Chapter 2461 Resonance <TOC> Chapter 2463 Acquired Information
Translator: SumTLMan
Due to the sudden onset of the mysterious resonance by Angel, a curious shift began to manifest in the thoughts of both parties present.
The Enforcer, both alarmed and delighted, while continuing to focus on the Mysterious Fruit, diverted half of his attention to Angel.
On the other side, Magnificus De Pawel, seemingly captivated entirely by the Mysterious Fruit, was in reality, under the command of the Lord of the City, concentrating ninety percent of its attention on Angel.
Despite their focus largely on Angel, for various reasons, they dared not openly show it.
For a time, the atmosphere became slightly strange.
However, this strangeness did not last long before the progress of the fruit’s disorder shattered it.
96%!
Although both parties had been partly monitoring the progress of the Mysterious Fruit, they were unprepared for the last 5% to trigger such an intense qualitative change.
When the cracks in the fruit’s shell reached 95%, they felt an increase in attraction, but managed it comfortably through manipulation of the laws.
However, the mere progression from 95% to 96%, just a one percent increase, resulted in a terrifying transformation.
The attraction suddenly doubled!
This 1% progression had a greater impact than the previous 0% to 95% combined!
This was an outcome neither the Enforcer nor Magnificus De Pawel had anticipated. Originally dividing their attention, including on Angel, they now found themselves compelled to retract their focus and resist the terrifying power of attraction with all their might.
As they each exerted their full strength, their wavering minds reluctantly resisted the “external” attraction.
Yet, the attraction hadn’t reached its peak.
From 96% to 100%, with each increment potentially doubling as before, they would not withstand the Mysterious Fruit’s attraction, no matter their strength.
“Shiuro! My lord, the situation is becoming dire. If the attraction continues to increase, I fear I cannot withstand it,” Magnificus De Pawel urgently communicated mentally. “Should we alter our plan and withdraw?”
“The choice is yours,” responded Gruz Dwight indifferently. “However, I will base your next citizen assessment rating on the completion of your missions.”
Magnificus De Pawel was free to choose whether to stay or leave. However, having only accomplished the capture of Number 01 and not yet having secured Angel or retrieved the disorderly object, tasks of higher priority, withdrawal seemed somewhat premature.
After a moment of contemplation, Magnificus De Pawel slowly lifted its gaze toward the figure in the distance, saying, “Enforcer, the attraction of the disorderly object is becoming increasingly powerful. If we continue to stay here, the outlook is not optimistic.”
The Enforcer glanced at Magnificus De Pawel but did not respond.
Magnificus De Pawel continued, “Even if you don’t consider yourself, won’t you think about the person by your side? Shiuro shiuro? You’re so protective of him; he must be important to you, right?”
The Enforcer replied, “Whether you wish to stay here or leave, it’s up to you. My affairs are none of your concern.”
Truthfully, without Magnificus De Pawel saying it, the Enforcer himself was contemplating what to do next.
He had thought this was a disorderly object not too difficult to deal with, but unexpectedly, just before a critical moment, the upper limit of disorder sharply rose significantly. Although it hadn’t exceeded his psychological limits yet, if this trend continued, needing just two more increases, even the Enforcer might find it challenging to cope.
Thus, the Enforcer was contemplating leaving. Yet, another thought persistently nagged at him: would the disorderly object really continue to increase its limit in such a regular manner?
Disorder by nature signifies irregularity, so such regular increases in its limit seemed odd.
The Enforcer wanted to continue observing to see how the disorderly object’s next increase would turn out.
It could even go directly into a state of complete disorder next time. After all, the current assumption of a 96% crack progression was just that, a presumption, not a regular unfolding number.
Jumping from 96% directly to 100% was also a possibility.
On the other hand, from the Enforcer’s expressions and actions, Magnificus De Pawel deduced that he had no intention of leaving.
Magnificus De Pawel had thought, if the Enforcer left, it could also take the opportunity to leave. After all, its current priority was capturing Angel, and capturing Angel didn’t necessarily have to happen in this location.
But with the Enforcer not leaving, Magnificus De Pawel felt somewhat troubled.
After pondering for a moment and silently organizing its own foundation, it ultimately decided to stay with the Enforcer for a while longer.
It believed the Enforcer’s strength was comparable to its own; if it couldn’t withstand the pressure, the Enforcer certainly wouldn’t be able to either. Moreover, coming from the Orderly Guild, the Enforcer’s judgment on disorderly objects was more accurate. If any unforeseen situations arose, he would likely anticipate them in advance.
Since the Enforcer hadn’t left, probably after judging the situation, it seemed harmless to follow his lead for now.
After making this decision, Magnificus De Pawel began to silently wait.
Wait for new changes to occur on the scene.
This wait wasn’t long; soon, the cracks on the shell started to spread again.
The situation the Enforcer anticipated, jumping directly from 96% to 100%, didn’t happen. 97% arrived as expected.
They anxiously awaited changes in the attraction, but after waiting one minute, two minutes… until five minutes later, when they realized everything was as usual, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
The attraction indeed rose slightly, but the increase wasn’t too significant. It was only about 3% to 5% of the original total attraction power, still within their range of resistance.
If the progress continues to increase by 5% increments, there would be no problem. Even if there’s a sudden spike to double the rate towards the end, with gritted teeth, it would still be manageable.
Reflecting on this, both the Enforcer and Magnificus De Pawel let out a slight sigh of relief.
However, their relief came too soon.
As the cracks continued to spread, transforming from 97% to 98%, an unexpected event occurred.
Initially, everything was still normal; the increase to 98% was not significant, still around 5%. But soon, a scene they hadn’t anticipated unfolded.
An area of the fruit shell, excessively cracked, suddenly… shed its shell!
In the blink of an eye, the shell in that region completely fell off, revealing the insides glowing with a red light, its specific appearance obscured.
The area of the shell that had shed constituted about 30% of the entire fruit shell.
This meant that, at this moment, 30% of the fruit was exposed.
As the interior of the fruit was revealed, an extraordinary attraction power instantaneously radiated throughout the entire Mist Zone Sea region.
To quantify this power, it had more than doubled in strength compared to before!
If it had been just a single increase, the Enforcer and Magnificus De Pawel might have managed, but with an instant doubling, they began to struggle.
“Shiu——ro——” Magnificus De Pawel shouted, its pink skin almost bursting into a lava-like orange-red, its smooth head starting to emit steaming white vapor, which was sweat evaporating.
Magnificus De Pawel exerted all its strength, even mobilizing all the energy stored in its heart core, to barely maintain A Precarious Balance with the current attraction power.
Balance does not imply endurance.
The attraction power could maintain its high intensity for a long time, but Magnificus De Pawel could not. The balance it was maintaining was a fragile illusion.
In this state of balance, it couldn’t even move, nor could he mobilize any other energy.
In other words, it was no different from a stationary octopus at this moment.
Magnificus De Pawel now somewhat understood the feelings of the wizards who hadn’t left in time; it also had some regrets. Back at the 96% mark, it had already thought about temporarily withdrawing.
If it had insisted on doing so then, it wouldn’t have ended up in such a predicament!
At this moment, it was only maintaining a dangerous balance, which could be broken at any time. Because it had reached its limit, while the Mysterious Fruit’s attraction power still had room to increase.
The shell of the Mysterious Fruit hadn’t completely fallen off yet; just one more small piece shedding could become the final blow that crushes it, Magnificus De Pawel!
Magnificus De Pawel is now truly panicked; it no longer cares about completing any mission. All it desires is to escape, to leave this place alive.
“Lord, my lord…” Bracing against the terrifying external powers, Magnificus De Pawel’s weak heart murmurs a title of respect repeatedly.
Its intention is clear; Magnificus De Pawel is using its remaining strength to seek help from Gruz De Weld.
Gruz De Weld falls silent for a moment before slowly speaking, “Hold on a little longer. My split consciousness needs to make some preparations before descending into the material realm.”
Gruz De Weld does not refuse Magnificus De Pawel’s plea for help. After all, his split consciousness resides within Magnificus De Pawel. They are in a state of shared fortune and misfortune.
Even though the fall of Gruz De Weld’s split consciousness would not endanger his main body, the experiences of the split consciousness could not be transmitted to the main body if it perishes. Moreover, it would cause a certain degree of mental backlash to the main body, requiring decades to recover.
Self-rescue is preferable, and Gruz De Weld does not wish to harm his main body through inaction.
“If you cannot hold on, seek out the Enforcer,” Gruz De Weld speaks again. He is inside Magnificus De Pawel and knows Magnificus De Pawel’s condition well. Given Magnificus De Pawel’s current situation, it would be challenging to last until his arrival in the material realm. Thus, he offers a suggestion.
Gruz De Weld’s words divert a strand of Magnificus De Pawel’s consciousness toward the direction of the Enforcer.
This glance, however, slightly distracts Magnificus De Pawel.
Magnificus De Pawel had thought its condition would not be much different from the Enforcer’s; it was barely hanging on and assumed the Enforcer would be the same. However, the reality is completely opposite.
The Enforcer appears to be under no significant pressure, even seeming somewhat at ease.
What is happening?
At the moment of Magnificus De Pawel’s confusion and inadvertent distraction, the balance it had barely maintained was disrupted.
The terrifying power, like waves crashing into thoughts, breaks through the last line of defense and sweeps towards Magnificus De Pawel.
Magnificus De Pawel is like a castaway stranded on a tiny rock, with raging waves continuously lashing and threatening to knock it off the rock at any moment.
In the moment when Magnificus De Pawel was lost in thought, a sudden coolness emerged in its mind. This chill extinguished the boiling and foggy thoughts directly, not only allowing Magnificus De Pawel to regain its thoughts but also calming it down.
“What are you daydreaming about?” The voice of Gruz De Weld reached it.
Magnificus De Pawel immediately understood that the coolness in its mind must have been the power of the Lord of the City. Having regained a trace of rationality, it did not hesitate. With a twist of its body and a step into the void with its eight tentacles, it retreated rapidly like a cannon shot.
This is how Magnificus De Pawel moves. Under normal circumstances, a single charge could span countless spatial distances. But now, under the attraction, Magnificus De Pawel used all the remaining strength in its body and only managed to move a few hundred meters.
This was enough to illustrate the difficulty of the situation.
However, this short distance was enough for Magnificus De Pawel. It was unrealistic to think of moving out of the range of the attraction.
Its only method of saving itself was to meet up with the Enforcer. And this short-distance movement was enough to bring it to the Enforcer’s side.
The Enforcer also saw Magnificus De Pawel, now “flushed”, rapidly approaching him.
Although the Enforcer was not under great pressure at the moment, he could still sense the depth of the external environment and understand Magnificus De Pawel’s intentions and thoughts.
However, whether or not to accept Magnificus De Pawel was the confusion in the Enforcer’s heart.
With this question in mind, the Enforcer did not look at Magnificus De Pawel but turned his head to look at Angel on the side.
Chapter 2461 Resonance <TOC> Chapter 2463 Acquired Information