Chapter 23: Pest Killing Machine
To be more precise, it was a new invention of Rowan Starlight that he didn't reveal to the public or anyone else yet for the main purpose of it being used as a surprise in this kind of situation.
Honestly, with how he was always being bullied by Carlos and his goons, he had already expected something like this to happen sooner or later, either because he was pushed into a corner or it was time for payback. Although not as grand as what's happening right now, at the very least his weapon could still be of some use.
"It's time to shine my baby," Rowan Starlight muttered to himself before pressing a secret button beside the crate which immediately caused all the plywood that surrounds it to fall on the ground.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The plywood made a loud noise that instantly made everyone notice the strange event at their rear.
As easy and simple as that, all infighting stopped and everyone's attention was now fully focused on a gun-like structure that stood intimidatingly and majestically still while being directed straight towards them.
"Holy shit!"
"Didn't they teach us that guns could no longer exist in our world because mana would obliterate its bullet before it could reach its target?"
"Perhaps they were able to invent something to counter the mana?"
"Do you seriously think that thing is a gun?"
"It has a barrel, so what else could it be?"
"A cannon, maybe?"
"A cannon? That's even worst than a gun!"
"Idiot! As if a gun is any better for us!"
"I don't know man, I am just saying,"
Contrary to what they were talking about though, it was actually neither a gun nor a cannon. Rather, it was simply a type of launcher. Albeit not an ordinary one, as it doesn't shoot out anything that could directly kill a person — just potentially. To be more exact, it shoots out a bunch of nets. Needless to say, they aren't ordinary nets.
The machine has a homing device that when it locks onto a target, the net will follow wherever the target would go with the help of a mini thruster installed to it that uses mana in the surroundings as fuel. Once it captures its target, it would then send an electric shock enough to knock them out.
Moreover, the machine could predetermine the strength of its target, thus being able to adjust to many possible methods along with its likely outcome on how to deal with them. Meaning to say, once locked on, there is no way for the target to escape the net anymore. Unless of course if they are strong enough to destroy the net.
"As expected from you, Rowan," Raul can't help but clap his hands at the unexpected weapon that Rowan Starlight has prepared against them.
"Were you expecting me to have something like this prepared as well?" Rowan Starlight sneered at Raul's pretentious act.
"Not really. But considering how you never back down on practically everything and deal with it with your own hands, I at least prepared myself for this much," Raul shook his head dismissively.
"The question is, to what extent?" Rowan smirked.
After saying that, Rowan Starlight immediately jumped on top of his machine and quickly activated it.
The machine made some cracking noises followed by dozens of bright lights illuminating its body as its height quickly extended higher, only stopping upon touching the roof of the underground warehouse, evidently solving one of its starring weaknesses, which is destroying the ceiling and letting the rubbles fall onto it.
"You never fail to amaze me, Rowan," Raul clicked his tongue, a bit worried that he won't be able to defeat Rowan Starlight.
"Let me introduce to you my Pest Killing Machine!" Rowan Starlight exclaimed in excitement.
Whooosh!
Whooosh!
Whooosh!
Before anyone could react, dozens of nets shot out from the barrel of the Pest Killing Machine directly straight towards the targets it had locked onto.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bzzzzz!
Bzzzzz!
Bzzzzz!
Not a single net missed a target and everyone that was captured experienced an electric shock that they have never ever experienced in their entire life!
That was what Raul thought to himself after seeing the result of the Pest Killing Machine's attack. He was greatly alarmed at the performance of Rowan's machine.
No one was spared from the net, whether they were the rookie Heroes or the Superhuman bodyguards, and the worse thing was the souls that Raul had summoned using the Sitan's Ring were obliterated into nothingness instead of simply losing consciousness like the former two.
"Impossible! How can he even achieve 100% accuracy?!" Even Carlos was dumbfounded at the sight. Even without needing to say it, he could already guess that the Pest Killing Machine was invented by none other than Rowan Starlight himself. It's exactly because of that why he was shocked because he can't believe that the latter has the capability to invent the machine with this kind of performance.
"To tell you the truth, this machine was made exactly to deal with the Sitan's Ring!" Rowan Starlight dropped bad news for Raul.
Hearing that, Raul felt chills all over his body. "You think a machine like that is enough to defeat me and my army of souls?!"
"I've not tested it personally. But theoretically speaking, yes,"
"Maybe it can defeat hundreds of souls, but what if thousands or tens of thousands exist?"
"Then I guess I'll just have to make the appropriate amount of Pest Killing Machine to deal with whatever number you can summon!" Rowan Starlight let out an annoying laugh.
Hearing that, Raul instantly felt dreadful. If what Rowan Starlight's Pest Killing Machine could do was proven true, then all of his strategies that use numerical advantage would immediately become ineffective. And unfortunately for him, that's the only thing the Sitan's Ring is best at. At least as far as he knows as of right now.
Despite that thought though, Raul still remained composed on the surface as he then muttered, "That depends on whether your Pest Killing Machine could indeed win in this battle,"
"I am already winning," Rowan Starlight blurted.
In the next moment, numerous nets were shot out from the Pest Killing Machine, straight away rendering dozens of men unconscious and thus unable to continue fighting.
"As if!" Raul no longer hesitated as he ordered his summons to launch an offensive counterattack towards the Pest Killing Machine. In his mind, he believes that as long as he could take down that machine, then Rowan Starlight would immediately be defeated.
However, to Raul's surprise, something happened that abruptly destroyed all of his thoughts.
All the summons was unable to continue approaching the Pest Killing Machine and were held back by some kind of forcefield in between.
As Raul looked closely below his summons, he soon noticed that an unknown gadget was installed on all the sides of the plywood from the crates that dropped on the ground. These gadgets were changing the magnetic field of the surrounding, which in turn controls the mana nearby to form a shield that protects the Pest Killing Machine.
"Do you seriously think that I would leave this precious machine of mine undefended?" Rowan Starlight sneered at Raul's dumbfounded look on his face. If he truly did that, then everything he had put into preparing this machine is ultimately going to become useless. After all, the moment his enemy reaches the machine, it will automatically be game-over for him.
"There should be a limit to how long you can take refuge in that second turtle shell of yours!" Raul refused to believe that he can't do anything to Rowan Starlight. If he was able to destroy the first turtle shell, he believes that he'd also be able to do the same with the current one. Moreover, this time it's going to be different since there were only the six rookie Heroes trying to destroy the vault previously, compared to now where there are more than hundreds of men he could command.
"I welcome you with open arms to do as much damage as you can to the shield!" Rowan Starlight said while laughing mockingly.
With that thought in mind, Raul ordered his summons to smash and scratch the surface of the shield in hopes of dealing damage to it.
On the other hand, Rowan Starlight fully focuses on incapacitating the forces of Raul, in that way he will be able to win once the latter doesn't have any more men to command.
Meanwhile, Kayn and Natas observed the fight between Rowan Starlight against Raul in another inconspicuous location as they realized that it would be very easy to find them from their previous spot due to the current circumstances.
"Once that shield is destroyed, that's the moment where we will come in," Natas informed Kayn.
Unlike the vault, the invention that is currently protecting Rowan Starlight from the forces of Raul has an obvious flaw to it. If the vault uses its sturdy structure to hold the enemies off, the shield relies on controlling the magnetic field in order to manipulate the mana around them. So, once that control is affected, it will cause the entire shield to either shut down completely or decrease in size. Either way, it's only going to be a matter of time before Rowan Starlight is going to be pushed into a corner once again.
Unsurprisingly, Raul has already discovered that flaw and is currently trying to take advantage of it to break into the defense of Rowan Starlight.
"I know," Kayn nodded his head as he observed the summons destroying the ground underneath the plywood.
That's right. The flaw to the shield protecting Rowan Starlight is simply the ground. Apparently, the magnetic field seems to only be able to control the mana above, not below. As such, they could just make a tunnel and dig their way to the other side of the shield.
"I guess Rowan Starlight wasn't as thoroughly prepared as he claimed to be," Kayn remarked.
Although they don't have a clue to confirm whether Rowan Starlight has another thing prepared to defeat Raul like the Pest Killing Machine or not, nevertheless they have still made up their minds to use this opportunity to launch their attack and provide reinforcement to Rowan Starlight.
Moreover, Raul unknowingly made his location vulnerable to their surprise attack. If they don't take advantage of this chance now, then there's no telling when another one will come, or whether there is really going to be one or not, most likely because Rowan Starlight is going to deal with everything himself.