The moment and location at which Mr. Darkness made his appearance were very well chosen, which was in itself a testament to his ability. In addition, he was able to do so without being detected by Sheyan’s over 80 points of Perceptive Sense, which was no small feat.
This was why Sheyan was willing to spend time having a conversation with him in this critical moment.
Hearing Sheyan’s reply, the superficial smile on Mr. Darkness’ face turned stiff. He never expected that with just a few words from him, this MT could deduce so much information.
Such a party which seemed small, but in fact had a double-MT configuration, was nothing short of terrifying. There’s even such a scheming character in the party…. Mr. Darkness could not help but feel that he may be playing with fire.
He contemplated for a moment, and decided not to hide his intention.
“You’re not wrong. We made an impromptu entrance into this world to help two of our party members complete the mission for becoming Awakeners. You’ve met them in Cyberdyne before, so I’ll save the introduction. The unpleasant things from before was unfortunate, but we have to admit that what we lack now is a strong MT that can tank at the front.”
Hearing that, multiple thoughts flashed through Sheyan’s mind in an instant. He quickly said, “All your party members seem to be proficient in black magic. Under normal circumstances, some powerful summoned creatures can also perform the role of an MT admirably. Why do you need us?”
Mr. Darkness narrowed his eyes and said with a smile which did not reach his eyes, “Summoned creatures can never replace a proper MT – this is a long established fact in the realm. A lot of key storyline bosses possess powerful abilities specifically targeting summoned creatures. We’ve even seen someone summon Indra, the God of Thunder, through a blood sacrifice of 3000 creatures, only for Indra to be controlled by a storyline boss. That’s why, the best choice for a party is always an MT contestant who can adapt to various situations.”
By this time, the T-1000 had caught up to the Ent that was carrying Melody and launched a fierce assault on it. However, the ‘Gravitational Construct’ on Melody had also ended.
Sheyan saw that the Chinese parasol tree Ent was not the T-1000’s match at all. He immediately wanted to rush over to rescue it.
But just then, Mr. Darkness pulled out a unique-looking ritual instrument and pointed it at the T-1000 from afar.
The upper part of the ritual instrument was similar to the muzzle of a gun, and the lower part was similar to the head of a Buddhist monk’s staff. The two ends were joined together like a dumbbell. Sheyan could sense that the metal that the ritual instrument was made of was very unique. Before the ritual instrument made its appearance, there was no abnormal phenomenon at all, but when Mr. Darkness waved it around, it felt like there were some strange creatures moving in the darkness!
Following that, the movement of the T-1000 inexplicably slowed down to a crawl. The Terminator was seemingly tied up all over by countless invisible ropes, making its actions mechanical and rigid. Every step it took seemed to take much more effort than usual.
“Let’s continue our conversation,” said Mr. Darkness while he made a polite gesture with his hand, “I can assure you that the safety of this beautiful Elven lady is guaranteed for a short period of time. Liquid metal robots may be powerful, but they have their fatal weaknesses too.”
Sheyan’s eyes narrowed in contemplation. Mr. Darkness had clearly demonstrated his strength. With this binding ability alone, he already had the qualification to speak with Sheyan as an equal.
To be honest, Sheyan simply could not let go of the thought of the divine artifact that was the ultimate reward offered for this peculiar continuous mission. To destroy the T-1000 was not that hard, but to achieve the highest mission evaluation was absolutely no less difficult than to get the highest evaluation for a Golden Side Mission. This was especially so because the T-1000 would shamelessly self-destruct in the face of desperation!
Since the T-1000 had displayed a hidden ability like the ‘Gravitational Construct’ which had never appeared before, who’s to say that it did not have a second, or even a third hidden ability? Based on the current potential of Party Ace, to complete the task according to Sheyan’s plan was already stretching their abilities to the limit. And that was even before taking into account unexpected occurrences, so in truth, they were already counting on luck. If they could obtain some outside aid now, then there was no doubt that the possibility of achieving a high mission completion rate would be greatly enhanced.
Sheyan suddenly understood why the mastermind behind the scenes decided to slaughter all the contestants in this world before he left. It was not to prevent Sheyan from strengthening himself with the loot from killing them, nor was there a subsequent mission which required him to collect contestant souls…. That’s right, it was to prevent him from borrowing the strength of others!
To prevent him from borrowing the strength of other contestants through the exchange of benefits!
Perhaps Sheyan, who had always been cautious, had yet to discover that the Party Ace he led had grown to the point where many contestants needed to respect and look up to them. The terrifying advantage of having two MTs alone was enough to make most other parties ashamed.
Under such circumstances, it was absolutely not too difficult for Sheyan to take advantage of their strong position.
That mastermind behind-the-scenes had taken everything into consideration, but Sheyan’s high military rank and Sanzi’s high status in the realm as a Chosen meant that Noah Realm C would give their party some preferential treatment within its jurisdiction at certain times. After all the other contestants were killed, the world was opened again for the Awakener trial mission! A new batch of contestants, which included Mr. Darkness, was allowed entry into this world! This made it theoretically possible for Sheyan to negotiate for help!
As the T-1000 struggled crazily, the air around it seemed to fluctuate in a weird manner, as if something invisible was creeping within. Then, a horrible shriek, which sounded like it came from hell, assaulted Sheyan’s eardrums! The T-1000’s movements became much more agile afterwards.
Sheyan had run over to join up with Melody by now, while the furious T-1000 could only continue to be stalled by the Ent. Meanwhile, the mysterious Mr. Darkness followed behind Sheyan like he was floating. He carefully kept his distance beyond the range of ‘Hornrage’.
Melody was still very calm at the moment. After all, who knew how many life-saving moves she still had up her sleeve. There was no way the T-1000 could really threaten her. When she arrived next to Sheyan, she gave Mr. Darkness a solemn glance and transmitted a spiritual wave over to Sheyan.
“I can sense a mysterious power in this man. The power is totally different from the power of Sin’dorei and Luna which we believe in. It’s a power of indescribable darkness!”
“Oh? Is it the same kind as the power in the Ringwraiths?” asked Sheyan.
“No,” replied Melody with a frown, “Sauron’s power of darkness is vast and pure, infinitely evil just like an ocean, while this person’s power is dirty and chaotic. How do I explain it?…. It’s like the black colour in a painting that was formed from a mix of red, yellow and blue paints. It’s full of a mixture of evil chaotic energies.”
Sheyan was going to ask further questions but Melody had raised her slender finger and chanted a divine spell in a soft voice. Spots of green lights immediately emerged from the bushes near them and gathered on Sheyan’s forehead between his eyebrows.
After a cool sensation, Sheyan initially did not feel any changes, but when he looked towards the T-1000, his jaw dropped.
That’s because he could clearly see a few strange ghosts hovering around the originally empty space surrounding the T-1000!
The faces of these ghosts were rotten so badly that they only had bones left. They had yellow flames in their eyes, long white hair on their heads, ragged skirts on their bodies dancing in the wind, and their mouths emitted unspeakable howls. Their most memorable feature was their hands, which were so thin that there was only a layer of skin barely covering the bones inside. The joints, and even the gaps between the joints, could be clearly seen. The sharp nails at the end of the fingers were half a foot long.
The fingers of these strange ghosts were currently clamped tightly onto the limbs of the T-1000. This should be the cause for the T-1000’s sluggish movement. The T-1000 could not see them, but following the powerful Terminator’s crazy struggle, clear cracks started appearing all over the body of a female ghost like she was made of porcelain. With a scream, she shattered and dispersed in the wind.
“So that’s how it works,” Sheyan murmured to himself.
After careful consideration, he said to Mr. Darkness, “So what exactly do you need the MT to go up against?”
This time, Mr. Darkness revealed a bitter smile.
“The mission they need to accomplish to promote to Awakeners this time is to seize the sacred object buried in the ruins of a church — the true Shroud of Jesus. Unfortunately, the site has become a secret research institute of the US military, and the security is extremely tight. The ultimate enemy we will be facing is a powerful solo mechanical exoskeleton designed based on some of the technology obtained from the Terminators. It’s similar to the heavy mechanical exoskeleton robots in the world of Avatar, and it’ll be operated by an elite of the US military.”
“A sacred object like the Shroud of Jesus has a very strong repressive effect on our black magic. In fact, it was due to this miscalculation in our previous operation that the strength of our party’s MT was reduced to the level of three worlds ago, greatly harming our overall ability.”
After listening to Mr. Darkness’ story, Sheyan found that he was sincere in cooperating. However, at that moment, Sheyan’s expression abruptly changed, because the T-1000 had made a sudden, unexpected move!
