I Hate Systems

"Ack!"

"Uwak!"

"Shit!"

Screams resounded throughout the place as Straxia gazed at everything in silence, noticing the countless barriers that she had erected shatter in response before one of her hands had been implicated, causing it to shatter in response.

But, the rest of her body wasn't damaged, as if her shattered hand had absorbed all the impact that her body experienced.

She then noticed Ianon being the sole person that was uninjured among them all, subtly frowning, 'Conspiracy Slayer…as expected. So, he didn't warn the others despite realising the trap in advance.'

Though, she too was the same, so Straxia didn't call him out, easily regenerating her hand as she observed the extent of the damage.

The group that had entered the Reality Marble were on the verge of death now, all of them. But, luckily, they had survived.

'The ability to guard against instant death. So, that's a System's innate ability, huh. As expected, anyone else with their powers would have died in that situation.' She nodded.

Straxia was different from the other System Hosts in that she was aware of the truth about her world, in that it looped every twenty years. It was because she had the Skill of Remembrance that her System had purchased from the Remembrance System before.

Thanks to that, she was able to remember everything that had transpired in the previous loops. That's why she was knowledgeable about all the System Hosts, having met them in the previous loops.

'The reason Rhizen is such an annoying opponent is that his immunity to instant death is many times a normal System Host. And, if he isn't killed in an instant, his luck would cause him to take advantage of any situation. The fact that he has the presence to take advantage of any chance is what makes him terrifying.' She collated her thoughts, gazing at the jet-black figure of Compass Carburettor vanish, along with the rest of the Reality Marble.

'It seems he has timed this ability to expire ten seconds after our arrival. It's obvious now that he has a method to detect our arrival.' She continued to think, observing everything that existed in the Reality Marble, unblinking, collecting information about her opponent.

"Dammit, this was a trap!" The Flaxen-haired youth healed himself, shouting in rage as he stood on the ground. He was just planning to shout further to express his rage when he flinched upon his System's shout, noticing the grass on the ground drilling into his legs, "Shit!"

He leaped into the air as a mysterious light fluctuated in his legs, severing them as he regenerated another pair, condensing a surfing board on which he landed. He then surfed in the air as he did on water.

"This grass is terrifying." He muttered, seeing his severed legs land on the ground and turn into a Grassman's immediately. And slowly, the legs grew, eventually condensing a body that was no different to his, causing him to shudder as his Grassman counterpart stared at him with a complacent smile.

"Don't engage with it." Before he could attack it, a System Host stopped him, saying, "You'll only be wasting your strength. You've just been injured severely, so don't push yourself."

"You're right about that." He gritted his teeth, glaring at his Grassman counterpart, asking mentally, 'System, will that cause me harm in the future?'

[Maybe]

Upon hearing his System's vague reply, his blood boiled as he unleashed an attack on his Grassman counterpart, slashing it into pieces.

But, the grass on the ground simply swerved into the severed pieces before re-joining them into a whole. The Grassman gazed at him, smirking before it collapsed into strands of grass that retreated into the ground.

"That annoying bastard!" The flaxen-haired youth grunted in anger upon seeing his Grassman counterpart escape.

He was also angry because his System only gave him a vague reply. He was the typical System Slave, nothing without the System's help.

And, if his System didn't spoon-feed him the information, he raged forth like a baby.

Upon seeing the flaxen-haired youth's actions, Straxia turned around, noticing Ianon facepalm in embarrassment. "If you are feeling that embarrassed, you needn't journey with us, you know."

"Good suggestion." Ianon flashed her a thumbs up, "I've faced Compass before, so I'm not exactly afraid of him."

"I can manage on my own. Though," He snorted upon gazing at the others around him, "Without my presence, they'll all fatten him up."

"You're right about that. So, what do you propose?" Straxia asked, "We know that Compass is able to use our abilities upon killing us. So, we can't exactly treat anyone else here as cannon fodder."

"Elaborate plans against him wouldn't work. He's a great schemer himself." Ianon said, "So, the simplest option would be to swarm him in groups of five. That's our best bet."

"Why five?" Straxia frowned, "Based on my calculation, teams of seven are better in terms of effectiveness."

"That's debatable, I guess." Ianon said, "We can send both teams of five and teams of seven against him and see which works the best."

"That's foolish. He'll be aware of our abilities if we take trial runs like that." Straxia retorted.

"Then, what do you propose?" Ianon frowned.

"We'll make three teams of seven. As for the rest, I'll divide them into teams of three according to their abilities. They'll work on miscellaneous tasks like scouting for his actions, reporting upon his abilities, taking note of his allies, etc." She spoke.

"And, the three main teams would attack Compass on various fronts and corner him, both physically and mentally." Straxia said, "That way, irrespective of his strength, he'll fall soon after."

"Then, let's do that." Ianon nodded, "Though, if I feel it's not working, I'll lead the teams."

"Fair enough, the better capable among us leads everyone." Straxia smiled in response, unaffected by the chaos of the Static Force.

"These two…" Shyvern was on the ground, having frozen the grass around him as he gazed at the backs of Ianon and Straxia, frowning for a moment before smirking, "Well, you won't succeed. Rhizen's death is in my hands. But before that…"

"He must suffer."