BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM-Chapter 1324: The Azure Thaid (4)

Steam erupted everywhere, creating a fog that engulfed the battlefield and made seeing farther than a meter impossible. Erik created more Dark Shapes. The number of thaids was quickly getting out of hand, so he had to do something.

It didn't take much for them to mature and be ready to fight. Then they plunged into the waters. The Chimaeric Demon joined them and shapeshifted into a large creature.

Through Instability, Erik felt the clones clash in the murky depths. The Dark Shapes attacked the weaker thaids, while the Chimaeric Demon engaged with the azure thaid.

Even if they were not as strong as the monster, thanks to them, Erik was wounding it more and more.

The water churned as the clones and the thaids fought, yet his clones were dying in droves. The Chimaeric Demon that followed Emily was not faring any better than the dark shapes; it was just that he could heal himself and hadn't died yet, but he went close to it many times.

However, he had many tricks up his sleeve. As the Dark shapes killed the thaids, the Chimaeric Demon resurrected them and used the puppets to kite the azure thaid. Though, whatever the clone resurrected didn't last long, as the azure thaid killed the undead easily.

Eventually, they burst from the lake, locked in combat, and crashed onto the shore. The impact shook the surrounding area, sending tons of dirt and stone flying and flooding the surroundings.

The Chimaeric Demon had the azure thaid pinned momentarily, but the lake monster's ridiculous strength allowed it to free itself.

Another gunshot pierced the air. Emily switched targets, shooting at the smaller thaids that emerged from the lake before they could attack her lover.

Her bullets struck throats, hearts, and eyes. No shot missed, and for each one a life was taken.

More creatures surged through the waters.

It was like a tidal wave of nightmares, an implacable force that swept aside the clones like twigs before a flood. They varied in size and power, but all moved with a singular purpose: to kill Erik and Emily.

"Why are they obeying it?! That thing doesn't have mind-controlling powers!"

It was frustrating, yet it was clear the beast had some kind of dominance over the monsters inside the lake.

The Dark Shapes were doing their best to dominate the thaids so that they would be able to use them to kill the others, and those they killed were used by the Chimaeric Demon, helping Erik.

The controlled creatures lasted mere seconds before being destroyed, both the resurrected ones and those the Dark Shapes dominated.

Every time they got a grip on one of them, it died soon after, devoured by the mass of monsters coming out of the lake.

Emily's rifle cracked, each shot finding its mark and claiming another life. She picked off the smaller thaids, but their numbers continued to grow.

"There are too many!"

Erik found himself fighting on two fronts—continuing his battle with the azure thaid while defending against the horde of lesser creatures that Emily and the clones couldn't kill.

He slashed through them with wind blades and tanked the blows from the others since he was armored from head to toe, all while avoiding the azure thaid's increasingly powerful attacks.

Emily's cover fire proved vital. She eliminated threats Erik or his clones couldn't see or handle, preventing several lethal strikes from reaching his children.

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[LEVEL UP.]

<More juice!>

Erik channeled mana and created more wind blades, mixing them with water, fire, earth, or electricity, depending on what kind of effect he wanted to achieve.

He had already wounded the azure thaid quite a lot; he just needed to do more. The mana he just regained was going to be useful.

"Take this, you bastards!"

The resulting attack cleaved through the mass of monsters like a scythe through wheat, leaving piles of corpses in its wake.

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

…

…

…

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Hostile creature killed: Mana-absorbing process starting.]

As the creatures died, Erik absorbed their mana.

[LEVEL UP.]

The azure thaid charged with renewed fury, perhaps feeling that its minions were getting slaughtered, or maybe it was because of the many wounds it was sustaining.

It didn't matter. What mattered was turning this lake monster into a gory paste and painting the shore with its entrails.

The beast fired blast after blast of pressurized water, each one capable of slicing through mountains. Erik dodged them all, but the surrounding landscape didn't fare as well.

Trees shattered into splinters, earth erupted into craters, and deep gouges appeared in the bedrock.

This exchange went on until the thaid stopped. Not because it was afraid or fatigued. This thing didn't know fear or fatigue. No, it stopped when its fury reached a critical level. And it channeled mana.

A sphere formed around it, expanding to an enormous size—sixty meters across and growing.

Erik felt the surge of mana and realized it was terrible news.

<GET OUT!>

The sphere grew.

Erik didn't wait to see what would happen when that sphere reached full power. He channeled mana into the surrounding plant life, activating his Verdant Architect brain crystal power, and pumping his mana into Absolute Castle.

The vegetation obeyed his will, growing at incredible speed. Vines thickened to the width of a man's arm, grasses shot up taller than trees, and branches extended like reaching hands.

The mass of plant life whipped and lashed at the thaid, trying to breach the watery sphere. Some vines penetrated, wrapping around the creature's limbs and neck.

Yet the sphere kept pulsing and expanding before abruptly contracting, drawn back into the monster's body.

The creature's throat bulged, radiating a pulsating white glow. Erik recognized the signs of an imminent energy blast and braced himself, pushing more mana into Absolute Wall and Absolute Castle.

The thaid arched its neck, opened its massive jaws, and released a searing white beam that shot skyward. The beam struck the clouds above, igniting the sky in a mindless and utterly ignorant flash. As the light faded, a vast inferno erupted, raining fire down upon the battlefield.

<How is it doing that?> Emily said through their mental link, hiding behind a boulder seemingly enough to protect her in case Erik's barrier got shattered. "It's a water thaid!"

<Multiple brain crystal powers,> Erik said, keeping his shield against the fiery onslaught. <What did you expect? It's a thaid made by the Silverline Corporation, living in Mur for centuries…>

Like cruel stars falling from heaven, burning spheres tumbled from above, their flaming tails drawing ribbons of smoke and flame across the darkened sky.

The smaller ones were the size of basketballs, while the largest could easily crush a car. They struck the ground with ravaging force, creating small craters where they landed and setting the surrounding flora ablaze.

Erik's shield held against the storm, but the impacts sent ripples across its surface, forcing him to pump more mana to protect himself and his allies.

Some of the fireballs exploded on contact, showering the area with scorching fragments that sizzled and cracked as they hit the ground. Others burrowed into the earth before exploding, sending geysers of mud and molten rock into the air.

It was even weird for Erik to describe what he was seeing, since too many conflicting phenomena were occurring before his eyes.