The arrival of the third party and the entrance of the ants was too perfectly timed to be a mere coincidence.
After all, when Ianon gazed into the tunnels before, he noticed the ants squirming within, having no intentions of coming out. So, he judged that they weren't the type to participate in such a fight.
This was his misunderstanding since he had been focused on people all along, having not paid much attention to mutated beasts.
Moreover, with the intentions of separating the two fighting parties, the host to the Night Ranger System had been charging an attack that was enough to knock them out. With that, she planned to transport them to different locations.
That was enough to put an end to this unnecessary fight. But now, the situation had changed for some reason.
In the Astral Network, the Conspiracy Slayer System had been screaming about how its Host had regained all erased memories and had developed absolute distrust towards it. The moment this happened, the Mental Energy it gained had become zero.
Moreover, thanks to this distrust, it wouldn't be able to use any abilities on him ever again. After all, he was mentally on guard against it, not to mention the fact that both of them shared bodies—the System's body was completely fused into the Host's body.
A System was able to activate an ability in a different world by using a part of the Host's brain. This was only possible when the Host had absolute—or enough—trust towards it, allowing it to use a part of his/her brain voluntarily.
Through this, the System gained some functions that allowed it some freedom of action. But once the Host became guarded against their System, this was no longer possible. Unless it destroyed the Host's brain, the System would never be able to activate another ability.
This was one of the System's inherent weaknesses.
Basically, the Conspiracy Slayer System was trapped in Ianon's body, not even able to leave for the System World of its own volition. It was trapped, the reason it was in a state of fluster.
Compass Carburettor had been targeting Ianon's mind from the start. And, the plan was laid out in such a way that no matter what it did, the moment it took action against its Host, then it was its loss.
And the fact that it had erased his memories was the straw that broke the camel's neck, allowing Ianon to develop absolute distrust against it. Now, it was unable to exercise any power. Other than generating any Quests, it couldn't do anything.
Or rather, whether it was a reward or punishment, it was unable to deal out that too. Basically, it had become a sitting mascot that had no functional value, allowing Ianon to make full use of all the abilities he had obtained.
But, this also meant that he would no longer be able to depend on his System to grow, unable to obtain any new Skills or help from it.
Unaware about it, Ianon frowned, his senses alert as he watched hundreds of ants charging at him. And right at this time, the Host of Night Ranger System unleashed her ability, blanking out the place, plunging it into darkness, preventing them from seeing.
"Defend!" Ianon shouted as he riled up his abilities, joining hands with Dwun as they erected a defensive layer, defending against the attack.
It was a sword slash, one that didn't leave any traces, slick in action. The Night Ranger System's Host moved through the cover of the night, her speed rapid, her footsteps silent as she slashed at them, intending to knock them out.
That was why she used a blunt sword instead of a sharp one. But, she hadn't expected the two of them to join hands to defend her attack, shocking her.
Dwun unleashed a burst of energy that sent everything around him flying. The ants flew out like a wave while the Night Ranger System's Host skid on the ground.
Ianon focused on the skidding sounds as he condensed his short sword and sent it flying towards the target, hearing a resounding clang when his opponent barely managed to defend against it.
"How good is your detection ability?" Ianon asked Dwun while condensing his short sword once again, throwing it based on his enemy's movements.
"Don't worry. I can spot her clearly." Dwun grinned as he charged at the Night Ranger System's Host, "Lady, you seem strong. Take my punch!"
"Dammit! We aren't enemies." She cursed in response, hurriedly evading the attack when a forcefield slammed into her, sending her flying away for a couple of metres.
She shouted in her mind, 'System! What the heck is happening? Why are they attacking me? You said they were allies!'
Now, it was the Night Ranger System's turn to rage in the group, blaming the two Systems that had messed up grandly, causing its Quest to seem wonky to its Host.
It hurriedly thought up a lie, stating to her.
[Host, the targets seem to be under a mysterious influence. Even I am unable to detect what the cause is. I advise Host to exercise the utmost caution.]
'Even the System cannot detect the cause?' The lady was shocked as she sported a solemn expression, 'Then, I have to be careful. This would be the toughest battle I have faced to date.'
She was gullible, and hence didn't even harbour any doubt against her System. She was only expressing her dissatisfaction earlier. And when the System expressed that her supposed allies were under a mysterious influence, she believed it immediately.
After all, that was what was happening in reality. She was being attacked by those that she came to save.
As they were fighting, Compass Carburettor entered a tunnel, condensing his pair of boots as he took in a deep breath. Followed by an exhale, his figure flashed, not stopping for even a moment as he flickered nonstop towards the Night Ranger System Host, arriving underground to her position, shouting mentally, "Go!"
"Be careful, uncle!" The cobra said as its figure vanished, arriving within the Night Ranger System Host's space. It then noticed three mutated beasts there, their figures occasionally vanishing whenever she summoned them to use.
Unlike Dwun, she was swallowing the pearls one after another to unleash their effect.
"All of you are my meals!" The cobra shouted before pouncing upon the three mutated beasts.
