[More Than Ten Minutes Earlier]
Zane forced himself to stand up once again, and immediately after, the sound of electricity tearing through the air came from his left side.
In response, Zane had no choice but to guard against an attack from the left again.
But just as he focused on defending his left side, the other monster that had been waiting for an opportunity suddenly launched an attack from behind.
The Tempest Mephis and the Thundering Mephis alternated between real and feint attacks. When you were distracted defending against one, the other would launch a sudden strike.
But if you ignored the attack from one, that feint would instantly turn into a real attack.
Every time Zane defended the left, he got hit on the right. When he defended the right, he got hit on the left.
In just a dozen seconds, more than a dozen wounds appeared on Zane's body.
Yet every single wound was non-lethal.
Like a cat toying with a mouse, the two TDs seemed to enjoy pushing their enemy step by step toward death, savoring the frequency of despair released just before dying.
"Fine, fine, fine. Since you don't want to play fair, then nobody gets to play!"
Zane glanced discreetly at the Midnight Rangers defensive line not far away.
At any moment, these two TDs could take advantage of the chaos and strike the Midnight Rangers, who were already exhausted from defending against the TD tide.
This had to be ended quickly.
With that thought, a glimmer of light flashed across the core of the Nexus Armament. In the next second, Zane's right hand swept across it, and flowing light gathered into his palm.
As he raised his right hand high, a barrier exploded open in the sky and descended, enveloping both him and the two TDs within.
[Meta Field]
A discontinuous subspace created by the Nexus Armament, invisible from the real world. Within this space, the enemy's stamina would continuously be drained and fed back to the user.
[T/N: Bro pulled a domain expansion]
Of course, its greatest function was to create a death arena where Zane and the two TDs could fight without affecting the outside world or being disturbed by it.
"Alright." Zane looked at the two TDs, who had fallen into a brief daze due to the sudden change in scenery, and brought his fists together. "The real fight starts now."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zane took a stance to fire a beam right in front of them.
But how could the two TDs let him use a skill freely? Immediately, one from the left and one from the right, they turned into streaks of lightning and charged straight at him.
In the next instant, Zane's right shoulder was pierced through by the claw of the Tempest Mephis.
Fresh blood poured from the wound, instantly staining the entire claw red.
Just as the Tempest Mephis thought the battle was over, Zane raised his head, which had been hanging low. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.
But beneath the blood was the confident smile of a young man.
"Got you."
"!"
Seeing the smile on the human's face, the Tempest Mephis suddenly felt something was wrong.
A trace of fear flickered through its frequency, and it immediately tried to pull away. But before it could act, a point-blank Cross Ray Storm blasted straight into its body.
No matter what, the Tempest Mephis had never expected that the human before it was a complete madman. To kill it, he was willing to deliberately expose a weakness and trade injury for its life.
Seeing its companion blown to pieces, the Thundering Mephis instantly appeared behind Zane, raising its bone blade and slamming it toward the back of his head.
But as if he had anticipated this, Zane quickly turned around and delivered a spinning front kick straight into its chest.
With the combined effects of the Nexus Armament and the Meta Field, Zane had already gained the power to destroy Overlord-tier TDs with ordinary attacks.
Very quickly, the Thundering Mephis, having fallen into the trap, was sent back to the Throne of Heroes by Zane with a rising uppercut.
After the deaths of the Tempest Mephis and the Thundering Mephis, strands of frequency drifted out from their bodies in the same way.
But those two TDs of frequency did not return to the Hall of Heroes… nor to the Threnodian. Instead, they were ultimately lost within the Meta Field.
The Threnodian never could have imagined that the two strands of frequency it had split off would be intercepted by Zane by sheer coincidence.
As for how Zane would later end up with two Overlord-tier helpers because of this, that was a story for another time.
After exiting the Meta Field, Zane casually helped the Midnight Rangers clear out this wave of TDs attacking the defensive line, then left under the admiring gazes of all the soldiers.
"Hey, who do you think is stronger, General Zane or General Jiyan?"
"Is that even a question? Definitely General Zane. So many TDs, and he just happened to run into two Overlord-tier ones, fought with all his strength, defeated them easily, and then wiped out all these TDs in no time."
"Could General Jiyan do that?"
"And General Zane is also the younger brother of the current Magistrate! What does that mean? It means legitimacy!"
Of course, Zane had no idea he had almost been crowned with a title. At this moment, he was standing beneath a massive stone giant, stroking his chin in thought.
"Did Rover and the others go inside this stone guy? So how do I get in?"
With the battle on the Midnight Rangers side temporarily over, Zane came here with nothing else to do.
After all, when it came to fighting the final boss, Zane definitely wanted to join in.
Putting aside whether he could steal the kill, since it was the final boss, it should at least drop some good loot. As someone with severe hoarding tendencies, there was no way Zane would miss this opportunity.
Of course, it definitely wasn't because he was worried about Rover and the doctor.
Zane circled the stone giant a few times, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
"Open sesame!"
"..."
"Balala, Ukalala, transform!"
"..."
"Uh, show your power?"
"..."
Damn it!
Furious, Zane waved his hand, and a streak of light shot across the distance, striking the stone giant's chest head-on.
"FBI, open the door!"
That streak of light was a shell from the Disrupter.
But after that shot, the Disrupter's energy was completely depleted. Providing any more artillery support was now impossible.
Of course, Zane didn't know the Disrupter was fast, short, and lacking stamina, otherwise he'd definitely complain that whoever invented it must have the same traits.
At the spot where the Disrupter struck, a crack appeared on the stone giant's body.
At that moment, it was emitting a dark purple glow outward.
"Figures, this way of breaking in is the fastest."
No wonder they're called the beacon of the world. Look at that efficiency, making sure every beam of freedom shines into every corner of your home.
And that led to the scene where Zane fired a beam at the female TD.
———
"Sorry, I'm late."
Walking closer, Zane finally let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the three of them were unharmed.
But Rover, standing opposite him, saw Zane covered in blood, and her fair face instantly tensed with worry.
If not for the powerful enemy still in front of them, she would have definitely checked this idiot who never cared about himself for injuries right away.