"Try to digest it faster if you can." Compass Carburettor grunted, feeling difficulty in breathing as Grisha unleashed the healing energy on him, healing his injuries, especially his space. The good thing was the fact that her healing energy worked on his space too, even though the effect was subpar.
It still allowed him to persist without too much problems.
From time to time, he activated Directional Misalignment just to have a grasp of the locations of the three System Hosts. They were still fighting, having a tremendous energy reserve to bank upon.
After all, their abilities were subtle, energy-efficient. So, they were able to fight without trouble.
As for the Night Ranger System Host, it seemed she possessed a dimensional storage ability, allowing her to take out items without trouble. And, the number of pearls she had seemed endless as she was constantly eating them while fighting.
'Thankfully, they are still fighting.' He sighed in relief. After all, with her mutated beasts lost, the Night Ranger System Host was at a disadvantage, suffering from the attacks of the other two.
Even though they had mysterious abilities, they predominantly still relied upon the power system of the world. And, their System abilities worked in amplifying or complementing their mutated beast abilities.
This was the most energy-efficient method. Otherwise, their—the Systems—Mental Energy expenditure would be beyond what they earned. It'll become a loss-making strategy. No System ever wished to have that.
So, now that her abilities mysterious vanished, the Night Ranger System Host was in a fluster. But, it was only for a couple of seconds. Once she sensed that her space was empty, she took out three orbs from her dimensional space and consumed them.
It seemed she had a lot of reserves. Moreover, among this batch of orbs, all three were harvested from two-horned mutated beasts. So, the moment she gained their power, her strength recovered, enough to push back the other two.
After all, she was at Stage 3 while the rest were only at Stage 2. It gave her an edge during the fight. It was to note that the three mutated beasts within her space were the same bull, porcupine, and monkey.
She had prepared another set of the same abilities. After all, it was a fact that her mutated beasts could die. When she brings them out to consume the corpses of other mutated beasts was when they were the most vulnerable.
A single attack was enough to destroy them. Moreover, even when condensed as items, if the items take enough damage, they would die.
So, she had prepared a couple extra sets of the same abilities. She also had a couple other ability sets too, prepared against various situations.
When she noticed that she was unable to summon her items, she wasn't bothered with it too much. After all, when fighting Ianon and Dwun, her items did receive plenty of damage. And, since she had extra sets, she didn't think about it deeply.
As they continued to fight, she already had the intention to retreat, asking in her mind, 'System, is there any way to get them to their senses? Talking with them is ineffective.'
But like in many cases, her System chose to remain silent, causing her to grit her teeth, thinking, 'So, it won't help me beyond that. I should rely on my abilities to solve this. Dammit, if the reward for this Quest wasn't so great, I would have abandoned it already.'
Her reward was a Skill. And having obtained a couple of Skills before, she understood their value. They were the most valuable among all rewards. That was why she was trying her best all along, shouting while fighting, "Let us talk! I'm not your enemy!"
"Then, first explain the ants and this darkness." Ianon snorted, "Retract them first. Then we'll talk."
'Dammit, if I retract the curtain of night, I'll be at a disadvantage if they choose to attack me. It takes a lot of time to set it up.' She gritted her teeth, shouting, "The darkness is my ability. But I have no relationship with the ants. Besides, these ants would eat anything edible. So, there's nothing unusual about their actions."
"Then, remove this darkness first." Panting a little, Ianon said, "Then we'll talk."
"Give me a guarantee that you won't attack me," She said, "Then I'll remove it."
"Sure, do it." Ianon said, "If you prove your sincerity, I'll stop attacking you."
"What about you?" She shouted, gazing at Dwun that had been silently attacking her all along.
"I just want to fight." Dwun grinned, slamming a punch her way, "Shut up and receive my fist."
"Damn muscle head." She gritted her teeth, shouting at the teenager, "Tell him to stop."
"Dwun, let's stop fighting for now. It is pretty futile." Ianon said, alarmed as he shielded himself using his short sword, defending against a punch from Dwun, "Dwun!"
"What makes you think we are allies?" Dwun laughed, stating, "I've expressed myself from the start. I just want to fight."
'It seems I must first knock out this Dwun guy.' The Night Ranger System Host thought, targeting him first, surprised when the other party only laughed in response.
He suddenly took out three orbs from his pocket as a golden radiance swirled around them, for a moment even pushing away the blanket of darkness.
The three orbs shattered as their essences mixed, eating at one another as their various abilities fused to create a mutant of sorts. Finalised with the changes, Dwun grinned, swallowing the resulting orb, "Since my mongoose died, I haven't been at my peak fighting strength. But now…"
His other hand swirled with the golden radiance as he took out a bunch of pearls, fused them into a golden pearl, and swallowed them, grinning as the veins on his body protruded for a moment before retreating.
"Hah, this feels amazing!" He inhaled a deep breath before condensing a pair of gauntlets. He tapped each other, causing ripples of the burst element that coursed like shockwaves, causing the air around him to tremble.
Grinning, he used a Skill to lock onto the positions of the two System Hosts, "Now, I'll be able to fight the both of you."
"Brats, come at me!"
