bookpower Chapter 272: Thrown Into The Middle Of An Ancient War
Chapter 272: Thrown Into The Middle Of An Ancient War
Chapter 272: Thrown Into The Middle Of An Ancient War
Listen While Reading:
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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.
“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...
[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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