Chapter 142 F or F?
"Don’t do what you are thinking right now!" Asteria hissed at Alex as she and the devil Guide tried pulling the hairs of Alex and the mad scientist respectively.
Naturally, their attempts to do so has failed.
"Professor Frances, please rethink this!" The devil guide said to the mad scientist, as if it was pleading for the mad scientist to not do anything rash. "Professor Frances, this is risky!"
"Hmph, it is I who decides when something is risky for me." The mad scientist, whose name was revealed to be Professor Frances, only let out a hmph as she glared at her Guide. "And in my opinion, what we are about to do now is worth enough of the danger that we will face!"
"But-"
"Shut it, Mephisto." Professor Frances snarled as she flicked her Guide away. "I am doing all of this in order for us to find a way to face the Pantheon."
Professor Frances then continued speaking over the large roar of non-stop attacks.
"I am sure that Foresight is scheming something with that Duplicator. I have the gut feeling that if we allow this chick to die, Foresight’s plans will be in fruition. If that happens, I think that it will be bad news for us. So, in order for us to prevent Foresight’s plan from working, we should let that chick live!"
Frances said these words in a matter-of-fact tone, as if they were just the plain truth.
"But... what if us saving Duplicator is actually Foresight’s plan?" Mephisto replied under Professor Frances’ glare. "What if her goal was to force us to save that giant chick?"
"Hmph! You know that Foresights’s power does not work that well against Duplicator!" Professor Frances said as she pointed her thumb towards her katana-wielding companion. "Heck, you even know that even Trisha, our resident clairvoyant, is unable to see any future related to Duplicator! If Trisha is having a difficulty making a plan against Duplicator, then I am sure that Foresight has the same struggles too!"
"But how about the Bonus Mission? Its rewards are good!"
"Hmph, our main focus this time is to finish the Main Mission." Professor Frances said as she blew the hair out of her forehead. "So what if the Bonus Mission can give me more power? If I will not succeed on finishing the Main Mission in the end, then all those Bonus Missions that I did will be all a waste! So, instead of killing a creature just for some measly rewards, keeping that creature alive for the Main Mission is a much better choice!"
Before Mephisto could give another retort, Professor Frances’ chilly gaze landed on him, prompting Mephisto to shut his mouth.
"If you say so..." By this point, the only thing that Mephisto could do was to agree with Professor Frances, as it seemed like nothing can stop the professor from her decision.
"Well, that is one of the reasons why I and Professor Frances wanted to save Duplicator." Alex said as he also flicked away the pesky Asteria. "Another reason is that once we get Duplicator, we will be able to get the attention of the whole Pantheon itself. Once that happens, our main mission will be much easier to finish!"
"Exactly!" Professor Frances said, with her signature smile back. "This is a rare chance for all of us, so we should not let it go away!"
These words from Alex and Professor Frances seemed to have roused their Companions, but there was one person who would not accept what the two said easily.
"What the hell? Are you talking about fighting the Pantheon?" Lauren, who looked like she had seen a ghost, blurted out as she glared at Alex with her eyes as wide as it possibly could get.
She pointed her palms at Alex, with her palms being filled with a potent glow. "Are you all... aiming to kill the Pantheon members?"
"What are you talking abo- oh." Alex replied as he tilted his head. "It seems like you heard what we were talking about. Teehee!"
"Just answer my question!" Lauren asked as the glow on her palms started to increase. "Are you all... planning to kill the Pantheon? Was that the reason for your alliance earlier? So that you can easily kill them?"
"....."
With the body language that Lauren was displaying right now, Alex realized that the current Lauren was extremely wary of them. Well, for her to act like that is normal, since she just heard something extremely suspicious.
"Hey calm down. It’s not like that." Alex said as he tried to placate Lauren. "We only want to obtain something, and from our investigation, it was the Pantheon that has the strongest connection to the object that we are seeking. Everything that we are about to do now? It’s all a bid for us to get their attention. We want to make them know that we want something from them, and that we will not stop until we get it for ourselves."
"...." After hearing what Alex said, the glow on Lauren’s palms dimmed a little, but Lauren still had the defiant expression on her face. "Even if you are telling the truth, I can still not allow you to do this! If you do so, I will be implicated! Once that happens, my family could be in danger! I cannot allow that to happen!"
Alex seemed to be unperturbed by what Lauren said, as if what she mentioned did not bother him.
"Oh, do not worry about you being associated with us." Alex replied as he shook his head. "I have a way for you to be not implicated with what we are about to do. So, just sit back and relax while we do our stuff."
"What the he-" Before Lauren could finish her sentence, Alex suddenly appeared behind Lauren, executing a karate chop on her exposed neck.
Lauren dropped like a sack of potatoes, right into Alex’s waiting arms.
Alex received Lauren’s unconscious body with grace, as he made sure that her head will not whiplash and hit the ground.
"Uppity here, then." Alex muttered as he hefted the unconscious Lauren on his shoulders.
He then patted Lauren’s lolling head as he said,
"Lauren, if you were to become our hostage, then you will be exempted from being related with us! Once this day ends, you will be treated as our victim, not as a suspect." After saying these words, Alex turned around as he faced his Companions, who all looked at what Alex did with a slacked jaw.
"You really are a great planner." Professor Frances said as she seemed to be excited at what Alex did. "I have a different plan to deal with Signum’s association with us, but your kidnapping move is the best one!"
"I have to do what I have to do." Alex said as he placed a serious gaze on Alina.
"So Alina, was Professor Frances lying when she said that her clairvoyant Companion could not see any future coming out of Duplicator?" Alex asked Alina as he looked warily at Trisha.
"No, she is not lying about that." Alina replied as she let out a relieved sigh. "So don’t worry about us getting blindsided by Professor Frances. Her team is also going in blind here, so they do not have any unfair advantage."
"Good, that is what I want to hear. "Alex replied as he looked at the battered Duplicator.
By this point, Duplicator was barely able to move, with blood bubbling out of different parts of her body.
From what Alex can see, Duplicator will not last that much long. Around a minute more is Alex’s best estimate for Duplicator’s remaining life.
"Since you have no idea on how our rescue mission will work, please allow me to start the rescue mission." Alex said as he dug deep into his FED Manipulation.
Because of the power boost that came out of Duplicator, even Alex’s FED Manipulation has improved drastically.
Right now, its effects were much more powerful compared to before, and even its reach has increased too.
With this kind of power-up, Alex was left with no choice but to try it out already.
And the best thing to do with FED Manipulation was to make everyone feel something so intense that it will make them stop whatever they are doing now.
Alex then mulled as he tried to think of the best Emotion or Feeling that he can use right now.
"Anger will not work. It will just make the crowd berserk. Fear can be used, but people react differently to fear. Some might escape(flight), while some will just fight back(Fight)." Alex muttered as he cupped his chin.
After a few seconds of thinking, Alex perked up as he realized what he should use in his current situation.
"Slither, slither..." Alex’s tentacles began to tense around him as Alex activated his FED Manipulation.
Alex let out a light sigh as his power affected every Superhuman in the area.
The only exceptions were Alex’s and Professor Frances’ Companions, along with Duplicator.
"...." Alex looked at all the Superhumans around him, feeling quite enjoyed with what he had seen.
"So, making them feel Lethargic is the right choice huh."
By making the Superhumans feel lethargy, Alex removed their desire to attack Duplicator and even their desire to move!
This seems to have worked, as all of the Superhumans around were just laying down on the ground, with them feeling extremely lazy and lethargic.
Alex then looked at the direction of the Pantheon members, and to his surprise, he saw that they were also affected by his FED Manipulation.
However, it seems like the Pantheon members were able to resist Alex’s ’Forced Lethargy’.
Myth, who was in her Tiamat Form, had her head drooping down and legs bent over. But even with that, Alex could see that Myth’s eyes were still alert.
As for Tetra, his whole body was covered by electricity, as if he was using the electricity to forcefully resist his lethargic feelings.
Machi on the other hand, had his whole body down on the ground, although he was struggling to stand up, and it seems like he could actually stand up later.
As for Foresight, even if her body looked like it was about to lay down on the ground, she was somehow able to prevent lying down by pinching and slapping herself.
"..."
From what Alex can see, it will take the Pantheon members around a few seconds before they can be fully free from Alex’s ’Forced Lethargy’.
A few seconds might seem extremely useless, but for a group like a Pantheon, for them to be affected by a skill for a few seconds was extremely impressive already.
This observation made Alex realize that there’s only a few more seconds left before the Pantheon can start dealing with him.
"Ok, I have partially neutralized everyone here." Alex said as he clapped his hands, facing the surprised Professor Frances with a smirk in his face. "We only have a few seconds left before the Pantheon members can freely move, so we should be gone by then!"
"...What a potent emotional manipulation ability." Alex heard Professor Frances muttering as all of them rushed towards the heavily injured Duplicator.
"Chirp..." The giant chick blearily gazed at them, with its head trembling as it moved. "Chirp.."
"Go to sleep now. You will need it." Alex soothingly said to the giant chick as he pointed his finger to it.
Sloth the Abyss Sprite appeared behind Alex, muttering the words that Alex wanted to say now.
---Power Nap---
This spell, which was the fourth Sloth Abyss Spell, will bring Duplicator in a deep sleep for 5 minutes, and once that sleep was done, Duplicator will wake up with its injuries and fatigue gone!
"Boom!" At the instant that Alex used his spell on Duplicator, he saw the Pantheon members regaining their mobility.
All of them stared at Alex, with varying expressions on their faces.
Tetra stared at Alex with confusion, while Foresight seems to be smiling as she looked at Alex. Machi on the other hand seems to be not feeling any anger at all as he began to don his power suit.
As for Myth, oh boy, she looks extremely pissed. Her eyes were turning red from anger, while her wings were flapping behind her angrily.
Myth’s gigantic beak was letting out large amounts of seawater, which started to destroy everything hit by it.
"Well, this is awkward." Alex thought to himself as he grabbed Duplicator’s body with his left hand.
After staring at the Pantheon members, Alex decided to look back at his allies as he asked them,
"So, what now? Fight, or flight?"
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