Chapter 101 - On The Run

With that announcement settled, he felt a bloodlust surge from behind him, given no time to think.

It immediately forced him to turn around as a loud stomp echoed behind him, forcing his vision to come into contact with a harrowing sight:

It was a humanoid, but obviously not a human; dressed in golden, exuberant attire that jingled with the slightest movements like a set of lavish chainmail, it wore a headpiece of the same, bright metal.

What frightened him was its face; it was completely inhuman–almost demonic in nature with a snow-white complexion, fierce, unblinking eyes of violence, and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

[Enemy Identified: "Rakshasa" | Level 25]

"Rakshasa"--? He thought in surprise, A man-eater…? What the hell is this doing here? Is it a Defect?!

He didn't have much time to ponder its existence as he witnessed four arms unveiled from the tall, humanoid entity's body, wielding curved, scarlet blades in each of its muscular, gold-clad hands.

As he prepared to engage it, he immediately stopped as all of his instincts fired off as he felt an inexplicable sense of danger surrounding him.

What…is this? He thought.

A cold sweat left his pores as he looked behind him to confirm the suspicions of his instincts.

He felt his blood chill as he witnessed multiple Rakshasa behind him, climbing over the scarlet, sloped roofs of the temple buildings.

…Three? No–there's more! He realized.

Looking to his left, he found another two approaching silently, all wielding four blades and dressed in similar, gold attire–though with some differences as some wore robes of gold, and some full sets of shining armor.

Before he could make any sort of plan, he was forced to flip backwards onto his hands and back to his feet to avoid a sudden slash from the initial man-eater, who hissed at him.

This is bad…! All of these made it past the walls…? Or did they descend from above? No…we have people watching the skies too–what's going on here?! That announcement wasn't lying…was it? It's already beginning?! He questioned.

Without hesitating, he bolted towards the attacking Rakshasa, using a [Blink Step] to juke past the swing of its blades as he continued sprinting, retreating from the seemingly unwinnable battle.

As he ran at full speed, he looked back, finding the group of Rakshasa trailing behind him as they were clearly slower than him.

Alright, good…I'll make it back to the hotel, and warn the othe–he thought.

However, his thoughts ceased, or rather–cut off completely as in the path of his tactical retreat, something crashed down into the stone ground with a heavy, dramatic impact.

Through the cloud of dust kicked up from the cratered stone, the System managed to identify what had landed:

[Enemy Identified: "Demon King: Hadimba" | Level 37]

–He wanted to puke just seeing that level, finding his own thoughts caught in a lump within his throat as he looked up silently in disbelief.

It was a tall humanoid, possessing six arms and dark, crimson skin and a lengthy, jeweled beard with fearsome, demonic eyes accompanying the vicious aura exuding from the many weapons he wielded in his just as plentiful limbs.

Something is wrong. None of this makes sense. This isn't how this works, he thought.

It was only then that he looked up to notice something perhaps even more daunting: the permanent swirl of clouds that occupied the sky had been dyed to a crimson, leaving a red hue over the sky itself.

Suddenly, the coldness of the morning had become the heat of the noon as he was faced with a perplexing, frightening situation.

Before he could be swallowed by fear, he forced himself to adjust his uneven breathing, focusing himself just as a swing of a massive cleaver-like blade wielding by the boss foe came towards him, allowing himself to roll under it.

Passing beneath it, he could see the blue-tinged steel in his heightened perception, watching it slide over his vision, just inches from slicing through his face.

In the path of the dodged blade, the stone flooring was carved up and flung in a wave of debris.

Rolling right past the overleveled entity, he continued sprinting without a second thought, pushing his legs to their limit as he ran at superhuman-levels of speed.

I'm not dumb enough to try fighting something like that! "Final Culling"...This is it! This is the final stretch before the Tower! That "God" is trying to finish off as many "weak links" as he can before opening that place up, he thought.

After believing to have lost the colossal humanoid foe, he looked to the side before–

–SWOOSH.

He swerved his gaze to the right, finding the five-meter tall, royally-dressed humanoid with six arms suddenly right beside him with jarring speed, matching his agility as it sprinted alongside him while rearing its plethora of weapons back.

As if nothing but pebbles in its path, the demonic humanoid stomped across the abandoned cars in its path without batting an eye, smashing their metallic exteriors with its thunderous stomps.

It's here–? It matched my speed?! This isn't fair–! He thought.

As it went for an attack, he had no choice but to halt his mach-sprint as he jumped back, avoiding a downfall of a war-ax and curved sword, which cratered down onto the street with an impact replicating the boom of roaring thunder.

The wind pressure released from the demonic entity's attack caused him to be blown back, slamming past the glass windows of the mall behind him.

"Grgh–!"

He rolled back, using the momentum to his advantage to minimize the landing to receive no damage–finding himself in the contemporary interior of the mall, surrounded by digital kiosks.

The gold-dressed demon king barged through the windows with a simple stride, breaking through the ceiling as if it were no different than glass itself.

Shit, it's really after me, isn't it…?! He thought.

As he watched the boss entity stop a dozen meters away, using the scarce time to regain his breath after the harsh blowback, he witnessed a fiery essence propel from the form of the illustrious, humanoid demon who presented his sharp fangs.

"Crap…That can't mean anything good, can it?" He mumbled to himself.

Just as he used a [Blink Step] upwards, landing atop a digital, advertising pillar, an enormous set of flame-amplified slashes swept through the lobby of the mall, bisecting the pillar he used as a temporary foothold.

…I would've died if that landed, he realized.

Before his foothold could crash, he hopped over to the next one, repeating this maneuver as the gargantuan boss continued to unleash fiery slashes in his direction.

The entire mall rumbled beneath the power of the enraged, demonic foe who roared out with a mixture of a bellowing yell and a distorted screech that pierced his ears.

"Argh–!" He covered his ears.

It would be difficult to move across the electronic pillars normally with all of the rumbling taking place as flames exploded and stretched out along the building, but his assassin proficiency proved invaluable as he was as steady as stone.

Before he could retreat into the next section of the mall, a couple of the Rakshasa blocked his path, bearing their devilish fangs as they slapped their swords together as if coaxing him into a fight.

"I don't have time for you–!" He yelled out.

Using one of their heads as a foothold, he launched off of the Rakshasa's head, leaving it to be eviscerated by an incoming slash of flames from the stampeding, colossal boss-version of them.

He only looked back briefly while running through the center of the illustrious mall, witnessing the crimson-tinged, demonic king burst through the low-hanging ceiling of the previous area as he roared out again.

I wonder if it'll be a bad thing to go to the hotel now?...What if I drag this thing there into unsuspecting members of Gangcheori? Still…there's no way I'm beating this thing alone! He thought.

As he turned around to check how far it was behind him, he was faced with a terrifying tunnel of flames burrowing directly towards him in an unholy, scarlet swirl.

There wasn't any time to use a spell to block the incoming flames–for some reason, in that moment of heightened perception, thanks to his Sage System, he remembered his earlier conversation with Korain:

"Experience!" –That abrasive reminder struck through his mind like the chime of a bell as he acted without further hesitation.

Kicking the legs from the plastic table beside him that held pamphlets on its surface, he swung it around and planted it in front of him like a shield, lowering down behind it just in time as the scarlet, demonic flames slammed against its surface.

"Hold…!" He yelled through clenched teeth.

As he held the table in place by its handles, he could see, smell, and feel the plastic melting against the overwhelming heat.

It's not going to last…! Think! He told himself.