I Hate Systems

The Nests began to exit the gate one after another as they affixed themselves to their respective locations. Following that, they began to absorb the resources of the place to produce insectoids that began to gradually overwhelm the shadowy beings.

Within an hour, the shadowy beings were almost wiped out. But at this time, a dragon plushie entered the central coral forming the reef when suddenly, there was a surge of energy.

Immediately in response, a shadowy creature that was being overwhelmed by the newly produced insectoid suddenly grew stronger. Its shadow began to regenerate when it devoured the bodies of the insectoids.

"How is this possible?" The captain was surprised at the sequence of events when suddenly, the shadowy beings began to munch on the corpses of the insectoids to rapidly recover their strength and attain an optimal state of being.

The retaliation gained a hand following that as the insectoids were pushed back this time.

Boom!

The shadowy region expanded in range as it enveloped the closest Nest, shooting out hundreds of thousands of shadowy beings at it.

Kieee!

The Nest screamed in response as the royal guard of insectoids defending it were sharply overwhelmed by the shadowy beings, and soon after, it was attacked.

The shadowy latched onto the Nest's body and began to drill through it like ants, raising ear-piercing screams that rattled the land.

In a matter of minutes, it was fully devoured. Following that, the shadowy beings retreated into the shadows. In the central coral, the dragon plushie that had fused with it let out a smile of content, "It's done."

Every time the shadowy beings killed the insectoids, they captured and absorbed some of the opponent's thought, will, emotions, etc. They were all being transmitted to the central coral where the dragon plushie absorbed them all.

And just as Stencil had planned within the 24 Rings World, these mental substances combined naturally to birth concepts.

The dragon plushie then planted them into the bodies of the shadowy beings, sharply raising their strength. This was the reason they managed to recover and retaliate when they were almost overwhelmed.

It had taken some time to create the Concepts that were geared against the Swarm. And now, by absorbing the mind of the Nest, the dragon plushie within the central coral obtained a concept regarding the Next, immediately taking action.

A shadowy being gained that concept as its body began to grow rapidly, becoming massive just like the Nest. Shadows whirred within its bloated body as it absorbed the resources of the region, eventually pumping out more shadowy beings.

Just its arrival alone caused a replenishment of the shadowy beings, achieving a balance against the Swarm.

And by taking advantage of their dominant position at the moment, the shadowy beings launched a sneak attack on the second Nest and somehow managed to take it down, thereby gaining enough resources to generate a second concept, birthing the second Shadowy Nest.

The advancement of the invaders stopped there as the resistance proved to be staunch enough. But of course, even among the Swarm, only a fraction had descended at the vanguard. It was not to mention the sheer variety of invaders forming the armies.

Therefore, the defending side couldn't relax either. But, peeking from one of the corals was Gehera that observed the ongoing fight, frowning as she observed how not even an elite level invader had appeared until now.

Even in the Gunmetal Gold World, the Four Star and Five Star Invaders were terrifyingly powerful. And despite its powers, the  Nests that had arrived were at most equivalent to a Three Star Invader in terms of strength.

So, it was apparent that the enemy was sharply concealing their power, confusing her, 'But why? Wasn't their goal to kill Compass as soon as possible? In their eyes, the only way to force him to reveal himself is by attacking Stencil's home.'

'Wait, did they discover Stencil's location?' Her eyes widened in alarm as Gehera activated a Totem to mask her presence and transform into a ray of light that warped through the space, rapidly penetrating the enemy lines.

Soon, she arrived to a halt above a certain base, observing that this base was different from the rest. Constructed in it was a gigantic drill that was oozing with spatial power to rapidly bore a hole into the ground.

The one doing it was an entity resembling a middle-aged man sporting hair similar to the lion's mane. Upon her arrival, it seemed he had noticed her, letting out a simple smirk as he shattered the spatial drill and stood upon the created hole, "You must be Gehera."

"Since you're here, it must be true that Compass isn't here." It was the Invader System that stomped the ground within the dug hole, breaking through the last layer as it shattered through the spatial barrier, "Did you really assume a universe's spatial barrier can stop a Grade 3 System, especially me?"

The Invader System slipped through the hole and emerged out of the serpent, bellowing in laughter, "My army will continue to invade and destroy Stencil's world. Let's see if they can hold on without you."

The Invader System punched a hole into the adjacent universe and connected to the Astral Network, using which it arrived at the System World, escaping from the place.

"This…bastard!" Gehera screamed in shock, only realising what had happened. Indeed, as the Invader System had said, the number of enemies overwhelmed them greatly, whether in terms of individual strength or overall numbers.

Gehera was the only variable that gave them a fighting chance against such numbers. But, if she chased after the Invader System, then it was only a matter of time before all the defences they had erected crumble.

After all, she was the one actively stealing the power of the enemies to create new powers to help the defence. Without her, the various regions would collapse one after another without even denting the opponent's reserves.

But, if Gehera didn't chase after the Invader System, more problems emerged. After all, there was only Earth Star protecting Stencil. He was indeed strong after his recent strength gains, but if Stencil's location was discovered, Zaira would be chasing after them.

Just that alone meant that they would be hard pressed for survival. The Invader System's disappearance was a confirmation of her presence.

Moreover, since Stencil was Compass Carburettor's daughter, in order to gain an advantage over him in their fight, there was a guaranteed chance Arnark too would be there, casing Gehera to hesitate, vexed, "Shit! Where should I go?"