Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix
Chapter 1216 - 1216: Prediction

Rain had used more than half of his mana to kill the demons, but he didn't hesitate in using the rest that he recovered to help his teammates. Still, much to his surprise, while the Absolute Zero technique made the sword pierce their bodies… it didn't freeze them at all… their fuel still looked pretty much fine.

"The heck is this?" Rain thought.

The head of one of the robots did a 180, and then Rain saw the lifelessness of the robot and felt more creeped out than anything. The arms of the creature also turned to slice him with the chainsaw arms, but soon, he charged and pushed the monster to collide with another. Their arms hit each other and then they began to destroy each other as well.

Still, the other monsters soon moved to surround Rain, and he couldn't move that fast since the robots were quite heavy. With a powerful kick, he propelled himself in the opposite direction. Then, he beheaded one of the robots while also opening a hole in their formation. Still, then, all the other robots bombarded him with lasers that came from their eyes.

The pain made Rain flinch as his skin was burned… and when the lasers hit the wounds caused by the demons, Rain's mind went blank thanks to the pain.

As the pain intensified, a wave of rage overtook Rain's mind, potentially fueled by Elisabetha's emotions and his own frustration. In response, the shadows of corrupt magic intertwined with the Absolute Zero ice on Rain's sword, transforming it into a dark, ominous ice. This unexpected change provided extra protection, allowing Rain to regain his mobility.

With newfound strength, Rain swiftly moved through the battlefield, slicing apart the robots with his dark ice sword. The lasers continued to rain down on him, searing his skin, but the dark ice offered a formidable shield. In a matter of moments, Rain dismantled all the robots with precise and furious strikes, bringing a momentary halt to the relentless assault.

The Wrath's path leveled up. + 200 all parameters.

The Wrath's path leveled up. + 200 all parameters.

The Wrath's path leveled up. + 200 all parameters.

…

When the corrupt magic was dispersed, Rain fell on his knees while breathing heavily and groaning in pain. That had been a tough one… that much damage to receive in such a short window of time… not to mention it felt like his defenses were useless, and his health was attacked directly, and the result was shown in his body.

While wobbling, Rain got up and then went to check the bodies of the enemies that they had defeated. His teammates followed him, even though they looked like they truly needed a break…

"The hell is this…" Rain said while looking around.

As Rain closely examined the fallen robots, he made a shocking discovery. The fuel of these humanoid machines wasn't some form of conventional energy, but rather, it was indeed blood. The robots had intricate systems of blood vessels running through their metallic bodies.

These blood vessels resembled real living beings, and upon further inspection, Rain found a heart and a brain-like structure within them… those were made of some material between plastic and silicon…

The realization hit him like a wave of revulsion. The robots were not purely machines; they had elements of organic material integrated into their design. The areas around the blood vessels were made of flesh, and the combination of metal and organic matter was disturbingly seamless.

Rain couldn't determine whether these robots were constructed with such biological components as their foundation or if the enemies had developed them using advanced technology. Regardless of the origin, the sight was deeply unsettling. The boundary between machine and living being seemed to blur in these creations, leaving Rain feeling disgusted to the core.

"Ugh, this is just wrong," Rain muttered, his expression a mix of disbelief and discomfort.

The merging of machinery and flesh was an eerie concept, and he couldn't shake off the feeling of being both repulsed and intrigued by the grotesque discovery. His teammates shared similar sentiments, their expressions reflecting a mix of shock and unease.

The enemies they faced were not just advanced robots; they were a hybrid of machine and living tissue, a disturbing fusion that challenged the boundaries of what Rain thought he knew about the adversaries in this strange realm.

"Hey, you. You shouldn't stay there for long."

Rain suddenly heard a voice echoing in his mind, and then he raised his guard. He was still healing himself, but he still could fight. Someone would need to knock him down to be able to truly stop him.

"Telepathy?" Elisabetha asked. "How come? If yours isn't working?"

"This zone was changed to prevent the use of communication between the other zones. Something like this happened in the past, and the administrators of the prison decided to update this zone like that."

"... Who are you?" Rain asked.

Rain couldn't tell that voice at all if it was a man, woman, or machine… even when he uses Telepathy, he can hear the real voice of the other person inside his head, but that wasn't the case now.

"I am a resident of this area who knows a bit. I also know that they will keep sending more forces to capture you guys if you stay there. Both sides are like the warriors who can win battles against numerical advantage. They make for good materials for them."

"Materials… as expected…" Rain said while feeling a shrive run down his spine.

"That is right, both sides use people like you and your friends as materials to enhance their armies. I will leave it to your imagination to think how they do that. This world is filled with people like them, so there is nowhere to run."

"Now is the part where you say something very convenient," Rain said.

"Oh? You know how things actually work, huh? Perhaps you will become one of them in the future."