Chapter 116: 21st Floor [3]

Luckily for Atlas, the Ironblood Hound pack was made up of mostly Beasts that he could handle quite easily. They were led by a beast at his level, which would have been a challenge if he was any other cultivator.

Unfortunately for the Ironblood Hounds, Atlas was a monster. He razed their pack in a matter of minutes, taking just a few more to sever their heads and store them.

'There are only nine of them. If I could, I would look for a few more. However…'

He looked up at the sun.

'I'm out of time.'

He knew it would come to this. Instead of submitting his tasks one at a time, he would have to move according to the enemy's movements and only submit tasks when he had the assurance that he wouldn't be traced.

'I must hurry and set up the second encounter.'

After experiencing this kind of running and hiding for some time, Altas accepted that he wouldn't be able to keep too many of his cards. The auxiliary aids he had, such as talismans, pills, and treasures, would be used up. He didn't have much, after all, and this was a situation where he needed to do his very best. Sёarᴄh the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

'I can only find solace in the fact that nothing I have now is extremely valuable.'

He could find everything again as long as he tried hard enough and had enough money.

With that thought in mind, Atlas started traveling again. It took about a week to get from one side of the realm to the other. In that week, it was only natural for Atlas to have several confrontations with his pursuers.

'They do not know how many teleportation talismans I possess.'

As such, they were avoiding grouping up and instead attacked him in small groups. With this strategy, it was easier for Atlas to get past them, but they were also able to attack more consistently.

He was getting worn out. He didn't often have enough time to sit down and rest his body. He also had to rely on pills to replenish his qi. This method was fine temporarily, but if it was repeated too frequently, it would cause irreversible damage to his meridians.

He couldn't allow that, so Atlas came up with a method to both grant himself some time to rest and bring him closer to finishing the 21st Floor trial.

'To the west.'

He was returning to his original goal, the southwestern corner. This step of the plan was meant to come first, but perhaps it was better to do it after he'd already secured 180 points.

In total, he needed 320 more contribution points. If he was lucky, he could get that from two tasks. As for what strategy he'd use next time…well, he wasn't quite sure yet, but he'd have to figure it out eventually.

As he wasn't trying to travel the entire length of the floor, he only needed three days. Those three days consisted of 10 different ambushes.

Atlas was being extremely careful. He knew that these people knew only a little about him because they were unprepared for his qi and techniques.

As such, he limited himself to using external aid as much as possible. Both the Dao of Fire and the Dao of Water were still hidden inside of his body and even the chain sickles had yet to be revealed.

Bodily skills. Atlas portrayed himself as someone who pursued them single-mindedly, and as the enemy's attacks changed and adapted to his style, he understood just how clueless these assassins were.

'Right, all they are aware of is that I am the one who killed their young genius.'

Naturally, they knew about the chain sickles. Atlas displayed them more than a few times during the Blood Moon Phenomenon.

However, they were truly clueless about his Daos. Their only considerations were his physical skills and his weapons.

This, along with their relatively small numbers, made it possible for Atlas to outlast them.

He just had to keep winning. He had to keep finding ways to cleverly escape and hide from their radar. Eventually, his enemies would also tire themselves out. Eventually, he would gain some hours where he could travel without having to worry about looking over his shoulder.

These kinds of eventualities helped Atlas survive for over a month while dealing with their assault. He wasn't going to fall now.

Three days later, Atlas arrived at his destination with only slight injuries. It was indeed another cave, but this one was both large and uninhabited.

It existed like somebody had dug it out. There was no way to call it natural, but it was also curious why the original builder never actually did anything with the space.

Regardless, it was large enough to fit a hundred people comfortably. Atlas set his sights on it long ago and had finally come back to it.

Dashing to the back of the cavern, Atlas sat down and immediately started healing and replenishing his qi.

'It will take no more than ten minutes for them to arrive.'

This time, running away wasn't an option.

Atlas also needed to start thinning their ranks.

He didn't know if it was ten minutes or five, but Atlas focused on himself until he sensed approaching presences.

Opening his eyes and standing up, he took his weapons out for the first time on this floor.

Six people entered the cavern. All of them wore the same black garments with Dusk's logo on them.

'We are not the only ones on this floor. Are they not afraid of ruining their reputation by using their forces like this?'

No, perhaps it was for that very reason that they only sent assassins to actively pursue him. If they used the entirety of their resources, there would be more than just a few tens of people after him.

Atlas rarely saw other people on his travels. For the most part, Ascenders on the 21st Floor remained inside cities and hunted on their periphery. Atlas couldn't even approach a city safely, so it was difficult for him to interact with anyone who wasn't a Dusk assassin.

'And that creates a situation where this relatively high profile chase has gone mostly unnoticed.'

Anyone who did notice could be easily suppressed.

It truly was a good trap. Atlas would need a miracle to break out of it.

Still, he did not falter. He faced those six people with no intention of losing this confrontation.

'They are all Sky Sages.'

Real Sky Sages unlike Gloria.

Fighting one might have been possible, but six at the same time…?

'I would have to be a fool to attempt it.'

Instead, Atlas did what he did best.

He used the stage to his advantage.

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This was quite the unnatural cavern, wasn't it?

Its builder must have given up before he did anything with it.

Or…

'...did he just hide his true accomplishments elsewhere?'

The [Eyes of One] revealed it well. The cavern itself was not the builder's main project.

Rather, it was no more than an entrance.

Atlas had no way of finding the true method to enter, but why did he need to do that?

He grinned to himself.

'When six Sky Sages attack together, the "door" will shatter open on its own, won't it?'

His job was merely to survive the impact that destroyed the door.

Then, it would be his turn to hunt.