Chapter 52

Looking at the mess I made, I decided to do a quick cleanup. It was really a toxic place.

Well, I'll reabsorb everything. Ehh... Those strong folks, I'll leave them to someone else to deal with.

I didn't see them! Nope.

I could faintly make out the shapes of the tanks from the way my clone bodies grew. This made locating mana cores quite easy. I quickly merged with my plant bodies and took the mana used to operate those tanks. Though, it would be really cool to drive a tank, it was just too slow. If I wanted to, I could probably operate a tank remotely with clones inside but it just wasn't worth my effort. In addition, I would have to be near it because my clones had no ability to see.

The entire process of reabsorbing most of my clone bodies was done within a few short minutes. It was fast because the clones were basically absorbing themselves which normally didn't make sense. It was like deconstruction and storing the parts away in an invisible space.

A few remaining clones scattered around. They were left to continuously produce poisonous gases to fill up this entire place.

The result of this clean up raised me to level 57. Half of the gains was probably due to my use of synthesis to grow and the other half related to kills and or spiritual stats absorbed. Absorbing mana from non-living things probably didn't count towards levelling up.

Anyway, I didn't bother looking at the dreary scenery as I rushed up one of the five tunnel branches. I picked the one to the left because that was where most soldiers were fighting back the fiercest. They also had reinforcements arriving from this tunnel but they had all since retreated without much resistance.  

There's no escape! The hunter becomes the hunted! Ahahaha... I'm coming for all of you!

As my level had increased, so did all my stats. Although some stats weren't visible to me, my flying speed had certainly increased a bit.

I smiled with delight.

There was no mercy for invaders.

I charged at full speed along with a huge swarm of poisonous needles and darts. I was filled with so much excitement that I could hardly contain. Perhaps I was just having too much fun.

Hah, I've been tainted with bloodlust. Oh wells. It's kill or be killed. If I think of this as a game, it isn't so bad. How about considering this an after breakfast workout?

I miss breakfast...  

Was I evil or on the side of justice? I didn't know. I killed so many without a hint of remorse. Even though I used to be a human, I felt no compassion towards them.

None of the poisons I possessed were strong enough to keep anyone asleep for prolonged periods of time. Hence, I'd been using lethal poisons since I began this solo task.

A war without casualty was just a pipe dream. Reality was different. Unless a god descended and intervened, people died. Thinking about it differently, I was just sending them to heaven or hell earlier. A painless death should be considered a blessing!

God, I'm not your lackey, but I'm letting it slide this time!

Soldiers left and right fell one after another. Those who were equipped with mobile suits or hidden inside tanks took a bit more effort on my part.

Wherever I passed, death ensued with only minor exceptions, the exceptions being either powerful warriors with outlandish abilities or traits and those capable of using defense or utility magic.

Magicians are annoying to deal with. Ghuhhh...

"Devil! You shall proceed no further," a hulking man declared while blocking my path.

I somehow ended up being surrounded after leaving too many exceptions alive. Since I had basically accomplished my mission by disrupting the enemy's invading force, no one would blame me if I went offline for a bit, right? I needed a break.

"I'm no devil! I have a name which doesn't concern you punks. I'm a godsend reaper, you know?! Yield or face the wrath of the strawberry fey!" I stated proudly, puffing my non-existent chest.

There were four in front and behind me along this narrow tunnel. They had casted barriers around themselves to prevent themselves from getting poisoned. And, around me, they had casted a barrier and somehow trapped me inside. I couldn't teleport even if I wanted to. All of my spatial abilities were restricted, preventing me from using abilities to communicate with the outside.

Teleport block? Fantasy world at its finest I suppose.

As if ignoring what I just said, one of the men said, "Your evil deeds shall not go unpunished."

"Hatto, don't waste your words on this devil. Just look at its disgusting form, pure evil. As expected, fey is born to cause terror in this world." A man in black mobile suit spat. He was probably one of the leaders or some powerful person. Regular soldiers didn't have these rare mobile suits.

"Heyy... Wait, I'm not disgusting. I'm pretty, okay?" I retaliated against his awful remarks.

"Typical devil, trying to charm us with words. It's not going to work on us, you creep. Your sin is your existence. Once we slay you, we'll go after all your other bodies. We'll destroy the root of evil that you are."

"Wait, wait! I'm vetoing that! You invaded our land and killed innocent people. I fought to protect my country, so you're the evil ones! You're the monsters!"

"This devil, trying to twist everything. The edicts of the Hero King is justice. We are cleansing the land of those animal filth." He replied indignantly.

Somehow they still haven't attacked me yet. Perhaps this barrier also prevented them from attacking me. I tried to think of ways to get me out of this mess.

I wonder if I can use [absorption] on the barrier?

The moment my finger touched the barrier, I got zapped. My finger wasn't burnt or anything but the pain was there.

"Owie..."

The barrier on the other hand flickered before returning to its original state.

It works? Maybe? Let me try again.

I wasn't the only one who noticed it. The people surrounding me were horrified when they saw that I was able to affect their magic barrier, probably super advanced magic barrier.

"Blasphemy!"

"It's trying to escape!"

"Shut up, you're too loud!" I shouted angrily, startling them.

I'll shatter your stupid barrier. How dare you trap me!?

I cocooned myself within thin threads of vines, and quickly expanded them just before touching the barrier. Then, I immediately activated [absorption] the moment my cocoon touched the barrier. I might not be able to destroy the barrier, but I could remove the source upholding the magic barrier and that was mana.

"Don't let it escape! Seal!"

Right after one barrier was shattered, more magic barriers were erected around me. They had some super fast casting speeds, not sure if mobile suits had anything to do with that. Anyhow, my eyes only managed to catch a few magic configurations, something like magic circles.

First it was a fiery cage, perfect counter to plant life which vaporized my cocoon in a flash. Since my spatial abilities were still limited, I knew that another barrier was around us blocking my ability to teleport. It really was annoying. It was probably the outer barrier that surrounded everyone here.

Fire cage, electric cage, what else... I wonder if my |enhanced resistances| trait can nullify some of it.

Psst. Psst. Psst.

Three gunshots penetrated my body. Because how small body was, I took extensive damages in my arms and leg. A surge of excruciating pain reminded me of the time that hunter tried to dismember me.

If I died here, I wasn't sure if I could revive with |parallel bodies| when space was possibly severed. Moreover, I had never died once before so I had no grasp of that ability. I didn't want to gamble. Right now, I was holding onto too much resources within gourmet from earlier.

I slowly increased my size via [transformation] to lessen the effects of incoming damages.

Smoothie's plant body parts were within me and they had been damaged. I didn't know what effect my [transformation] had on them and I had forgotten about it when I shrunk my body. In the worst case scenario, they too had been absorbed leaving only a minute amount stored in this fey body. To think they would go on a hunting trip to kill the rest of my plant bodies after this was unacceptable.

Never again.

I had to break out of this encirclement and escape as soon as possible. If I died, everything stored in |gourmet| might be lost.

Let's do this. Let's use it all up. I have more mana than all of you combined. Let's see who lasts longer in a battle of attrition. [Conglomerate], unleash everything into [synthesis].

While I resolved myself, I continuously covered myself with plant matter as these humans attacked relentlessly. Ice magic, fire magic, earth magic, none of them could penetrate my defenses because each time my defenses took damage, another layer of plant matter would blanket over it. Since I was enclosed in multiple layers of thick barriers, those humans could not attack my fey body physically.

They probably didn't want to get too close to me either. That kind of worked in my favor in this current predicament of mine.  

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