Guess the foreplay was over.
The Screamers knew that they needed to hit their mark to completely vanquish us. It was just unfortunate for them that Micca could predict where the bullet went by lining up the void rifleman's gun and their sluggish aiming.
As for Shujang, she could take a shot or two as half of her body wasn't even organic anymore. Not to mention, she could just perform a non-immovable Blooming to cast a healing magic on herself.
They even hit her. The OMS-Mini puppetered by her work as her own extension, as she could just launch the segmented magnetic limb of the mech onto her enemies in less than a second.
"A! One of them is aiming at father—!"
And when it came to the sentient Balor Armor that magnificently tower over them, the nanites was able to perform a hyperprecisian maneuver to negate the damage; they temporarily dispersed from the incoming impact, making all of those lead go through the armor.
The corruption within that lead won't affect Balor Armor either, as it would just get cleansed by the sheer radiation of the blessed shrouding amalgamation of souls.
As for the bullet that was aimed at my location inside the Balor Armor, the nanites would redirect them away with a proper amount of force. This would definitely damage them, but I made them capable of self repair as long as there wasn't any continuous stress on those parts of nanites.
"A, are you fine there, father?"
"My dear, why would I make myself a bigger target without having some gimmick in my sleeve, mm?"
"Micca, aren't you fast enough to immobilize that Screamer before it could shoot?" Shujang snickered.
"A, you caught me. I'm just curious on how father handles it with that epic titan form of his." Micca then realized something. "Wait, wouldn't you also be able to command your automaton to strike them before the shot?"
"Aiya, you caught me as well~ Guess we possess a similar way of thinking~!"
"Guess Shujang will get another new form after all of this."
"Why am I the only one that got reprimanded!??"
I still couldn't get myself comfortable to talk while performing my Blooming, even though the conversation was executed through a soul resonance and a telepathic channel respectively.
I wondered how Shujang could do it without breaking a sweat.
One of the Screamer began to menacingly walk to the other Screamer, before it seamlessly deconstructed its own body into millions of particles, imbuing the other Screamer by emulsifying their existence as their body grew twice the size.
Soon, the newly heightened Screamer reached out its hand forward, as half of his pointed limb slowly transformed into a giant cylinder host with ten holes, each of those holes filled with a filler solid substance, leaking miasmatic smokes from the crevices.
With a quick reflex, Micca and Shujang already had the new mechanism of the Screamers hacked and diced into pieces, before unloading their respective firepower to ensure the cleansing of the void monster.
The Balor Armor flew to their location as if it was untangled by gravity, ensuring both of them stayed within the radius of the blessing.
"They appeared to be less harmful." A crackling sweep was screeched onto the surface of the soil that hosted the Screamer's shadowy remains. Micca aimed at the nearby patch of darkness on the tree, releasing a couple of shots. "As long as they won't do anything funnier than this."
A couple of incoming screamers did the same fusion like the first one. This time however, they were far away.
Then they protruded forward their new bioweapon at us, unloading the weird fillers on those numerous holes.
The projectiles flew and swerved like a guided missile.
"Hold tight," I notified those two.
The scouting nanites within the vicinity immediately scanned their surrounding area for the new target data that I sent to the nanites hivemind. The moment they were detected, the Balor Armor sent out numerous squadrons of nanites to latch onto them before they could hit their destination, taking over the void-missiles and guiding them to their sender.
The moment the hacked missiles made contact with their original owner, the nanites spread about their new host, analyzing them, and deconstructing them ins and outs.
I got three reference data of the new type of Screamers. That data would then be sent to the hivemind to become the foundation of the chain of automation.
Now, the moment this new type of Screamers appeared within the sight of the scouting nanites, the Balor Armor would immediately send their killing agent to terminate this newly accustomed threat.
Oh, and I also made some of the missiles to hit the normal Screamers, making their reference data to be a part of the Balor Armor's list of extermination.
And as of now, the scouting nanites had already covered four kilometers of field in diameter from my position.
I used all of the energy generated from this session of Blooming to triple the numbers of nanites.
Before the Balor Armor sent out their swarm of killing bees into every possible direction.
Micca's mouth was wide open with awe. "Woaaaaa! All of those Screamers dispersed as if they got snapped out of existence!"
"Mr. Occam, why didn't you just do that from the start?"
"Heh, I might be a genius, but a genius still needs a moment to think before coming up with a solution to the available problem. Not to mention, making sure everything is executed butter-smooth."
"Makes sense."
Within the range of the scouting nanites, I noticed an important pattern.
Micca mentioned that the Screamers of the Void came from one direction and swept every soul in their path until the other end. Considering how big this forest was, they might haven't even reached the other end of the forest after two hours and a half.
Now that I possessed the means to gather numerous details, the invasion of the void started from the northwest to the southeast, with at least half of the forest becoming the beginning territory of their conquest.
I sent the pentagram of death with the old version of OMS down to the west, and when I looked more at the situation at the east, I managed to find a sign of surviving life.
Stampedes of insects, worms, and all sorts of beast stampeded into waves of tidal formation towards the east. If I calculated the average speed of the overall attempts of their retreat and escapes, together with the possible adaptation of the Screamers to chase those animals—
There might only be less than two percent of forest dwellers that survive after this ordeal.
I already got the better fighting chance against the Screamers, should I also help the remaining forest survivor to make it through the end of this? I felt like there should be more from the side of the void, but my humanity was pleading with me to do the right thing.
This forest was the first thing that greets me when my spirit ignites into life, it is my beginning, my new home.
"... Lovely, more special guests at the door."
The divine music of the blessing was still ringing in my hearing. The absence of the heavenly singing however, made me more nervous than ever.
And that anxiety was immediately answered, when a new form of the Screamers arose from the crack of shadow from the decapitated stump of the pentagram of deforestation.
Only then, the heavenly voice sang again.
"In such an awed festival~ this is the same as an offering to me~!"