Chapter 460: 426 Dolls that were made
"————"
The world suddenly froze.
As the chilling chains wrapped around Reiger’s body, everything seemingly came to an enforced standstill, halting time and space itself.
The Heartless still maintained their chain-throwing pose, suspended in mid-air.
The beetle-like creatures also remained in a swarm formation, turning towards Reiger.
[Un-chanting Magic·Time Stop].
Reiger had activated this magic, freezing time and thereby freezing this part of the world.
"What is this?"
In the still world, Reiger flashed out of the not fully wrapped chains, looking at them with eyes full of doubt and curiosity, as they pulsed with chilling energy.
Not for any other reason but the fact that these chains could capture and bind him was proof enough of their extraordinariness.
"It seems this is the trump card of these eerie beings," Reiger remarked, his brows deeply furrowed as he eyed the Heartless with flickering eyes.
"Who exactly are they?"
This question remained unanswered for Reiger.
However, through the prior engagement and deliberate probing, Reiger had broadly discerned the strength and some essence of these Heartless.
"If we talk in terms of abilities, these beings are roughly equivalent to seasoned Level 6 Swordsmen, more specifically, they are about upper-mid Level 6. Strong, yes, but not too troublesome to handle."
"What is really problematic is their abnormalities."
"Their bizarre mode of movement could catch even a Level 7 off guard, the toughness of their skin is absurdly strong, almost impenetrable unless by top-tier special armaments like the Fool’s, and with their complete insensitivity to pain, they could ignore the most severe wounds and continue fighting at full capacity along with that chilling energy... if a common Level 7 encountered them, they might indeed meet their end unexpectedly."
Reiger always felt that these Heartless were similar to his own creations, the battle automatons·model one.
The battle automatons·model one, just as so, had combat prowess roughly equivalent to a mid-Level 4 but their ’endurance’ could reach Level 5, specializing in one aspect much like the dungeon bosses.
These Heartless were the same, inherently equal to upper-mid Level 6, but specialized in ’endurance’, ’agility’, and ’dexterity’, and even beyond that, seeming more troublesome than dungeon bosses of the same level.
What was more horrifying was that such beings didn’t just appear alone but in groups of three or four.
Entities that individually could trouble a Level 7 and might initially be fatal came in packs, which was nothing short of a nightmare.
And their bizarre and versatile nature made Reiger wonder...
"Like the model one, are they all manufactured automatons?"
If so, who could possibly have the capability to create such high-performance automatons and manage to produce several at once?
Are those mysteriously missing individuals somehow related to the birth of these Heartless?
And, what exactly is this chilling energy?
Reiger had felt an instinctive alertness and caution towards this chilling energy more than once—this innate reaction was undoubtedly telling him that the origins of this chilling energy might be extraordinary, making both the Heartless and the weapons they used seem all the more eerie.
Especially these chains...
Reiger shifted his gaze towards the chains that had almost tangled him, then back to the Heartless.
"This time, I will find out exactly what you all are."
Reiger suddenly burst forward to one of the Heartless, extending his hand to press against it.
"[Magical Effect Saturation Delay·Energy Absorption]!"
———[Energy Absorption].
This was a type of necromantic touch-based magic.
Touch-based magic, as the name implies, requires physical contact with another to activate.
This type of magic, due to its requirement for proximity for activation, usually could only be mastered by those trained both as magicians and warriors and was practically useful only for those capable in close combat, making its activation conditions quite strict.
However, it is well known that the more stringent the conditions for a magic’s activation, the more powerful it typically is.
Touch-based magic is just such; because it is inconvenient to use, it generally is more potent than other magic of equivalent tier, at least possessing abilities one tier higher than comparable spells.
[Energy Absorption] is a spell of this type. It is inherently an eighth-tier spell, yet its effects surpass those of most ninth-tier spells.
When this spell is successfully used, the opponent’s level will temporarily decrease, and the user of the spell will receive various benefits corresponding to the reduced level—whether regaining lost health and magic power or experiencing an enhancement in certain abilities, even potentially gaining some unique buff effects. It is a powerful spell that can weaken an opponent and strengthen the user upon successful activation.
Reiger had now activated this spell and had even pushed it to its limit, adding the highest level of magic amplification to it while timing it to delay its activation.
Then, Reiger moved to the other three Heartless and successively activated [Energy Absorption] on them.
When the time was about right and the Time Stop magic was just about to wear off, the frozen world began to move again.
"...!?"
At that moment, several heartless ones all saw Reiger suddenly appear before their eyes, which greatly startled them.
In their eyes, their thrown ace was about to take effect and the chains were about to entangle Reiger. However, Reiger suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of them, causing the chains to lose their target and fall from mid-air.
This situation inevitably caused the heartless ones to waver.
Of course, their actions were not slow at all. Seeing that Reiger was coldly staring at them, they immediately retreated, trying to put distance between themselves and Reiger.
However, this action caused yet another change within the hearts of the heartless ones.
They were stunned to find that their speed had slowed, and their strength had weakened, as if they had turned from superhumans back to ordinary humans, becoming pitifully weak.
If their abilities were to be quantified, it was as if they had plummeted from Lv.6 all the way down to Lv.1.
On the other hand, Reiger, as the level of the heartless ones rapidly decreased, his strength began to spike.
He could feel that all his basic abilities had increased by several degrees, even more so than the rise when using the Origin Ring, and his physical and magic power had also been restored. However, because he already had the highest level of "Healing" and "Recovery," which constantly regenerated his physical and spiritual power, this regenerative effect was not very obvious.
"You...!?"
The heartless ones seemed to realize this phenomenon, and their tone finally broke from its stiffness, carrying a hint of human emotion.
But, that tone was undeniably filled with uncertainty and shock.
"[All Race Binding]."
Without another word, Reiger cast a binding magic that affected all races on those heartless ones.
Instantly, the heartless ones were held as if bound by invisible chains, completely unable to move.
They tried to struggle, but their struggling was pitifully weak.
With their levels heavily reduced, under such circumstances, no matter how bizarre the abilities of these heartless ones, they could not escape Reiger’s binding.
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
However, the surrounding beetle monsters completely ignored the current situation, had successfully changed direction, and were swarming towards Reiger.
Seeing this, a fierce light flashed in Reiger’s eyes.
"[Magic Effect Amplification·Banshee Scream]!"
A piercing scream suddenly transformed into a sound wave, radiating outward from Reiger to all directions.
The scream swept through the entire cave, filling the space as well as passing over those heartless ones and the beetle monsters.
The struggling heartless ones felt a chill throughout their bodies as if an invisible storm of death was blowing through their bodies, stirring up fear.
Meanwhile, the beetle monsters were caught in the wave of sound, their bodies suddenly pausing in mid-air.
Soon, they began to drop from mid-air, falling like heaps of garbage, piling up on the ground, lifeless.
Only then did the cave finally return to silence and calm.
"Rumble rumble..."
The shaking of the cave also began to slow for some unknown reason, and soon, it completely stopped.
Reiger still maintaining the use of flying magic, didn’t land on the ground, nor did he pay any attention to those heartless ones. Instead, he flew towards the chains that had fallen on the ground.
He reached out his finger, touched the chains, and immediately, the chilling energy on the chains surged forth like a poised snake.
"Quite aggressive."
Reiger withdrew his finger.
Though he possessed the highest level of "Abnormal Resistance" ability, immune to both physical and mental debuffs, Reiger still preferred not to touch this chilling energy that triggered an alarm in his heart, to avoid any accidents.
However, the chains’ effects were quite remarkable, and Reiger was not planning to ignore them.
"Swoosh!"
Right away, Reiger waved his large hand and stowed all the chains into the storage space of the dimensional cube.
He planned to take these chains back for a thorough examination.
As for those heartless ones...
Reiger turned his head towards them, flashed over, and appeared in front of one of them.
Without waiting for him to react, Reiger pressed his hand on the man’s head, casting magic.
"[Memory Manipulation]!"