Chapter 271: Using a Disaster to Their advantage

Seated within a cubicle on the 61st floor of the Limitless Tower was the Amplifier who had recently returned to reality. Theoretically, he had made a successful breakthrough.

"Huff…puff…" He wheezed in pain, clutching his chest. Sweat oozed out his skin while a thin stream of blood leaked from his eyes. Faint white lines formed on his skin, rupturing it bit by bit. In actuality, he had failed his breakthrough, despite finishing both phase 1 and 2.

The fused Heart Crystal in his heart wasn't solid enough, nor was it stable. Before stabilising it, he had initiated the next process and arrived at the Mental Realm. This was the method everyone taking part in the Cleansement Manoeuvre had taken. Otherwise, with their accumulations, they wouldn't even have been able to finish phase 1 successfully.

Normally, one would focus their everything to stabilise their Heart/Brain Crystal before heading to the Mental Realm. But due to their objective, they only focused on a small part, forming the centre. After that, they just randomly stacked everything over it, piling it up until it was enough to warrant a 'pseudo-completion of phase 1', allowing them to head to the Mental Realm.

This state of completion wasn't permanent. Their Heart/Brain Crystal would begin to destabilise and crumble slowly. The case was the same with the Amplifier scout. On paper, he was a Developer from today onwards.

But, as he hadn't finished his breakthrough process correctly, his Heart Crystal was crumbling.

'I guess this is it.' He sighed, trying to will his Centipede into forming. But, even after many tries, it failed to appear. He bowed once, "I apologise for my lack of skill, Madam Marble."

"It is fine," Minaela Marble's voice consoled him, "In such a situation, even Sky Controllers fail to summon their Caterpillar. In our city's history, only one person has managed to do so. Even for her, it was tremendously difficult."

"You have done well, soldier. Raise your head and face it with pride. Central Command will ensure your family is taken good care of."

"Thank you, Madam Marble." The scout closed his eyes, performing a salute as his body turned into sludge. In the next instant, a damaged Wisdom Parasite wriggled out of the sludge, struggling to stay alive. After every second that passed, its actions drastically slowed down, seemingly on the verge of dying.

A green coloured beam of energy fell on it, actuating a reaction from within it. Tiny particles rose from the sludge, burrowing into the Wisdom Parasite, each impact forming craters on its body. But, not a single drop of blood oozed out. A small suction force appeared in its centre, pulling everything towards it.

The Wisdom Parasite's body was helplessly pulled into it, its form morphed, fusing with all the tiny particles. Soon, it turned into a spherical marble, the size of a thumb. Appearance-wise, it was similar to what Jyovic Bone had brought in from his latest mission to the Wilds.

In the now-empty cubicle, Minaela Marble's voice resounded after a sigh, "Every time I witness the Trait of Wonder's effect, I can't help but marvel at Jyovic Bone's ability to surprise me. He's a Transformer and not a Sky Controller. I wonder how he manages to create one ground-breaking invention after another. The Bone Family doesn't possess a Sky Controller."

Psychic Ancestor Marble's voice resounded, "He finished them alone but most of what he created were things he wasn't alone at their conception. From what I know, she had taken part to progress it most of the way."

"By she…do you mean Madam Mary?"

"Of course," Psychic Ancestor Marble replied with a sigh, "Every time they encounter each other, they end up fighting. But in actuality, it is their way of exchanging ideas and helping the other party. Their most recent fight was around 6 years ago when they displayed two Traits. Soon after their fight, they announced the completion of the Trait of Growth and the Trait of Severability."

The spherical marble disappeared from the cubicle as the surroundings turned silent. Their conversation was short and stealthy, thanks to them being Espers, ensuring no third party could ever eavesdrop.

In the Mental Realm, on floor 112 within the Limitless Tower, Gerude Eagle was stunned to even move. The left side of his face had melted while there wasn't any reaction from the experience fragments that made up the area.

The experience fragments in the rest of his form resisted the experience fragments that made up a shell. It spanned a hill in size, belonging to one of the 10 shifters. A head attached to a long neck floated his way, its mouth biting the ends of his left wing.

With a tug, it pulled his form out of the shell, displaying a massive depression beneath. Gerude made eye contact with the face, motioning with his hands to signal the other party to be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

"Woof!" A high-pitched sound resounded, making the forms of everyone tense up in response. All the Cogent Phrenics paused their actions, acting subservient as they parted way.

A massive head of a hound flew through the path, approaching their defensive line. Despite feeling fear, Gerude Eagle still resisted the sensation as he flew towards it, intending to restrain it.

'Of all the times, why should it appear now?' He cursed in his mind, feeling vexed. His form still shivered at the sound he had just heard. The concept of taste, sound, and touch didn't exist in the Mental Realm. It was a sort of perceived common sense through their data accumulations worth centuries. So, finding something that went against the norms caused them fear.

As he flew closer and closer, he began to realise just how big the hound had become. When it was first sighted, it was 20 metres in size. But now, it was almost double the size. Such growth in such a short duration was incredibly scary. It meant the hound was able to roam freely and absorb that much experience fragments.

Cogent Phrenics never moved unless they found an irresistible prey. In other times, they just stayed still and prevented any expenditure of their Will. Also, when they remained motionless, the Will they had expended would slowly recover, taking the time that spanned even decades.

It was a really slow process, hence they never moved unless necessary. It was also the reason why the Cleansement Manoeuvre was a practical mission. If they managed to clear an area of the Cogent Phrenics, they can be assured that it won't be filled by the surrounding Cogent Phrenics that easily.

When he was fighting earlier, he hadn't managed to notice the attack that had sent him flying. Now that he had flown closer and had all his attention trained on it, he noticed the hound gently open its mouth a little and from within shot forth a tongue.

Ghostly flames that shimmered in place of the eyes, and the existence of a mark on its forehead. It was a square, enclosing a ring. Flashing within it was a thunderbolt. Were Jyorta to witness it currently, he would be shocked to see the familiar images that he thought only existed during his reincarnation travel.

Before Gerude could react, its tongue slammed into him, absorbing a quarter of his experience fragments. The force sent him flying up, allowing him to gaze at the remainder of the hound's body.

Cogent Phrenics—Mind Hound!

It had the head of a hound; attached to its neck was a thin serpentine form that was thinner than its eyes. The form was long and seemed to span 100 metres in length. Its head was as solid as Gerude Eagle's form, equivalent to Tier 4.

But its tongue was on another level. Gerude Eagle couldn't even hope to scratch it. He expended most of his will, coming to a stop while using the force to morph his form. He gathered all the experience fragments, using the ones related to his Skills as the core and taking the shape as a spike.

Seeing his actions, all the Tier 4 beings—except the 10 Shifters—too morphed into spikes. They relayed instructions to the remaining troops, prompting some of the scouts to return to reality and relay the situation.

Using the remainder of his Will, the spike that Gerude Eagle had morphed into flew with a tremendous speed. Thanks to the Mental Realm lacking any air resistance, his speed remained unaffected, the spike aiming at the Mind Hound's head.

The Mind Hound's tongue flashed forth, wrapping around the spike, displaying its superiority in speed. But, using the window when it intercepted Gerude Eagle's spike, the spikes formed by the other Tier 4 beings flew towards it.

Unlike Gerude Eagle who suffered two major attacks from the Mind Hound and lost a significant portion of his experience fragments and had expended most of his Will, the spikes of the other Tier 4 beings possessed significant toughness and Will to maintain themselves.

They combusted all their Will and erupted with frightening speeds, quickly approaching the Mind Hound before it could react. Thanks to the forms of both the attacking and defending parties being at Tier 4, they managed to pierce into its head.

All 16 spikes pierced the hound at various places, causing large swathes of its experience fragments to spill out.

"Aieee!"

The Mind Hound screamed in pain, its shouts causing most of Tier 1 and Tier 2 equivalent Cogent Phrenics to collapse. The Tier 3 equivalents barely retained their forms, suffering considerable damage.

The scouts that were about to return to reality directly collapsed; after all, they were only Tier 2. One of the Tier 3 soldier took the role as the scout and swallowed her Wisdom Parasite's crystal, returning to reality.

The remainder took the opportunity, using the Mind Hound's shout to their advantage. They hurriedly flew, ignoring the expenditure of their Will, and began gathering all the experience fragments from the collapsed Cogent Phrenics.