This situation gave Angel a strong sense of déjà vu.
Previously, in the Abyss, Toby was tainted by the aura left by the Pilgrim of Misfortune, and unlucky events followed one after another. The current situation is strangely similar.
Of course, the misfortune encountered by the Mist Shadow should not come from the Pilgrim of Misfortune.
Where would it come from?
Simply a streak of bad luck? Angel doesn’t really believe that.
But if there is external interference, who can interfere in such luck?
Among the Transcendent beings Angel has encountered, aside from the Pilgrim of Misfortune and the Fate Thief, there shouldn’t be... no, there is one more.
Reynaud himself can also influence luck to a certain extent. He is called "John’s Revenge" for a reason.
But Reynaud usually brings good luck, while now this "Reynaud" is riddled with misfortune.
Is this the result of the Mist Shadow possessing Reynaud’s body causing rejection effects?
Rejection can be understood as the will of the self expelling foreign will. This isn’t just on an individual level; even the world itself has similar rejection mechanisms. For example, Jon, due to his discord with the native will, experienced a series of subsequent tragedies, which is also an example of rejection.
However, generally speaking, rejection isn’t unsolvable. As long as one’s individual strength is formidable, one can completely overpower the native will.
Moreover, the rejection mechanism is a passive defense; most people really have no means to perfect this passive mechanism unless you have similar countermeasures or if you’ve got a cheat.
Whether Reynaud has countermeasures, Angel doesn’t know. But if the "cheat" that influences luck truly exists in Reynaud’s talent, then this "out-of-discussion" mechanism might just become the main method for expelling foreign will.
And this method leads to Reynaud, even if his body isn’t strong, having a natural attribute of being difficult to possess.
Angel doesn’t know whether this hypothesis is correct, but if it truly is, then the Mist Shadow must be feeling quite uncomfortable now.
The downside to the rise in luck is the extremity of terrible luck.
The activation of the mechanism corridor proves it all.
However, what Angel worries a bit more about is if this backlash of misfortune has no upper limit, even if it truly crushes the Mist Shadow, Reynaud’s body likely won’t get any favorable outcome either.
This belongs to the rejection mechanism where the loss to the enemy is a thousand, but the self-loss is also a thousand.
"Hope that when Reynaud’s body is found, he can still roughly maintain human form?" Angel silently thought, looking at the charred imprint on the ground visible to the skin tissue.
...
Outside the base laboratory.
A huge "buzzing" sound came from the distance, accompanied by the rolling mist around, a new wave of Law-driven airflow strikes.
Fero, who was previously outside spouting fiery remarks, now silenced his voice, furrowing his brow, gazing toward the direction where the airflow was coming from.
"Why does it feel like the pressure from this airflow is increasing? And... the sound seems to be getting closer to here."
Fero felt inexplicably uneasy, somehow sensing a bad omen.
He lowered his head, looking at a piece of black crystal in his palm, which Kanter had given him, instructing him to crush it during danger, allowing Kanter to locate him by crossing dimensional crevices.
Fero pondered whether to crush it now.
At this moment, not only was Fero hesitating, but 03 inside the Mechanist Core was also dithering.
She too felt the mighty roaring sound, while also hearing the sea beasts’ laments hidden beneath the roar. She knew what kind of sea beast it was and understood that this sea beast had very mysterious characteristics, and would definitely become the best target material for the experiment’s final goal.
It’s just, she was somewhat puzzled as to why that sea beast, though powerful, hasn’t been taken down even though 01 brought so many combat personnel out and took that precious alchemy tool.
Moreover, judging from the intensity of the Law-driven airflow and the volume of the roaring, it can be seen that the battlefield seems to be far from The Nest, yet getting closer to the laboratory.
Could this be due to a stalemate, dragging the pursuit battle to the laboratory to leverage its power?
If 01 truly encountered difficulties and attempts to leverage the laboratory’s power against that sea beast, then his return to the laboratory might lead to an ambush from the group outside.
understood that she couldn’t wait any longer.
She had to take action, or else, not to mention waiting for them to rescue her, 01’s return while being attacked from both front and back would inevitably lead to their side’s failure.
But with Fero watching outside and Sanders and the others not showing up, they were likely guarding against her coming out.
bit her lips, once again looking at the bottle in her hands, the mysterious seed core inside still emitting a great attraction to her.
Should she consume it? Consuming it might give her the strength to resist, but her future would become unpredictable.
Not consuming it, relying solely on herself, facing a Second Level True Knowledge Wizard is impossible.
hesitated for a long time but ultimately laid the seed core back down. She decided to gamble, betting that Sanders isn’t outside.
If she wins the bet, facing Fero alone, even if she temporarily lacks strength, she can charge toward the laboratory to activate the largest mechanism, coordinating from inside and outside.
Even if she loses the bet, as long as they don’t kill her instantly upon sight, she has the chance to swallow the seed core.
After making the decision, 03 took a deep breath, her gaze determined, looking at the blazing flames outside...
...
On the fourth underground level of the laboratory.
"It’s coming again." Nis softly exclaimed, feeling the boundless waves of Law surrounding them.
The air was very quiet until the Law-driven airflow dissipated, Nis broke the silence again: "The intensity of this Law-driven airflow seems to show no signs of decreasing; instead, it’s consistently escalating."
"It’s approaching us." Kanter affirmed directly.