The Oracle Paths

Without further ado, Jake stepped forward and in the next instant reappeared at the foot of the high hill where the enemy HQ was erected. Hephais emerged almost immediately from Jake's shadow, followed swiftly by Lysandra, Lee Yoon, then much later Amy and the other Players. The disparity in their levels was plain to see.

Lysandra's performance was expected, being a Rank 15 Major, but Lee Yoon was faring better than her rank suggested. Amy, however, was the disappointment.

She was only Rank 13, like Will or his cousins Vincent and Kevin, but unlike the former, her specialty was hand-to-hand combat. Yet, the merchant seemed to physically surpass her by a wide margin, while Kevin was definitely much stronger.

'I really hope she hasn't shown all her cards earlier. If Will saw this, he'd surely be disappointed too,' Jake sighed inwardly before finally lowering his expectations and reminding himself that at least she was still alive.

Unlike many others.

In reality, Amy's progression placed her among the top Earthlings considering her starting point, but Jake couldn't help judging her harshly since, if she hadn't left, with their help she might have done much better.

Or maybe she would have died at the first encounter with a Digestor. In the end, maybe it was for the best. Cho Min Ho's faction seemed objectively better suited for providing protection and security to ordinary humans. At least in the beginning.

Considering what was happening in this Ordeal, its weaker members were clearly left to fend for themselves.

"Shouldn't we go help Crunch and Lord Phoenix?" Hephais hissed speechlessly upon seeing the two fools already near the top of the hill, triggering one after another all the enemy traps and countermeasures.

BOOOOOM!

A pillar of blinding white light, as wide as a skyscraper, struck down on the orange turkey like a celestial strike, reducing it to ashes in a flash. As soon as the bird was obliterated, the celestial laser 'teleported' onto the temporarily spared black cat, 'tanning' it just as lethally.

The Light Warriors camping their defensive positions on the hill were also caught in the radiation's fire, the closest ones disintegrating before they could react, while entire platoons a bit further away were burned to the third degree.

From the foot of the hill, the Players alongside Jake, though at a safe distance from the gigantic pillar of light, instinctively recoiled, momentarily struck with blindness like all troops for miles around.

The only one who remained motionless, not even trying to cover his eyes, was Jake himself, staring unblinkingly at the luminous column as dazzling as a nuclear explosion at close range with his cosmic vision. Once he ensured that his cat and the other foolish turkey were fine, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"These two idiots..." He swore with exasperation.

Hephais had covered his own eyes with a film of Dark Lumyst just in time, and didn't seem overly affected either. Lysandra, on the other hand, like the others, was forced to close her eyes, a troubled frown creasing her pale forehead.

When the light vanished and their retinas recovered enough to accommodate, the Players in the group opened their eyes one by one, discovering the aftermath of this celestial strike with astonishment and reverent fear.

"Wowowow! What's this madness?! Does that crazy general want to blow up the whole hill and himself with it?" Senet, the half-demon with mismatched eyes, exclaimed, his eyes bulging at the sight of

thousands of Light Warriors annihilated by that massive white laser.

If it had been him standing in the place of those two creatures, he would have surely died!

Hundreds of thousands of troops, both allies and enemies, were still struck with blindness, many permanently unless they received proper treatment. The battles had come to a standstill in a flash of light over an entire section of the battlefield.

"This general is indeed more determined than I thought. He's rising in my esteem," Jake praised in a relaxed manner, contrary to expectations.

"..."

"Jake, do you still plan to climb this hill and take the head of this general?" Amy then asked in as serene a voice as she could muster, but internally her stomach was in knots.

"R-right haha-ha! I think it would be wiser to proceed with this battle as it's supposed to unfold." Ari, the blonde Sylphid also belonging to Cho Min Ho's faction, laughed nervously, eyeing the hill with terror. These natives were all mad!

"Objectively, I can't follow you to the top," Nuwa said in a tiny, dejected voice. "I really wanted to fight with you two to thank you for saving me and my two otters, but I'm just useless..."

Chromy and Chewy comforted her by rubbing their noses against her cheek, but the two saviors in question showed no compassion. As if they expected anything from her in the first place.

"As I said, I don't force anyone to follow me," Jake reminded expressionlessly. "I also can't guarantee your protection against countermeasures of this magnitude. Especially since I'll be the main target. Estimate your own limits."

"It was obvious that we were going to encounter obstacles," Hephais added with a deadpan expression.

With those words, the bodies of the asocial duo blurred again and they reappeared on the ashes of the flaming turkey. A chick was slowly taking shape within the flames.

"B-boss! You're stepping on me!" Lord Phoenix whimpered pitifully, his lack of plumage and bulging eyes resembling a raw chicken ready for the oven. Ironically, he was just returning from it...

"... My bad." Jake moved away without an ounce of remorse, which the bird felt acutely. It was his punishment for trying to play the daredevil.

Objectively, he was more worried about his cat, which in principle could not resurrect from its ashes. His eyes darted around apprehensively in search of its charred carcass, but upon finally finding it, a surprising sight presented itself.

Far from being dead, it wasn't even seriously irradiated or burned. However, its current appearance was very different from what they were used to.

Instead of its fluffy black fur, stiff and bristled like a hedgehog's spines, the mischievous feline now resembled a strange crystal sea urchin pulsing with a radiant holy brilliance very similar to the pillar of light that had struck them.

Arriving a moment later, Amy's squad's Players displayed confusion and astonishment at his strange appearance, but Jake and Hephais nodded inwardly, as if it was reasonable.

Maybe Crunch had his own talents for surviving such an offensive fate, but in this specific case, it was the Cosmic D Starfeyrves Body Passive that had come into play. Its most notable quality was neither the stat bonuses nor the elemental affinities it granted, but its power of adaptation.

Where Lord Phoenix had let himself be incinerated right away, Crunch had no choice but to resist as long as possible, allowing his bloodline time to find a solution. By crystallizing his body in the face of the threat, the cat had become a superconductor of light, with it flowing through him before coming out the other side, barely heating his body. The remaining brilliance was the fraction of light that his imperfect crystallization could not get rid of.

Still... Instead of being fully relieved to see his cat alive, Jake couldn't help but frown at how effectively it had used its power. Although the Faction Passive endowed each member with his talent for adaptation, not everyone could benefit from it to such a level.

This was only possible because of his cat's strange bloodline.

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