"Raiden, take his attention!" Amry shouted as she began blazing upwards using her Pyrokinesis. Her whole body was on but her clothes weren't being burnt.
Next to her, Kazeyoshi was also floating as they were once again trying to combine their Abilities as one.
"Don't command me! I'm your leader now!"
Even though Raiden retorted like that, his sledgehammer could be seen appearing in his hands as he aimed to smash it towards the Gold Automaton who finally moved from its place.
Upon seeing Raiden rushing towards him, the Gold Automatons pulled that paddle-like weapon behind him. It took a stance similar to a baseball batter as it waited for Raiden's hammer to fall down.
"So that's how you want it, huh. Lightning Hammer!" Raiden shouted the name of his Skill as he seemingly blinked out of existence.
A split second later, he reappeared behind the Gold Automatons, lightning streaking across his whole body and onto his sledgehammer.
Bzzzt!
As the lightning crackled, his sledgehammer swung down towards the Gold Automaton whose back was still turned to him.
CLANG!
Break!
"Raiden!" Hiroda, who was preparing a Magic Spell, shouted in horror as he watched the Lightning Chieftain fly across the room and embed deep inside the sturdy wall.
No, it's not just him. Every Heroes and Transcendent who went over the second half of the ground floor were stricken with horror upon seeing Raiden who was supposed to be the strongest among them.
Hikari wasn't included since I had her step back and let her watch alongside us.
Before his attack hit the Gold Automaton, it instantly brandished its paddle weapon at its back, hitting Raiden squarely on his chest.
Although he saw that attack coming from the Gold Automaton and he reacted accordingly, it was too fast for him. His Temporal Accelaration's activation was a split second slower.
His weapon also broke from that brief clash. When he returned to Earth, I gave him a new weapon from those I looted from all the Transcendents we faced. However, it seemed that its durability was close to wearing out after fighting against the Automatons.
Looking around the other Heroes and Transcendents, most of them were already unarmed while the others had their weapons close to breaking.
There's no doubt that it was a tough fight for them even with Hikari supporting them with her buff skills.
After Raiden was sent flying away, the idiot couple above who were preparing something backpedaled. Instead of sending their Blazing Hurricane that they were culminating above, they charged forward instead, enclosed by it.
BANG!
Unfortunately, the result was the same. The couple was sent flying away by the Gold Automaton's paddle weapon. Kazeyoshi recovered quicker and he successfully caught Amry before the girl suffered the same fate as Raiden.
With three of their strongest Transcendents down for the count and were brought down with just two strokes of that paddle, the remaining Heroes and Transcendents started shaking from where they were.
Too bad for them, now that they crossed that line, the Gold Automaton turned its mechanical eyes towards them.
According to Hikari, they were 21 when they left that green-marked zone where they sought refuge earlier. And they found three more groups that were having the same difficulty as them.
With 30 Transcendents in their group, they managed to defeat any obstacles and reach this place.
Well, it was Hikari who led them here but in case they managed to go up to the higher floors, they would surely get something to upgrade their strength.
"Detected Intruders. Activating Building Lockdown. Order Received. Building Lockdown Revoked. Activating Floor Rush Challenge. Switching the Building Interior."
When those remaining Transcendents shook in fear thinking they would be attacked next. The Gold Automaton suddenly began talking with its mechanical voice.
Following that, I detected a faint trace of controlled Source Energy entering the Building and approached me.
"You may test these low-class Warriors by letting them take the test prepared by every floor. However, you will not be able to find any Sage Level Protective Armor here."
With that message directly sent to me and the sudden strange behavior of the Gold Automaton, it's most likely the Artificial Intelligence residing in the Central Processing Unit.
So, those three were injured for nothing, huh?
"Daisuke? What's happening?" Lulu turned around and asked me with confusion. There was sweat lining her doll-like face as the tension she was feeling earlier eased up.
The other Heroes and Transcendents also looked at me as if it's already a common knowledge that I knew what's happening here.
Well, thanks to Artificial Intelligence informing me, I could answer them truthfully. Otherwise, I could only make a guess based on my observation.
"Lucky you. This place was changed to something like a Tower of Challenge. Do you hear that?" I pointed above and they all looked up to the ceiling.
Everyone could certainly hear the movements happening upstairs.
On my side, my Companions were also somewhat confused but upon hearing my words, they relaxed and a renewed light filled their eyes.
"D-does that mean I got hit by a close to Rank 3 Transcendent's weapon for nothing?" Raiden who already plucked himself out of that wall came limping towards our location. Behind him, the couple also drew close to us to inquire.
"Perhaps? But isn't that a great experience? How does that feel?" I grinned and that immediately garnered the Heroes and Transcendents gloomy faces.
"I see. You knew that we had no hope in defeating it…" Raiden let out a rare sigh.
"That's not it. If you coordinate better, you can defeat it but no… You three rushed out by yourselves without giving the others their role in battle. I thought you were already trained to coordinate among yourselves. Are you all carried by Hikari's buff skills?"
Upon hearing my words, almost all of them bit their lips in frustration. And that meant it was the truth. Perhaps not only Hikari's buff skills, even her direction during battle. They took all of that without learning from her… They began relying on her and now that she's not with them, they became that disorganized.
"Either way, that's not important anymore. Like I said, this will become an individual Tower of Challenge. Look at that Automaton, he returned to his previous position. Now look to his left and right, the doors leading upstairs opened."
They all followed my finger and they simultaneously nodded.
Well, they're all smart, technically but they probably became muddled because they were suddenly faced with enemies stronger than them and enemies that didn't possess any Source Energy. That's a lot different from what they were fighting before. At least, they could still sense the Source Energy being exuded by those Dark World denizens or any other enemies they faced so they could react fast against them. But this time, just like with my Companions, they're having trouble adjusting.
"Cheer up. Since it's a challenge, you can expect a reward. But that's only if you win the challenge. Now, who wants to volunteer to go first?"
I was only aware that it's now a challenge, as for the specifics, we had to discover it ourselves.
We could go first but if they saw us blazing through the floors then… that might discourage them so it's better to let them go first.
I also have to contact the other girls to come here and try it out. Even though there won't be a Sage Level item or equipment, it's probably an assurance that they won't be the defective ones.
I just don't know if Reinys' cape was included. If not, I'll just demand it to that Artificial Intelligence. It's aware of my identity after all.
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