Berrigious didn't bother to answer, instead going red with rage. Or rather, a deeper shade of his already pink color. He pointed towards Sam with a trembling hand and the robots charged him. Three of them stayed behind, charging up attacks with their weapons. The blocky pistols went off with muffled whooshes and the energy beams streaked across the street, artfully going through holes in the other robot’s formation. This created the effect of what looked like a wave of death coming across the street, that was if the death was moving so slowly that it could be outrun by the average sloth. At least, it appeared that way to Sam with his new threshold. Despite the fact that Strength really only should have increased the posesser’s actual strength, it seemed to have a range of benefits across the board. They were pretty hard to describe, but apparently faster reflexes were one of them. Maybe it was just his ability to propel his body at greater speeds. There was a strange interplay between his stats, and some of them seemed to boost the others. Strength and Dexterity when used in unison allowed for the effects of the latter to be boosted to a greater degree.
As the robots came in, Sam got ready and he drew his mace. For this situation, he decided to use an attack called Raging Waterfall from his weapon style. He had never seen it in actual action, but he knew how to use it. As the robots came in, Sam jumped up and began to imbue his weapon with his mana. This technique called for maximum saturation, so he made sure to pump it as full as he could go. As his supply bottomed out, the weapon reached full saturation and it was almost impossible to look at; it was so bright.
As he came down, his mace formed a trail of light in the air, almost looking like a waterfall. His weapon style had been created by someone far stronger than him, so when it was originally used, it was saturated with Water elemental energy, creating a real waterfall in the middle of the attack, but for this mana would work fine.
It landed on the head of one of the robots, threatening to detonate. Rather than letting it do so, Sam only allowed a tiny amount of the energy to dissipate and enter the body of the robot, letting the rest stay in the weapon. For this attack to work, each robot would have to be struck with the same amount. This extremely bastardized form of the attack was nowhere near its original structure, and in the real attack the mana conservation was meant to conduct mana throughout the entire deluge of water, but in this situation Sam had to make do with this. The robot crumpled underneath the strike, pancaking on the ground with a metallic clang. The other robots tried to prepare, but Sam instantly flowed into the next attack, caving in the chestplate of one of the other bots. It flew backwards into the other robots, causing a domino effect that sent them tumbling across the ground. In the background, Berrigious raged and the ranged robots prepared for another shot. The robots were actually quite powerful, but compared to Sam and his ability to intelligently use his power, they were like wheat before the scythe. He made quick work of the other robots and was making his way towards Berrigious when a sudden pressure crashed down on him from the direction of Berrigious. The hologram started to flicker out, but it had time for a few words.
“Under the terms and conditions of the contract that you signed, you are to not move for-” the connection cut out at the last moment, leaving Sam completely stuck. He tried to struggle, but it was no use. It was like he was rooted to the spot by the force of gravity, inexorable and irresistible.
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He waited there for minutes, but then the force inexplicably lifted. With a chuckle, Sam realized what had happened. The hologram of Berrigious had used up too much energy in enforcing the decree of the contract and had been ejected from this universe, or whatever it was that holograms resided in, and was not able to complete the command. Because of this, some inbuilt safety feature kicked in and enacted the contract, but only for a certain amount of time. If that had not been the case, the outcome of the command would have been far more unpleasant.
He started to run towards the arena, seeing streams of robots pouring out of the building. Inside the roars of the crowd told him that the tournament was still in full swing. That was a good thing as there would be no distractions for him when he got inside the building.
As he approached the front line of the robots, he tensed his leg muscles and leaped over them, landing amidst the next ground. His mace rose and fell like a meteor, smashing the bots into piles of metal. His mace flashed out around him as he ran, but there were too many of these robots for him and he began to flag. Roaring in exertion, Sam tried to press forwards, budging the robots by a small amount, but it was futile. They had moved into a position that allowed them to form a wall in front of him, and now they were closing in, trying to crush Sam between their metal bodies.
Sam tried to jump up again, but a hand grabbed his foot, stopping him. Instead, Sam fell over forwards and onto the robots where they began to lay into him with their fists. The only good thing about this was that they were too tightly packed to use their ranged weapons, which would have been a hassle for Sam to deal with. Sandwiched beneath hundreds of robots, Sam began to despair. There seemed to be no way out, and the clone of Berrigious would likely reform soon, this time commanding him properly. He didn't know why the robots were not trying to kill him, but he suspected that the pink alien who controlled them had plans for him. Plans that he did not want to help enact.
Within him, his Daos struggled to flare into prominence, but they were too far removed from him for him to feel his presence. It was just as well, as using them in their current state would cripple his cultivation until his death. The detonation of a Dao within a body made for some interesting, but also highly disturbing injuries. The least of which was instant organ rupturing. The half body half soul space that a Dao resided in was a volatile area, torn between its two realities, and if anything happened in there that was dangerous, it would affect both halves of a person’s being as well. Sam did not, and had no reason to know this yet, but soul damage was a very real thing the more powerful a cultivator got. For now, he searched for a way out of his predicament.
The weight was growing heavier and heavier, and if he didn't get out soon, he would die despite the robots not intending it. They were only following orders after all and such basic robots had no way to tell the difference between something being alive and dead. They followed their order to the letter, which was to stop Sam at all costs.
Now that Sam was in a situation where his strength was useless, he would have to find another way out. Ever since he had discovered his class, he had slowly gained points into Intelligence and thus into his mana pool. That was a potent source of energy, but he was not well versed in its use, only knowing how to imbue it into his weapons. There was no space in here to use it like that, and because the robots were already in contact with his skin, he couldn't use his shield ability either. His skin was beginning to tear under the strain and his bones creaked ominously. Gritting his teeth, Sam dived into his mana pool.