While Shiina, Maria and Glen were making their way towards the zone, Shiro kept her eyes on the scouting drones since she could see the signs of fighting in the distance.
“Why are they already using tier 6 magic circles?” Shiro muttered with a frown since she could see the signs of magic being used. Even if she couldn’t see into the zones right now, she could tell that they were using their strongest skills.
“That’s strange. Judging by the mana signals, it’s not a weak spell either. They’re all using their strongest spells.” Nan Tian added as he looked at the tablet with a frown.
“Hm…” Pausing for a moment, Shiro decided to send a drone ahead of the group to scout out the zone they were about to capture.
Navigating through the forest, towards the city of Vandiline, Shiro controlled the drone and arrived at the border of the city.
Seeing that it was completely empty, Shiro guessed that most of the people here either evacuated or died.
“Doesn’t seem like there’s anything wro-“
Noticing something that flickered past the camera, Shiro widened her eyes and reversed the clip.
Pausing at the frame, she immediately grabbed the mic.
“Everyone prepare for combat!” Shiro called out with a frown as she noticed several runes carved into the beings body. It was one that would open several portals and activate a totem similar to the one that had appeared back in New York.
“Aarim, prepare to use the snipers. We’ll save the artillery for later.” Shiro called out as Aarim nodded her head.
###
Hearing Shiro’s orders, all of them immediately entered battle formation as Lisandra floated at the front, unfurled her wings and held two swords.
Narrowing her eyes, she could sense something approaching them rapidly.
“Can I deal with it?” Glen asked as Lisandra raised her eyebrow before nodding her head
“Be careful.” She cautioned since they had limited information on the enemy.
Controlling his mech to the front, Glen grabbed the nanotech blade and took a deep breath.
Faint traces of lightning flickered across the surface of his mech as a faint yellow glow coated the blade.
Hearing the sound of trees rustling, he brought his foot back and entered a stance.
The moment the enemy showed itself, Glen slashed forward.
He could see that the enemy was a quadrupedal beast with two pairs of eyes, black leathery skin with runes burned onto the surface and magma red lights peeking out through the gaps between his muscles.
[Cryptspawn – LVL 500]
Ducking under the horizontal claw strike, Glen cleaved his sword up towards the Cryptspawn’s belly.
*PUSHI!!!!!
Slashing the monster in half, Glen watched as glowing red liquid flowed through the air before reforming themselves into the missing half of the body.
With two Cryptspawns around him, Glen furrowed his brows
“Don’t worry, it’s just a beast that can use Doppelganger. Your attack missed since he used the skill at the right moment.” Lisandra spoke up as she was currently sitting on the shoulder of Glen’s mech.
Flicking her fingers, three swords made from light appeared as it pinned one of the Cryptspawn to the ground.
“Mum, there are runes on its body.” Lisandra spoke over the mic as she waved her hand and pinned the other one down to the floor as well.
“I know, you might want to take a step back. It’s going to open a portal.” Shiro replied as tier 6 magic circles suddenly appeared in the sky.
*BANG!!!!
Pillars of light shot down all over the country as Shiro guessed that it was connecting to the other Cryptspawns that were scattered around the country.
“You might want to deal with this before you capture the zone. I’m not sure if you can close the portal or it’s better than getting cornered by a whole bunch of monsters.” Shiro warned as all of them nodded.
Clasping her hands together, Iziuel narrowed her eyes as tier 6 magic circles appeared around the entrance before disappearing.
Setting up a few traps along with some safety spells just in case, she watched as Shiina did the same.
Suddenly, a claw appeared in front of the portal as a pair of eyes glared at the group.
Unfortunately for it, it had chosen the wrong group to attack.
Before it could even get his whole body out of the portal, long thorns pierced his body skewering him in the centre while ice formed on his skin.
Taking a step forward, lightning flickered off of Glen’s sword as he cleaved the monster in half.
*BANG!!!!!
Shattering the ground beneath the portal, they watched as the separated corpse of whatever wanted to crawl out blocked the portal entrance.
“I’ll send a little warning gift for them.” Lisandra spoke up as she walked in front of the portal. Since her level was linked to Shiro, one could say that she was the most powerful person in the event area right now.
Raising her hand up, light gathered towards her palm as a sword condensed itself.
Creating more swords in an instant, they fused together into a single spear as she pulled her arm back.
Several tier 6 magic circles appeared in front of her as Shiro recognised it to be something similar to how her rail cannons work.
“Aww I’m so proud.” Shiro couldn’t help but say as Lisandra threw the spear.
The moment it passed through the magic circles, the power and size of the spear was amplified as it pierced into the next beast that tried to escape. After a few seconds, they could feel the shockwave of what seemed to be caused by a nuke but they couldn’t see the disaster.
“Alright that should be fine. Let’s go.” Lisandra dusted her hand off casually as Glen raised his eyebrows. He could still see the portal open so he wondered if they really should leave.
Just as he thought of this, the upper body of a monster appeared through the portal, completely charred to the bone and scattered away into ash.
“.. .I see.”
Following behind Lisandra who cleared the path rather easily, since the monsters that attacked them were all around level 500, they arrived at the city.
Meanwhile, Shiro was speechless since this was… easier than what she had expected. When she saw the runes, she had expected a giant portal to open, bringing in level 700’s, 800’s and so on. Not a small one that had its entrance blocked by a single monster being cleaved in half. Knowing the system, it wouldn’t give them a free win like this but at the same time it was… understandable.
Lisandra was the same level as her and due to her class and title from Divine Court, her stats receive a tremendous upgrade whenever she is working on a task bestowed by her.
Since escorting Iziuel to the first zone is a task, her stats received an upgrade.
For enemies that were lower than level 700, she was akin to an unstoppable force. A single spear throw killed everything on the opposite side of that portal.
“Seems like there’s no need for snipers after all.” Shiro said as she glanced back to Aarim who only sighed and leaned back.
“Shame.” Aarim shrugged.
Watching the screen, Shiro could see that the group had reached the outer perimeter of the city.
From the looks of things, it was completely clear, no more monsters roamed around the corners.
Sending a drone into the sky, Shiro looked for where the centre of the zone was since that was where Iziuel will become the lifeline.
However, as she was looking for the centre, she realised something. Even for the Cryptspawns, it shouldn’t have been able to force them to use some of their most powerful spells.
‘I’m probably just overthinking it. Lisandra didn’t use her best spell either but her attack was powerful.’ Shiro thought to herself as she sent the coordinates of the centre to the party.
“There’s the centre of the zone. Once you have claimed the zone, we’ll teleport over and set up a temporary base.” Shiro ordered.
“Understood.”
Looking over at the holographic map, Shiro could see the crests flickering as people started to contest for the zones. None of them has been claimed yet which makes sense since it was a battle between tier 6’s.
However, towards the centre where the biggest zone was, a single crest appeared. IT was that of a woman with a dragon behind her and Shiro understood that it must belong to the dragon empress.
“Of course she’ll claim it first. Does she even have any subordinates? Last time I checked she was running solo.” Shiro muttered as a barrier erected around the zone.
Shaking her head, she looked back towards Lisandra and the others as they made their way towards the centre of the zone.
The centre was a city hall of sorts that was a little too small for the mechs to fit in. Letting the mechs guard outside, Iziuel entered with Lisandra and Estrella.
