Chapter 618: Path to Freedom (1/2)

Zac blanched when he saw over a thousand drones shooting straight toward them. Most of the machines thankfully held their position, but he had felt the power of just a handful of spider balls self-destructing just a few hours ago. He understood all-too-well that the harried defensive shield wouldn’t provide much protection against a blast of that magnitude.

“Can you deal with this wave? I have an idea on how to deal with the rest!” Kenzie hurriedly said, and Zac grit his teeth before he nodded.

The coffin appeared on his back almost instantly, and a thick cloud of pitch-black gases emerged from it as Zac shot out one max-sized fractal blade after another. The others on the wall-walk desperately tried to help thin the numbers of drones as well, and one massive explosion after another incinerated the air itself outside the barrier.

Unfortunately, there were just too many of them, and the barriers of the defensive drones protected them as well. Only Zac was powerful enough to destroy shields and drones alike, but even then they only managed to destroy a third of them before the machines were upon them.

A majestic demoness had thankfully already appeared outside the barrier by that point. It was [Death’s Embrace], the final card up Zac’s sleeve. He had hoped to save it for later, but the Mystic Realm kept forcing him into one desperate situation after another. Alea’s opened arms wide in what looked like a welcoming hug, and the drones actually seemed to be attracted by the gesture.

They were spread out into small squads of defenders and attackers before, likely to avoid getting taken out by one massive attack, but they all turned to move straight toward the demonic avatar. Zac could clearly sense them being dragged from some mysterious force of the avatar though. One explosion after another erupted in her embrace, but they were muted like the fiery outbursts were sucked straight into a black hole.

A small sphere of fire and steel quickly grew in Alea’s arms until it was almost too big for her to contain. There were still over a hundred machines left, but Zac knew that the skill had reached its limits. He quickly gave the order, and the avatar’s jaw unhinged as she swallowed the massive ball before returning turning into a mist that receded into the coffin.

Zac was already prepared, and two streaks of light flickered in front of the wall. Two clouds, one gold and one black, could be seen for just an instant before space split in two and destroyed the remaining suicide drones in one go. Zac exhaled in relief when he saw that the first group was dealt with before he quickly scanned his Spirit Tool. He was worried that something would go wrong after [Love’s Bond] swallowed a bunch of drone scraps and fire, but it looked like the coffin really could eat anything.

Alea had still not as much as sent him an emotion or impression like Verun often did, so Zac couldn’t tell whether feeding her things this way was beneficial or detrimental. But that was a worry for later as a second squad was already setting out toward them, this one more than twice as big.

“I’m not sure I can block this without creating some massive fallout,” Zac whispered with worry to his sister who was tapping away with such speed that her fingers had turned into a blur.

“I got it!” Kenzie shouted. “I’ll knock them all out for a few seconds. Get ready to destroy them. I will not be able to do help you for a while after that. My… computer… will need to recharge.”

Zac looked at Kenzie with surprise, but he quickly understood what she meant. It sounded like she or Jeeves had developed some sort of energy discharge aimed at Technocrat machines, and it was powered by Jeeves himself. Zac wasn’t sure how to feel about that. It was one thing for the AI to help her with the tech side of things and give cultivation pointers, but now it was starting to directly weaponize itself as well?

Where would it end?

He knew that he couldn’t be picky at a moment like this though, and he nodded at her to go ahead as he started to charge up [Deforestation]. He had decided to go all-out from the get-go considering that this mechanized army might actually be the strongest force of the Cartava Clan. Kenzie sighed as she shot a forlorn look at the vast repository of weaponry she wouldn’t be able to steal before a sharp red light shot out of her eyes as she rose up in the air.

Her face turned into a callous mask as she looked down at the mechanized army outside the gates, like an emperor looking down on its subjects. She placed her palm on the tablet in her grip before throwing it out toward the incoming horde. The tablet exploded after just a few meters, releasing a small wave that Zac barely could discern.

It didn’t look like much, but it was extremely effective. The hundreds of red shields covering the army disappeared in an instant, and the machines all stopped in their tracks as the drones started to drop from the sky. Zac was already on the move by that point as he jumped down from the wall and rushed toward the army with all the speed he could muster without activating [Loamwalker].

“Stop him!” someone roared from within the mechanized army, but the Cartava Clan’s caution was working against them now that Zac and Kenzie had arrived.

They had wanted to let their robot armies pave the way for them while they conserved their strength, but they ended up in a position where they were unable to intercept Zac as he swung his arm and then swung it again as two massive axes almost superimposed on each other.

A ripple spread out through the exposed machines before thousands of deep cuts appeared out of nowhere. Many of the falling drones were directly destroyed while the larger robots on the ground just got their plating shredded. The mechanical army didn’t even get a chance to wake up before a wave of flames hit them next, scorching and shredding everything that was still standing.

Just like that, the foundation that had held Clan Cartava safe from the other natives was gone, utterly destroyed because of the deadly combo of Zac and his sister. An army made up of over ten thousand drones and thousands of other weapons were destroyed in an instant, but that wasn’t Zac’s main goal.

He rushed forward through the wreckage, his eyes trained on the chaotic defensive line behind the inferno. He spotted a few scorched corpses among the burned metal scraps, no doubt Datamancers hiding among the machines.

But those people weren't his concern any longer, his eyes were already trained on the true army of his enemies. The Cartava Clan had let their machines attack the base for hours by this point, and they had clearly grown complacent after dealing with the wolves. They had no proper shields up since the defensive drones stationed at their front lines were still malfunctioning, and many seemed to be frozen in stupor upon seeing their whole robot army being destroyed in an instant.

Zac felt some hesitation for a second, but he quickly pushed it aside as emerged through the flames like a god of war. The enormous pitch-black Axe of Desolation appeared above his head, and it clove the air in a horizontal arc. A massive cloud of destruction billowed toward them, as if Zac’s judgment upon the Cartava Clan had taken form.

The wave of desolation moved deceptively fast, hitting the frontlines of Clan Cartava before the drones had a chance to reset themselves the quick-witted cultivators had erected some shields by themselves, but the cloud easily slipped through the cracks. There were no screams as the first clansmen succumbed to the Axe of Desolation. They simply stopped moving before they fell apart, crumbling into pieces of ash that drifted away.

Some reacted quicker than others as they desperately tried to attack the cloud or flee for their lives, the latter finding far greater success than the former. The defenders managed to weaken and delay the wave a bit, but hundreds of people still died in an instant, some of them even E-Grade.

Of course, a single attack wasn’t enough to completely eradicate an E-Grade clan.

A massive eye suddenly appeared in the sky, and even Zac felt immense pressure from it even if its gaze was trained on the wave of desolation. The thick black clouds tried to push even further, but it had already exhausted too much energy dealing with the frontlines. It was stopped in its tracks, locked in a stalemate with the fractal eye.

The impasse didn’t last long though as a massive hole was blasted through the wave. Three seniors walked through, each of them radiating intense killing intent. Two of them were old men with long flowing beards, while the third was an old lady. None of them held any weapons as far as Zac could tell, but he knew that all three of them were proper cultivators judging by their auras.