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Thanks to the talismans, we were actually less afraid of the dreaded ghosts as compared to other monsters. Their vaunted ability to pass through objects was nothing before our self-activating talismans.

Bitong quickly got into one of the newly-assembled exosuits while Lixiang remained in her work exosuit, seeing as the last exosuit wasn’t done yet. Perhaps that might even have been a blessing for the girl. Without the constraints of a mechanical suit, she could deploy our talismans even faster.

In that case, only the skeletal monsters were left -time for me to enter the stage.

“Take cover, everyone.” I spread my wings wide open, and as they started flapping with a mighty gust, countless purple energy feathers shot out like a barrage of missiles at the monsters.

This was the Flying Feathers skill I had just learnt from the system. It was an area-of-effect skill that I still had no inkling as to what its damage would be like, given that this was my first time using it. However, this simple activation was enough to drain my entire body of SP, to the point where I almost couldn’t retract my wings.

As I felt the hollow sensation overcome my body, I quickly took out an SP recovery potion from my inventory and gulped it.

Geez… this is the one last time I’m using that skill so recklessly…

However, I was soon interrupted by the wonderful sound of the system notifying me that I had just earned 200 points for myself…

Countless energy feathers peppered the lounge area, exploding upon contact with the first skeletal monster it hit. Even if these feathers weren’t particularly deadly, their sheer numbers led to an unending chain of explosions that swiftly snuffed out the Soul Flames of the undead…

Well, at least the skill works… but I really need to be careful the next time I use it.

At this point, I was convinced it would be much easier for me to just wade into the undead, Icy Inferno in hand. Like a whirlwind of death, I hacked away in every direction. Wherever Icy Inferno swung, a swathe of undead would obliterated, leaving nothing but a pile of inanimate bones.

Back at the girls, the battle was proceedingly smoothly thanks to Floater’s twelve detachable bits. These funnel-shaped contraptions were all equipped with laser cannons that easily destroyed any ordinary ghost that stood in their way, thanks to the nature of their energy beams.

With Bitong and Qiaoqiao covering the flanks while Lixiang played the role of talisman artillery, the ghosts stood no chance at all.

While their new exosuits looked rather underwhelming, these new suits had all been equipped with laser guns and swords. Coupled with their skillful piloting and talismans, the ghosts were nothing more than points to be harvested. And speaking of talismans, Floater also had talismans on her, but those were all provided by me, seeing as she couldn’t access the Marketplace.

Even now, Floater did not know that these talismans all came from a mysterious system. Rather, she just assumed that this was one more manifestation of the weirdness that spawned after the zombie crisis.

All good things had to come to an end eventually. Even the undead did not possess enough ghosts to sustain the girls’ constant farming. Soon, the room was cleared of them.

However, the same couldn’t be said for the skeletal monsters. Despite my best efforts, they were still pouring out of that hole with tireless ferocity.

My points kept climbing at rates I had never seen before, but I wasn’t a machine and soon I would have to rest. No amount of SP recovery potions could help me recover from the fatigue of fighting for so long.

“Step aside.”

Just when I thought I was about to falter, Floater’s voice called out to me from behind. I ducked aside without hesitation. While I might not know what it was exactly that I was dodging, I trusted her -so I dodged.

Barely a moment later, a barrage of lasers shot past me, hitting three of the skeletal monsters that were about to overwhelm me before blasting the rest of the undead monsters. Such was the strength of Floater’s twelve laser cannons that I could feel the hairs on my arms being singed a little despite dodging the beams.

“Are you trying to get big brother killed?!” Qiaoqiao snapped at the soldier. “Do you know how close you were to hurting him!”

Floater remained stoically silent, electing instead to focus on controlling her detachable bits.

“Hey! Don’t ignore me, you bad woman!”

“Qiaoqiao!” Bitong hurriedly held the girl back. “We’re still in the middle of a fight, we can discuss this later.”

“But that bad lady…”

“The mortal is a detestable one, for sure. But Bitong is right, now’s not the time for internal fighting.” As she said that, Lixiang scattered a dozen or so talismans which had a simple lightning drawn on them. Like a bunch of intelligent projectiles, they homed in on a skeletal monster despite there being tens of meters between her and the undead.

The talismans transformed into a bolt of lightning upon contact, zapping the skeleton and obliterating the Soul Flame within in one single powerful strike.

“Woah! Those talismans are amazing! They can even seek out targets!” Ever the capricious girl, Qiaoqiao had already forgotten about her argument after being dazzled by Lixiang’s attack.

“Those aren’t just simple talismans.” Bitong was quick to answer. “Lixiang managed to dig up some tiny surprises during her spare time. Look there, don’t you see something flying back right now?”

Looking in the direction of Bitong’s fingers, Qiaoqiao spotted a bunch of bee-like objects flying out from the lounge area.

“Insect drones? Qiaoqiao has seen them before!”

“That’s right, those are insect drones. This is a factory, after all. Having some insect drones lying around is to be expected.” Bitong continued with her explanation. “These mechanical bugs can see what the eyes can’t. And with their impressive strength to size ratio, they make perfect little workhorses.”

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE