Chapter 55

After stealing precious condensed mana from those tanks in the city, I made my way to the inner city entrance, the one I was familiar with. Unbeknownst to me, an ashen stone gate, one that I didn't know existed, stood in the way.

I only saw a gate from the inside so I had no idea there were other gates outside.

Hordes of humans gathered around the entrance after having defeating majority the city defense troops stationed on the surface.

Such a nice looking gate.

A circular spell was cast upon the gate by a nobly dressed mage. From what I could tell, there weren't many human mages. This meant that this mage wasn't a nobody from a remote village and likely a major talent.

That magic, if I remember correctly, it weakens earth and rocks.

Boom! A man with a glowing prosthetic arm punched the gate. Then, a thin, barely noticeable crack appeared on the gate.

[Level 47 Mortal;

Species: Human;

Physical: 325/325;

Spiritual: 124/142;

Traits: Ruthless, Canny, Iron Will, Enhanced Physical;

Abilities: Harbinger, Hunter, Destroyer;

Description: A common mortal.]

You can't be serious! Humans can be that powerful? Not even level 50? Those abilities and traits. Damn. To be honest, they all look like traits to me. Humans can be such cheats.

There were five of them standing out from the crowd. They were dressed differently from the regular soldiers in that they had black uniforms instead of dark grey uniforms.

Most of the people there were looking towards the mountain with their backs to me.

Out of five special soldiers, two were looking at my direction, ready for combat. One of them had an extravagant recurve bow. The other had a black staff topped with a black sphere in his hand. From what I could feel, there was likely a mini mana core inside or some type of mana or magic crystal.

An archer and a mage? Why not use rifles? Even that punch man has one. You think you're some kind of fantasy heroes or something? You're not! If you're heroes, that would make me a demon lord? Right? Not happening.

A boom echoed.

A man with prosthetic legs landed a fly kick before the gate completely shattered. He too had similar status along with a powerful modifier trait |enhanced physical|, and a powerful ability, [destroyer]. If I had to guess, his |enhanced physical| probably enhanced his leg strength. That ability was probably acquired through special training.

The fifth person was in a full body mobile suit. Unlike the ones I had seen before, this mobile suit was completely mechanical, covering every part of his fleshy body. The suit had two pairs of mechanical wings, super futuristic looking. On his shoulders were mounted rifles. In addition, a great sword was attached behind his back. Because of the mobile suit, the fifth person was a few heads taller than the rest.

Oh my gosh, which era are you from? Such coolness doesn't fit you. Screw those useless tanks, I want that outfit! I'm stealing it. Finder keepers.

Regardless, once I captured them, they were as good as dead. My abilities were basically super cheats in a nutshell. Unless they were overwhelmingly more powerful than me or had made extensive preparations, I couldn't be taken out.

First, I need to clear out those soldiers in the way. It's nothing personal, really.

There was one thing I wanted to try but the cost of resources wasn't going to be cheap. That wasn't really the main concern. I was concerned that my efforts would get wasted if that mage could cast barriers to deflect my attack. So far the two hadn't taken any actions yet but that could change depending on my actions.

How should I approach them? Guh... I wish I had transformed myself entirely into a human looking girl. It's too late. It would be strange for a beautiful elf girl to be playing around here. Can I charm them? I don't know.

I'm sure they're all super lustful to be coming after my furry friends. Not! That just sounds wrong.

Actually, I knew. If I really wanted to blend in from the get go, I would have had to transform myself into a human soldier, and a man at that. That was a no go. My trait would automatically make me look beautiful, and that would make me a pretty boy? I wasn't interested.

I didn't wish to adjust my appearances. Changing colors was fairly easy. Removing and re-growing wings was not difficult. Adjusting my physical size was slightly uncomfortable but doable. As for my facial features, I had never seen it. Given how cute Smoothie was, I must be absolutely gorgeous like a goddess! Changing it was equivalent to giving myself a plastic surgery. I didn't have a mirror here so if I messed up, I could get super ugly! Well, not really. The cookie wasn't worth the risk, except there was no cookie to gain in this case.

I guess I'll just use conventional method, guerilla warfare? Maybe?

To avoid the direct gazes of the archer and mage, I slid into a back alleyway. Although I had |escapist|, I couldn't be sure if it was absolute. Earlier, the way I was caught in a pincer move by those eight might have been a coincidence but I couldn't be too neglectful. Therefore, I figured it was wiser to take greater precaution since I was still quite uninformed on abilities and traits.

For example, perhaps there was a |strategist| trait that allowed commanders to see everyone under their commands. By understanding and knowing the movements of these troops, one could potentially pinpoint the location of the enemy. That was just hypothetical.

Actually, just earlier, I noticed I gained a trait called |tactician| after going through transformation. Perhaps I missed it earlier because of how many how many traits there were. Anyway, it didn't seem to do anything, at least not yet. I probably wasn't using the trait properly.

Anyhow, I had to get move on. Door to door fighting had mostly ceased by this point. The underground tunnels now was also likely unusable. Many of them were  already collapsed by the beastfolks to prevent further invasions.

I'm starting to hate this. I don't like thinking these stuff. 

As I was about to get depressed, a magitech ship crashed into a residential building just ahead of me.

They're still not done up there?

Suddenly, an idea came to me.

Oh right! Let's test that new trait. Eheheheh...

I hid inside a storage facility nearby and began manufacturing a hundred of mini fighter jets. Each was half meter in length. All of them were fully armed just like before. Although they didn't need wings because of my fey magic, wings made them look really cool. Aesthetics was important!

First, I sent out five of them in separate directions.

Please, |tactician| trait, be useful!

As if the trait had heard my prayer, I began receiving visual signals in my mind. It was something like a mesh wire world where I could see things even outside of this room. As long as they were physical objects within a certain proximity to me or my clones, they were visible to me. However, clarity was lacking for objects that were below a certain size or that the details were too great. Moreover, distance also played a major factor. For example, if there was a mouse, it would only show up as a spheroid instead of its full bodily features. If it was sitting next to me or my clones, I would probably see majority of its details.

Quite useful. Super useful! Mm. Strawberry Spy! That sounds super cool. Eheh. 

Psst. Agent Berry reporting in. No abnormalities, targets sighted at 12 o'clock. Psst.

Psst. Let them taste fire and fury! Psst.

Psst. Aye, Agent Berry out. Psst.

Yep, that was me playing radio with myself in my mind. I just couldn't help it. That was probably not how real spies operated. I was never part of such organizations but a little fun wouldn't hurt.

Onto the serious stuff, with more fighter jets launched, I could see so much better. It almost seemed like a super cheat trait since I could now even see underground structures. Everywhere where I had clones planted, I was receiving visual information.

Now, I could actually see Smoothie studying in the library. She wasn't slacking off or snatching snacks for herself.

How diligent!

Furthermore, I was now having a much easier time managing the movements of each clone. It was like I was giving them commands just like a war strategy game.

A few S-16's were lost shortly after they took off.

Huh... Who is it?

I checked my visuals.

Ah, found you now. You can run but you can't hide. Mwuahahaha...!

Immediately after I found the perpetrator, his life was forfeit per the usual method.

Thank you for the meal.

As I started picking off sneaky snipers hidden within the city, a squad of around five hundred soldiers came rushing toward my location posthaste.

You're offering me free small fries? How generous of you...

It only took about a minute before all of them were gunned down. A regular army was literally ineffective at taking me down right now.

I'm in a different league now. You guys need to get on my level.

Meanwhile, another gate at the entrance had been blown apart.

If I kept playing around, there wouldn't be any gates remaining to keep that army of human soldiers out of the inner city.

blanksphere