D.I.O

Chapter 264

That is true, but on the other hand, fighting you will help us gain some valuable experience.

I beg your pardon?

It would be nice if I could immediately get into the system control room, but if I cant, so be it. Anyway, an opportunity to safely battle a transcendent doesn't come often.

After hearing Merlins response, Sungmuk couldnt help but tilt his head. It seemed Merlin had no intention of beating Mary from the start. Though Sungmuk didnt know Merlin too well, before the party arrived, Sungmuk was certain that Merlin had a specific goal in mind. Moreover, Merlin already knew there was a transcendent-level guardian stationed at the control room entrance.

He has a plan in mind. Im sure hes making some sort of play.

Sungmuk wasnt dumb; he knew Merlin was up to something.

Even if this wasnt the case, Merlins words were true. When would they ever get another chance to fight a transcendent without fear of bodily harm? Mary was essentially the perfect [transcendent sparring opponent].

Earth Hammer. Maximum.

Without any hesitation, Arc lunged at Mary. Quiet Heavens Dao magic and Ellies telekinesis-powered attack soon followed. Since the party knew theyd receive no damage, they focused solely on counterattacking. In other words, they ignored their defense and took an offense-oriented attitude. Moreover, in Arcs case, all the power she wouldve used to defend was converted into her attacks, making her momentum even more intense.

Of course, even if Arc and the others focused solely on attacking, the transcendent Mary would have no difficulty enduring such a barrage. However, constantly defending would eventually become burdensome.

An even greater headache for Mary was the remaining two, Merlin and Sungmuk.

Lets see how youll defend against a Flashing Frost Plum Blossom immediately followed by a Falling Frost Plum Blossom attack, Sungmuk said.

Since my spell chants wont be interrupted by any attacks, I should go ahead and try using a great mage-level magic spell, Merlin murmured.

Mary either wielded her other sword, Tranquility, or cast cancellation spells in a calm voice to block the party members attacks.

Although Mary had reached the transcendent realm, she could not ignore Merlin and Sungmuk, who had reached Level 19 and were on the verge of transcendence. She had to properly defend or at least dodge their attacks.

They say the gap between Level 19 and Level 20 is as wide as the expansive sky, but thats only a metaphor. The disparity between both levels isnt as overwhelming as the difference between a human and a bug, Merlin explained to Arc during a lull in their attacks.

Then what is the actual difference?

If I had to give an example, it is similar to the gap between a strong martial artist in his 30s and a three-year-old. If thousands of kids gathered and ganged up on the thirty-year-old, the adult would eventually lose. Its just a matter of time, as the martial artist will eventually take critical injuries, needing to constantly be mindful of blocking the barrage of attacks.

While Merlin and Arc were conversing, Sungmuk constantly poured out attacks at Mary.

Unsurprisingly, all his efforts were futile, but he continued nonetheless.

No, on the contrary, Sungmuk persistently attacked with a happy smile spread across his face. He seemed quite excited.

Whoosh!

Tens of plum blossoms suddenly appeared mid-air and rained down toward Mary.

With an annoyed expression, Mary neutralized all the plum blossoms and swiped Sungmuk with her sword, but just as before, he landed on the ground without sustaining any damage.

Ah, what is this?! If this place was a bit wider, I could at least blow you a considerable distance away!

The temple, where the system control room was located, existed in a small, half-circle-shaped space, but it was only 300 meters wide at the longest part.

Marys problem was that even the slowest party member, Ellie, could traverse 300 meters in a matter of seconds.

Considering that Mary couldnt leave the entrance to the system control room, and with DIO being in Emergency Mode, she couldnt ask for reinforcements or help. As a result, she had to continue facing the party members assault alone.

Obviously, if she can endlessly handle and neutralize all our attacks, as shes doing now, itll be a problem, but that shouldnt be the case.

When a lesser fighter fought against an expert, the former would see the fight as an opportunity to learn and train, but for the expert, fighting someone weaker was essentially an act of simple labor.

Clearly, such a fight wouldnt be difficult for the expert, but the simple labor would neither be fun nor rewarding. Thus, Mary started complaining.

Stop it. What meaning does this have?

I said stop it! Also, why are you so excited?

What is the purpose of this?

Ugh, quit bothering me. Im really busy!

Mary tried reasoning, persuading, and even begging the party members to stop, but it was to no avail.

Sungmuk was sincerely taking advantage of this opportunity, and Arc was also strengthening and sharpening her mage battle senses by casting various types of magic spells.

Merlin also poured out all kinds of magic attacks, everything he could muster without consuming any of his magic stones, and observed how Mary countered his attacks.

To him, her defense and attack movements, which showcased her transcendent-level martial arts, were excellent audio-visual learning material, like a textbook.

This went on for ten hours, rewarding for some but boring for others.

Then, 20 hours passed.

And 30 hours.

Ugh, really fine. Well, I just need to protect the temple. Ugh, Im already so busy with other things, but youre all so troublesome. Youre keeping me from my work.

Finally, exhausted, Mary retreated to the temples entrance.

At the very least, if she knew their ultimate purpose or had a general idea about how long she would have to endure, she could keep going. Yet, since the meaningless battle continued with no end in sight and with little to no damage inflicted on her opponents, Mary essentially gave up on dealing with the partys attacks.

Moreover, since she knew that the battle itself was her opponents goal, why should she remain outside the temple and oblige them?

Obviously, this didnt mean she had given up her post or on defending the temple.

She could never relinquish this mission.

However, the way she defended the temple was entirely left to her discretion. In the end, she only needed to guard the temple and the system control room within.

Whoosh!

Seven Divine Weapons floated around Mary.

[Happiness], [Rage], [Sadness], [Joy], [Tranquility], [Hate], [Desire]: each weapon was equal in power to a Masters completely evolved Divine Weapon.

Although there were rumors that Mary had swapped [Love], previously the strongest of the seven weapons, for the newly created [Tranquility], none of the Divine Weapons could be ignored.

Ting!

With the temple located at the center, six of Marys seven Divine Weapons formed a hexagon around the building, and the remaining Divine Weapon, Tranquility, rose above.

The hexagonal pyramid-like barrier was completed, but more importantly, the energy forming on each plane of the barrier wasnt ordinary.

Oho, a post-transcendence strong qi-based self-defense technique. And youre using it over such a wide area. Dang.

Boom! Boom!

Sungmuk made a plum blossom from strong qi and attacked the barrier, but only a loud sound resulted as it dissipated helplessly against Marys unyielding shield.

Just one swing of Sungmuks strong qi attack could cut through a solid diamond, but if pre-transcendent strong qi was the fruit and pinnacle of martial arts, post-transcendence strong qi was the foundational power of a divine god.

Pre and post-transcendence strong qi was impossible to compare, as the energy systems each belonged to were entirely different ranks.

Ah, man. If she had formed a shield with ultimate magic, I could have at least gotten some experience and practice in disarming an ultimate-level barrier.

Mary and Merlins magic ability was divided by a wall called [enlightenment], a barrier that Merlin didnt understand and saw as irrational. Yet, aside from that, the difference in the twos magic abilities wasnt too significant. If Mary had taken the time to create a magic-based barrier in advance, Merlin wouldve had a tough time, but if she had made one right in front of him, Merlin felt confident that he could disable it.

The reason Mary unleashed a powerful barrier, a defensive curtain that cost a lot of power to maintain, was because she roughly grasped Merlins skills after a few clashes.

Eh, whatever. I made a strong qi-based barrier because I have so much to do. Work has been piling up like crazy.

After making the barrier, Mary stood before the entrance to the system control room and closed her eyes.

Her responsibilities extended far beyond defending the system control room.

She also had to manage the systems bulletin board and regularly keep in touch with [herself], a self that resided within a USB stick. This version of her was the one that often met with others.

It wouldnt be an immediate problem if she didnt get to her work in a timely manner, but eventually, the work would pile up and present a larger problem down the road. So, she couldnt easily ignore the backlogged work.

Bang!

Once again, Sungmuk struck one of the strong qi barriers walls, causing the surrounding air to explode from the aftershock, but the shield didnt budge.

It was as if two different worlds existed on each side of the shield: a world outside and a world within.

Even if hundreds of nuclear bombs fell onto the barrier or even an antimatter bomb, the barrier wouldnt collapse.

Theres no solution. Moreover, staying still like this wont help me practice my skills.

It seems shes completely focused on defense and has given up on offense. She can probably maintain and conserve her energy better this way.

I havent seen strong qi too often but this is the first time Ive seen it being used in such a way. Is it because shes a transcendent with expertise in various fields of spiritual power?

Its amazing that even my telekinesis cant penetrate through the strong qi. Ive heard a great deal about post-transcendence strong qi, but now that Im seeing it up close, its such extraordinary energy.

The entire party approached, observed, and gave their opinions on the strong qi-based barrier. Post-transcendence strong qi, which one could manifest after reaching the transcendent realm, was a tremendously novel sight for the party, so they made sure to take a closer look.

Of course, after fighting Mary for 30 hours, she had beaten each party member with her strong qi attacks several times, but they didnt have the chance to focus and intently observe the force until now.

Outstanding.

Merlin also walked up to the barrier and reached out to touch it.

It felt like glass but was also soft and warm to the touch. By removing the quality of aggression in strong qi, it could harmonize and combine with any of the spiritual power areas. Moreover, strong qi used for deflecting all spiritual powers could reach up to hundreds of millions of degrees hot or even cool down to absolute zero.

Merlin raised his internal energy and struck the strong qi barrier.

However, the barrier didnt budge. Even after several blows, there were no vibrations or sounds.

Merlin raised his head.

Since the barrier was close to the temple, the party was only about three meters away from Mary as she stood with her eyes closed.

Arc. You know I spend a lot of time thinking and dealing with all sorts of matters, right?

Yeah, mostly.

In truth, the fate of Earth had been out of humanitys control for a while now.

The Noblesse made humans into users by connecting DIO to Earth, and the Legion and Grotesque constantly sent sub-units to Earth to achieve their goals. All sorts of restrictions bound these organizations, but any of the three was powerful enough to easily take over and rule Earth.

Actually, things are relatively calm right now, but the future of Earth is bleak. We dont have a choice, and the future will be desolate no matter who wins and eventually takes over. Currently, all three foreign powers are bound by various restrictions but since we cant effectively resist, we have no choice but to eventually be defeated in the end.

Saying so, Merlin slowly raised his internal energy.

Although he absorbed the Chintamani Marble, his internal energy capacity did not increase by a single point.

The Golden Pill Immortal Technique operated on an utterly different system from other internal energy techniques, and Merlins martial arts development had reached a plateau long ago.

Unless Merlin independently discovered a novel internal energy control ability or acquired the [Absolute Mana Control] ability, which was one of the conditions for utilizing strong qi, he could only deploy 100 years of internal energy at once. This would not change even if his internal energy capacity increased.