章 7: Chapter 7: A Strong Teammate
What's going on?
Why is the hidden main storyline being triggered?
Also,
What is this "Escape and Kill Mode"?
The sudden change of events made Leonard Churchill immediately suspect that he was being kept in the dark about something.
But upon a quick sidelong glance at his temporary teammate,
He immediately dismissed this suspicion.
Even if she was wearing a gas mask, the tremor of the mechanical arm girl's body in that brief moment clearly indicated her extreme shock at this sudden change.
It turns out Leonard wasn't the only one who was surprised, his teammates are as well.
....
This mysterious invasion is essentially just giving the monster some kind of rage buff. The most obvious sign is the notice above the witch's head changing from a B-grade catastrophe to an "A-rank".
The strength of its spiritual domain seems to ripple like a stone being dropped on a calm surface, causing waves of unseen ripples to spread across the room.
Visibly, its strength has greatly increased!
This has multiplied the difficulty of hunting the creature, which until moments ago seemed like smooth sailing for both of them.
While Leonard was able to maintain his composure just a moment ago, now, facing this evolved catastrophe, his mind feels like it's been clobbered by a blunt weapon.
Various danger warnings keep flashing.
The data on the attribute panel is dropping rapidly.
Death is closer than at any other moment.
Leonard doesn't understand what this change in disaster level means.
But his teammate obviously does.
The girl with the mechanical arm became acutely aware of the creature's power and cursed under her breath, "Damn it, how did it turn into an A-rank mutant?"
Almost at the same moment her mutant power surged, invisible waves of energy from the Calamity Witch broke the spell chain which had been tightly bound.
The barrier couldn't hold the monster back!
However, the bad news doesn't stop there.
The cards in the mechanical arm girl's hand disintegrated as the barrier collapsed. While recovering from the backlash, a red whip shot towards her.
"Smack!"
She couldn't dodge it, and the whip struck her.
Alarmed by the whip, her cloak disintegrated instantly and the whip affected her chest as well.
The strength of this whip was colossal, it directly hit and deformed the metallic mechanical exoskeleton on her chest, leaving a bloody wound.
A mouthful of blood gushed out,
And the girl was flung away.
With a "thud", she heavily hit the wall.
Looking again, the red whip was actually a centipede-like tail protruding from the monster's body.
At this moment, the Fallen Witch Sect member had completely transformed into an unexpected monster form. Not only did it have a giant bloody mouth, it had also grown a centipede-like tail and four spider-like elongated legs.
...
As she spat out a mouthful of blood, the lenses of the mechanical arm girl's gas mask turned red, obstructing her vision. She quickly pulled off the mask, gasping for air.
But as Leonard had guessed, she was young. Although a blood-soaked scarf obscured her mouth and nose, making it difficult to see her face, the tight skin around her eyes and her finely arched brows, coupled with a pair of profound black pupils, imparted a sharp and spirited look.
Now that the Fallen Witch Sect member had completely transformed into a monster, her combat power increased significantly.
It recognized the human behind it posed a considerable threat, and its hatred was instantly redirected.
After flinging the mechanical arm girl with its tail, the monster no longer disregarded Leonard as its "prey". It moved swiftly on its four spider legs. Despite its heavy body, its speed was extremely fast, and the razor-like spider spear was thrust forward in the blink of an eye.
The girl with the mechanical arm glared coldly, her hand pulling the trigger of the steam pressure cannon on her right arm.
A muffled "bang" rang out, and white steam immediately filled the entire room.
In the foggy silhouette, the giant body of the monster was sent flying by the high-pressure airflow.
However, the sight of the monster being blown into bloody pulp by the previous blast was nowhere to be seen.
The girl's pupils constricted tightly as she keenly caught on to this detail.
Reacting quickly, she took advantage of the recoil to take a big leap back, drawing several cards mid-air.
Whistling sounds of the wind being cut through soared past.
The three cards that were thrown out in a trident-like formation instantly transformed into three swirling wind blades, slicing into the fog.
Leonard, not far away, was also quite surprised by what he had just seen.
They were clearly just a few cards, but while flying they morphed into wind blade throwing knives?
His thoughts whirled.
"Clang!"
"Clang!"
"Clang!"
Instead of slicing sounds, it was as if the sounds came from contact with metal. Immediately, the girl's face turned pale.
Still yet to catch her breath after landing, flickers of a fatal crisis were already upon her. She instinctively attempted to dodge.
However,
Despite such a rapid response, she was still too slow!
Almost the moment she tried to jump out, a shadow suddenly shot out from the mist again.
The girl didn't have time to dodge. With a "Crash" sound, the centipede tail destroyed her magic shield and sent her flying into the wall again.
This whip was even stronger than the previous one!
The girl felt a pungent smell in her throat and couldn't help but spat out another mouthful of blood.
As the mist dissipated, the monster had changed again.
Now, its body was surrounded by a ripple-like spiritual field, and its body was covered in scale armor. On the centipede tail, three light cut marks could be seen, indicating the traces of the Wind Blade Card's attack.
Completely unharmed?
Even an A-ranked catastrophe wouldn't achieve that!
Catching a glimpse of this, the girl with the mechanical arm changed her expression. Struck by an unbelievable realization, she exclaimed, "Secondary Mutation! How is it possible to occur on a First Tier disaster!"
....
The girl with the mechanical arm was seriously injured after the second strike.
The favourable situation suddenly took a downturn, and they were on the brink of annihilation.
No one expected the situation to turn out like this.
Leonard, who had been flung onto the bed not far away due to the shockwave from the steam cannon, crashed heavily into the corner of the wall.
Luckily, this corner was safer.
And the monster's attention was attracted by the young girl. Leonard Churchill, albeit dazed from the fall, had managed to regain his senses and control of his body under such abnormal mental state. He calmly observed the two combatants.
The monster easily broke free from the long-established barrier, evidently possessing overwhelming combat power.
Without any other methods, the two of them were almost certainly doomed.
However, Leonard didn't believe that his temporary teammate only had methods that were visible to the eye.
Looking at the teammate who had been knocked flying and spit blood twice, he muttered to himself, "If there's a trump card, it's time to use it."
From the beginning to the end, the mechanical arm girl had only demonstrated the power that she allowed others to see.
However, something in his gut told Leonard that she was concealing her capabilities.
As for Leonard himself, even in such a crisis, he remained incredibly calm.
Fear?
If death is destined, those negative emotions that only affect thinking were redundant for him.
...
Sure enough!
At this desperate moment, there was absolutely no room for hesitation.
A flash of fearlessness disappeared from the girl's eyes, as if to make a decision, she softly yelled, "Release!"
Leonard's pupils constricted sharply.
After the quiet yell, as if some mysterious power had been released, the room temperature plunged.
He knew that his teammate had made a big move at this moment.
At the same time, accompanied by a "pop", the witch's whip lashed out for the third time.
With even more speed than before!
It was obvious that this monster, influenced by the enlightenment mentioned earlier, was becoming more powerful.
However, what happened next was startling.
The whip moved so fast it left a fanned shadow, but the blood-stained girl showed no panic and no intention of evading.
She raised her hand casually, and the centipede-like whip stopped a foot away from her palm.
As if an invisible force field swirled around her palm, she gripped down harshly, and the tail was like a snake caught by the neck, struggling fiercely but unable to escape.
Looking again, the mechanical arm girl's momentum suddenly changed.
The silver hair on her head swept back naturally, a chilly aura surrounding her body as if a frosty field, blocking the corrosive acid liquid sprayed by the monster.
A transparent peculiar phantom flickered behind her.
At that moment, she seemed like a demon god descending.
Leonard just glanced out of the corner of his eye, but it was enough to feel as if observed by a demon god, his scalp tingling as he recognized her strength.
He wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but he felt that his teammate, at this moment, exuded an energy that was more demonic than the witch.
...
The aura of his temporary teammate changed abruptly, suddenly becoming unfathomable.
Leonard wasn't surprised at all. He contemplated, "The materials required by the witch must include some spiritual-type ability. But what is it, telekinesis? Even the ice power is no ordinary chill..."
He had always been curious. Despite his high mental strength, he was still being affected by the monster, but his teammate seemed to be just fine.
If it was not the effect of the resistance brought by the equipment, it must be very high mental strength that was immunizing her from the spiritual contamination that the witch was constantly spreading.
Now it became clear that she had tremendous mental strength.
Regardless of the mechanical equipment, cards, melee skills she had shown before, they were all just a disguise. Her real cards were her superior mental strength and ice abilities being seen now.
"No wonder she's been so mysterious, this ability is pretty recognizable."
Although Leonard didn't know much about this world, from her manifestation it was obvious that such an identifiable ability couldn't be common.
However, she chose to keep it hidden, indicating her identity might have something to hide.
However, now wasn't the time to contemplate over this.
The mechanical arm girl, her momentum suddenly changing, no longer evading the monster's whip. Instead, she punched forward with her concentrated cold air, launching a frenzy of attacks on the monster.
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
"..."
The room resonated with the sound akin to a bell ringing.
The girl, undaunted by the spiritual contamination, her fists wrapped in frost flames, slammed into various parts of the monster's body.
With each punch, a large area of the monster's armor was frozen, forcing the monster to retreat step by step.
However, being a top-tier Disaster, under such restriction, there was no chance of winning anytime soon.
Watching the battle from the corner, Leonard mused to himself, "It seems like something's still missing."
He had thought that his meager combat strength would not be needed, but looking at the current situation, he needed to do something.
...
The concept of "Disaster" in this world roughly equates to a boss level.
Considering the silver-haired girl was going head-to-head with an A-rank Disaster, it was clear she stood out amongst her similar ranks.
However, it was clear it was not enough.
The Fallen Witch was a spiritual monster, its melee abilities weren't strong.
But its shell was very hard, which made it difficult to kill.
Even though the girl was having the upper hand, it would still take some time to determine the outcome.
None of these were key issues.
The problem was the battle between them was causing a great deal of disturbance.
And there was not just one monster in this alternate dimension.
Sounds of gunfire came from outside the door. Somebody must have encountered other monsters.
This can't go on any longer.
With that thought, Leonard decisively made a decision.
He reached out his hand and gestured like he was holding an imaginary gun.
Obviously, his teammate noticed it.
...
But in the bottom of the mechanical arm girl's eyes flashed a trace of disbelief: Could this guy be of any help?
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