Chapter 128 Race Against Time [2]

I crouched and quickly looted the weapons from the corpses.

With one weapon I can only create one constellation. I need more weapons to increase my arsenal.

After being done, I looked at the 6 sentries and clicked my tongue. Among them, only one was Iota-rank while the rest were high Meta-rank.

I have to end the battles fast or other sentries might be alerted, but constructing bigger weapons needed more ether.

This was why I was using daggers.

I can now construct daggers fast enough that by the time someone notices the noise, the daggers would be flying at them.

However, due to their lightweight, they were also easier to defend against.

"I should stop using these gloves and boots."

Although with these gloves and boots I was able to stick to walls and walk on them, I had to supply ether to use them.

I bought them because I thought infiltration would be easier if I walked upside down on the roof, but it seems I had forgotten that this was a different world.

Hiding like that didn't give me as much advantage as I thought it would.

I took a deep breath and started walking.

It took me only a few minutes to arrive at a crossroads.

I quickly choose the path leading to the prize room and started sprinting. The tremors were slowly increasing in intensity. The battle outside was beginning to heat up.

None of the security functions were activated as I kept moving forward.

The only sound I could hear was the faint breathing of my own.

"Were all the security measures running from the direct power supply?"

If so, it was better for me. I could disable them using [Zero] but depending on their level, I might have to empty a large portion of my reserve.

It went on like this until I finally found another group. It was a group of two sentries.

"Ah, darn it! Let's go quick!"

"A-are you sure? I d-don't think we can survive out there."

"So, what? Move, bitch!"

"Y-yes!"

I leaned on the wall and peeked out into the next corridor.

'One is a mage around Lvl.18. The other one is Lvl.15 and agility focused aura-user.'

I used [Appraisal] on them and checked their stats.

This was the fourth group I encountered.

I was able to hide from the first two groups by sticking to the roof. Unfortunately, the third group found me because of the debris falling from the roof.

'I don't think I need to worry about the mage. I'll deal with the other one first.'

I placed my hand on the wall.

[Iridescence]

My stigma had also strengthened after I had reached Iota-rank. This was because of ether.

I was now able to use it on objects that were not in direct contact with me, though the distance couldn't be more than 0.15 feet (5 centimeters).

It was a negligible improvement, but an improvement, nonetheless.

This allowed me to use my stigma even while wearing gloves.

The wall around the tips of fingers grew darker and four shadow arms formed on the wall.

These arms had zero battle prowess. Their only task was to look threatening and act as a decoy.

"There's someone here!"

"W-what are those arms!?"

The shadow arms slithered along the walls and rushed at them.

The panicking mage tried to cast a shield while hiding behind the other sentry, while the warrior was warily looking at the arms.

At the same time, I tensed my calves and compressed ether on the sole of my foot.

-Bam!

I released the tension in my calves and bolted in their direction.

"There!"

The warrior with his high agility registered my appearance, but by then I had already arrived in front of them.

I raised my right leg and kicked at his knee.

"Arghh!"

His leg bent in the wrong direction, and he hollered in pain.

Vupp-

I bought my shortsword out, and before he could shout even more loudly, plunged the blade into his neck.

Clang-!

He swung his sword blindly but managed to deflect my attack.

"..give me the blessing of the sun, form the unwavering pact.."

From the corner of my eyes, I saw the mage chanting a fire spell.

A magic circle appeared underneath his feet.

Slowly, three fireballs were forming above the magic circle.

Shifting my focus, I moved the shortsword to my right arm and kicked the warrior with my left foot.

Bam-!

The kick wasn't very strong, but it still did its job.

Destroying the warrior's balance.

He was barely managing to stand straight with his broken leg, but my hit had shaken that balance.

Swish-

I swung the sword at his neck and finally beheaded him.

Thud-!

"..,<Fire shots>"

The mage completed his spell, and three fireballs flew toward me.

Sizzle-

The debris melted from the heat coming from the fireball.

<Fire Shot> shot three fireballs at slow speed but had high power. The mage had purposely sacrificed his partner to get a confirmed hit.

I was still in an awkward posture due to my attack. Even if I moved now, I couldn't dodge that attack.

The mage smirked when the fireballs almost struck me.

Unfortunately for him, there was a reason I didn't kill him despite him being higher level.

-Gruuu!

An energy pulse shot out with my head at the center.

The fireballs immediately crumbled away when they came in contact with the pulse.

"W-what?!"

The mage shouted in surprise at the inexplicable phenomena.

Not giving him any time, I bolted in his direction.

The mage stepped back when he realized I was coming for him.

"Please spa-!"

Thud-!

The blade passed through his neck and his head fell to the ground.

"Huuuu…"

I exhaled loudly and looked at the two corpses.

This battle was better than my previous one, as I had used a paltry amount of ether. Moreover, with my high agility, these sentries weren't a problem as long as I detected them first.

'It shouldn't be a problem as long as I don't encounter a large group.'

I didn't linger for very long. Collecting their weapons, I started moving ahead.

This time I didn't encounter any group.

"It seemed that the bombs worked properly. There were not many guards in my path…"

My voice became lower and lower by the end of the sentence.

'The first three groups I encountered. How come they didn't find each other?'

I eliminated everyone in the third group, and the second group was ahead of them by a few minutes of walking distance. The distance between the first and second group was also the same.

Was it a coincidence that they didn't encounter each other?

'Yes, it's possible that they didn't encounter each other because of the darkness. Also, the continuous clashes outside are drowning the sounds.'

Shaking my head, I started moving forward, but more cautiously.

The inside of the arena was quite big, and I found myself on my fork roads many times.

As I paced myself so that I didn't deplete my stamina quickly, I observed the corridors.

Needless to say, by now, the corridors had broken quite a bit.

The bombs I used weakened the structure of the arena and due to the extreme shockwaves occurring from the fight happening outside, the building was crumbling rapidly.

It took me a few more minutes to reach the vicinity prize room.

In the meantime, I didn't encounter any more sentries.

Rather than getting relaxed, I was becoming restless.

Was I discovered, and the enemy was preparing for an ambush? Or did everyone leave, and I was worrying needlessly?

Tuck-

Walking ahead, I placed my right foot on the floor, and suddenly the floor sank.

A subtle sound echoed prompting the activation of an unknown mechanism.

Clack-

'Shit! There was a manual trap?!'

Phzzt-

Four greatswords materialized around me to protect me from traps.

I waited for the trap to activate and the attack to come. I hadn't thought that security would use manual traps in this day and age.

However, no attacks came. Even when a few dozen seconds passed, nothing happened.

Finally, I noticed that the walls were trying to move and there were arrows loaded in crossbows behind them.

The problem was the debris and the broken building. It seems that the mechanism had also broken and the traps couldn't activate.

"It seems it is broken."

"""<Earth Needle>"""

Swish- Swish- Swish-

Bang-!

Suddenly, I felt a heavy impact on my back.

My body collided against the wall from the force of the three Earth needles.

Despite being called needles, each of them was thicker than a fist.

Air was knocked out of my chest and I struggled to breathe.

Suddenly, I heard a voice.

"Finally caught the rat."

I clenched my teeth from pain and looked at the source of the voice.

Two people were standing a few dozen feet away, while there were 3 more sentries behind them.

"Finally dropped yer guard, eh?"

"How did you find me?"

I asked as I stood with the support of the wall.

"You think you are in the position to ask questions?"

"Doesn't er seem familiar?"

While they were conversing with each other, I secretly used [Appraisal].

'One is Lvl.18 and the other is Lvl.15. The three behind are mages with Lvl.13,Lvl.13, and Lvl.12. They must be the ones who used the magic spell.'

I quickly analyzed them and got ready to fight.

Their attack only hit because the baby golem wasn't using its [Anti-magic Field].

Baby golem can't use it continuously because of its high energy consumption. So, it only uses it when I ask for it.

'I can ignore the mages and engage in combat. Although they seem experienced, taking both of them together should be doable.'

Even if I was a lower level, I still had 5Sp/Lvl talent.

'I need to be quick'

I secretly channeled ether to my whole body.

These should be the last guard remaining inside the building. If I eliminated them, then I wouldn't have to worry about saving ether.

"I'm not late, am I?"

From the path I had walked here, four people emerged. Looking at their clothes, it was clear that they were also sentries.

Fuck