BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

<I need to get out of this mess. >

As soon as Erik got on his feet again, Inkblade's inky iron maiden sprouted again.

Erik barely had the time to avoid being trapped into the deadly construct. by diving on his left.

Then Dreadnought came like a freight train and tried to punch the young man.

Erik already got his back at the wall, but he ducked and punched Dreadnought in her midsection, making her fly 20 meters back.

Stickyfingers, trying to take advantage of Erik's precarious stance, threw again the net-balls after having placed the same sticky substance her brain crystal power produced onto it.

She was hoping to trap Erik again and this time gain an advantage.

However, the young man activated both Hais' and the instability brain crystal powers.

The second allowed him to sense not only what Stickyfingers was trying to do but also that Momentum, the team's leader, was channeling mana in order to reverse his inertia.

If Erik planned on moving forward, Momentum's brain crystal power would make him move backward.

It was a weird power, not very easy to use, but very problematic in a fight.

If Erik's movements were disrupted, his situation would only grow direr.

However, knowing this, instead of going forward, the young man tried to move left, but as a result, he ended up going right.

That allowed him to avoid not only the net but also take advantage of Momentum's power to get out of his predicament.

Though, Shadowstalker was already hopping through the shadows and was going to attack Erik.

The young man knew that thanks to his powers. Hais brain crystal power allowed him to see the battlefield more clearly, and noticing the subtle hints of movement, his instability power didn't allow him to see.

Since his thought speed increased a lot, he quickly realized that, to take advantage of the situation, he had to disrupt Momentum's power.

For that reason, he conjured another wind blade. Erik then turned behind, knowing Momentum's power was still in effect.

By taking advantage of it, Erik slashed at the wall in front of the man, knowing the wind blade would travel in the opposite direction.

As he unleashed the blade, Momentum got scared. Dreadnought jumped in front of him to shield the man from the attack, but the blackguard lost his concentration and the effect of his brain crystal power wore off.

All of this happened in a fraction of seconds, in which Erik, now free from his constraints, turned just in time to see Shadowstalker hopping out of a shadow to attack him.

However, thanks to the instability brain crystal power and Hais's one, he made in time to swing his sword, decapitating Shadowstalker with a single fluid motion.

[ENEMY HUMAN KILLED: MANA ABSORBING PROCESS STARTING.]

[0%...1%....5%...30%...70%...100%]

[MANA SUCCESSFULLY ABSORBED, STARTING CONVERTING PROCEDURE.]

[3...2...1...0]

[MANA SUCCESSFULLY CONVERTED INTO EXPERIENCE. 19920 EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED TO THE HOST.]

Erik also had time to look around thanks to Hais's brain crystal power.

He noticed that all his remaining clones, June included, left the building. He assumed they were already outside.

"MALIK!"

Inkblade made an anguished shout. The two were friends.

Inkblade tried to attack Erik, but since there was no one who could stop him at that moment, Erik activated his Xeridon Anteris brain crystal power, enhancing his strength, and as a result, his speed. He darted out of the corridor and entered the elevator.

"Phew… that was close. These bastards are really strong!"

However, the Blackguards didn't stay idle.

"FAST! CHASE HIM!"

As they arrived at the elevator, they noticed that was the only way to go up.

Dreadnought went forward and increased her density and strength.

She tore open the elevator's doors and all the Blackguards started climbing through the shaft while the elevator itself brought Erik on the upper and last floor. It was the floor leading to the exit.

<June, where are you? > Erik reached for his clone thanks to his powers.

<We are outside. There are no guards nearby and those inside we dealt with them. How is the situation at your end? >

<I got to the elevator and killed a blackguard, but they are likely chasing me. The problem is that I heard the elevator's door below being forcefully opened. You need to shapeshift into Galewings and leave. Head for Liberty Watch's village. Though, while the others go, you wait for me at the first line of trees. We will leave as soon as I get there. >

June nodded. <Allright, Master. I will tell the others. I will wait for you in front of the forest. Make haste. >

When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Erik dashed through the labyrinth of corridors, heading for the exit.

At the same time, the Blackguards reached the same floor and began their pursuit toward the exit.

Both parties, Erik and the Blackguards, navigated the building at a breakneck speed, but Erik was faster.

A grim scene unfolded before their eyes as they both went through the corridors.

The hallways were littered with the bodies of guards, casualties in the clones' escape.

The guards were strewn haphazardly across the floor, a testifying a battle that went on in the background as Erik faced the Blackguards.

The clones had overcome significant resistance, leaving behind a trail of death that now lay in the path of both Erik and his pursuers.

The young man eventually arrived at the exit door, the gateway to the colossal structure he went through the first time he entered the city.

It bore a striking resemblance to the other similar gates across the country, especially so for that in Testrovsc's Rest.

Crossing the threshold, he found himself amid an arsenal of combat vehicles and artillery weapons—typical equipment for mercenaries embarking on their hunting expeditions.

However, he had the inkling those vehicles and artillery were brain crystal weapons.

Erik didn't let himself get distracted by what he was seeing.

He maneuvered through the mechanical labyrinth, with the nimbleness of a monkey swinging through a forest canopy.

After traversing this maze of warfare machinery, Erik emerged into the open.

He had reached the outside, leaving behind the confines and dangers of the guarded structure.

However, he wasn't done. He needed to reach June to escape from that damned city, as the Blackguards were on his tail, and based on what they showed, they were capable of killing him.