Gathering Wives with a System Chapter 503 Mistborns, Steams Suits, Friendship With The City Of Scales

"It's Serisa! The leader of the Mistborn teams! This is our chance! She isn't wearing the Steam Suit! Attack!" Averon roared from a distance, his eyes burning fiercely as he charged forward.

An unusual excitement gleamed on his face, as if he had finally discovered the perfect moment to confront an old foe.

"Boy, have you forgotten the thrashing you received last time?" Serisa inquired calmly, her voice carrying strangely from within the swirling grey mist that constituted her form.

Averon merely grinned wider.

"Don't let her don her Steam Suit!" he bellowed.

Serisa reacted with alacrity. Several vortexes of wind materialized around her body, launching towards Averon like drills, their immense pressure capable of tearing chunks from the ancient stone of the ruined streets below.

Simultaneously, Alice materialized behind Serisa.

She swung her hammer without a second thought, the sheer force of the blow unleashing colossal shockwaves that ripped through the air, shattering nearby walls.

Serisa moved with incredible speed, her mist-like form compressing before darting sideways like a sudden gust of wind, narrowly evading the attack's reach.

Alice's eyes narrowed slightly.

The intelligence provided by Professor Catherine and Averon regarding Mistborns was proving remarkably accurate.

Mistborns were a truly peculiar race. From birth, they existed as minuscule masses of dense white wind, perpetually spinning to maintain their cohesion. As they advanced in rank, their bodies expanded, yet their fundamental mass remained virtually unchanged.

This phenomenon meant their density progressively diminished over time.

Given that their very essence was composed of moving wind currents, they constantly faced the peril of dissipating into the atmosphere. Every Mistborn had to maintain continuous focus to preserve their bodily cohesion; a moment's lapse would cause their form to scatter and blend with the ambient wind.

However, maintaining their form became increasingly arduous as they ascended in rank, their bodies growing larger and their density shrinking further.

This inherent instability was the reason no Mistborn could naturally surpass the Champion rank. By the time they reached the pinnacle of Champion, their bodies became too vast and precarious to manage.

Yet, centuries prior, a former Lord of the City of Scales forged a friendship with a Mistborn.

This bond ultimately culminated in the invention of the Steam Suits.

These specialized suits were armored shells devoid of any openings, providing a safe haven for a Mistborn, free from the fear of dispersal. The suits were also equipped with intricate gears, valves, and pressure systems meticulously engineered for the Mistborn race.

By expanding and contracting their wind bodies within this armor, Mistborns could unleash terrifying physical might.

In the past, if a Mistborn attempted to exert excessive force through their innate abilities, their concentration would falter temporarily, leading to their dissipation into the wind. Many met their demise in this manner.

But with the advent of the Steam Suits, this critical vulnerability vanished. The suits acted as a shield, preventing dispersion.

For the first time, Mistborns were capable of fully harnessing the untamed power of their race.

This context made Serisa's engagement without a Steam Suit both a golden opportunity and an immense gamble.

The Crimson Sky Wyrm circling above unleashed a deafening roar, while several Blazing Pterodactyls beat their wings furiously, directing massive gusts of wind towards Serisa from multiple vectors.

Serisa countered instantly, unleashing sharp currents of compressed air that met the incoming onslaught, causing the very sky to tremble from the impact.

Diverging from standard Mistborn, Serisa possessed a rare innate Talent directly linked to wind manipulation. This extraordinary gift enabled her to preserve her form with greater ease than others of her kind. It also granted her the ability to shape wind-based attacks without solely relying on the dangerous expansion-and-contraction technique characteristic of most Mistborn.

While Averon, the Crimson Sky Wyrm, and the Blazing Pterodactyls relentlessly pressured Serisa, Alice remained conspicuously still.

Her crimson eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

A sense of unease began to creep in.

Serisa was no longer attempting to retreat.

Alice reasoned that Serisa's objective might be to thwart Emily from taming the Mini Boss, a logical deduction. Successfully taming such a creature would undoubtedly propel their team's strength significantly, widening the chasm between them and the other factions.

However, engaging them directly in combat seemed illogical.

Even for an Apex-rank Overlord like Serisa, confronting Alice's entire group alone struck her as profoundly reckless.

Then, the realization dawned upon Alice. Her pupils constricted sharply.

Serisa was deliberately buying time.

Without a moment's hesitation, Alice activated her Draconic Transformation.

A colossal amount of mana was drawn into her being by the skill's activation. Her bones, muscles, and very soul underwent a rapid metamorphosis as obsidian scales erupted across her skin. In mere seconds, a gargantuan black dragon materialized upon the devastated battlefield.

The sheer pressure radiating from her transformed body cascaded across the entire area like an impending storm.

The surrounding monsters were thrown into immediate disarray. A great number of them turned tail and fled instinctively, unable to withstand the immense dread that bore down upon their minds.

Even Serisa experienced a flicker of alarm.

Alice, however, paid her no mind.

Instead, she broadened her senses, extending them outwards. Now in her transformed state, the reach of her perception had been vastly amplified.

Almost instantaneously, five potent mana signatures were detected, hurtling towards their position with significant speed.

Her eyes narrowed.

'So Serisa's comrades were stationed nearby.'

It became clear then. Their original strategy likely involved letting Serisa handle the situation solo. If she managed to succeed, they planned to abscond with the spoils and retreat. Conversely, should she falter or find herself cornered, the others were poised to surge forward and provide immediate reinforcement.

Alice understood that allowing them to regroup was not an option.

While Alice's own team was formidable, Overlord-ranked awakeners were never easy adversaries. Each one had navigated a long and perilous existence, possessing hidden trump cards and dangerous capabilities.

It was entirely plausible that Serisa's teammates harbored methods to obliterate the Mini Boss's soul before Emily could successfully tame it. They might even possess artifacts of teleportation, capable of forcibly extracting Emily from the battlefield, creating a window for the spirit to dissipate naturally.

Alice made her decision without delay.

[Defeat the Mini Boss and tame it. I will intercept their team.]

Before any response could be voiced, Alice powerfully beat her wings, launching herself into the distance like a shard of obsidian. The ground beneath her erupted from the sheer force of her departure.

For a fleeting instant, both Averon and Serisa were stunned into stillness.

Had Alice truly departed alone to confront a single Apex Overlord and four High Overlords by herself?

It seemed utterly preposterous.

Even Averon, who had personally witnessed Alice's combat prowess, found the decision difficult to comprehend.

Yet, memories of the recent battle against the Mini Boss resurfaced in his mind.

Alice's destructive output had been astonishing.

Even with her dragon bloodline, her Titles, and her maxed-out stats for her current level, the sheer magnitude of her damage output should have remained impossible.

What neither Averon nor Serisa were privy to was the fact that Alice's hammer was a weapon of Legendary grade.

Furthermore, her status as a Conqueror Candidate meant her stats were effectively doubled in their impact.

Her Physique had also undergone a recent evolution, enhancing her mana circulation and further amplifying the power output of her physical form.

Alice was no longer merely a dragon-blooded awakener.

At this juncture, she was beginning to manifest traits akin to a monstrous being cloaked in human guise.

Far in the distance, five figures were rapidly traversing the desolate cityscape, heading directly towards Serisa's position.

Then, all five abruptly halted their advance.

A colossal black dragon was descending upon them from the heavens.

"Deploy the shields!" the team's Apex Overlord, Kael, commanded.