"So that solved it?"
Su Yun raised an eyebrow. It seemed too easy. He glanced to the right side of the screen and thought, Of course it wasn't that simple.
A quest bar appeared there.
[Eliminate Mystery Calamity: Songstress, Current Progress: 1/13.]
As someone chosen by the World Consciousness, Su Yun had been granted permissions by the planet itself, including access to information gathered by humanity.
By filtering through the system, he could learn exactly which Mystery he had encountered—as long as humanity had information on it. If there was no data, it would show "Unknown Mystery."
As for the progress counter, that came from a detection function Su Yun had given the system. Once he struck a Mystery, the system would provide feedback, showing how much damage the target had sustained.
The 1/13 meant that his last strike had destroyed one-thirteenth of the Songstress's existence. Destroy all of it, and the Mystery would be eliminated completely.
Given the Songstress's strength, all he needed to do was find her and hit her another twelve times. But there was a serious problem for Su Yun, namely...
[Fantasy Manifestation: 0:42]
Forty-two seconds—and counting down. That was how long Fantasy Manifestation could last.
That was the problem with Fantasy Manifestation: two thousand points of Fantasy Power could sustain it for only one minute.
Since it altered reality, it also had to withstand reality's corrections. Two thousand points of Fantasy Power could manifest Saber for one minute at most, and now there were only forty seconds left.
That clearly wasn't enough time.
Still, there was a way around it...
His gaze fell on Artoria. Su Yun immediately guided the Maiden Knight over to her. Artoria, who still hadn't recovered from her shock, tensed and asked, "Um, thank you so much. Um... are you... me?"
"There's no time to explain. I'll borrow your body."
At the same time, words appeared on Su Yun's system screen.
Press [F] to enter.
So Su Yun pressed F—after all, he wasn't pressing F to enter a tank, so he didn't feel even a hint of resistance.
The Maiden Knight's body suddenly turned transparent, then entered Artoria's.
The sight left Artoria stunned. Soon, she realized she'd lost control of her body.
A flash of white light enveloped her. Her clothes changed into blue-and-white armor, and her expression shifted from bewilderment to stern focus, radiating a heroic spirit. It was as though she'd suddenly become someone else.
This was the same form the Maiden Knight had just taken!
At the same time, Fantasy Manifestation's remaining duration increased from less than forty seconds to 372 seconds. The remaining time had been multiplied by ten.
That was because Saber's Fantasy Manifestation now had the ideal vessel: Artoria herself. As a result, reality's automatic correction of the manifestation had weakened.
Of course, weakened didn't mean gone. Su Yun had to defeat the Songstress within those 372 seconds—about six minutes.
Su Yun immediately used a skill. Artoria, under his control, closed her eyes. A will spread from her mind, and the surroundings instantly shifted to black and white, turning translucent.
Her field of vision rapidly expanded until it encompassed the entire headquarters of the Supernatural Disaster Strategy Room. The outlines of many people appeared, along with twelve red dots at different locations, marking hostile targets.
This was one of Artoria's skills: A-rank Instinct, essentially the highest level of perception.
In the original story, Artoria could even use Instinct in battle to "predict the future."
Here, the ability Su Yun had manifested with Fantasy Power let him clearly sense everything within a radius of five hundred meters. It was a top-tier detection skill.
That was what appeared before Su Yun's eyes now.
For Artoria herself, however, things looked different.
After losing control of her body, Artoria realized she'd somehow left it—or, more accurately, her point of view had separated from her body. She was now seeing the world from the perspective of a third-person shooter game, or TPS.
Her view was fixed behind the character, showing the whole body from the back. It turned along with the character's own gaze.
When the Instinct skill activated, Artoria saw something different from Su Yun as well. She shared the body's senses, so she directly perceived everything around her.
It was an incredible sensation, and Artoria was deeply shaken. Her small eyes were filled with immense astonishment.
Then, under Su Yun's control, Artoria's body moved, rushing straight up into the next floor.
A special-operations squad stood before her, dressed mostly in black and armed to the teeth.
The moment they saw Artoria, the well-trained squad raised their custom assault rifles.
But when they got a good look at her, they all froze. The one who was clearly their captain immediately reported over his earpiece, "Target 'King Arthur' sighted. We're bringing—"
Whoosh!
Artoria shot past them at a speed beyond the human eye, running along the wall in an unbelievable move. Then she streaked down the other side of the corridor and vanished.
She'd covered twenty meters in less than two seconds. The elite squad stood there, dumbfounded, wondering if their eyes had deceived them.
How could someone that big just vanish in a flash?
At the same time, the command center asked for an update. After all, the squad's report had cut off halfway through. That certainly didn't seem normal.
So the squad leader had no choice but to explain what had happened.
Elsewhere, Artoria had already charged into another corridor. Several more corpses lay there, but the Strategy Room staff hadn't all been wiped out. They were protecting a woman who looked to be around thirty and a black-haired girl with twin tails, about fifteen or sixteen.
Judging by their strikingly similar features, they were probably mother and daughter.
There was also a creature here, one much like the Songstress Artoria had slain earlier. Clearly, it was another part of the Songstress.
"Fiend!"
The Songstress's killing mechanism triggered at the icy voice, filling everyone present with terror.
But their terror soon turned to astonishment. The Songstress was cleaved apart in the next instant. They only saw someone rush into the corridor and vanish, then a burst of air—and the Songstress was torn to pieces in the gust.
[Eliminate Mystery Calamity: Songstress, Current Progress: 2/13.] [Fantasy Manifestation Sanctuary Time: 356 seconds.]
Sixteen seconds. The Songstress had lost another one-thirteenth!
Then Artoria swept away like a gust of wind, leaving the others dumbfounded.
Because the lights were out, they hadn't really seen what Artoria looked like. They'd only seen someone arrive and destroy the Songstress with unbelievable power.
Once they came to their senses, shock surged through them, followed by an incomparable excitement.
Because this meant that what humanity had long yearned for since Mystery Resurgence had finally come to pass.
That was—
Mysteries were no longer impossible to eliminate!
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