Chapter 1218: Clearing The Grey Rot 9
Chapter 1218: Clearing The Grey Rot 9
The turret was simply the first piece of the puzzle, and when Shani placed it down, she did not have it shoot immediately. After all, the sentry gun needed to detect enemies to begin shooting first and it was too difficult to program the Grey Rot as an enemy.
While the sentry gun was transformed and augmented by a Divine Law, allowing it to hit even ethereal things, the Law also followed the rules of modern warfare, in other words, kinetic bullets were unable to strike fog.
However, Shani had an alternative for that!
Using her will, she connected to the hind chopper above that had the shredding high caliber gatling gun attached, angling the chopper in a way that gave her full view of the battlefield.
Likewise, she carefully positioned the AC-130 - which flew higher - and had it ready its large caliber cannon that could release heavy payloads over a sizable area. Still, she did not set it to shoot, rather opting to make sure that her 'farming equipment' was set up.
And what was she farming, you ask? Why of course, it was the Grey Rot, or more precisely, the Divine Essence and drops that came from it!
And how was she going to do this? Why by using her various tools of course!
The first was naturally her main trigger skill.
｢Predator Missile – Active skill
Effect: Activate this skill to fire a single controllable AGM Hellfire from a Predator Drone. The user is invulnerable while using/controlling the missile.
Cooldown: 1 hour or or 0.001 Divine Points.｣
Shani opened the briefcase like computer that worked using satellite rather than internet to prevent hacking and immediately spawned a sizable missile drone in the sky. The drone fired the missile downwards which Shani remotely controlled using her mind to strike the area of the Grey Rot nearest her.
The damage was immense since the AOE of was around 25 meters and it was fire, force and sound damage mixed into one, making the Grey Rot in that area thin significantly.
Unsurprisingly, this triggered the Grey Rot's response as a monster's manifestation spawned that roared and glared at Shani. She simply smiled and flicked a finger, causing the airborne AC-130 to start firing upon that monster with its cannon, causing even greater destruction over an area of 100 meters.
Two more monster spawned and Shani smiled as she had the hind chopper rev up its gatling gun and start firing shredding bullets down upon the monsters that spawned, ending their lives while looking forward for the next ones to spawn.
As Shani opened another predator missile after paying for the cooldown in Divine Points, she destroyed more areas of the Grey Rot, resulting in more monsters spawned, which got blasted by the AC-130, which spawned more monsters that were shredded by the hind chopper, which spawned more monsters for the idle sentry gun to lock on and shred them, which spawned more monsters...
Shani was more interested in defeating the spawned monsters since those left behind the most drops. Of course, her actions thinned the Grey Rot out sufficiently as she began to stop wasting Divine Points and began throwing modern grenades that shifted into incendiary or fragmentation grenades.
Umbra had long since set up production lines for those, and Shani's inventory was full of those. Apart from occasionally needing to throw grenades to stimulate the Grey Rot, the system she had set up functioned perfectly, with Shani only needing the refresh the summons after each cooldown.
At the same time, the OG Boys group was fervently working on the northeastern side, starting with the leader and organizer of the group, Rambunctious Buttlover!
The handsome young man had matured significantly, his features now a bit more manly and his bearing less crooked. However, the sharpness of his pupils - as he instinctively looked left and right to judge the quality of butts around him - was still ever present.
A man can grow but he can never abandon the Dao!
｢Name: Rambunctious Buttlover – True God
Level: The Law of Pure Insanity (Basic)
Divine Energy: 100%/100%.｣
｢Law of Pure Insanity - Divine Law
Grade: EX+
Effect: This Law… this 'Law' enhances the user's abilities to drive other sentient or insentient beings mad using words, song, or even telepathy. The system advises that one should fear any being with this 'Law'… immensely.
Sources: Troubadour of Madness (Divine Class) + Madness Inducing (Passive Skill).｣
RamButt flung his hand to the side, giving him a majestic look as if he was a world leader on a stage who was about to say something that would forever change the way the universe worked from its very basic concept.
The Grey Rot even seemed to roil slightly, as if waiting for this fellows attack in order to deploy its best defenses against a formidable foe.
RamButt closed his eyes, cleared his throat softly, and began to speak.
"I know what you're feeling. Pain, suffering, hatred… They won't let you sleep, right?"
Grey rot: (?_?)
RamButt sighed sadly and looked upward. "It's hard, I know. You don't know who you are anymore or what you're supposed to do."
Suddenly, sad anime music began to play out of nowhere, and the Grey Rot began to shiver as if it was plunged into the seventh layer of hell.
Rambutt's eyes became firm as he glanced at the Grey Rot. "But I know who you are. You're not the monster everyone else believes you to be. I know the real you!"
Grey rot: (o_O) ?
Suddenly, a monster manifestation appeared out of the Grey Rot that faced RamButt and spoke in a deep voice.
"What do you know? You don't know anything about me!" It said with anger.
Grey Rot: N-nani?? What is going on here??
"I know more than you think. I used to hate a lot of people too. I used to think I had nothing, that no one cared." RamButt answered sadly.
RamButt then smiled softly. "But then I found people who did care. They gave me hope, and that hope made me stronger."
He looked down to his right hand and clenched his fist meaningfully. "And now I have friends who would die for me, who would protect me no matter what. I have a home. I have a future."
Grey Rot: …good for you, but what the hell does any of that have to do with me?!
The strange Grey Rot manifestation though, snorted and folded its arms. "Hope? Future? Those things don't exist for me anymore."
Grey Rot: (ーー;)
Grey Rot: Bro, who are you?? Where did you even come from??
RamButt took a step forward with a firm look. "They do! You can have them too!"
With the softest smile in the history of Boundless World, he stretched his hand out towards the Grey Rot manifestation. "You don't have to be alone. You don't have to suffer. Let me help you."
Grey Rot:( ๐_๐) ... Help me how?
"Let's end this cycle of hatred together. We can change things. Together we can bring about peace." RamButt revealed as he stepped forward, fearless and convinced of his righteousness.
The Grey Rot manifestation roiled as if in anger, then simmered down. It was silent for a few seconds before speaking deeply. "Peace… It sounds so simple when you say it. But how? How do we achieve it?"
RamButt responded immediately with conviction. "By understanding each other. By forgiving each other. By not giving in to the hatred that's always trying to consume us."
He then shook his head dramatically with a sigh. "It's not easy. It's a long road. But... it's the only way."
Finally, he stopped it off with a comforting smile of friendship. "I believe in you. I believe you can change."
Grey Rot: (^_^;) ... How lame… There's no way anyone would fall for that ... right?
The Grey Rot manifestation eventually stepped forward and spoke softly. "…Rambunctious Buttlover… You truly are something else."
It then raised its foggy hand and took RamButt's own hesitantly at first, then firmly. "I shall believe in you. I will believe in the hope you speak of. I will believe in our future."
Grey Rot: ∑(; °Д°) ... WTF?! ... Who the hell wrote this script?! What idiot decided that something like this should actually work?!
RamButt showed his pristine white teeth in a wide smile. "That is why, to move on from our shared troubles, you must willingly recede into the mist and give the world a chance to live."
The Grey Rot manifestation nodded. "You are right. This is the only way to bring peace to the world."
Grey Rot: Hey, hey, hey!!! Did anyone ask me for MY permission?!
The Grey Rot manifestation glanced at RamButt deeply, as if unwilling to part with a new friend, before resolutely turning its back and disappearing into the fog. The next moment, the fog within the area of RamButt actually dissipated on its own, 'suiciding' itself.
Grey Rot: … (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Grey Rot: How? How?? HOW???
RamButt cataloged his gains, smirked arrogantly, and took a few steps forward till he was facing the next segment of Grey Rot, then opened his mouth once more.
"I know what you're feeling. Pain, suffering, hatred… They won't let you sleep, right?"
Grey Rot: SOMEONE SAVE ME!!!!
On another side, there was Fitter Cleric who was rubbing his chin while thinking of how to deal with this Grey Rot as easily and efficiently as possible.
｢Name: Fitter Cleric – True God
Level: The Law of Adjustable Probability (Basic)
Divine Energy: 100%/100%.｣
｢Law of Adjustable Probability - Divine Law
Grade: EX
Effect: This Law grants the user the ability to manipulate the probabilities of all actions, encounters and events to a degree relating to the rank of the Law. This Law can be imbued in body, skill or technique freely with varying effects.
Sources: God of Probability (Divine Class) + Law of Probability (Passive Skill).｣
Fitter Cleric really liked this Law because its versatility was more than enough to upgrade him from merely a 'lucky boy' who could passively control Luck to an actual reality-bending probability master who could alter the outcome of various things.
This Law was the easiest to understand and control among the core members so far. Its strength related to its rank, so at the Basic rank, it was 5% effective.
At Intermediate it would be 10% and Advanced 15% and so on.
These numbers referred to how much of a certain probability that Fitter Cleric could change. As for how much energy it would take, it depended on the thing itself being changed. If it was a small, minor probability, for example not tripping when you were about to, the consumption would be low, but if it was something crazy like what Noble Writer tried, then he too would likely explode.
Pondering, Fitter Cleric then smiled and activated one of his class skills.
｢Free Skill – Active skill
Effect: Draw from the pool of all active skills in existence below the Rank of your class and activate it using your own class' resources.
Cooldown: 10 seconds or 0.0000000001 Divine Points.｣
Fitter set the probability of the skill being selected to 5% and chose the skill to be <Inferno>.
｢Active 1 – Inferno: Purge the world of all dirt. Send out a shockwave of heat and light that deals 2,500% light damage and 2,500% Fire damage over an Area Zone. Cooldown: 1 day or 0.1 Divine Points.｣
This was the active skill of the Lightfire Mystic Flame back when it had been still at the Legendary Rank and a dual offensive damage skill of fire and light, both of which had good performance on the Grey Rot.
Normally, the Free Skill did not allow one to choose, as it was luck-based but usually one would get something good out of it, though not exactly what they may have wanted. Since Fitter augmented it with his Divine Law and gave it a fixed choice, the probability of getting it had merely been set to 5%.
For most, this was negligible. For Fitter, it was practically an assured chance as to him there was barely a difference between a skill having 0.01% or 100% chance to occur. As long as it was above 0% the Goddess of Luck would bend backwords for him...
As such, when his Law paired with his class skills based on Luck, they became unreasonably OP and allowed for various applications even Fitter himself had not fully dug out!