by L. M. Kerr
What caught Shin's attention, however, wasn't the man's face or outfit.
Instead, it was the unbelievably powerful Aura the man unleashed, full of golden light that seemed to push back and overcome anything in its path. It was so powerful Shin felt that, if he had still been injured, he would’ve fallen unconscious without a choice, overwhelmed.
Garen looked at Number 6’s body, and then slowly looked up at Shin.
In that tiny moment, Shin’s heart plummeted as a type of sixth sense warned him.
If he did not move, he was going to die.
Without even thinking about it, Shin teleported away, warping down to the lower floors as he went to check on Sophia.
If he had still been present, watching in the room, he would’ve seen Garen move so quickly it almost seemed to be teleportation, arriving right where Shin was just a split second after Shin warped away.
Instead of wildly attacking in rage, Number 1 only sighed, catching Number 6’s body and carefully laying it down on the ground. All around, on the floor, the sounds of battle faded away as all of the participants became aware of the rather horrifying presence that Number 1 was giving off.
“Rest easy, now, my friend.” Number 1 covered Number 6’s eyes and slowly stood up, a deep-seated, black anger filling his voice,
“I will finish what we started.”
.
Chapter 85
When Shin arrived down below, the first thing he did was fall down on one knee. He had teleported back into the rafters of the gymnasium, away from anyone down below to be safe.
His vision was swimming and his heart pounding. His Soul had made a full recovery and grown much stronger, but the damage he’d sustained physically was still present. His Melding Plate Arm was torn asunder, and because of its link to his Soul, it made him feel incredibly uncomfortable.
That, combined with the horrifying fear that had sprung up in his Soul from knowing he had been split seconds away from certain death, was enough to temporarily stun him.
It took him a few seconds to overcome that as he moderated his breathing, trying to calm himself down as he looked at what was taking place on the ground floor below. He activated the Wavelength Crystal Bracelet Micheal had given him in the same motion, frowning slightly.
Down below, instead of the regular-looking gymnasium that had been here just moments ago, Shin gazed upon a huge collection of large vines, spread out to cover roughly 80% of the gym.
Deep within this clump of twisting foliage, Shin could sense a number of different energy presences. Most of them were frozen still and slowly weakening, as if being drained. At a place near the center of this cluster of vines, he could make out two separate energy presences in particular.
One that flourished in a middling fashion and one flourished several times stronger, overwhelming the smaller one.
“Sophia?!” Shin’s eyes took on a blazing light as, without hesitation, he gripped his Soul Pistol tight and closed his eyes, preparing to teleport in.
.. .. .. .. .. ..
In the time Shin took to take on Number 6, Sophia and her allies struck to take down Number 10.
They stuck to their original plan. Vladimir led the way, Asim closely followed, and Sophia came in last, ready to unleash her Fairy Eyes at a moment’s notice.
Thanks to the distraction caused by the barrage of attacks from their allies, they managed to cross more than half the distance to Number 10 before they got noticed.
“Watch out!” Vladimir’s voice echoed out as he raised his spear upward in a cutting motion.
Not a moment later, a large, glowing vine smashed down towards him, spreading out in a way that made it impossible to dodge unless you retreated.
Vlad pushed on regardless, the air around him twinkling with light as he activated several different Abilities. A weird, aura of rainbow light wrapped around him, showing how he got the nickname ‘Wonder King’ as he slammed into the vine.
Instead of letting the metal, super weedkiller-coated part of his spear hit the vine, Vladimir lashed out and hit it with the spear’s shaft.
The vine froze in midair as it made contact. Then, several large chunks of ice formed out of nowhere, solidifying and freezing the vine in place.
Sophia instantly understood what Vlad was trying to do when she saw this.
The longer they could keep Number 10 from knowing they could ruin her defensive vines, the better their chances were at getting close enough to take her down.
Asim rushed past the frozen vine, flipping over it in one smooth motion. Sophia came in just a couple steps behind, her breathing calm and steady as she hoisted her throwing knives at the ready.
Yet another explosion shook the air as the other members of the Godfather Organization continued to launch explosive and lightning-based attacks at Number 10’s vine cocoon. Their bombardment had yet to let up, unleashing a hail of constant, if ineffective, destruction.
More often than not, the myriad of wavering vines caught each attack before it could land on Number 10’s cocoon, absorbing the blow or deflecting it away.
By this point, Vladimir was around 8 meters away from the vine cocoon that hid Number 10. He was rushing in from the north side of the cocoon, while the rest of the Godfather Organization was attacking from the east, giving him a little leeway.
Three times, Vladimir attacked individual vines, forcibly freezing them and halting their movements. He hadn’t unveiled their secret weapon yet, managing to still avoid using the super weedkiller.
Sophia, however, had noticed that Vlad’s chest was heaving and that his movements had become slightly sluggish.
‘Freezing the vines must really drain him.’ She frowned when she noticed this. One and all, they were still relatively new to the Seven Layers here. Vlad and Asim had rapidly gained Points by killing criminals and used several powerful Abilities to enhance their power.
Sophia, on the other hand, only had a couple of strong Abilities, and had kept her other slots free as she waited to fill them with something she felt right choosing. Her Ki Cultivation and Sword Mastery were both Abilities with huge potential, but they weren't at a high enough level to be world-shaking yet.
However, her Ki Cultivation Ability was higher than it should be thanks to Micheal’s instruction, and her stats were currently boosted by the Bracken Enhancement Fluid Micheal had shared.
As a result, she was actually stronger by a large degree compared to the two other geniuses.
“Let’s pierce through!” Sophia yelled, just loud out enough to be heard by Vlad as they charged. Asim kept his presence as quiet as possible throughout all of this, doing his best to avoid being noticed.
Right before Sophia yelled, however, Number 10 seemed to notice their presence.
A sizable clump of vines broke off from defending Number 10’s cocoon to lash out towards Vlad, forming up together in a large, glowing green fist. They rushed through the air at Vlad, pushing the air out of the way.
Vlad merely grunted and raised his spear up, this time pointing the edge part directly at the incoming attack.
However, in that time, the vine rapidly accelerated, moving so quickly it was clearly impossible for Vlad to react to. When the Wonder King saw that, his eyes glowed as he activated another one of his Abilities.
The vine fist froze in mid-air, its movement completely sealed for a split second. Its powerful attack was completely cancelled out, preventing it from smashing into Vlad.
Vlad’s face turned a sickly pale after he did this, his entire body trembling from the strain. He didn’t slow down in his own return strike, though, as he threw his spear towards the frozen vines.
His spear then flew through the air stabbed into it, sinking in a good half meter.
With the impact of the spear, the collection of vines plopped to the ground, no longer frozen in mid-air. It slowly began to rise again, twisting to try and resume its stabbing strike towards Vlad.
Before it moved more than a meter or two, howev
er…
The previously vibrant vines shivered. Slowly, a grey hue of color spread out from the impact point of the spear. This grey swarm seemed to drain all other color out of the vine as it spread roughly a dozen meters up the twisting vines before finally halting, just a couple of meters away from Number 10’s cocoon.
After turning grey, the vines shivered one last time and then fell over to the ground in a clump. They lay completely still, no signs of life, or movement of any kind, appearing. A large, network of cracks spread out across the now lifeless husk, showing that the once-mighty plant was now dead and collapsing.
“Sorry… It’s much… much harder to affect these things… than anything I faced…” Vlad’s breath wheezed out of him as he fell down on one knee, sweat soaking his body as he huddled down.
For him to sit like this, Sophia could only conclude that his body had literally been exhausted. No matter how determined he was, the Permanent Nest Core boosts that Number 10 had gained seemed to have boosted her resistance to powers like Vlad’s to a ludicrous degree.
“Defend yourself!” Sophia couldn’t afford to wait and instead rushed on ahead, giving him a sharp nod. She hadn’t accounted for Vlad’s exhaustion, but they could still go through with the plan, so it didn’t matter.
Thanks to Vlad’s efforts, she and Asim were only a couple of meters away from Number 10’s cocoon. Several more vines had peeled off to strike at them as Number 10 realized how her attack had failed, but they were far enough away to give them a couple of seconds.
Sophia’s face scrunched up in concentration as she raised her right arm and then flicked her wrist.
The first of her two throwing knives soared through the air and smacked right into Number 10’s vine cocoon. The super weedkiller on its edge instantly reacted with the vine, allowing the dagger to easily sink hilt deep into the vine, cutting into it like butter.
And, just like before, the vine cocoon rapidly began to turn grey.
“Now Asi-huh?!” Sophia was in the middle of yelling to Asim and jumping to the side, ready to let him get close enough to Number 10 to activate her Ability when she noticed something.
Just as she stabbed the vine cocoon, a figure had leapt up into the air out of the cocoon, riding on a self-forming tower of vines.
‘What?!’ Sophia blinked as she watched Number 10 fly up eight or nine meters into the air. Several more vines reached out into the rafters, latching on to the roof above to give her a stable platform.
Sophia’s carefully constructed plan seemed to fall in on itself as she saw this. There was no way Asim could get close enough now.
However, she didn’t panic. Instead, she instantly began to adjust, trying to act like how she thought Micheal would.
‘If we can’t get close to her, we can just bring her down to us!’ Sophia raised her last remaining throwing dagger as she eyed Number 10. She then carefully began to aim.
At the same time, she activated her Fairy Eyes Ability.
Her eyes glowed a bright pink as she glared at Number 10, willing every illusion she could muster forth to slam into her enemy’s psyche. She zeroed in on Number 10, feeling the power flow through her.
The temperature around her plummeted as she felt her invisible attack slam into Number 10…
And then bounce off.
‘What?! How?!’ Sophia’s jaw dropped as shock swept over her.
“HOW DARE YOU! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!” Number 10’s voice devolved into a base scream, giving off almost insane vibes as she stabilized and looked down at her attackers, screeching at them. Her voice also hid a barely detectable hint of strain, as if she was going beyond any safe limits she had in doing this.
A foreboding feeling settled in the pit of Sophia’s stomach. Before Sophia could do anything else, Number 10 stamped down with her foot.
The next thing Sophia saw could only be described as a literal explosion of foliage.
Hundreds of vines blasted out from Number 10, covering a full two-thirds of the gymnasium in a heartbeat. These vines weren’t as controlled as Number 10’s previous attacks, but each one was clearly full of vitality and extremely tough. They all shot down, filling the air and knocking into everyone.
Sophia lost sight of Vlad and Asim, and everyone else, as she was swept up just like the others.
In just a scant couple of seconds, the gymnasium turned into a maze of cramped vines, trapping everyone in a green hell.
Sophia winced as she clutched at her right arm, a small dribble of blood trailing from her right eye as she forced herself to stay focused. A small backlash had hit her from her mental attack, and subsequent failure.
Unlike the green vines that had knocked into everyone else, the world around Sophia was a maze of grey.
The vines all around her were dead, leaving up a several meters wide opening of collapsed dead, greyed-over greenery. Every vine within a roughly five meter or so radius was like this, withered to death.
In the very last second, before the attack hit her, Sophia had pulled out the final canister of Micheal’s plant-killing powder and flung it in front of her and stabbed it, all in the same motion. She then held her breath and closed her eyes as the plant-withering poison covered her, doing her best to not breathe it in.
The weedkiller was as effective as ever, poisoning and killing all the vines that touched her. She had been knocked around a bit and gained quite a few bruises, but her most serious injury was the backlash she’d been hit with.
The scene around her came about as a result.
‘Where is Asim?! Our plan…’ Sophia’s eyes grew slightly bloodshot as she looked to her left and right, seeing only various dead vines collapsing into dust. There wasn’t a trace of anyone near her.
It didn’t matter how much of a combat genius you were, not when the attack hit everything and everyone within range. It was as close to undodgeable as possible.
Abruptly, Sophia tapped on the bracelet Micheal had given her, using it to sense for anyone near her. She ignored the pounding headache that was starting to form, clenching her jaw as she focused.
Gradually, she could feel more than a dozen other people, spread out around the gymnasium. In particular, she could sense a much stronger energy, one that could only be Number 10, heading right for her.
‘If we are all stuck here… then only one thing is certain.’ Sophia’s mind reacted ahead of her as she bit her lip, desperately trying to think up a countermeasure,
‘She’s going to come for me first!’ Number 10 hated Sophia with a burning passion, that was one thing Sophia was certain about.
Sophia gave up on searching for her allies as she twisted to the left and right. There was nowhere to run.
With just seconds to prepare, Sophia clenched her fists. She couldn’t bring out any explosives, not in an area this small. That would just kill her. If she could get a shot off in time, maybe a gun would be effective, but Sophia felt like that would be something Number 10 would’ve prepared for.
Before she could think of anything else…
Several meters from her, the last of the grey vines faded to ashes, revealing a good dozen green vines that twisted and spread out, opening up to allow a prim, odd-looking figure to walk through.
‘Think, Sophia, Think!’ Sophia stared at the woman furiously,
‘What would Micheal do?!’
“Crane, Crane, Crane. Did you think I wouldn’t have learned from last time?” Number 10’s voice echoed out, full of venom as she smiled, her mask no longer covering her face. Instead of her customary black robes, she was covered in a layer of small, green vines that wrapped around her entire body protectively.
“Learned?” Sophia spoke aloud, her heart pounding as she studied her enemy.
“Your wretched little Demon Eyes.” Number 10 tilted her head slightly, still smiling as she tapped on her head.
“Tricks like that can’t work on me anymore, not with this power. And for you-“ Before the woman could finish speaking, Sophia abruptly inter
rupted her by throwing her last remaining dagger right at the plant-controlling warrior.
The dagger whistled through the air as it stabbed towards the right side of Number 10’s throat. In response, however, Number 10 slightly shifted her body to the side, moving superhumanly quickly.
Sophia’s throwing knife flew past Number 10, missing her completely.
“Too slow, too slow.” Number 10’s voice became sharper as she glared at Sophia and took several quick steps forward. Her body blurred as she walked, moving much faster than Sophia could, even in her boosted state.
Sophia leaned backwards as she wheezed in air, trembling as she looked at Number 10.
“I’m not an idiot, sweetie.” Number 10 stopped in front of Sophia, raising a hand as if to cup Sophia’s face,
“You and I are goin- ulp!” Before Number 10 could finish speaking, she abruptly cut herself off as she looked down at her chest in shock.
A sleek, blood-covered dagger point could be seen, poking through her vine-armor.
In the moment that Sophia threw her dagger, she purposefully aimed in a way that would make it easy to dodge. Sophia correctly guessed Number 10 would be able to dodge or block anything she threw no matter what, and so tried to make it an easy choice.
Right after she threw her dagger, she activated her Wind Sweeper Ability.
What would Micheal do in this kind of situation? In Sophia's mind, he would obviously strike first, in a way that no one would expect, and do it perfectly.
Instead of letting the blade slam into the vines on the other side of the small enclosure, she forced it to flip around and accelerated it towards Number 10, all while maintaining a weak composure and pretending to be vulnerable.
It took a few seconds and forced her to split her concentration in an extremely difficult way. The plan was a haphazard one, drawn up on the spot in the space of just a couple of seconds.
But it worked.
And that was all that mattered.