Oren hastily covered his ears as an eerie howl spread from Adam's gloves, stopping the wave of the Golden Searchers, but the Winged Ones were able to resist, slowly stepping towards them.
"No... It's not enough... One more time, I can do it again." Adam muttered, looking at his slightly trembling hands.
Nexus's Trait couldn't be used unlimited times in a short period. It all depended on the strength of the Phantom and the Trait, but on average, the Phantom could use his Nexus once every three hours. This meant that in a day's mission, there was a maximum of four uses.
Adam used Soul Cry at the very beginning, and when they reached the depths of the Nest, his Nexus and himself recovered from the recoil.
Using Nexus two times in a row was possible, but it had the risk of Adam not being able to use his hands for several minutes and seriously overloading his body. A third time in a row was a lethal dose for most Phantoms, leading to immediate heartbreak.
Oren's eyes went wide. He hadn't expected Adam to take such a risk, but they had discussed that it was possible. After all, there were two Phantoms on this mission, so Adam could take the risk and trust his partner.
The taut threads made contact again, emitting a second eerie scream, only ten seconds after the first one.
"RRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!"
Golden Searchers roared in pain, holding their heads and scratching their face. They tried to get rid of the noise that was tearing their minds apart, but it was impossible to do so. If one could not resist Soul Cry, it would give out its full effect.
The Winged Ones also fell to the ground, unable to move, and even the Queen was stunned. She had barely reacted to the first Soul Cry, she just wrinkled up, but now she was trying her best to withstand the pressure.
Unfortunately, even Oren was no exception, because even though he covered his ears with his hands quite tightly, they still started to bleed just like his nose, but the damage was acceptable.
"Argh!"
Adam exclaimed in pain, looking at his trembling hands as if they were pierced by thousands of invisible needles. In fact, they were actually bleeding due to a few burst veins.
"Good job." Oren said seriously, "Leave the rest to me while you rest and watch my work!"
Then, Oren rushed forward, swinging his crimson swords, each time cutting off the head of some monster.
Oren didn't act chaotically, for he knew that first, he had to reduce the total number of opponents, and the easiest way to do that was to kill the ordinary Golden Searchers.
They were completely stunned, and for Oren, it was like fighting against immobile dummies or slicing cabbages.
In just thirty seconds, he had killed all the Golden Searchers, but Winged One and, naturally - Queen, remained untouched by his sharp blades.
'You still have about fifteen to twenty more seconds. Then, the effects of Adam's Nexus will wear off completely. I hope you realize that.' Zola's voice sounded in his earbud.
"Sure. That's why I killed the weaklings first, they will be my weapons!" Oren exclaimed, displaying his swords to the sides.
Blood from dozens of monsters headed towards the Bloody Twins, infusing them with power and making them 20% bigger and wider, covering them with long, sharp spikes on the blunt side.
The effect was much stronger than the first time, as there was a lot more blood, so Oren was ready to act.
Without hesitation, he headed towards the first Winged Golden Searcher, who was already slowly regaining consciousness. A few more seconds and the monster would be able to move freely, but Oren wasn't going to let that happen.
Two crimson blades from below traveled towards the monster's shoulders, cutting off its arms. Streams of blue blood rushed out, while Oren walked through the monster like a shadow.
Two lines ran across the Winged Golden Searcher's torso, then the monster split into four pieces, slipping and falling to the ground.
'Good. Nine more to go, then you'll have to deal with the Queen.' Zola said, helping Oren concentrate.
Oren was in the middle of a battlefield strewn with corpses, Zola, on the other hand, was sitting in front of a multitude of monitors to which the cameras on Oren's body were connected. She was an extra pair of eyes and ears for him, constantly dropping in clues.
'Are you okay...?' Silvana asked with a slightly worried voice, 'You didn't have to do that. You could have stuck to the first plan - gradually killing the Golden Searchers while protected by Oren's bloody barrier.'
"Don't worry about me." Adam sighed heavily, watching the carnage that his partner was massacring with satisfaction.
The Winged Golden Searchers had already recovered and joined the battle, but Oren was unstoppable.
He easily dodged the monsters' attacks, and his blades were now strong enough to pass through their protective scales like a hot knife through butter.
Minute by minute, the Winged Golden Searchers became fewer and fewer until they were all in the dark abyss. Some were simply decapitated, smooth, and clean, while others were cut into tiny pieces by Oren, perhaps even enjoying it.
"Whew... Now you." Oren sighed heavily, placing one sword on his shoulder and pointing the other at the Queen.
The Queen would not engage in battle, for there was no way they could protect their warriors. Oren was always too close to them and just as quick to kill.
If the Queen dared to unleash a hail of golden blades on Oren, she would most likely pierce her subjects, not him.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
The queen flapped her wings, causing the blades to clatter against each other, making a singular ringing sound that filled the whole place.
Adam hadn't come to his senses yet, and the Queen knew it, so she decided to deal with Oren, who was the main threat. If she could kill him, then Adam would not be a problem.
The most important thing for her was to keep Golden Egg alive, after all, she could easily give birth to hundreds more Golden Searchers, but the King was a different matter.
'Why isn't he dodging?' Adam inwardly muttered, looking at the hundreds of blades hailing towards Oren. There were so many of them that it gave the illusion that it was a single stream, there were no gaps.
"Hah, you decided to use them all at once? That was your big mistake!" Oren exclaimed confidently as his eyes sparkled.
Very soon, a bloody dome appeared around him, but it was clearly not enough to defend against the Queen's attack.
Well, that was why Oren made his swords part of the defense, causing the blood accumulated on them to spread throughout the barrier.
Previously, the blades would stab into the barrier unable to get through it, but now they simply bounced off, flying off to the side.
"Damn, letting your warriors die led you to this situation! It was your mistake, stupid monster!" Oren exclaimed joyfully.
The Queen was confused, she was fast but not strong, and her main weapons were unable to pierce Oren's defenses.
The Queen's only option for survival was to awaken the King!
With a flap of her wings, the Queen approached Golden Egg, and her fingertips shone brightly.
"Shit! We can't let this happen!" Oren exclaimed about to rush into battle, but Zola stopped him, relaying new information to him.
Oren nodded slightly and abruptly dropped to one knee, revealing his shoulder.
Then, behind him appeared a silhouette whose legs were covered in electrical discharges.
Adam climbed up onto Oren, who was a springboard for him and leaped forward at full speed, approaching the Queen, who was trying to awaken the egg.
His eyes shone brightly, and in his hand appeared a long needle made of hundreds of intertwined snow-white threads.
"Farewell, fallen queen."
Adam muttered, thrusting the needle into the center of the Queen's chest, which was where the heart of the Golden Searchers' was located.
The needle dyed blue blood, ending the life of the monster, the queen, and the mother who had never been able to give life to her beloved offspring.