Utopian System

Chapter 375 System's Last Prey

Elio closed his fist.

Each movement of his fingers was reflected in the metallic construction, the stakes sinking deeper into the artromus's body with mechanical precision.

The crunches that filled the chamber were horrific, the sound of a supposedly invulnerable creature being torn apart ending in a wet gurgle that echoed off the walls.

Zentros, his neck partially regenerated, watched his companion's destruction with horror.

In one final act of absolute desperation, he launched himself at Elio with all the strength he had left.

Elio didn't even move.

Selene appeared like lightning, her wind impulse striking Zentros with perfect precision, stopping his suicidal charge cold.

With the first artromus reduced to unrecognizable pieces, Elio turned his hand toward Zentros.

The expression on his transformed face showed no emotion as he directed his power toward the artromus leader.

The look in Zentros's multifaceted eyes showed something no human had ever seen in a true artromus: Surrender.

It was the end.

♢♢♢♢

Trapped between two transformed humans, Zentros knew his end was inevitable.

But one last question burned in his mind: had his companion managed to escape far enough?

In the instant preceding his death, Zentros made a desperate decision.

His thoughts accelerated to maximum by perception, he concentrated all his will into articulating three words with enough speed and clarity for Elio's superhuman perception to catch them:

"The Queen sleeps."

The words came out so fast he feared he'd pronounced them wrong, merged into a barely comprehensible sound.

But he had to try, had to win even a fraction of a second more for the messenger.

Elio's sword was already descending, its edge glowing with devastating power.

For an instant, an instant that stretched eternally thanks to his enhanced perception, Zentros saw that Elio had heard, that the words had reached his ears.

The blade paused for a fraction of a second while Elio processed the information.

♢♢♢♢

Elio heard.

But something in the monster's behavior troubled him, why fly directly toward the barrier?

The memory of Aranto, disintegrating upon touching the divine barrier, crossed his mind.

Had something changed? Could transformed artromus cross it now?

The question burned in his mind while the distance continued shrinking.

The artromus was only a few meters from the barrier, but Elio had no intention of letting it escape.

The monster had to die...

But despite his transformed speed pushed to the maximum, Elio realized that the artromus's initial advantage had been too great.

The distance was closing, but not fast enough, the monster would reach the barrier before him.

But one option remained.

At a hundred meters' distance, his control over magic in his current form was more than sufficient to create an effective prison.

And even if that didn't stop it...

If the artromus crossed the barrier, Elio would simply follow.

The level 2 monsters on the other side posed no real threat; while he maintained mana and stamina, while the potion's effect lasted, they would be insignificant insects.

The lithium prison formed just as the artromus crossed through the barrier.

But to Elio's surprise... only for an instant.

The moment the monster trapped by the construction completely crossed the barrier, it destroyed the prison as if it were paper.

Still, that fraction of a second's delay was enough for Elio to close in and cross the barrier as well.

A flock of winged creatures descended upon him immediately.

They were different from the locus, their forms more stylized, their movements more fluid, but their threat level was comparable.

For Elio's current power, they were barely more annoying than normal locus.

However, something changed dramatically.

The artromus, which until a moment ago had barely been maintaining its lead, suddenly moved with a speed that doubled its already impressive transformed velocity.

Wind impulses began erupting from its form, each more powerful than the last, gradually increasing the distance between them.

Elio, surprised by this sudden change, used the crystal in his book.

The statistics that appeared before his eyes left him stunned: all the artromus's values had doubled upon crossing the barrier.