Tale of Discovery

Chapter 233: Clash (2/2)

Seeing the pink mist approaching us, I feel a strange sensation of familiarity.

For some odd reason, I don't feel like offering any resistance to the pink mist. Could this be a characteristic of whatever it is?

Unlike me, Nyx doesn't seem to be too concerned as she simply moves closer to me and stands right behind me.

Soon enough, the pink mist reaches us, but instead of pain or any other sensation, I feel nothing more than comfort. It's as if I am bathing in a pool of comforting energy.

"What is going on?!" Georg says in an anxious tone as he stops releasing the pink mist.

"Georg?" Cao Cao says with a frown, "Is something wrong?"

"It's not working!" Georg responds, "Dimensional Lost is not responding!"

Hearing his words, the others furrow their brows as Hercules says, "Are we going to fight here then?"

"No," Cao Cao responds, "If we do that, there could be other disturbances."

Listening to their conversation, I realize that whatever this pink mist is, it's seemingly ineffective against me. Not only that, but it seems to have been some kind of mechanism to take us away from here.

"You lot wish to fight elsewhere? Somewhere we won't be disturbed?" I say, attracting their attention.

"That's simple," I say before invoking, "Arena."

The next moment, everyone gets pulled along with myself into the familiar city. Looking around the place, I begin to think of what Irene had said before.

At any given moment, the location could change, however, there will be some sort of warning before that happens.

Truthfully, I would be slightly saddened if the location changed now, as I'm used to the city and the way everything works.

Setting such thoughts aside for the moment, I take a glance at Nyx, only to find her curiously observing the city with awe.

Unlike her, however, the Hero Faction is grouped up close to one another, seemingly in preparation for an ambush.

Shaking my head, I step forth and say, "Fret not, you weaklings aren't worth ambushing."

Hearing my statement, all of them glare at me while preparing for battle.

After a few seconds of standstill, Cao Cao swiftly dashes toward me with his spear raised.

Once again, a sense of familiarity overwhelms me as the tip of the spear approaches my chest.

Before I can settle my mind whether to bother with reflecting the attack's vectors or not, the spear reaches my chest. Unexpectedly, I feel no pain or any kind of force, but a warm sensation as if I am being rejuvenated.

Following this, Cao Cao's eyes widen as he hurriedly steps back and inspects the spear in his hand.

"Was that supposed to hurt me?" I mock.

"Leader?" Heracles says, "What happened?"

"I don't know," comes a response from the befuddled man, "it should've pierced his body, but it suddenly stopped."

"So much for heroes," I proclaim with a grin, "You can't even handle your weapons."

The next moment, a Heracles' figure blurs as he dashes toward me. Once he has gotten close enough, Heracles pulls his arm back in preparation for a punch.

Unfazed, I stand in my position and stare at his face as his fist approaches me.

A small smile forms on Heracles' lips as his fist contacts my cheek but frowns the next moment as I cancel all vectors associated with the punch.

Before he can react, I swiftly slam my palm into his chest while redirecting the vectors downward and amplifying them.

As a result, Heracles falls to his knees with enough force to crack the ground.

"You seem like a sturdy weapon," I remark before kicking his face with just enough force to knock him down.

Then, before the bewildered group of self-proclaimed heroes, I grasp Heracles' right leg tightly with my fingers riddling holes in his flesh.

Looking up at the nervous self-proclaimed heroes, I beam a smile before lifting Heracles off the ground and dashing toward the girl that called herself Jeanne.

As expected, they can't keep up with my current speed, resulting in Heracles' bulky body to slam into the shocked lady.

Due to them being close, both Georg and Siegfried get knocked back a few meters, while Jeanne directly slams into a building before limply falling to the ground.

All of a sudden, I feel a tag on my arm as Heracles struggles to pull his leg away from hand.

Discontented with his behavior, I raise my arm along with his body before slamming him into the ground.

Soon after, I notice that's not enough as he begins struggling again, so, I repeat the process numerous times, resulting in bits of debris to burst toward Cao Cao.

As a response, he swiftly blocks the debris using his spear by a few fancy swings.

At this moment, a wave of darkness surrounds Cao Cao's body as a graceful figure appears behind him and punches his back, causing him to slam into the ground and drop his spear.

Standing close to his body, Nyx has a charming smile on her face as she gazes at me.

All of a sudden, a figure dashes toward me and swings a sword at me, which I casually block using Vector Manipulation.

Checking the figure out, I see that it's the guy that looks somewhat similar to Kiba, Siegfried.

"You guys don't learn, do you?" I say in a mocking tone, "Physical attacks pose me no threat."

At this moment two white arms protrude from Siegfried's sides and equip two different swords exuding a dark aura.

One of the swords is a large double-edged black sword with golden adornments on the handle and blade itself.

The other one is a darkish-purple oddly shaped sword with demon-like wings on its hilt.

Siegfried proceeds to swing the large double-edged sword, which results in a great force to be released in my direction, somewhat resembling that of Excalibur.

With uncertain factors added to the battle, I create some distance between and my opponent by kicking his abdomen.

After taking a few seconds to recover from my kick, Siegfried proceeds to swing the oddly shaped sword, which results in five ice pillars abruptly appearing around me extending toward my body.

I casually dodge the pillars by flying up a few meters before stopping and inspecting Siegfried.

Now that I know what the two swords are capable of, I can take him out without any worries.

As such, I dash toward him, to which he responds by swinging the double-edged sword, resulting in a wave of destruction to be sent my way.

Wrapping myself in Destruction, I proceed to easily pass through the wave and close in on Siegfried before punching his stomach with just enough force to shatter his ribs and render him unconscious.

With him down, I glance over at the rest, only to find Georg being choked by Nyx, who is holding him up by the throat.

Beside her feet, a severely injured blond-haired girl, who is none other than Jeanne, is tugging on Nyx's dress to stop her.

Chuckling at this pitiful sight, I slowly walk toward Nyx and say, "Refrain from killing him. There is a lot of information that can be gathered from them."

Nyx immediately lets of Georg, causing him to fall to the ground and gasp for air.

Satisfied with the efficiency of this battle, I reach my arm out to pat Nyx's head, to which she responds by beaming me a bright smile and saying, "I had heard that you treated gods other than those who belonged to Genesis as children. Now, it seems like those claims weren't without any basis."

Hearing that, I chuckle a little before responding, "You were just cute and likable, so I decided that you deserved some praise."

A wry smile forms on Nyx's glossy lips as she says, "Your method of praising sure is unusual."

As a response to her remark, I shrug my shoulders before shifting my sight to the beat-up self-proclaimed heroes as an odd expression appears on my face.

"In the end, what was it that made them so confident in facing against us?" I ask no one in particular.

"They had most likely fought some fake gods and believed themselves to be powerful enough to challenge all beings, including us."

"Fake gods?" I curiously ask as Loki's figure flashes in my mind.

"You killed one recently, didn't you?" Nyx says while smiling, "My brother was very excited when he heard that you had returned and leisurely eliminated a false god while at it."

"I see."

So, she has a brother, huh? He should be a 'real' god.

"Your brother... is he a Code as well?"

"Naturally," Nyx responds, "His name is Erebus, commonly known as God of Darkness. He has always been a big fan of Genesis."

This is quite intriguing. Not only have I come across a pair of Codes, but one of them is a 'fan' of my previous Program.

"So, Nyx. Care to explain why you were looking for me?"

Hearing my question, Nyx doesn't falter as she gracefully responds, "As I had said previously, I have come to offer you my and my brother's allegiance."

"For what reason?"

"We had always wanted to do so, but couldn't do it due to the state of the Playground."

"Are you saying that the current situation is ideal for less powerful Codes to rise?"

"Indeed," Nyx responds, "You watch on very quickly."

Dismissing her praise, I begin to deliberate on her words. In a way, her claims suggest that Codes follow a strict hierarchy. Now that the stronger ones are missing from action, the rest are beginning to rise.

The only issue would be if the rising Codes are going to side with me or not. According to what I know so far, there is a very high chance that the majority will oppose me.

Of course, there is also the possibility of Nyx not being truthful, or more precisely, refraining from revealing sensitive information to me.

Anyway, now that I have the chance to obtain a goddess and a god as allies, I won't refuse the offer. Nevertheless, it will take a while for me to trust them fully.

"Victor," Nyx suddenly calls out while glancing at the pitiful self-proclaimed heroes, "What are you planning to do with them?"

"Good question," I respond before thinking of a place I can have these guys imprisoned at.

After a short while, I conclude that the best place to do so would be in Heaven. Hopefully, there is a special location with functions similar to that of a jail...