like I was doing with my Companions, they had to get stronger by themselves.
There's my father and the group of old fossils. They could take on the strongest experts of the Invasive Worlds but they wouldn't be able to protect everyone.
Besides, apart from the Invasive Worlds, there were also the Space Vessels that left the Dark World which I gleaned from the memory of that descendant which Ele showed me before. Their destination was the World of the Creator. Whether they found out the details about why they were abandoned or not, I had no idea. Among the denizens of that World, there's only Worldy and Illiana who should be privy to that information.
There's no point suspecting that someone survived the Catastrophe that I brought to every Transcendent and above back then. I made sure to use every Source Energy resource I could get after all.
Then whoever's guiding them was possibly someone who personally knows my previous self.
I had a lot of acquaintances since we're always moving. Narrowing down a suspect from all of those was another useless thing to do for now. I'd better get the answer from Zaraya and company's mouth.
"Thief. Kill." A Gold Automaton's mechanical voice rang out from behind me.
One of the disabled Gold Automaton had already recovered and was about to attack me again.
At the moment, Reinys and Elise were coordinating with each other to take care of the ten Gold Automatons attacking them. And surprisingly, they already disabled half of them.
Being both Flame experts, they could combine their Elemental Spells into one which gave it the strength of a Rank 3 Transcendent. Moreover, they also found out most of the Automatons' weaknesses.
Unfortunately, they couldn't just employ Physical Attacks. For one, Reinys was ill-suited for it while Elise's weapon wasn't strong enough to stab through the Automaton's metal.
All they could do now was to focus on the Automatons' transceiver.
"Yes, I'm a thief. Do you have more ores like the one you're transporting here?" I asked the Gold Automaton who swung his arm blade at me.
I used the Willful Sword to block it before hitting its head again before kicking it away to join the other Gold Automatons that were temporarily disabled.
Well, I was aware that it didn't have any consciousness but… I was asking the Processing Unit that was making them move. No matter what, there should be an AI operating it. And that AI was surely watching everything that's happening inside Atlantis.
CHIRP!
Taking my eyes back to the two women, Elise's Flamebird chirped excitedly as it held a Gold Automaton in its feet.
The Automaton was trying to cut it off but being a product of Elise's Ability, it was made of Source Energy. As long as she could offset the restraining powers of that blade by pouring in her Source Energy, the Flamebird could be said to be invulnerable to the Automaton's attack.
Following that chirp, I saw Elise floating down from behind it and brandished her saber like a blunt weapon to hit the Automaton's head. By concentrating her Source Energy to take on the shape of a hammer and coating her saber with it, she managed to disable that Automaton. As soon as the Automaton stopped moving, the Flamebird let it go before flying up high once more to dodge particle cannons aimed at it.
With that, there are only four Gold Automatons left.
And it didn't take long for them to wrap that up. Like Elise, Reinys was fully utilizing her three Pathways, bombarding them with her Elemental Spells, Wizard Spells as well as transforming her Spirit Ocean to suit her desired form of attack.
When they're done, the two girls floated down in front of me with wry smiles on their faces.
Well, they saw how I easily disabled another Gold Automaton as soon as they stopped in front of me.
"I now understand why Erin continuously calls you a monster," Elise commented as she ordered her Flamebird to attack those semi-disabled Gold Automatons behind me.
Well, unlike what they're doing, I was only shaking their transceiver for a bit so their recovery was quicker.
"Isn't he hateful? I still remember the Daisuke who cannot do anything by himself…" Reinys said but she immediately followed up another sentence before she could be misunderstood. "Not that I am wishing for him to go back to that."
And with an understanding smile on her lips, Elise nodded.
"Hmm? I get you. you wanted him to rely on you, am I right?"
"Yes! He's too strong now to rely on us… And I feel that's a shame."
"Is that so? Then I will be relying on the two of you. This time, I will only point in a direction and use the four Boosts on you."
I interjected which made Reinys hurriedly reason out.
"Eh? No… I didn't mean it like that…"
"What are you saying, Reinys? He wants to train us. He just used what you said as an excuse."
"My Elise always understands my intention. That's right. This is another training. But don't worry, I will be doing something in the background that's why… I will be relying on you two to protect me."
"Do something in the background?" The two asked in concert
"I will be contacting someone who hates me to look for a person. A person who can craft this into a weapon for the two of you. Reinys, your Staff is too weak now even if that's from a Transcendent. And Elise, your Saber isn't sharp enough to cut through higher quality metals. "
The ore I got was only enough for two weapons after all. But if we find more ores like this then, not only these two, everyone will get a new weapon that will be fitting for their new height in strength. Of course, except Avelin who already had a growing weapon like my Willful Sword.
However, I had no idea if the craftsman I had in mind would be able to forge it into a desirable weapon.
Even though I went to that world more than once, I never met her. That Eccentric who made Yumiko's communication necklace that's similar to a communication crystal. That should be impossible for a denizen of a Mortal World after all.
I was suspecting that that Eccentric wasn't a native of the World of Spirits. But I couldn't be sure unless I saw her in person.
That's why while the two girls would lead the way to the Deep Space Department, I would be coercing the World's Will of the World of Spirits who's too wary of me.
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