CHAPTER SEVENTY
The other machine threw the crossbow from their hands. The discarded item clattered on the floor, and then the other pilot stretched her hands out wide.
Red sparks crackled between their hands, and for a moment, Jason tensed as he feared an attack.
Jason immediately clapped his hands together, priming himself to activate Blazing Avarice and summon an item. However, he delayed selecting his option until he gained information on his opponent's strategy.
However, it was just a showy illusion.
BATTLE START
Since this was an unofficial battle, there was no notification.
Instead, the other pilot had manipulated the mana in her hands into forming the letters.
Spelling out words took very intricate control skills.
Just like how she'd made her Mech dance around, the other woman was just showing off.
Jason laughed.
"Come on, you scared me there!"
After he spoke, Jason started a little.
He was a little surprised by how lively he sounded. After all, he'd just met this other player.
The woman laughed shrilly again.
"Alright. I'll go all out then."
Jason tensed and re-activated his Blazing Avarice. He knew from first-hand experience that the crossbow pilot was ruthless in battle.
Indeed, she followed up her flashy stunt by activating an extremely powerful ability.
OVERDRIVE ACTIVATED: ENTER THE INFINITY
Jason stared at his shrouded opponent.
There was a single key question - what was under his opponent's cloak?
Enter the Infinity, the Spell Titan's Overdrive boost, had two critical advantages.
The first was a straightforward stat buff. When Enter the Infinity was activated, all of their attacks would receive a substantial damage increase for the next three minutes. Even alone, the increased striking power would have been terrifying.
However, Enter the Infinity's second effect was far more frightening.
It removed the casting cost on all a Spell Titan's abilities. They could use any number of complex techniques and combos without worrying about their mana reserves.
The buff even removed various limitations that were set on a Spell Titan's items and amulets. Phil's Mech had carried two very obvious summoning focuses - the rifles in his hands.
For example, certain curse-type attacks led to debilitating effects, but they could only be activated under very precise circumstances.
Enter the Infinity made casting those powerful abilities far easier.
Creak….
The eerie sound - identical to a swinging rusted door in a haunted house - echoed throughout the broad hallway as the Spell Titan's cloak swung open.
Jason watched carefully, but he didn't see any items that could serve as spellcasting focuses.
Instead, all he saw was the faint gleam of an enormous row of Mana Gatherer Spikes.
Due to the thick outer cloak, the enemy pilot had customized her machine to include as many of the fragile energy cores as possible. She was confident that the durable outer shell could keep the Spikes safe through all dangers.
Black smoke billowed outwards, completely obscuring Jason's screen.
Behind him, the BAG Guild gasped in surprise.
"Oh my god!"
"She's doing..."
Danny waved them off.
"Wait! Wait! Turn off your speakers and stay quiet! Go on a private channel! It's not fair for you to tell him!"
This wasn't a conventional battle like at the Good Game Shoppe. The BAG Guild was standing outside, and they could see everything that was happening.
From the sounds of it, there was a trick to the other player's attack.
However, Danny also respected the other pilot's efforts and desire for a fair battle. He wanted Jason to figure it out for himself.
The pitch-black smoke engulfed Jason completely, but he still smiled.
He wanted to win and show off!
The BAG Guild had treated him with a ton of respect, and he wanted to show that he was worthy of their admiration.
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He dismissed the Blazing Avarice again and shifted his stance.
He already knew that his partner could dig through the floors of the cruise ship. If anything dangerous happened, he'd instantly avoid the enemy attack.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
A sudden storm of footsteps echoed through the small room.
It sounded like a grand army had suddenly entered the fray.
When the smoke cleared, Jason's screen was covered with enemy machines.
Every single one of them was an identical high-leveled Ace unit.
What the hell?!
He recognized these Mechs.
The gleaming machine heavily resembled a leveled-up version of the Devoted Monk.
Like the Monk, the machine was gleaming white from head to toe and boasted the revolutionary spherical waist system that improved their physical striking abilities.
However, these machines were both broader and taller. They stood a full fifteen feet higher than the Monk's standard fifty feet tall. The Mechs' powerful chests made their upper bodies look almost triangles.
However, the most notable adjustment was their hands.
Both palms gleamed with shimmering golden energy.
Jason recognized the machine, but only from the Overdrive Corporation's many ads and brochures.
The powerful machine came with a Finisher pre-equipped.
This was the Reality Shaper - Fist of Thousands, a Paragon Martial Artist that had dropped alongside the Martial Artist Event.
The machine had appeared as a unique one-of-a-kind drop during the event. One lucky player would get to unlock it, and everyone else would have to wait until the next Reality Shaper was released.
In addition, the machine awarded its own unique Finisher to the pilot who claimed it. Acquiring the powerful Mech was already considered a special event.
The Finisher allowed the Mech to replicate its martial arts moves with enormous energy hands from the heavens. For example, if it used a punch, the hands would copy the attack on the Mech's target, striking its foe from high in the sky.
But even though the machine was supposed to be a unique one-of-a-kind Mech, Jason clearly saw hundreds of them on his screen.
What was going on?
Was this some sort of summoning or duplication effect?
It seemed completely overpowered - far stronger than the Blazing Avarice.
The machines all started attacking all at once. All of them struck a fierce martial arts pose and then made a single straight downward punch. The strike itself hit nothing but thin air, but that obviously wasn't their goal.
FINISHER: TREMENDOUS BARRAGE
FINISHER: TREMENDOUS BARRAGE
FINISHER: TREMENDOUS BARRAGE
FINISHER: TREMENDOUS BARRAGE
Jason instantly dove towards the ground, but to his shock...
His machine couldn't dig properly.
As always, the Red Minerva's claws sliced effortlessly through the red carpet, but it was simply replaced by more carpet. The floor had transformed into a strange sea of synthetic fibers. No matter how much he dug up, more swelled up to replace it.
FINISHER: TREMENDOUS BARRAGE
FINISHER: TREMENDOUS BARRAGE
FINISHER: TREMENDOUS BARRAGE
FINISHER: TREMENDOUS BARRAGE
The golden words continued flashing across his screen. Eventually, the Finisher notifications completely overwhelmed Jason's UI.
He had to dismiss his Scanner notifications just to see the battlefield.
Countless golden fists had appeared in the air. The storm of energy punches streaked towards him.
The noise of the impact was completely deafening.
The powerful golden fists instantly turned all of the room into rubble. Enormous craters in the shape of hands appeared all over the ground. Unlike Jason's attempt at fleeing, the golden energy blows had completely eviscerated the carpet.
In fact, the attack had been so widespread and powerful that even some of the Fist of Thousand Mechs had been caught in the aftermath.
Some of the machines had been chipped and dented by shrapnel. Others had been caught in the impact and were missing various limbs. The few units unlucky enough to be caught standing near Jason had been crushed flat as pancakes.
Of course, nothing had it worse than the Red Minerva.
Jason's Mech had been caught in the middle of the blast zone.
Jason's partner went crashing hard to the ground. The twin gauges that monitored her mechanical and biological health steadily dipped down.
However...
The damage was far less than it should have been.
Even though Jason had equipped his machine with the Antigone Armor, the Fist of Thousands was an extremely powerful all-out brawler.
Jason shouldn't have been able to survive more than three energy punches. And yet, his machine was still intact.
In fact, he'd barely taken over ten percent damage.
His Mech's health statistics weren't in bad shape at all.
Head: 89%
Torso: 92%
Left Arm: 97%
Right Arm: 81%
Left Leg: 79%
Right Leg: 95%
Jason's eyes narrowed.
He saw the obvious solution in less than a second.
This wasn't a summoning effect.
It was a hallucination effect.
Based on what he'd seen so far, his opponent was clearly a master of deception. She could skillfully control her Mech, and she had the crafting abilities to design powerful items like the chameleon cloak.
It was no wonder she'd been let into the Illusionists so quickly, and it was an obvious sign of the guild's overcompetitiveness and shortsightedness that they'd kicked her out.
This strange illusion attack was a classic example of The Illusionist's feared fighting style - she overwhelmed opponents by controlling their information intake.
In this case, his foe had taken it to a completely different level.
The army of Fist of Thousand Ace units did not exist.
Neither did their constant Finishers.
However, the storm of notifications, enemy machines, and flashy golden graphics had rendered Jason's screen completely and utterly useless.
The original cloaked Spell Titan was nowhere to be seen. The true hidden opponent was the one currently attacking him and the reason why his partner's health was going down.
However, the crooked machine in the cloak was relatively weak. Its extensive focus on Mana Gatherer Spikes left little room for either armor or pistons - it was essentially a Mech version of a hobbled spellcaster.
The Mech clearly lacked physical power - it seemed like all of the Spell Titan's strength had been directed into its illusion abilities instead of actual combat - but it didn't matter. No matter how physically frail the enemy machine was, there was nothing Jason could do if he couldn't perceive the enemy machine.
For all Jason knew, his Mech's vision was now in an alternative reality where the enemy Mech didn't even exist.
Fortunately, Jason wasn't restricted to his vision.
He quickly pulled up his partner's new sensory abilities.
Hearing was currently useless. The Fist of Thousand's footsteps echoed in Jason's ears. The impact of their constant attacks felt like they were about to shatter his eardrums.
In fact, all he got was a single notification.
HEARING OVERWHELMED
He entered a second command, then cursed.
She'd already thought of that.
Bright red letters flashed across his screen.
SMELL OVERWHELMED
It seemed like the enemy's illusion effect was all-encompassing. The Red Minerva was forced to smell the entire army of Fist of Thousands and couldn't detect the enemy machine.
His Mech's health kept ticking down. The parts flashed brightly on his screen as they continued taking damage.
Jason scowled as he took a look at his Mech's continuously dropping health statistics.
Head: 83%
Torso: 73%
Left Arm: 63%
Right Arm: 72%
Left Leg: 77%
Right Leg: 75%
Jason frowned.
Something was strange about those numbers.
He looked at them again, then closed his eyes and re-visualized the first damage report he'd seen right after the illusionary Mechs activated their Finishers.
He quickly double-checked his hunch, then took a look at the statistics again.
In the meantime, the enemy Mech had inflicted a little bit more damage - 1% to the Right Leg and -5% to the Left Leg with no other changes.
Jason nodded.
He wasn't sure if it was enough, but this was his very first hint on how he could win the battle.