BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING QUAKESTRIKE?!"

"SHUT UP MOMENTUM!"

"Dreadnought, help the others!" Momentum said.

Dreadnought charged at Erik like a human tank, her body as hard as a diamond, yet moving with surprising agility.

"Stickyfingers, do your job!"

Stickyfingers touched the ground, and in response, sticky tendrils sprouted from the floor around Erik. They moved like serpents in the grass, slithering and coiling, seeking to ensnare him in their grasp.

However, he jumped, avoiding the first batch of attacks.

Dreadnought was still charging. "Gotcha!"

Though Erik nimbly sidestepped the attack, leaving Dreadnought confused. However, the battlefield was far from clear.

Stickyfingers was at work again, her touch causing tendrils to sprout from the ground, seeking to trap Erik in their adhesive grasp.

Inkblade joined the fray, his ink swirling into existence, forming additional tendrils that lunged towards Erik with lethal intent.

Erik's eyes darted to the inky tendrils springing up from the ground, their pointed ends gleaming with deadly intent.

With a burst of adrenaline, he sprang into action. His body twisted and turned, weaving through the maze of lethal ink with deft agility, but he was having trouble. The Blackguards had a ton of mana, not even with his massive stats. He couldn't avoid every single attack they had made.

This, coupled with the number of people attacking him, pushed him in a pretty serious situation.

Each tendril that shot up was met with a dodge, a swift sidestep, or a timely leap that was possible only thanks to Hais's brain crystal power.

At the same time, Phantom phased through the tumultuous chaos. She zeroed in on Erik, her foot swinging in a precise arc aimed at him.

Erik parried the kick, but the force of the blow sent him hurtling backward towards a wall.

Mid-flight, Quakestrike seized his chance. He generated a powerful vibration that rippled through the air, creating an invisible shockwave that slammed into Erik from behind. Then it stopped him from crashing into the wall. However, Quakestrike's vibration was far from not harmful.

"UGH! Fuck!"

Despite the pain, Erik harnessed the energy sent by Quakestrike, propelling him, flipping his body to land on his feet.

"What the fuck is this guy made of?" Quakestrike asked in shock.

This was the first time someone survived one of his attacks. Erik had tanked them as if they were nothing, and even used the energy to land on his feet again.

"Less talk!" Momentum said.

As soon as he landed, Erik dodged another of Dreadnought's charges, his senses strained to their limits. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ ɴoᴠel Fɪre.nᴇt

He retaliated, his target - Stickyfingers. But as he attacked, he was met with an unexpected resistance.

He felt the ripples of mana and turned to look at the source. It came from the guy the others called 'Momentum', who was also obviously the leader.

Then came the ominous call from the same person, "Flexblade, your turn!". It was at that moment that one of the few people that didn't attack yet moved.

The man responded, his hand morphing into a giant mallet with a strange elastic quality.

As Erik grappled with the altered inertia, Momentum's power, capable of making each movement akin to battling a powerful current, the mallet found its mark.

The impact reverberated through Erik's bones, a grimace twisting his features as he fought against Momentum's power.

Stickyfingers, her eyes wide with anticipation, couldn't contain her reaction. "He's done," she said, her voice echoing in the tense silence.

Her words carried a note of finality, a cruel satisfaction curling her lips into a smirk.

Erik had to do something. He had been too arrogant to think there weren't people capable of rendering his statistics useless.

Damn, these guys were making the Instability and Hais's brain crystal powers useless. He couldn't simply keep up with the number of attacks. These guys had too much mana.

Despite the inability to exert his full strength due to Momentum's power, he intercepted the mallet and protected his vital organs. The sound of impact ringing out like a bell in a silent church.

Seizing the moment like a predator snatching its prey, he clasped Flexblade's mallet-hand and gave a forceful pull despite the pain. Then he activated the Xeridon Anteris' brain crystal power. But he had to be careful. To battle against these monsters, he was using a lot of mana.

Flexblade was yanked off balance, drawn towards Erik.

"FUUUUCK!"

The young man met him with a punch to the chest, powerful and unyielding as a battering ram.

The impact was cataclysmic, creating a gaping hole in Flexblade akin to the crater left by a meteor strike, extinguishing his life in an instant.

"MOTHERFUCKER!"

The others were visibly shocked. But Momentum quickly recovered.

"ATTACK!"

Erik, however, was already in motion. In two audacious leaps, he retrieved Max's corpse, then, with the raw power of a launched rocket, he propelled himself upwards, shattering the mansion's ceiling as if it were made of brittle glass and escaped the mansion's confines, leaving a trail of debris in his wake.

Almost simultaneously, June, having morphed into a Galewing, erupted from a hidden corner of the mansion, his emergence as sudden and striking as a comet streaking across the night sky.

Stickyfingers' eyes widened as she caught sight of June's shadow through the gaping hole in the ceiling flying toward Erik. Her voice, usually brimming with arrogance, faltered. "What in the world is that?"

Momentum, his gaze following Stickyfingers, recognized the shadow instantly. A sense of urgency replaced his initial shock, and he sprang into action, his movements fluid and determined. "He is controlling a Thaid!"

Without wasting another moment, he lunged towards the destroyed ceiling, scaling the debris with an agility born of desperation.

His companions, spurred by his sudden movement, followed suit, their expressions mirroring his mix of fear and awe.

With a grace that belied his monstrous form, June swooped down, his talons extended in an embrace. Erik was snatched up, a knight claimed by his steed, and together they fled the scene.

Below, their opponents could only gape in stunned silence, the spectacle unfolding before them more fantastical than any tale spun by the most imaginative minstrel.

High above, Erik and June surveyed the scene unfolding below them.

From their aerial vantage point, they could see a sea of figures amassing outside the mansion's grounds. There were at least a hundred of them.

Only 15 were dressed in black, their attire as somber as a moonless night. Masks obscured their faces, lending an air of anonymity and an unsettling uniformity to the crowd. They were Blackguards.

***

Among the five who had remained motionless during Erik's battle, one sprang into action. He reached for a communication device, his fingers dancing over its surface.

"Get aviation on the line," he said, his voice laced with urgency. "We've got a situation."