D.I.O

/Flame Buster. Maximum./

Arc rushed toward Mary.

The player activated the magic spell she had chanted and prepared beforehand, and soon, her magic power was rearranged according to the spell’s preset circuitry. Then, an explosion rang out.

/Magnum Revolver./

Six magic spheres rose above Arc’s shoulders as sparks burst out.

Arc accelerated rapidly, and her punches, which were powerful enough to knock down a building, poured out like thunderbolts toward Mary.

/Lightning Blade of Zeus!/

Suddenly, lightning flashed from Olympos, Merlin’s Divine Weapon, and rained down upon Mary.

Since he had used up a considerable number of his Howling Spell magic stones during the Gold Dragon raid, Merlin was running low on them. However, he only needed around a day to produce each one, so Merlin wasn’t too concerned about his dwindling stock.

“Ah, what is this all about?”

Yet, even after seeing all these destructive attacks, Mary spoke in a carefree- no, to be more specific, an annoyed tone.

Boom!

Bam!

A stream of cloudy white air swirled around Mary and swept away all the attacks sent her way.

Each attack was destructive and exceedingly powerful, unable to be easily ignored, but Mary blocked every skill without breaking a sweat.

“This is… amazing. She really is a transcendent, albeit a pseudo transcendent rather than a full one.”

Sungmuk noticed that the energy Mary utilized was strong qi, and he looked at her with an exasperated yet impressed expression. From what he recalled, he always knew that Mary was strong.

Amongst all Jin Continent’s martial artists, past and present, only three practitioners had ever transcended. In the past, Mary’s skills and abilities had been nowhere near the level of those three, so she wasn’t even close to transcending.

However, in such a short time, she developed at a frightening speed.

After Sungmuk made this remark, Mary casually replied.

“You seem to be misunderstanding something.”

“I’m… misunderstanding something?”

“Yes. I know you… but you never really knew me. The ‘me’ you know is only [a part] of me.”

[Whoosh-]

The space behind Mary opened, and a huge image of a wolf appeared.

A magic circle emitting a powerful aura of magic power began to rise from the surroundings, and Mary’s white hair started fluttering in the air.

Mary gracefully bowed her head.

“Let me introduce myself again. Intruders, my name is Marionette Hold. A guide NPC, a helper NPC, a spokesperson for DIO, and a cute girl who has become an idol, but….”

Tremendous force radiated from Mary as she stepped forward.

It was the power of transcendence that a [fake] transcendent, like the Gold Dragon, could never imitate.

“I am DIO’s Skill Master and the guardian of this space. I don’t know what you hope to achieve by visiting, but regardless, you shall not succeed, as it is impossible for you to enter.”

Internal energy…

Magic power…

Chakra…

Pure spiritual power…

All spiritual powers in DIO, including divine power and life force, were concentrated within Mary as they emanated from her. Moreover, Mary didn’t only possess a small fraction of these powers; she had mastered all of them and reached the pinnacle in each field.

“Frozen Spear. Maximum.”

However, as if she couldn’t feel Mary’s daunting aura, Arc created a Frozen Spear.

The player ran forward and grabbed the ice spear, which soon had a spell engraving appear on its surface.

“Longinus.”

“Tie her up. Hold onto her. Suppress and suffocate her!”

“Heavenly Circulation of Plums.”

“Ugh, I guess I should do something as well! Lightning strike!”

“Crush and suppress her!”

Arc, Merlin, Sungmuk, Quiet Heaven, and Ellie started attacking Mary with their spells and abilities. Mary, having just displayed her insurmountable fighting aura and spirit, was taken aback.

“I don’t understand. Can’t you feel the power gap between us?”

With a gentle wave of her hand, Mary shattered all the incoming attacks.

While Merlin and Sungmuk were powerful beings at Level 19, and Arc and the two pets possessed formidable power, Mary was DIO’s Skill Master, guardian of the system control room, and was currently in Crimson Mode. In this state, she could easily overwhelm any of the seven Holy Land grandmasters.

Even though Mary’s overwhelming power could only be maintained within DIO, she wasn’t an opponent that Merlin and the others could deal with.

“Killing users is a bit embarrassing and beneath me, but I’m under orders to eliminate any unauthorized beings who try to trespass into the system control room. It can’t be helped. However, I’m still a bit surprised that I’m confronting users rather than an external entity.”

As she murmured, two streams of heat burst out from the magic circle she had created under her feet.

It was the SS Rank, super-high-level destructive spell, Hell Fire.

The spell swept Quiet Heaven and Ellie away, the two pets unable to resist.

Whoosh!

Then, a red aura erupted from the Divine Weapon Mary held in her left hand.

She targeted Sungmuk.

“Hmph!”

Sungmuk spun around and enveloped his entire body with a beautiful layer of blooming plum blossom leaves.

Even a veteran master practitioner of the Frost Mountain discipline wouldn’t be able to imitate such a perfect defensive plum blossom move.

The blooming plum blossoms, known to even bloom through the snow, were all made of strong qi, the highest achievement of martial arts. Hence, Sungmuk’s defense was strong enough to even withstand a nuclear missile.

“That’s useless.”

However, Mary scoffed as she wielded her Divine Weapon, Rage.

Crack!

Rage.

Soon, the red aura circulating around Rage burst into Sungmuk’s plum blossom leaves. Numerous cracks started to form on the plum blossom barrier; it was as if a rubber mallet had struck a glass window.

Though Sungmuk’s barrier withstood Mary’s initial attack, it quickly shattered and dissipated in an instant. Soon, he was swept away by Rage’s red aura.

“Lightning Fist. Maximum.”

Arc stood in front of Mary. Dazzling lights flashed from both her fists, but that wasn’t it.

Flash!

Merlin’s ‘Lightning Blade of Zeus’ hit Arc in the back. Of course, Merlin had modified the spell and removed its destructive qualities, so the skill only sent out an electric shock. With this, the massive electric current fused with Arc’s Lightning Fist.

“It’s quite a refreshing and creative attempt… but do you truly believe that you can affect me with such a pitiful attack?”

Even though Mary was facing tens of billions of volts, an amount no nuclear power plant could easily produce, she remained calm.

No, to be more precise, she was so carefree that she extended her defenseless head to meet Arc’s attack.

“Full Lightning!”

A thunderbolt of immense power struck Mary directly in the face, accompanied by a brilliant, blinding flash of light. For a human-sized target, this attack should’ve evaporated them, let alone merely singe them.

However, though the attack seemed to have landed, Mary didn’t even have a single strand of hair out of place.

There seemed to be no visible effect from the billions of volts.

Yet, this was a natural result since the attack never landed on Mary.

After transcending, an individual’s physical body also deviated from the general laws of physics to a certain extent.

However, that deviation shouldn’t have been enough for Mary to endure such an unbelievable shock with ease.

The reason she was safe was because of a thin, invisible layer of film that wrapped around her entire body.

“Strong qi self-defense….”

“Now, do you all realize that there’s no hope? Well, I don’t want it to seem like I’m bullying you all, so I’ll quickly send you on your way. Goodbye.”

Once Mary finished speaking, she shot out with Rage.

It was a natural movement, but Arc didn’t even try to avoid the attack.

Arc knew that Mary’s simple act of lifting and extending her sword contained the extreme pinnacle achievements of martial arts. Thus, Arc knew she wouldn’t be able to evade.

Bam!

Soon, Arc’s body bounced back like a billiard ball hit by a cue stick.