Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

It happened during the third coordinated attack that a breakthrough occurred. As Asche, Liss, and Reca unleashed their enhanced techniques on the massive cannon, the damage inflicted was more clear than before. The mana that typically protected the damaged parts hadn't regenerated in time thanks to Vanessa's hardwork, resulting in a hole that was now two hundred meters deep.

The cannon, unable to withstand the onslaught, tipped once more, making it clear from a distance that their strategy was working.

The guards, recognizing the vulnerability of their primary defense, made a strategic retreat once again, a total one this time. The ominous atmosphere persisted, though. Rain and his group took a moment to assess the situation, knowing that the battle was far from over.

"What now?" Jori asked.

"Keep your guard up," Rain said. "They will bring the big guns now."

"Rain! They realized what we were doing and cut off the supply of mana to the cannon!" Asche shouted. "They are only using enough to keep the defenses of the structure. We can keep attacking, but it will be slower than before."

"They are quick to understand things… just focus on doing that," Rain said. "We will manage things here."

"Should we send the word to the others?" Terra asked. "Charging something of this size will take a while, right?"

"Too risky, we don't know how much time they would need to charge it or if this much damage can change anything," Rain said. "Let's stick with what is working."

Everyone nodded, and then they raised their guard… Sakaki returned to the cannon to see if he could do anything now, but Rain wasn't expecting much. Before long, the group began to feel the ground trembling and they got a bit confused… as for Rain, he couldn't help but massage his eyebrows. He knew exactly what was coming. From back of the buildings in the distance, the new enemies began to emerge.

The emerging enemies, now revealed as giant robots they showed a striking resemblance to the smaller guards but were on an entirely different scale. Towering over the battlefield, these mechanical behemoths stood dozens of times taller than the other enemies.

The robots' movements were slow and deliberate as they initially walked, but the ground began to tremble beneath their colossal weight. Soon, they defied gravity, lifting off the ground and soaring toward Rain and his companions with an unsettling grace despite their massive size.

The air hummed with the sound of their propulsion systems, and the glow within their bodies intensified as they approached.

Each giant robot had a humanoid form, with limbs that moved with a calculated precision. Their eyes, if one could call them that, glowed with an eerie red intensity, giving off an intimidating aura. As the first of the giant robots closed in, the true magnitude of the threat became apparent.

The battlefield, already filled with tension, now faced an even greater challenge, and Rain's group braced themselves for the impending clash with these colossal foes.

"Oh boy…" Rain said.

"What is… that?" Jori asked while blinking several times. "Are they humans now? Or monsters?"

"The same thing as before, but bigger… I guess this society isn't that evolved. They prefer to scare their enemies with size still," Rain said. "We can't let them get close… we can't stop all of the attacks of those things. Fight as you see fit."

"We should let you fight, using the same level of the Seal that Branden gave it to you," Terra said.

Rain considered that for a moment, the power of the seal was still there, he just wasn't using it that much lately because he didn't have to… he had more allies that he could borrow power from as well, but once again, Rain's lack of confidence got in the way.

"No, we will fight together," Rain declared. "We will have to split their focus, and with more people, we will be able to pull that off."

The truth of the matter was the fact that Rain was just preparing everyone for his possible failure… he didn't want to think that it was eventual, but he couldn't rule that out. The really annoying thing was the fact that Rain understood both sides of his way of thinking.

The side that thinking like that was pathetic and the side that it was just a countermeasure to avoid letting his fall cause problems for everyone else as well.

When they were three kilometers away, the giant robots raised their hands and pointed their fingers at the group. In the next moment, they fired a barrage of bullets… but bullets for creatures of that size were the size of cannon shells. Rain, Terra, and Jori swung their weapons and blocked the attacks with all of their might, but each impact made their whole bodies tremble…

"What the heck…" Jori said as his arms began to tremble.

The shells fell on the ground, and they sunk on the ground… each shell fired faster than the sound weighing at least a ton, and that was the result. Still, thanks to Larisa's powers added with Terra's skills, she recovered insanely fast… while Jori and Rain were groaning in annoyance.

"Let's move, we don't have to be easy targets for these assholes," Rain said. "Terra, you stay close to the cannon to cover for those three."

"Got it," Terra said.

Rain and Jori began to move, and the enemies bombarded them with bullets once more. Still, they easily dodged the projectiles thanks to Impulse. While he did that, Rain counted the number of giant robots… there were around thirty of them. It wasn't a massive number. Rain could tell that the enemies were being cautious because the mana consumption of those things should be off the charts.

"Changing to a projectile type suitable for elimination of living organisms,"

Rain opened his eyes widely when he heard that mechanic voice coming from one of the robots and he opened his eyes once more after that…