Transcendent Resurgence: Regressing on an abandoned Earth

"You're more suited to this than I am."

"Heh, nice try. I won't be leading again anytime soon."

Ria clicked her tongue while others laughed at her futile attempt at avoiding work. They very much appreciated the one day of peace after the battle that left them wrung out.

It was a pity that Zyrus didn't let them simply rest for a day.

"So, what are your thoughts after fighting against the mermen?" Zyrus leaned back on the chair and looked at the others.

"Their biggest advantage is their mobility. While water attribute is troublesome to deal with, it is at least something we can work on."

"I agree with Kyle. On a side note, I think we should take full advantage of the safe zones," Lauren added which earned everyone's approval.

It wouldn't do for them if they didn't utilize the safe zones properly. They could neither be too fast nor too slow in conquering more spaces. It wouldn't be a lie to say that half of the victory conditions were decided by how they approached this topic.

"Hmm…you're still missing one point. Unlike before, we couldn't afford to split up no matter what. You should know by now that outside of the bubbles, we are no match for the merfolk. Even if we somehow conquer more spaces, how are we going to defend them without splitting up?"

Zyrus's question stumped everyone. It wasn't like they could just kill the enemies and be done with it. There was no solution to this problem.

"Should we target their headquarters?"

"Don't you see that thing? One blast and we can say goodbye to this world."

Everyone followed Zyrus's finger and looked at the tiny stick-like cannon. Needless to say, since it was visible from the other side of the Shuidao, there was no doubting the cannon's firepower. The current outlook on war was pessimistic to say the least.

"There's no shortcut to winning. We'll advance and retreat according to the situation. It's fine even if we lose our conquered territories as long as we don't suffer any casualties. We'll huddle down in this space and defend against them. When the injured ones cross a certain threshold, we'll split up and conquer a new space.

We'll defend no more than three spaces at a time. Our only goal is to stall for time. For how long? Until the moment when the players are no longer overpowered one on one. I won't fight with you in every battle, but I will assist with my passive skills to even out the battlefield. Don't disappoint me."

"Roger that."

"Leave it to us."

Zyrus was reassured after seeing the resolve in their eyes. As strong as his powers were, it would be counterproductive if the players relied on them too much.

There was another reason as well. It was unrealistic to expect players to catch up with the mermen. They weren't like bamboo shoots that'd grow just by watering them. Zyrus knew all too well that there was only one way to complete the task.

'It's time to work on the runes…'

…

Days passed by as the players slowly moved from one bubble to another. Zyrus's plan was implemented without a hitch– the death of players didn't cross three digits despite the numerous fights they had been through.

One reason for that was the safe zones. The other, more important reason was that they retreated bit by bit and relinquished their conquered bubbles.

Currently, the mermen controlled 5 anchored bubbles at the bottom layers. It was apparent how bad this was.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

As if being the weaker side wasn't enough, they were now surrounded by both sides. Things were getting even worse as of late.

"They've figured out our plan of using the safe zones. Each day, they conquer a new bubble and anchor it where we can see it."

"I expected as such. They are well aware that it is us who need the safe zones to survive. I'm more surprised by the fact that they haven't claimed all unoccupied bubbles," Zyrus put down the scroll in his hand and looked at Ria.

Both of them knew what the mermen were trying to do. Since they were unable to deal with them when they were together, they chose to deliberately provoke the players.

*Guurgle*

Their thoughts were interrupted by the sudden drowning sounds. At a place not too far away from the study desk, the poor Druv was drowning in a pool of mana.

It was a funny thing to see a troll flailing around like a little kid, but no one was in the mood to laugh. This was neither the first nor the last time Druv was going through the torturous assimilation process.

*Tak*Tak*Tak*

Zyrus tapped his claw on the table as he thought over all of the possibilities. It had been almost a month since they arrived at the Shuidao island. By now the players were more or less accustomed to the environment.

"Hold out for three more days."

"Alright," Ria heaved a sigh of relief and left the campsite.

Zyrus settled his eyes on the scroll once again and made some final adjustments. He was already done with the theoretical phase of his idea. All that was left was practical application.

"Summon."

The ophidian warriors were professionals when it came to being guinea pigs. Working on unfinished skills was torturous for both Zyrus and them.

However, their pain and suffering weren't for nothing.

Zyrus always summoned different ophidian warriors for testing. As a side effect of his experiments, they had developed all sorts of new abilities.

Some could elongate their claws while others gained metallic scales. There were even extreme cases where an ophidian warrior had its entire bone structure replaced by metal.

Compared to them, the amargs evolved in the same direction. Nothing changed for them except for their spikes becoming more sharp.

'I wonder if they can use two laws simultaneously…'

It was a stupid thing to do as it meant giving up on progressing further in any single path. It was similar to the case with the glemorax king. Even though he was proficient in two laws, he lost to Zyrus who had focused solely on the laws of void.

Nonetheless, he wasn't too bothered by it. Balaur summoner was his unique class. From the moment he summoned a creature, the upper limit of their strength was fixed. They could never be on the same level as him except for the few elite ones. This was also why he didn't teach Elsid and Zirnitra anything.

Zyrus took a deep breath and removed all of the distracting thoughts. On this island, there weren't any materials to draw talismans. He knew it from the start, so it didn't take him long to come up with a different approach.

*Slash*

He slit his wrist and started infusing mana into the blood that was dripping down. The ophidian warriors followed his guidance and repeated the process.

Druv and Kyle observed the scene with sharp eyes as they knew they were the next target of this 'experiment.'

Under Zyrus's deliberate effects, the blood started to coagulate in the air. This was the first and most important step of the process.

Blood was used as a replacement for talismans. It wasn't the first time he was using blood in runes and formations. Still, there was a fundamental difference this time.

The purpose of blood was to simply act like a medium. It had to be reusable since it wasn't practical to bleed everytime you wanted to use a formation. Otherwise, the players would die from blood loss even before the enemy killed them.

Then came the next problem. It was impossible to just insert the blood back into the body. Storing it was also out of option since it would eventually use its energy and cease to act as a medium.

"Form."

*Splatter*

*Splatter*

Zyrus's first attempt ended in failure. Both he and his summons were drenched with their blood. Their current appearance was eerie enough to send shivers down one's spine, but no one was bothered with that for the time being.

They repeated the same process over and over again. Their efforts weren't in vain as blood started to stabilize after numerous attempts.

"Form."

*Blaaze*

"This is it!" Zyrus observed his bloody arm in excitement and channeled more mana into it.

The solution he came up with for the previous problem was simple. If they couldn't store blood 'in' their body, then the next best thing was to store it 'on' their body.

The tattoo on his arm was an example of that. This was a more powerful and convenient method compared to talismans.

Of course, it was more difficult to learn.

'Well, since these guys could do it, the players will do just fine,'

Zyrus was satisfied as he observed the ophidian warriors' progress. They copied Zyrus and infused mana into their tattoos as well.

*Blaze*

A blood-red halo formed above their arms. This was skin to the miniature version of Zyrus's avatar skill.

Instead of creating a projection by using the world's mana, they were manifesting their own mana outside.

And with this, it was time to launch a counterattack.