Chapter 354 - Shutting Down The System [2]
Booom—!
The tallic door that led to the room shook as a thunderous explosion rang out.
"…They're already here."
Focusing my attention on the door, my face turned solemn.
After that, turning my attention towards the window that displayed the percentage of progress, I mused to myself.
'The rate of progress at the mont is about 1% for every five seconds. The current progress is 7%, and therefore, we would need to stall them for about four hundred and sixty-five seconds. That's a little bit under eight minutes.'
With the aid of the chip inside my head, I was able to calculate the ti we needed to stall the duergars in seconds.
Although it did not sound like a lot of ti, given our current circumstances and the opponents we were up against, it was too long. The stakes were up against us.
In fact, I wasn't sure whether we would be able to defend for such a long period of ti, especially since we needed to take into account our current surroundings.
If the stick inside of the panel broke, we'd be screwed.
Booom—!
Disrupting out of my thoughts was the sound of another explosion. It ca from the other side of the door.
As the explosion rang, a narrow gap appeared by the edge of the door, exposing what was happening outside. Although it was only a small glimpse, I could tell that there were several duergars waiting for us outside.
I didn't even need to check whether an elder was present, because I could feel a threatening aura from outside of the door.
It was almost on the sa level as Durara. Almost. I could feel that the elder was a bit weaker than her.
It seed like I wasn't the only one who noticed that, as Ultruk's face eased up a little. But only just a little.
The odds were still stacked against us.
"The door won't last for long, you need to eat those fruits now. The more ti you waste the less ti you'll have for recovery." I said while pointing at the bag in Ultruk's hands.
"I can understand that you don't want to eat them, but we can't afford to have you conserve the fruits," I smiled and added, "If you want more, I'll get you so later."
"You will?"
Ultruk's head snapped in my direction. It was so fast I thought his head could have popped off.
Seeing how he reacted to my words, I knew that I had the crux of the problem in my grasp.
"Well…yes. I think I should be able to get more later. I won't make any promises, but I'll keep it in mind."
I had to go back to Immorra one day or another, so getting him more of those fruits wouldn't really be hard for .
Well, that was as long as Silug did as planned.
If not, there'd be no point in going to Immorra where a Marquis ranked demon was eagerly waiting to roast alive.
'I wonder how Silug is doing…I hope he's secretly getting strong, as planned-'
Ultruk's voice disrupted out of my thoughts.
"…That is good enough for ."
After getting so form of confirmation from , no longer hesitant, Ultruk rummaged through the bag and stuffed his mouth full with the fruits from Immorra.
Scrunch! Scrunch!
Juices flowed down from the edges of his mouth as he devoured the fruits as though he was drinking water.
Booom—!
The door shook once more.
"Damn it, why couldn't they have made the doors more durable?!" I shouted out loud as I stared at the door which was slowly breaking apart.
For a door that was supposed to lead to the dampening control system, it was a little too loose.
"Well, in the first place, they didn't expect anyone to be able to infiltrate their own base. Although the dwarves have indeed planted so spies, they wouldn't expect them to pull off a stunt of this caliber."
Waylan murmured from the side, responding to my previous words.
"I guess you're right…"
If not for the fact that the elder behind the door had still not made a move, the door would've already crumbled.
The only reason why he didn't was probably out of caution; fear that we might end up ambushing him out of nowhere.
Booom—! Booom—!
The door shook even more fiercely as multi-colored lights flashed from the narrow gap in-between the door.
Putting my hand in my pocket, I threw Angelica towards the corner of the room.
'Get ready.'
I, of course, did not forget to throw her a few devil fruits.
They were ones she had managed to loot from the duergars earlier. Unfortunately, they weren't very high-quality fruits, so I didn't know how useful they'd be.
'Try to recuperate as much demonic energy as possible. It looks like we're in for a tough battle.'
Because they were busy staring at the door, both Waylan and Ultruk did not notice what I did. Even then, it wouldn't have mattered.
Once I made sure Angelica was okay, turning my head towards Waylan, I asked in a serious tone, "How long do you think the doors will be able to last?"
"Not sure. Maybe a minute?… And that's being optimistic. If an elder is personally making a move, I'd give it half a minute."
"That's too little ti…"
We needed to stall for at least the next seven minutes. One minute was not going to cut it.
"Let's not wait before acting. The more ti we waste the better."
"…Okay." Nodding in agreent, I took my attention away from Waylan and checked my dinsional space.
'Let's see…'
Because I didn't have enough ti, I had still not checked what I'd gotten from killing those duergars. Perhaps, there might just be sothing that could prove to be useful to .
It was then that I finally spotted sothing.
"I've got sothing!"
My eyes lit up in glee as I took out a couple of things from my dinsional space.
Tapping Waylan on the shoulder, I showed him three familiar tal boxes.
"I think I've got sothing that might be able to help us stall for ti."
"What is it?"
"Rember this?" I said as I channeled my mana to the tal boxes.
The mont my mana entered the black boxes, they lit up with a strange light and expanded. Before long, a large barrier ford before us.
"Where did you even get that from in the first place?" Waylan asked with a look of surprise on his face.
"Looting, obviously," I responded with an obvious look whilst walking towards the door, and placing the tal boxes by the side, close to the hinges.
One in front, another on the left, and the last one on the right side.
After that, I channeled my mana into them and three barriers ford.
As I was setting them up, turning to look behind , I asked, "These things were able to block your attacks, right? It should be able to stall for a bit of ti."
"…You're right." Pausing, Waylan furrowed his brows.
"But I don't know just how useful it will be against [SS] ranks. The gap between each stage is massive."
"That's fine, we just have him to hold him back for a little bit."
I pointed at Ultruk who was eating the fruits and slowly recovering his aura.
"As soon as the door breaks, Ultruk will stall the strongest duergar while we defend against the weaker ones."
"It's a bit risky…" Waylan muttered reluctantly. With a serious, contemplative look, he glanced at the shaking door.
"What are we going to do once we shut down the system?"
"That… There's no need to worry about that. I've already got a solution."
"Is that so?"
"Yup, so all we have to do now is de—"
Boooom—!
Not even allowing to finish my sentence, the door broke apart, revealing the duergars standing behind.
Holding onto several different artifacts oozing with power, they didn't even wait for the door to fully fall before starting to rcilessly shoot in our direction.
Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!
The energy blasts from their weapons shot in our direction at terrifying speeds.
They were so fast that I was unable to react in ti. If not for Waylan who was next to reacting in ti and activating the barriers, I would've seriously been injured.
"Huarg!"
What followed the first attack was Ultruk's shout as his voice reverberated throughout the whole room.
Without wasting any ti, his figure shot towards the duergar who had the most powerful aura.
Holding onto a massive hamr that was way bigger than he himself, the duergar raised it and t Ultruk's attack head on.
BANG—!
A circular, pressurized wind spread out from their collision, sending everyone nearby flying away.
Only a few were able to remain standing, and of those, I wasn't one. My body crashed against the back of the room, knocking the air out of my lungs.
"Khhh…"
"You okay?" Waylan asked as he looked back at .
"I'm… fine." Sliding down, I raised my head and reassured Waylan that I was still sowhat intact.
"Fuck, that hurt." I cursed. Wiping the side of my mouth, I weakly stood up.
'Damn it. If not for the barrier I had set up beforehand, I would've most likely died there…'
Just a simple attack from the two of them almost cost my life.
That was how scary [SS] ranks truly were. People were collateral damage to them.
Fortunately, they both held back a bit. Had they truly gone all out, not only I would've died, but the other duergars present would have joined in the afterlife too.
BANG— BANG—
The loud banging sound from the fight never ceased as both Ultruk and the duergan elder continued to fight in the distance. With each attack, they would progressively get further away from us.
It beca evident to us that they each wanted to avoid letting their own side suffer from the aftermath of their attacks.
During their exchange, neither held the upper hand and although Ultruk was in fact one sub rank higher than the elder he was fighting, their fight at the mont was even because he had still not fully recovered his aura. He was fighting conservatively.
"Watch out."
Waving his hand forward and creating a small barrier around , Waylan deflected the wind gales that arose from the conflict between Ultruk and the elder, as well as so of their residual energy. However, it ca at a cost, as Waylan's face paled a tiny bit.
Breathing out, he urgently said, "Ren, quickly get up. We don't have much ti!"
Standing opposite to us were the duergars from before with their weapons ready. All of their weapons varied, ranging from guns to hamrs and even swords or axes.
A bright glow enveloped their weapons as they all glared in our direction.
Staring at the duergars' opposite, Waylan's face beca grim.
"I don't have much mana in . I don't know for how long I'll be able to hold them back."
Once again wiping the side of my mouth, I walked up to Waylan and reassured, "Don't worry too much. We've got help."
The mont my words faded, and right as the duergars were about to attack the barriers, their movents suddenly beca sluggish as a bone-chilling pressure enveloped their bodies.
"…What?"
Spotting this, Waylan's eyes jumped up. Sensing sothing, Waylan turned his head and looked behind him.
With her hand raised, standing right behind , Angelica held a couple of fruits in her left hand.
Kracka! Kracka!
Taking out a long tal stick, my reward for defeating the duergar in the artifact testing facility, I grasped it tightly and let my mana flow in it. Then, with a confident tone, I spoke while looking at the enemy.
"She should be able to lend us a hand."
***
A/N: Another chap within next thirty minutes.
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