[Chapter 243. The Genocidal Lord]

`Ancient? What could be ancient about my gear? It far surpasses everything we had before the System.`

Searanox pondered as another arrow struck the left barrier, sending a sharp vibration through the air. The arrowhead's distinctive three-bladed shape flashed as it clattered to the mud. Heavy footfalls approached, followed by the metallic screech of an axe sliding off the hexagonal wall. The sound echoed through the torrential downpour, each impact a reminder of his precarious position.

Kandora stretched out her hand. In a flash of pale blue, a large, curved blade appeared. The material gleamed with high quality. In one fluid motion, she brought it down against the barrier, her movements precise and practiced. She carved into the barrier three times in a quick flurry. Its surface rippled under the onslaught, the hexagonal pattern distorting with each strike.

"Maybe he is not a native of this world after all. It appears we aren't alone in this region," she said, her voice calm despite the battle's chaos. The rain seemed to part around her, as if the storm itself respected her authority. Her gaze drifted back toward Searanox, locking onto him with an intensity that made him feel exposed. "Tell me, whose faction do you serve?" The question hung in the air—a challenge and a demand wrapped in one.

From behind, Anax's hesitant tone cut in. "Kandora... Lady Kandora, I apologize." The voice was barely audible above the storm, but the apology carried a weight suggesting something more than a simple mistake.

"Not now, Anax," she said. She dismissed the interruption with a flick of her wrist and swung her blade against the barrier again, a blur of deadly grace. The resulting ripples collided with the ones left by Quin's axe, creating an intricate pattern of interference across the surface.

Searanox aimed his rifle at her, his knuckles white against the cold metal. The weapon hummed in his hands, responding to his intent. A violet beam tore through the air, carving a tunnel through the rain. The next moment she was gone. In her place stood the massive shield. It materialized from thin air, its surface covered in runes that flared to life upon impact. It absorbed the energy, displacing it in a brilliant flash of light that illuminated the battlefield.

The storm eased, shifting from a heavy downpour to a gentle rain.

Searanox clicked his tongue. "That's one annoying ability," he muttered. Before he could dwell on the setback, he summoned four intermediate assault drones and four intermediate offensive drones. The air shimmered as they materialized in a cascade of blue light. The assault drones took up positions around him, weapons trained on the enemy, while the offensive drones hovered above.

"What are those... his summons?" another female voice called from the back, laced with disbelief and fear. "That's impossible. The highest he could be is level eighteen, even if he is from another world." Her words carried through the rain, trembling as they reached Searanox.

Before Searanox could issue a mental command, a thunderous roar filled the space. The physical wave pushed away the falling rain. The sound ripped through the battlefield, raw and primal, as if a beast from ancient nightmares had awakened. The moment Searanox heard it, his mind clouded with focused rage. A burning intensity narrowed his vision to a pinpoint, his thoughts coalescing into a single, overwhelming impulse: destroy.

In the blink of an eye, all his drones turned toward the heavy shield and fired. For a moment, the space was bathed in blinding crimson and violet light—a maelstrom of destructive energy that seemed to tear at the fabric of reality. The shield's runes flared, their glow almost matching the combined beams before sputtering out. The surface cracked under the strain.

"Lady Kandora, we have to retreat. He just broke through my defensive skill," Gron said, shaking his shield. His voice sounded strained and desperate. Cracks webbed across the surface like lightning frozen in time.

To Searanox's left, the barrier of his defensive drone shattered, revealing a second layer behind it.

"There is another barrier?" Quin stopped laughing. He realized he had not broken through yet, his voice laced with confusion and a dawning sense of dread. The remnants of the fallen barrier dissolved into wisps of blue energy, swallowed by the rain.

Searanox shook his head as the rage faded, leaving behind a hollow ache. "I fucking hate that skill."

Anax had risen higher into the air and shot her bow from high in the air, just for her arrow to impact on the barrier of the basic drones barrier it had moved up to cover the sky.

His drones split up and flew out in a wide arc, their mechanical forms cutting through the rain with deliberate precision. As they spread out, the furthest one was struck by an arrow. The projectile embedded itself deep in the hull but failed to destroy the machine.

"You're the first," he said. His voice was flat and devoid of emotion. Multiple beams of crimson and violet energy tore through the rain toward the archer hovering in the back. The shield-bearer vanished and reappeared high in the air above the backlines, causing the archer to appear in front of Searanox's barrier. The sudden displacement caused a momentary distortion in the air.

The moment she appeared, two beams of crimson energy penetrated her armor. The sound of searing flesh was barely audible over the rain.

"Your skill may be annoying, but it's easy to counter once you figure out how it works," Searanox said. His gaze shifted toward the archer, now sprawled on the wet ground. Her chest heaved for air as blood mingled with the rain around her.

Her body began to glow with a dim green energy that pulsed with each shallow breath. A translucent bubble formed around her, its surface shimmering like morning dew on a spider's web. Within that protective sphere, the torn flesh of her chest knitted together with unnatural speed. The burns from the energy beams faded from angry red to pale pink before disappearing entirely.

The mud beneath her seeped with rainwater, carrying a pinkish tinge from her blood, yet within her healing bubble, she remained untouched by the filth. She lay there, her eyes fixed on Searanox with a mixture of terror and reluctant admiration.

"He is the Lord of a city," she stammered. Her voice was weak but clear as the rain softened further, transforming into a fine mist that veiled the battlefield in ethereal gray.

Kandora, who had taken a position to his right, turned her head toward Anax. Her predatory expression evaporated, replaced by dawning horror. "A City Lord? And you just mention that now? Are you insane? What faction? What city? Is there anything else?" Panic bled into her voice, her carefully maintained control fracturing under the weight of the revelation. Her smile vanished, leaving behind a face drawn tight with tension.

"Meep." Anax let out a small squeak like a frightened mouse before composing herself with visible effort. "He has three titles: Lord of Androxis, Guild Leader of KingGames, and the last one I don't know what it means... it just says Genocidal."

The moment that last title cut through the air, Kandora took a stumbling step away from the barrier, as if physically struck. Her face was a portrait of shock—the confident hunter replaced by prey realizing the trap had sprung in reverse.

"No, you misread." Her denial was automatic and desperate, but her eyes darted to Searanox. They widened with primal fear, her pupils dilating to consume the irises. The light of his drone barriers cast an eerie blue glow across her pale features, making her look ghostly. "We are going to die. Vindala, raise the entire field to ash."

"I can't. I don't have enough mana for a spell of that size," the female voice from the rear answered. Each word trembled with the weight of impossibility. The archer who had been struck down struggled to stand, her movements jerky and uncertain.

Kandora raised her voice, her command cutting through the soft rain like distant thunder. "Then drink your potions! I don't care if you suffer a backlash and vomit blood for the rest of the night." Her knuckles were white where she gripped the hilt of her blade, her posture dictated entirely by a frantic fight-or-flight instinct.

"You all know so much about things I don't know... A shame I only need one of you alive to answer them," Searanox said.

His drones fired their beams straight through Quin's arm just as the giant raised his heavy axe. The flesh tore apart with a sickening sizzle. The smell of burnt meat filled the air as the axe fell into the mud alongside the severed limb, spraying brown water. Quin's scream was swallowed by the storm. His eyes were wide with disbelief as he stared at the stump where his arm had been moments before.

Searanox pulled the arrow out of his body. The sound of tearing flesh was overshadowed by his curse of pain. "Fucking shit," he spat.

A silver drone appeared beside him and bathed him in green light. The healing energy washed over him, a soothing balm against the burning pain. The wound began to close at an unnatural speed, the torn flesh knitting itself together under the drone's gentle glow.

"He has enough power to kill us all in a few minutes. What do we do?" Gron asked, shielding the downed archer. His arm trembled with the strain. His eyes darted between Searanox and his fallen comrades, the reality of their situation crashing down upon him.

Searanox gave the mental command for all his drones to target Gron's shield. The next moment, the world turned white. The ground trembled as a dozen beams of crimson and violet converged on a single point. The air sizzled and warped around the energy torrent slamming into the tall shield. The sheer force of the attack created a vacuum that sucked the rain inward. For a heartbeat, the runes blazed with a blinding light, resisting the overwhelming force before they shattered like fragile glass. Gron was thrown backward through the air like a discarded toy, his massive frame crashing into the mud dozens of meters away.

"Everyone who still values their life, drop your weapons and surrender." Searanox's words cut through the silence, cold and absolute, each syllable carrying the weight of an unspoken threat.

The battlefield had transformed in moments from a standoff to a massacre—the evidence written in the mud and the severed limb lying near Quin's feet.

"Quin, stand down. We are no match for him." Kandora's command was sharp, stripped of its earlier confidence. She took another step back from the barrier, her hands held up in a gesture of submission. Her curved blade had vanished back to wherever it came from, leaving her defenseless.

"But my arm..." Quin gasped, clutching the bleeding stump. His face was pale beneath his helmet, pain and disbelief warring in his eyes.

"Your other arm and your life are more valuable than your pride right now," she snapped, her gaze fixed on Searanox. The predatory smile was gone, replaced by a mask of grim calculation. "We surrender, Lord of Androxis." She spat as if it tasted foul in her mouth. "What do you intend to do with us?"