Lawson pulled back his smirk, his expression turning so solemn it made the surrounding air feel heavy.
"Our victory depends entirely on {Mage Heart}!" he whispered, beckoning everyone to huddle close.
"The logic core of {Mage Heart} is fundamentally different from standard armor. It isn't just a frontline weapon; it's a 'Spell Nexus' capable of wielding multi-attribute elements.
Theoretically, if it channeled Earth-elemental magic, it could instant-kill the Volt-Eater. Why? Because {Mage Heart} possesses a broken exclusive passive: [Magic Multiplier]. When an attribute counter is triggered, the standard 300% damage is amplified again, violently boosting it to a terrifying 550%!"
"Wait, so after all that talk, the 'grand strategy' is just spamming skills?" Luther's face fell, his voice dripping with disappointment.
"I thought there was going to be some brilliant tactical play."
"If it were as simple as mashing buttons, I wouldn't be this serious," Lawson cut him off. "Elemental magic in {Mage Heart} isn't like a voice-activated lamp. Releasing it requires incredibly precise energy calculations involving multi-layered, high-dimensional architectures. Simply put: while he's casting, he's a sitting duck. Therefore, someone must act as a 'Shield' to hold the Volt-Eater's aggro and buy him that lethal casting window!"
He paused, scanning the group.
"Since our team currently lacks a Heavy Tank, {Moon Swift} must step up as the 'T' (Tank)," Lawson looked at Katie. "Use your agility to dance on the edge of its claws. Keep that monster busy."
Katie nodded sharply. "No problem! Dodge-tanking is my specialty."
"What about us? Are we just the cheerleading squad?" Victor chimed in.
"Victor, with our strength, we should just stay back. Not 'feeding' the boss is the best contribution we can make," Valerie muttered self-deprecatingly.
Lawson waved them off. "Don't worry, no one is staying idle. In fact, you guys are the key to the next phase! Now, I'm going to break down the mechanics of this Boss Raid. Carve every detail into your brains!"
"This isn't a mindless hack-and-slash; it's a high-difficulty 'First Clear.' Listen well," Lawson's voice grew heavy. "Once combat begins, the Volt-Eater's magnetic field will periodically spawn swarms of Pup Wolves.
These minions will mob you, but some will undergo a 'Surge Mutation' and evolve into Overloaders.
They are mobile suicide bombers. If they self-destruct, the resulting electromagnetic interference will Paralyze the entire field. You won't even be able to lift a finger."
"Then... Sister Katie and Mr. George will be defenseless targets!" Emma gripped the hem of her shirt.
"Exactly. Your mission is simple: within the endless tide of beasts, you must precision-hunt the Overloaders. Do not let a single interference field form! Be fast—the spawn rate will grow exponentially as the fight progresses."
"How do we tell the 'bombs' apart from the pack?" Valerie asked.
"The trait is obvious. Watch their heads. Any wolf emitting a violent, frantic yellow light is an Overloader in its countdown phase! Now—if anyone feels they aren't up to it, you can head back to base. There's no shame in staying alive."
The air froze for a few seconds.
"I'm in!" Phyllis spoke up, her voice quiet but held by unshakeable resolve.
"If we can't even pierce through the darkness in front of us, how can we talk about saving the world?"
"If a high schooler has this much guts, we adults can't exactly hide! Count me in!" Luther stepped forward.
"The world won't save itself. I'm in!" Valerie stood tall.
"—ARMOR LINK!!!"
The synchronized system prompts roared into the night.
Clad in nano-metal, the warriors transformed into streaks of light and charged toward the greedy thunder-beast.
The Volt-Eater snapped its eyes open, letting out an ear-piercing howl. Its electromagnetic field rippled outward, manifesting a tide of lightning-clad wolves.
{Moon Swift} became a blurred azure phantom.
She didn't hesitate, carving through the wolf-tide like a needle of light aiming for the Volt-Eater's throat!
As she reached the beast's feet, the suffocating pressure hit her—it was like standing beneath a collapsing mountain. The beast roared, and a massive claw, wreathed in air-shattering thunder, slammed down!
BOOM!
The impact sent shockwaves through the earth, creating a spider-web of craters.
But against this absolute power, Katie used her agility as a weapon.
She danced in the gaps between the claws and the lightning, a butterfly playing with thunder.
At the center of the battlefield, while the warriors were locked in a bitter struggle against the Overloaders.
Phyllis flitted along the edges of the data streams like a ghost.
Her eyes rapidly scanned every blind spot on the battlefield, her cold, clear voice exploding in the comms channel:
"5 o'clock, West! Emma, ten meters directly behind you! Coordinates locked!"
"Roger that! Heave-ho—take this!"
Emma gave a sharp cry as the thrusters on her back instantly erupted in a blinding flash of ionic sparks.
Her armor shot forward like a shell from a cannon, driven by the reckless courage of a newborn calf, charging straight toward the isolated Overloader.
However, at that exact moment, the malice of the battlefield reached a sudden boiling point.
As if a forbidden threshold had been triggered, the respawn rate of the Overloaders spiked.
Before Emma's fist could even graze the target's carapace, a bone-chilling vibration tore through the air.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The radar alerts became a continuous, shrill shriek.
"Five meters to the left! Six meters to the right! High-energy signatures confirmed!" For the first time, Phyllis's tone carried a hint of urgency.
Two Overloaders, bodies flowing with a destructive yellow glow, squeezed out of the void like malignant tumors, precisely sealing off Emma's flanks.
The electricity swelled violently from the overload, crackling as if it might transform into a series of all-consuming thunder-blasts at any moment.
"Eh? Ehhh?! Where did they all come from?!"
The once-aggressive Emma was now like a kitten that had lost its map at a crossroad.
Her smooth propulsion trajectory became distorted and slowed as her nerves faltered, her metallic boots grinding against the pavement with an ear-piercing screech.
"Left… or right? Which one am I supposed to hit?!"
The rookie warrior was trapped in a total logic loop amidst the dense self-destruct countdowns.
Because of her hesitation in the "Striker" position, the once-tight defensive formation instantly exposed a fatal gap.
The entire frontline began to teeter under the surge of the monster tide.
"Help! There are two of them! Somebody save ME!"
Emma was nearly screaming in the comms channel, her voice thick with tears.
Victor's eyes turned bloodshot with rage; he tried to force his thrusters to pivot for a rescue, but the radar alarm behind his head went off like crazy.
"Dammit! They've spawned behind me too!" Victor roared in frustration, watching helplessly as the lightning from the explosion counted down beside Emma.
"The distance is too great—I can't make it!"
Lawson, standing atop the high ground overlooking the battlefield, felt his confident expression freeze instantly.
His gaze was locked onto the yellow light dots multiplying like a frenzied virus.
A cold chill crept up his spine.
"Something's wrong... this spawn rate is completely off!"
As a decade-long veteran, every combat logic template was etched into Lawson's brain.
In his memory, the script for this difficulty level should never have deployed such a dense swarm of Overloaders this early.
This wasn't just a simple "difficulty spike"—it was a chaotic, unspeakable surge in the battlefield's underlying data.
"Did the system lock the difficulty, or... is someone forcibly tampering with the spawn rates in the backend?"
Lawson cursed under his breath, a thin bead of sweat forming on his brow.
Yet, reality was too stingy to grant him even half a second to dig for the truth.
Just as the defense was about to collapse entirely, a steady, cold male voice—one that felt as if it could freeze the very chaos itself—forcefully cut into everyone's comm system. It was Lawson, the ten-year veteran finally activated his "God's Eye" Command Mode.
"All units, listen up. Abandon current targets. Transition to Plan B."
Lawson's voice was devoid of emotion, yet it carried an unquestionable authority.
"Katie, retreat immediately! Don't waste time on that Volt-Eater! Luther, Phyllis, fill the coordinate gaps left by Katie's retreat instantly. Do not engage—only perform long-range interference and kiting!"
"Katie, ignore the mobs. Activate [Absolute Zero Domain] now!"
Lawson's orders were as precise as a scalpel, aimed directly at the enemy's vitals. "Force the speed of those self-destructing Overloaders down to '1,' then use your Rank-Suppression for a high-speed clear! Now, EXECUTE!"
"Roger! Understood!"
The crisp response from {Moon Swift} was accompanied by the mechanical hum of interlocking gears.
In a heartbeat, a wave of frigid, ghostly blue ice-breath erupted from beneath Katie's feet, spreading frantically.
The once-frenzied, grotesque Overloaders—moments away from becoming thunder-blasts—became slower than snails the instant they touched that absolute zero chill.
The entire battlefield seemed to be set to slow-motion. Under the absolute suppression of Katie's SS-Rank armor, the monsters' death countdowns were forcibly dragged out.
A certain death trap was transformed into a one-sided execution ground by a few words from Lawson.
"Shatter!"
With Katie's low murmur, {Moon Swift} turned into a streak of ghostly blue frost-light.
Her toes grazed the ground as she blurred through the frozen enemy ranks in a "Z" pattern.
Wherever the frost-blades passed, those restless, imminent Overloaders didn't even have time to let out a final cry before their cores were instantly frozen and shattered, dissolving into a shower of crystalline ice shards.
On the other side of the battlefield, Luther and Phyllis were performing a textbook "Kiting Tactic."
Despite facing Volt-Eater whose levels far exceeded their own, the two worked in perfect harmony under Lawson's precise orchestration.
Luther used the terrain to move at high speeds, constantly distracting the monsters' vision, while Phyllis followed like a shadow, applying interference during every gap in the Volt-Eater's attacks.
Fighting while retreating, they bridged the gap in numerical stats and played with the massive beast as if it were a mere doll in their hands.
Finally, a blinding brown radiance erupted from the ridge. The runes beneath George's feet spun frantically as the Earth-elemental energy in his palms reached the critical point.
"[GAIA'S PIERCE]!!"
The earth beneath the Volt-Eater shattered with a mournful groan.
Fissures spread like dragons, then violently collapsed inward in a cold, geometric snap—forming a ten-thousand-ton stone prison that wedged the beast in place!
The monster let out a soul-rending shriek as thousands of jagged stone spikes erupted from the ground, piercing every inch of the Volt-Eater's flesh with lethal intent!
The beast was pinned to its rocky grave, shivering one last time before its heart stopped.
The violent electricity stored within it turned into a magnificent azure torrent, roaring through the power lines back to the core.
In an instant, the city's lights flickered to life, one by one, like a heart resuming its beat.
As the smoke cleared, the ground was littered with Power Core C and D.
"You guys split the materials," Katie said, waving a hand generously. "My rank is too high for these basic drops."
"I have no interest either," George added, his voice like ice. "{Mage Heart} starts at B-rank. These materials are just impurities to me. Unless it drops LP, it's meaningless." He turned and walked away without looking back.
The warriors erupted into cheers, gathering the loot that would be their capital for survival. Back at the base entrance, Lawson leaned against a pillar. "A Perfectly Slain. As expected of the 'Silver Wing'."
"You overestimate me," George paused. "The casting time is still too long. On a shifting battlefield, that will become a fatal flaw."
"Relax, this is just the transition phase," Lawson advised.
"Once you craft an A-rank Magic Armor, you'll unlock [Rapid Chant]. And at S-rank? You'll master [Instant Cast]. Keep it up, Superstar."
George's eyes brightened. "I see. Your knowledge is truly impressive, Mr. Lawson."
Lawson watched George's retreating back and whispered,
"The results exceeded my expectations. So, that is the true potential of 'Soul.' Perhaps next time I should recode the soul itself rather than the armor stats? Haha, just kidding—I'm not an evil scientist."