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Chapter 400: A Useful Item
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TAP! TAP! TAP!
Ssssss…!!
Like the sound of magma making contact with metal the sound heard coming from that entrance came with the appearance of a pair of hands.
A hand 6m in size grabbed the entrance wall on the left side wall and then pulled; followed by the right hand making that hissing noises until finally, the head with the red eyes emerged.
It was the Black Master and it was looking at those tiny demons like a giant existence of malice staring at its precious prey.
What were scary were its blank red eyes.
There was nowhere to focus your eyes on. It was an empty pair of red sockets.
—just who was supposed to be the embodiment of fear between them?!!
Even the demons momentarily forgot who they are.
TAP! ……TAP! …………..TAP!
His cadence never waned, never changed, he was as relaxed and as carefree as clear by the sound of his footsteps.
Through the darkness of the entrance, its red eyes glared with indifferent savageness, looking at the preys in front carrying with it its heartless barbarity.
And then with a low growling of a horn from Pacific Rim, it rose to its full height, 45m in size, behind its master who’s just now going out of the entrance to meet the alien greeting contingent.
Siva looked at the giant face.
One might ask: they’re enemies why the wait then?
“Hello to you too.”
{Kill him!!!}
A simultaneous cry resounded from the aliens and Siva laughed, releasing the blades and allowing the Black Master to trample all that came.
ROOOOOOAAAR!!!
BANG!!!
Bodies were crushed, sliced, and thrown in the air as every swing of its arms is an unstoppable force that trampled over its enemies.
And the blades flew like a storm inside the bluish smoke domain as Siva’s body blinked with a speed akin to teleportation within that 20m short distance, slashing and crushing all enemies that came close to him, with only the trail of the blue smoke domain following late to where he came next.
But slowly, surely, the ‘domain’ was getting bigger.
It was spreading as the battle went on.
[You only have 40 of them, sir.]
‘I’ll make it count.’
Some of these guys were pawns and are useless as materials so Siva let their bodies become diced flesh and useless trash on his wake, occupying the space in this small chamber.
{All Commanders are to release limiters now!}
BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!!! BOOOOM—!!
One explosion after another, Mana surges from a few directions erupted as Commanders entered their [released state]. Black wings erupted from the bones on their backs as their forms writhed with a kind of fire that was as black as Siva’s cursed skin.
‘This is going to be a bit troublesome.’
[Not if they intend to destroy their ship, boss.]
‘But what if they do? That bitchy-AI is crazy!’
[…]
Black lances flew and pierced in the air, the cry of wind came later as they slammed against his thick armors.
Siva was pushed back as more than forty spears of black element assaulted him at the same time.
“Ahahaha!!!” —but Siva was still enjoying it even if it’s only on the surface. He never stopped trying to provoke the enemies even as he felt endangered by their numbers himself.
BANG!! BANG! BANG!!!
Three simultaneous explosions and the space near three Commanders in three directions were swiftly engulfed in the blue smoke domain.
{Get away from that area!}
The giant face roared.
But it was too late.
With the sound of splitting air, Siva seemed to have teleported as the Black Master loomed over three surprised Commanders on one of those areas.
CRASH!!
His wings protected him but the Commander was still smashed to the floor by the sheer size of the Black Master. And with the expansion of the blue smoke domain, the blades flew and swiftly ended him, not giving him any chance to fight back at all.
‘Cortana, I saw the ventilation shafts open. Counter it immediately.’
[I’ll take care of it sir.]
Siva knew that if he doesn’t clog those ventilation shafts, it will drain his blue smoke domain and if that happens, his BMA will melt and he will lose at least 60% of his entire fire power.
With another set of explosion, the Black Master’s other hand smashed once again, and then another, and another… while Siva was dodging here and there within his 40m large domain of blue smoke.
Cortana took care of his back while he focused to controlling Black Master and smashed everything in front of him.
His killing speed numbered to 30+ every second and it’s making the giant face really mad.
{Kill him! Kill him now!!}
The giant face was frantic and it was furious as it couldn’t kill the man personally.
Still, it’s not as if she was totally useless.
Openings erupted from a few walls and from them, wires came out like tentacles grouped together into to two giant hands.
{Die!}
The two hands made of wires rushed towards the Black Master. It was Siva’s weapon that dealt much of the damages in their ranks that can be targeted so it received much of the Alien Battle-AI’s aggro.
BANG!!
A clash of power resounded with their collision!
Of what little air remained in the vicinity created an impact center that pushed everything around them backing off from the sonic sound.
The left hand of wires pressed the Black Master’s head to the floor while the other pressed its body and smashed it over and over as if it was trying to kill it by concussion. Siva laughed it off seeing this and spat out a vial of Blue Potion from the tiny gap on his helm.
With but a thought from him, the Black Master’s body liquefied and freed itself from the hold and then countered, swallowing the wires, pulling them towards Siva like a contagious liquid organism.
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And along with that, the Black Master reformed into its menacing hulking figure, now with four arms as two of which held the wire hands firmly.
“For an AI, you aren’t smart, you know that?”
Perhaps it was a complete and higher existence like Maki and Galatea, as it showed anger at being rendered immobile by Siva’s Black Master.
And perhaps… this is its first time encountering the BlackTech weaponry as it wasn’t aware that it can morph into any form as long as it was in Overdrive.
{Attack him all at once!}
Still, it didn’t mean that tying Siva’s attention for a bit isn’t helpful in a way.
The Commanders all rushed at him the same time.
Hundreds of Pawns also came to shoot plasma bursts straight at his direction.
“Tsk.” Siva clicked his tongue. These attacks were exhausting his blue smoke domain. “These ain’t cheap you bitches!”
He might have gotten them for free but it didn’t mean he’d waste them on purpose. After all, his replenishing speed wasn’t as fast as his depletion rate of resources.
The attacks came in droves and his smoke domain was shrinking at a frightening speed.
Even if he used the blades to block some of them, the plasma bursts are still numerous and came in a flurry in a seemingly endless array.
And the Commanders proved their might as well.
They threw flying spears and hand-sized bullets, a bunch of chains to tie him down, and even went as much as attacking themselves —only to be met by the blades or Siva himself as he slashed at them using his newly acquired «Lancet Imperium».
He maintained his 40m wide territory yet also built it wider, slowly, to expand its edges and fight in a bigger area.
{Kill him!}
‘This won’t do.’
He used three and still have 37 [Friable Bombs].
Cortana was maintaining the blue smoke domain but it was also depleting his stocks at a frightening pace in the current situation.
The giant female face spat out angrily but the draw between them and Siva only became noticeable as the time ticked by.
{We won’t be able to defeat him if we don’t put more power into our attacks. All pawn units, attack with all weapons and don’t think about letting it up until he dies! Sacrifice yourselves for the dignity of our Emperor!}
Because Siva’s BMA was restricted by the melting point heat of the central chamber, he had to keep the attacking range of the blades inside the blue smoke domain.
This limited his attacking range, thus the demons were given more chances to strike back at him as the Commanders were also forced to put more gas into the pedal as they attacked.
{Attack!}
With this command, Siva saw the Commanders put distance between them while he himself dealt with new hand-wires that assaulted him directly.
[This is a dangerous situation, sir. They’ve learned how to use this intense heat to their advantage.]
‘I didn’t expect for that bitchy-AI to figure things out pretty fast. Calculate their fight plans, please.’
[Calculating… countermeasures ready.]
‘Inject.’
A sharp pain assaulted Siva in the head but it was not as heavy as it was when fully accessing the limits of how much information he could upload to his brain directly when using [Focus].
After the pain, Siva became aware of 137 fight plan for his situation and countermeasures were also uploaded to his subconscious.
These ‘countermeasures’ became part of his body and mind just like that; like an insult to experiences of countless experts and masters, these simulated calculated combat situations became part of him without any kind of effort —just as how he learned how to use many kinds of weapons in a matter of mere seconds, including the martial arts of spear.
Siva promptly chose one action.
{How dare you!}
“Sorry, bitch, I won over this thing fair and square.”
He held [Lancet Imperious] in his right hand and he leaned back, putting weight to his lower body, then transferring momentum to his hips, arms, and then to his fingers that held the spear.
Cortana also attached a few things into the spear.
Of course, the BMA also helped increase his bodily stability, balance, and form... like a real Olympian of the spear throwing event he threw it straight to the giant face in the ceiling.
The wind howled as the spear broke its barrier and a crashing sound exploded as the giant face got a new hole in the middle of its brows.
{Bahahaha! Useless!}
The giant face laughed at Siva.
“Heh. Really?”
Universal rule! Never EVER look back when your enemy throws you something and it missed. The face sensed something and she looked back at the spear embedded to the ceiling above it but noticed that nothing’s happening. When she had realized her mistake, she snapped back at Siva but found him nowhere within her sights.
{Where is he?! Find him! FIND HIM!!!}
Because he was surrounded by the writhing black of the [BlackTech Overdrive Mode] and the blue smoke domain, just one instance of distraction and Siva could slip in anywhere else.
In the chaos of their battle, even if he was just one enemy and all attention should be on him, he had a giant black monster as a distraction, not to mention he was also cursed to have black smoke skin.
[This is reckless boss.]
‘You don’t say! You devised this plan!’
Even with the continued bombardment of the other Commanders, the [Overdrive Mode] and the [Omni Form Shield] made sure that Siva was protected.
And yet… he still disappeared.
—no. he was still there!
He was standing as part of the BlackTech Overdrive of the black Master like a heart in midair.
The BMA Black Knight Set was left in the middle of the battlefield, in the middle of blue smoke domain.
And Siva… he was just staring up at her, hidden in the cover of the Black Master…. naked to his ass.
As soon as she noticed the BMA was still there, it was as if she was an angry hippo, she launched set upon set of successive orders and the explosions rung as the Commanders and Pawns heeded her calls.
It was at that moment that an explosion resounded behind the giant face —10 in total— while in almost all sides and corners of the entire central chamber also received their friable bombs, immersing them in a bluish smoke domain.
{No…}
She gasped at the sight. She had seen what these smoke bombs can do once it’s ignited and it only spelled death to the people of her liege.
The Black Master let go of its hold of the hand-wires as it seemed to jump and flew in midair, and went straight towards the giant face.
The hand-wires followed it and tried to cover it in a cocoon but Siva just ignored the wires and used the BlackTech to ‘throw’ a single object towards the spear embedded behind the giant face.
It was a Spark Grenade.
The wires could make it in time and the 10 friable bombs that Cortana attached to the spear quickly spread its contents that engulfed even the face of the female alien AI.
The plasma smoke screen spread in every corner of the chamber and it even came from above.
Then the BMA’s own blue smoke domain exploded to meet the other ones that exploded around it, an entire 250+ meter wide area within the chamber abruptly, suddenly, filled with the blue smoke.
{You!!!}
“Oh shut it.” Siva curled into a ball and the Black Master also balled into a sphere that protected him.
CRACKLE!!
A snap of thunder and the flash of lightning, a loud explosion rung in the central chamber and the walls creaked and cracked as it barely held it all in; there was the trembling of the ceiling and the walls, and the hand wires focused its efforts to defend that central area from the explosion but in exchange, almost 80% of the entire forces in the area were all eradicated… in that one single snap.
Those who survived the explosion either had lost a limb or two, or had their bones broken in addition to their burnt skin if not their entire body.
It wasn’t a burning thru fire but by lightning and it’s enough to actually fry them to their brains.
With the addition of the sonic boom generated by the simultaneous ignition of around 3000 PSS grenades and the Mana-burning Killing Zone, none of the aliens were actually unscathed.
A deathly silence engulfed the place.
Siva’s sphere fell down to the floor and BMA flew at his direction, entering the sphere.
He came out on his armor, a new batch of the blue smoke domain already revolving around him and is still continuing to expand to cancel the heat.
Then he put his hand to his mouth and drank a blue potion. He can’t let himself run dry now that the fight was about to end.
All the opening shafts were ruined the wires lost its master as the giant female face disappeared.
Siva looked up, ‘As I thought, it was nothing more than just a projection.’
His gaze was locked into an area around 10m away from the spear that’s still embedded into the ceiling that was the same plasma image projector that he had seen in the hallways.
‘At least she won’t be able to know what’s going to happen in this place.’
Of course, the AI was still alive and functioning in a secret place somewhere, perhaps even inside this last chamber.
“Now then…”
Siva didn’t get this small victory get in his head and waited for a few minutes before the blue smoke domain had entirely covered the central chamber and eradicating all other hostile units while he also recovered the Black Balls from the dead, or dying, Demon Commanders.
He also made sure that no other ventilation shafts are going to open before deciding to approach the throne room after collecting the spear and all other useful resources.
A resounding voice of the bitchy-AI rung, {You will not enter this place!}
“Bitch, please. I am going to kill your emperor and I will do it without your consent.”
But instead of an angry snarl, the laughter of the AI made Siva frown.
{Ahahaha… even if you kill the Emperor here, you will only be killing his host. He was still alive out there and he is recovering his strength.}
[Boss, I’ve received news from the Grand Mansion, there is a Supreme attacking the defense team.]
{Hahaha… in the end, we will still be victorious.}
‘Is Gaia there?’
[She is, Boss.]
‘Then it should be okay. Or at least, with her being there, they could last a little bit longer even if they are facing a Supreme. Besides, Lily is also there with her. Even if they couldn’t defeat the Supreme, Lily will still make sure that Mandy can still get away unscathed.’
Lily was Cortana’s… anyways, she was born from a spark of programming from Cortana with Maki as the model. Lily was designed to be Scion’s support AI and there are certain instructions embedded on her AI data-mainframe that will ensure that even if Scion wasn’t proficient in fighting, with Lily being there, Scion’s spells and high-grade equipments will still be used in their fullest capacity.
“You are celebrating too early, bitch. Even if Baal does recover his strength, if he stands in front of me, he’s still going to be the same coward who ran away at the first sight of me.”
{The Almighty Emperor is not a coward!}
“He is… to prove it to you. Let me in.”
{Who are you fooling around, fool? I am not stupid enough to let you in and harm the Emperor. If you want to get in, you will have to fight your way over my dead body first.}
“Okay. So where’s your body?”
{Why should I tell you?}
“Then how am I going to go over your dead body if you don’t tell me where it is?”
{Why don’t you look for it in the ship?}
Siva’s face twitched. He wanted to be clever but in terms of calculations, it’s really had to win in terms of cleverness against an AI.
“Aargh… shet. That’s it.”
With a ripple on the fabric of space, the War God Axe appeared on his hand and he took heavy steps forward, smashing the thick wires that hugged the entrance to the chamber.
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