766 Trapped and Surrounded
Swish!
Swoosh!
Kaboosh!
Aronaut continued to teleport nonstop, tensed upon seeing Conjurer closing in the distance rapidly. It was apparent that the other party was gradually conjuring a way to capture them, and the further he tried to escape, the deeper he fell into the trap. And eventually…
"Shit!" Aronaut grunted in shock upon staring at an activated magic circle at the location where he teleported towards, watching it envelop him in the fraction of a second before he could react as he was teleported away.
Normally, after Slayer gained control over the entire Fantasy World, he only needed a thought to expunge Conjurer out of the world. But he didn't want that, especially since he planned to use the Main Character's strength to make it out of this situation safely.
This was why he didn't take action against Conjurer, allowing the other party to happily chase after Stencil and eventually trap them.
"Wha…?" Aronaut was shocked upon staring at a desolate world, one surrounded by millions of semi-humanoid creatures wearing technological armatures that produced torrential mana.
They had been dropped into the world created by Zaira.
"Shit, we have to leave," Aronaut said in alarm, unleashing his powers of teleportation, paling in fright upon seeing it fail to activate.
This was a world created using a million Core Skills, personally crafted by Zaira. Therefore, it was a world where getting in was easy but getting out was impossible, as that was how she designed it.
And as they were allies, Conjurer was easily able to send Aronaut and the rest into this world, trapping them there.
Unless they destroy the world, escaping it was impossible, at least with their current level of power that was still in the dimension of Grade 1 Systems.
Staring at the three individuals that had appeared in her world, Zaira—in her energy-condensed form—appeared before Conjurer, "Who are they? Why are you focused on them so much?"
"The tall man is called Aronaut." Conjurer said, "He currently has control over one of the Main Characters."
"One of the Main Characters?" Zaira tilted her head, muttering in confusion, "Did things change too much once again? I believe I had already locked the power structure of the Systems though. Even the Main Character System should be no exception to the rule."
"This Main Character is different from the norm. His Core Skill allows him to split his power to create multiple Main Characters." Conjurer said, pointing at Stencil, "She's Stencil, the Main Character's daughter, someone he values more than himself."
"Hmm…Secret Refiner and… Skill-Breaker…?" Zaira muttered as she stared at Stencil, "How strange. I have no records of these two Systems. Did she create them herself? How…"
Her eyes trailed over to Slayer, clicking her tongue in response, "Of course, give it to Gilthru to mess things up. I shouldn't have allowed him to live so long. Now my powers have spread to more rats."
"The last is this child, Gehera." Conjurer said, flinching upon sensing Zaira's anger, "She was birthed when one of Slayer's experiments went out of control. Her birth has similarities to Arnark and surprisingly, even without the Main Character System fragment in her, she's able to use her powers in other worlds without a problem. Her power is to steal the powers of others."
'Can she steal even mine?' Zaira frowned for a moment, glaring at the trio as she snapped her fingers, 'Kill them all!'
Immediately in response, the eyes of the natives shone with starlight as they leaped onto Aronaut, Stencil, and Gehera.
Their bodies resembled werewolves but were more lizard-like in terms of texture. They were bipedal creatures but could run faster on four legs and even climb over walls like a gecko.
Vastras!
Blessed with tough bodies and superior regenerative abilities, they were natural-born fighters. Moreover, they had a mana well so large that even a newborn had as much mana as a Master Warrior.
But their limitation was the lack of abilities that could harness the vast mana supply in their mana well. It was where they created Arma, a set of equipment/machinery that harnessed their mana and unleashed mystical abilities.
The Vastras at the front pointed its palm toward the trio, causing the Arma on its hands to morph into the shape of a canon. Bluish radiance condensed within its nozzle before a laser beam was unleashed.
Boom!
Aronaut erected a shield to defend against the attack, frowning in response as he eyed Stencil, "There are just too many to defend against. We'll run out of Mental Energy eventually."
Zaira was the creator of Systems, the manifestation of the System World. In her possession was an almost infinite supply of Mental Energy and all the Core Skills that had ever been created in the long history of Systems.
So, creating a world or two was akin to a morning walk for her, inconsequential. In contrast, even though they were strong, Aronaut and the group would eventually tire out facing the endless horde of enemies.
After all, Zaira could casually spam as many Vastras as she wanted.
"Aronaut, do you have dad's ability in your Relic?" Stencil asked after bringing out Anthozoa.
"Of course, Compass Carburettor gave us this form already." Aronaut said, "Though, it doesn't have any Bullet Templates. We only have the basic gun form."
"That should be more than enough," Stencil said as she looked around, "these enemies aren't strong individually. So, we only need to kill them…"
She pointed Anthozoa at the closest target, pressing the trigger as a bullet shot forth and splattered the opponent's head. A thought from her and Anthozoa sucked in enough air in a fraction of a second to condense another bullet.
It didn't even consume any Mental Energy to do so. Moreover, it was also absorbing the ambient sunlight to recharge itself, gaining energy more than what it required to condense and shoot its bullets.
Swish!
Bullets sprayed out in a torrent as corpses piled up rapidly. Aronaut had erected a transparent dome around them, one that protected them while allowing them to attack from the inside.
Aronaut and Stencil both used their respective Anthozoa to kill the Vastras nonstop.
Even though they killed thousands of Vastras within a minute, Aronaut's expression continued to pale. Staring at it, Stencil asked in concern, "What happened?"