Listen While Reading: 09. The Abandoned (Battle)

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[You have discovered Floor 1’s Mission]: {Pick a Side, and Win!}

[Your group finds themselves in the middle of a war that will define the world as we know it. Yet is there all to it? Even if this is a fragment of the past, can you change it now?]

[Use your strength, intelligence, and cooperation and pick a side, and bring them to victory. Based on the number of adversaries you defeat; bonus rewards will be provided.]

[Time Limit: 24 Hours.]

The mission could be either seen as easy to do or… vague and unclear. Even less when we were considering how powerful these people were. I honestly had no idea how much these Immortals could even compare to us, even less the Venerables.

Are they in their true power or less? If this illusion is so realistic, can they truly copy even the same power level as these people? I know that master made it use her Venerable powers, but she herself is also weakened right now.

First of all, we’ll have to try out a battle and see what we can do; if they are indeed much stronger, it means they have 100% of their true power.

If they aren’t… Then we can handle this somewhat.

I do have a plan already.

“So what do we do?” wondered Zero One. “W-We have to pick a side? This is a bit confusing…”

“We must obviously choose the righteous path,” Fang Shuan said. “I believe nobody would go against the idea, right? Even less young lady Anna.”

“I agree, the orthodox faction should win,” Wai Tian nodded. “If we can change this, maybe the future floors would also change?”

“Are you implying that each floor will be a part of history?” I wondered. “If that were to be the case, then perhaps! However… Hmm.”

“I don’t really think it’s correct to choose a faction in this!” Zero One said. “Why do we need to fight? Can’t we get along?”

“I suppose a machine like you with little experience about history, war, and people’s ideals would say such a thing,” Fang Shuan sighed. “But it’s rather obvious the good side is the orthodox side; the demonic cultivators are vile monsters that slaughter people for fun and whose only goal is to become stronger just for the sake of it. They’re power-hungry psychopaths.”

“A-Are they?” Zero One wondered. “Um, I mean…”

“No, she’s right,” I said, surprising everyone. “She took the words right out of my mouth. I was going to say the same thing. Remember what the tower master said about hidden scenarios or other things? Choosing a side would be what just anybody would do, but we need to think outside the box to get the best results.”

“Outside the box?” Ying Shen wondered. “So, master, you mean we must take both factions?”

“No, we just have to make our own faction and stop these two groups of idiots from killing each other pointlessly,” I said. “After all, if my calculations are correct, eventually, we might even face the invasion of the machines. We’ll need as many immortals alive as possible.”

“T-That’s… Well, I dislike the idea of having to befriend those demons, but… At the end of the days, this is indeed a trial, and I promised to follow Master’s orders no matter what,” Fang Shuan nodded. “I shall follow your orders.”

“Me too! I like that idea better, actually!” Ying Shen smiled.

“Hah, I guess that would be something Lady Anna would say,” Wai Tian smiled. “Okay then, count me in!”

“W-Woah, you guys are really taking into consideration my opinion?” Zero One was about to cry out of the emotions she felt.

“Hey, come on, don’t start crying out of nowhere, Zero One,” I said. “We have a lot to do right now. First, we have to confront the immortals; pick one and see how strong they are. If we can handle them, then we proceed. If we can’t properly handle them, we’ll have to change plans. After all, it all depends on our own strength and what we can realistically accomplish.”

“True, I agree; let’s go with that approach then,” said Wai Tian. “Shall we begin? I detected an Immortal over there; they are recovering from having been struck down by a powerful technique, but they’re almost at their full power anyway.”

“Alright, perfect test subject, let’s go!”

Wai Tian led us through the grasslands as we heard the rumbling skies and countless explosions of many colorful techniques activating. Watching a true battle between immortals was really staggering; if it wasn’t because this was a vision with a timer, I would just sit down and eat popcorn while watching all the flashy things.

“There he is.”

Wai Tian pointed at the Immortal in the distance, probably fifty meters away from us. He was slowly standing up, cleaning his clothes from dust and dirt, as he looked up into the skies. His robes were black and red. He seemed to be a red fox-beast person, with a clearly fox-like head, sharp ears, and a long tail. His eyes were surrounded by black fur, giving him a cunning appearance.

“Damned bastards, I’ll paint this grassland red with your blood!”

He was about to rush into the skies with a single kick into the air, except he suddenly couldn’t. A blinding golden light and white flames amassed, taking the shape of chains that wrapped around his legs.

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“Wha…?!”

They were made of Hope Flames, and they were tougher than I imagined.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I smiled.

“A bald ape?!” he muttered.

Bald ape again…

Okay, he pissed me off.

“Who are you?! Let me go!”

With a furious roar, his entire body spun, generating fiery crimson flames from within, suddenly shaping into dozens of fox-like spirits made of the very same flames.

Ah sh*t, here we go…

“{Crimson Fox Spirit Arts}: {Blazing Fox Demons}!”

The foxes weren’t small though; they were at least three meters tall, and all of them rushed towards me, burning through the grass as they opened their jaws, aiming at my head, neck, and hand so I would let go of the dude.

“ROOAARR!”

Well, I got my flashy martial arts techniques too.

“{Demonic Seven Cursed Seals Arts}: {Second Seal, Sorrow}”

I controlled my emotions and let out my sorrow. Images of my past flashed through my mind, and I felt slightly depressed, but my resolve and my Heart of Hope somehow kept me much more conscious than in the frenzied states that the cursed seals made me feel like.

“{Cold Phantom of Sorrow}!”

FLUOSH!

A powerful wave of blue phantasmal energy as cold as ice was unleashed, covering all the blazing fox demons rushing my way and quickly overwhelming them with a single attack.

BOOOM!

Their bodies instantly dissipated, exploding into vapor and smoke; they were made of just fire at the end, a pretty neat sorcery technique. I have to admit he’s quite well versed in spiritual techniques.

But I have just inherited both venerable techniques, unfortunately for him.

“What?! That technique! Isn’t that from…?!”

Before he could muster another word, Fang Shuan appeared behind him, his Soul Aura surging with tremendous power. The golden statue moved his hand down. I told him not to use lethal weapons against them; I wanted them all alive.

So he used his metallic fists instead.

BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!

CLAAANK!

“Ugh! Argh!”

The fox man was pushed back; his body was much tougher than it seemed, tanking the blows that could pierce holes through S-Rank Monsters, although he still lost one fang from a punch into his chin.

“Another one?! What’s happening—ACK! And why are these chains not breaking?!”

He quickly reacted to Fang Shuan rushing towards him to finish him off, conjuring a barrier of pure flames and pushing it towards Fang Shuan.

“{Crimson Fox Spirit Arts}: {Blazing Spirit Prison}!”

“Ugh?!”

Fang Shuan was suddenly encased inside a prison made of rotating fire spirits, constantly trying to melt his metallic body.

And it was working!

“Hahaha! I knew a metallic bastard like you would melt this easily! Now-”

CRASH!

I punched his face before he could do anything else, pushing him down into the ground. His sharp claws attempted to slash me with blazing attacks, but I didn’t mind them; my armor was tough enough to resist that.

CLASH! CLASH!

“Uuuggh! Just who are you bastards?!”

As he screamed, several seals made of spiritual flames were conjured around him, rushing towards me and covering my entire body within a split second.

“{Crimson Fox Spirit Arts}: {Explosive Seals}!”

Explosive?

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Every seal stuck to my body suddenly exploded. The force of each explosion was tremendous. I felt flames engulfing my entire body as I was sent flying away for several meters. The flames easily infiltrated my armor, burning my face and any exposed area.

“Anna!”

Zero One ran towards me, panicking, only for the fox to rush towards her from behind, conjuring a dozen spears of flames and firing them against her.

“You amateurs can’t even handle a single immortal; do you think you have the guts to fight my entire faction?!”

As he laughed, the fire javelins struck down Zero One.

BOOOM!

“Hahahah- Ah?”

However, as the fox laughed, he saw that Zero One was completely fine; a forcefield made of celestial energy protected her from all damage. This was the power of my Celestial Mark: Endearing Love.

[You have activated the [Celestial Mark: Endearing Love (Rank 2)] from your weapon [Divine Dragon Slaying Heroic Sword: Reforged Gram+]!]

[As long as there’s people you genuinely love with all your heart, you can conjure a powerful barrier to protect them from most Damage for 6 Minutes each. Inside of the barriers, your allies will recover their HP and MP x20 times as fast. 35% of the damage the barriers take will be sent back at you, however. Barrier cooldown per person: 10 Minutes.]

Of course, 35% of the damage she would have taken went back to me, as I felt my body being further tormented by the blazing flames.

“Ugh…!”

However, I didn’t lose hope.

As my master said, I must never lose hope, no matter what I go through.

And of course I haven’t.

{Spiritual Healing Golden Flames of Hope}!

Golden Flames of Hope covered my wounds, healing through it all with utmost ease. The Hope Essence I had accumulated kept regenerating. Zero One had high hopes for me, and such hopes only increased the moment she realized I protected her.

“A barrier that can take on my attacks?! Impossible!”

As the fox reacted to the scene, a shadow emerged behind him; it was Ying Shen who had become shadows themselves, awaiting a sneak attack. He brought with himself Wai Tian as well.

“Wha…?!”

The fox immortal was unable to respond within the short time frame. Ying Shen moved his daggers down, unleashing a barrage of slashing attacks that unleashed waves of shadows.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH

Meanwhile, Wai Tian’s powerful claws harnessed her Ki and moved down, unleashing her [Claws of the Fiery Tigress] Skill, which created giant blazing claws.

BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!

“Uuaaaggh!”

The fox screamed in agony; his entire body was blasted completely as he fell to the ground, vomiting blood and getting half-burned and cut all over, yet he didn’t lose a single limb. Ying Shen was careful how he aimed his attacks.

“T-This can’t… Ough… This can’t be…!”

He coughed smoke and then fell unconscious.

I quickly ran towards Fang Shuan, using my hands imbued with Ki to dispel the barrier he was trapped inside; half his body had melted but quickly recovered once he was freed.

“Hah, I can’t believe he got me with such a technique; no matter how strongly I attacked, the prison didn’t break!” he said.

“Yeah, but it was laughably easy to destroy from the outside,” I nodded. “It is a technique that sacrificed defenses outside of it to make it incredibly tough inside; he has probably burned to a crisp most foes with that… Anyways, is everyone alright?”

I looked around; they seemed ok, yet Zero One felt slightly shocked.

“A-Anna! You burned all over! Are you ok?!”

“I’m fine; I can recover with the power you gave to me, Zero One.”

“Me?”

“Yes, despite being a machine, you gave me your Hope, and with that, I healed! I’m pristine now, look.”

“Ooh… such wondrous powers…”

As she admired my fair skin, Wai Tian and Ying Shen stepped in.

“You were dead weight, Zero One! Why didn’t you attack at all?! Anna had to protect you at the end,” Wai Tian was furious.

“B-But…” Zero One stuttered.

“I agree, you have to be bolder. Aren’t you a machine? Try to punch them or something; your entire body is made of hard metal, right?” Ying Shen asked.

“I… yes, I’ll try next time,” she nodded.

“Hmm…”

I think they were being a bit rough with her, but sometimes that’s also good; she has to learn to be more useful as well.

This is the perfect training ground for everyone, including her.

And I think I have an idea that could help her fight much better, actually.

“Zero One, come here,” I said.

“Huh?”

I whispered to her the idea.

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep