Utopian System

'Should we lower ourselves?' The idea of descending into the "hole" and facing the parasites in a two-dimensional space turned Zentros's insides.

It was unnatural for an Artromus to abandon air dominion, reduce themselves to crawling like inferior creatures.

But alternatives were running out.

Another troubling thought slid into his mind: Zantem.

He hadn't responded to any mental connection attempt for some time.

'Probably out of range,' Zentros told himself, though something about the situation bothered him.

The ten-kilometer range of their mental link felt small now, insufficient to maintain contact.

Why was Zantem taking so long? Why hadn't he returned with the core yet?

"Zynthor," he mentally called to the most agile of his companions. "Go investigate what's delaying Zantem."

"And lose another warrior for this battle?" Zareon questioned.

"If Zantem is out of range playing with his prey, I need you to bring him back to support here," Zentros responded. "And if not... we need to know why he hasn't returned yet."

While Zynthor swiftly departed, Zentros turned his attention to the immediate problem.

The humans remained down there, protected by divine walls and their own impeccable coordination.

"Prepare," Zentros's mental order resonated in his remaining companions' minds. "We'll give them what they want."

"We'll enter there?" The repugnance was evident in Zerdan's mental voice.

"We have no choice," Zentros observed as another attack was neutralized with apparent effortlessness. "They're consuming our mana without spending theirs. If we want to complete the mission..."

He didn't need to finish.

All understood the implications.

Artromus pride demanded maintaining their aerial superiority, but the mission was more important than pride.

'At least,' Zentros thought while beginning to descend, 'in the reduced space they won't be able to dodge our physical attacks.

We'll see how effective that sword is against ours.'

♢♢♢♢

Back with Selene...

The impact of the combined fire and wind explosion had been devastating.

Four hundred damage points, a power level Selene had never experienced.

Not even her speed specialization had been enough to escape once the explosion unleashed within its effective range.

Only her resistance of 1,100 points had kept her conscious, but the calculation was simple and terrifying: two more attacks of that magnitude and she would be finished.

'Need to buy more time,' she thought while spitting blood and rising instantly despite the pain.

The artromus didn't wait for them to recover. It launched itself toward Diana with a speed that distorted the air, but Selene, ignoring the pain piercing every fiber of her being, forced her muscles and element control to shoot upward, managing to catch it.

Her muscles protested while forcing her body beyond its limits, using every ounce of control and strength to throw it to the ground and keep the monster away from her niece.

The soldiers around her began rising, dazed but alive thanks to their system armors.

"Defensive formation!" she shouted when she saw more soldiers arriving from above, both her own group and Lucien's reinforcements.

The increase in numbers seemed to instill courage in the troops, though doubt was visible on their faces when looking at the metal bands that had previously failed to contain the creature.

But Selene had a plan.

During the last year, Elio and his group had compiled crucial information about the artromus, knowledge that had been meticulously distributed among the elite forces.

"Listen!" her voice cut through the air.

"Contain with metal but attack with ice! Those with combined electrical summons, maintain paralyzing pressure!"

The soldiers moved with practiced precision. The metal prisons began weaving again, but this time accompanied by a constant assault of icy projectiles and electrical discharges.

The artromus, apparently tired of games, began charging another devastating fire attack. The burning energy accumulated around its distorted form, but something was different.

The ice attacks, relentless and precise, seemed to be affecting its element's power. Where before flames roared with uncontainable fury, now they fluctuated and weakened under the icy assault.

"It's working!" a soldier shouted. "Its power is diminishing!"

Selene noticed the change in the monster's posture.

The understanding that its most powerful attacks were being countered seemed to enrage it even more, but there was also something else in its body language: concern.

'It didn't expect us to know its weaknesses,' Selene thought while organizing another wave of attacks. 'Elio's group's information is proving its worth.'

However...

The artromus's strength was simply monstrous.

The metal bands containing it broke one after another, metal creaking and fragmenting under its colossal power.

For each restriction that broke, two more took its place, but it was like trying to stop an avalanche with spider webs.

It advanced toward Selene with heavy but inexorable steps, like a titan moving through a swamp.

The restrictions slowed it, but didn't stop it. At its center, magical power pulsed with increasing intensity, a core of burning energy that grew with each second.

The ice attacks that had been so effective before seemed to lose potency against this power accumulation.

♢♢♢♢

Zantem smiled, his transformed jaws contorting into a grotesque grimace while waiting to see fear grow in Selene's eyes.

But what he found was different.

Selene maintained absolute calm, almost serene.

Her eyes, still bleeding from forced perception, looked not at the monster before her, but upward.

Zantem followed her gaze just in time to see Diana, barely conscious but alive, being carried through the last stretch toward the city barrier.

The roar that escaped his throat made the air itself tremble.

The energy accumulated in his center exploded in a nova of fire and fury, disintegrating the restrictions containing him.

He damaged the miserable parasite soldiers again and now could reach his prey.

Or so he thought.

Like an embodied lightning bolt, Selene appeared before him, before he could even lift off the ground, before his explosion could even cover the surroundings.

As if she had been... waiting for this moment.

Her elemental water sword, empowered by Selene's mana and her knowledge of elemental weaknesses, cut through the fire explosion as if it were morning mist.

The force she applied to the impact was impossible for a human of her level, but there she was, keeping the monster in place against all logic.