Chapter 122: Desperate Measures [1]

Within ten minutes, Atlas was already on the run.

[Treacherous Phoenix says…]

[Treacherous Phoenix is…]

Those parts of the notifications were already being ignored by Atlas' perception. Only relevant information was entering his head.

[Go to the westernmost point of the floor. Survive and reach the border.]

That was all the God was willing to share with him at the moment.

'The westernmost point? There is nothing there.'

Atlas hadn't been to the very edge of the realm because he would only be cornering himself by doing so, but the western area was completely unpopulated. There were no cities, no people, and not even beasts in between the south and northwest. Why was he being told to go there?

Boom! Boom! Boom!

[Intrinsic Foresight]

[Lightning Shadow Steps]

Atlas zipped through the forests. There were thirty-six pursuers now. They chased him from behind, dashed alongside him, and even set themselves up in his path.

The attacks that rained down were not constant, but they took place whenever Atlas was making a crucial step. If even one managed to succeed, his flow would be interrupted and his speed would be canceled.

Atlas gritted his teeth. His eyes were sterner than they'd ever been.

He gave the one known as [Treacherous Phoenix] every Tower point he had in his possession. That was the cost of being told to go west.

Back on the 11th Floor, he used gold from Kallos' treasury as he pleased to convert into Tower Points and buy things. It was necessary for him to escape, but if he could go back, he would find any way to leave that floor without spending so many points.

They were important and very difficult to attain. The Tower Shop's terrible bargains were slowly changing as Atlas' level increased. Now, it was truly worth having those points in case he truly needed them.

Points valuable enough to save his life several times over had disappeared from his possession.

Did he truly gain enough for it to be worth the cost?

Atlas didn't know, nor did he spend too much time questioning it. He went west according to those directions, focusing entirely on the enemy.

[Cloud Steps]

Atlas abruptly lost momentum.

[Burst Step]

Flames lit his feet and shot him several feet into the air.

[Astral Steps]

His foot landed on the trunk of a tree, and he used it as leverage to blast forward with the speed of a blazing meteor.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Blasts landed on the ground where Atlas stood. At the same time, he whizzed past the enemies waiting in front and landed on the ground several meters away from them. Sёarch* The Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

'Due west.'

He adjusted his trajectory and found a path. The moment his foot touched the ground, he took a second step and became lightning.

He ran in a straight line, shifting between [Astral Steps] and [Lightning Shadow Steps]. The moment he found a clear path, he moved as fast as he possibly could, creating gaps in an otherwise gapless formation.

Once again, his physical strength gave him the ability to survive. It gave him the ability to survive, but that was it. He could not return their attacks, and even while running he had to conserve as much energy as possible in order to stay alive.

Did the enemy have such limitations?

The reserve forces had brought with them an array of pills. Atlas couldn't tell if they had talismans, but it was likely. The thirty-six people who were trying to kill him now had the means to attack him in a way that could be practically called infinite when compared to Atlas' own capabilities.

His stash of pills was already running low. He had enough Qi-Gathering Pills to keep himself moving for a few hours at most. He had healing pills, but they would be useless by the time he needed to use them.

'I must reach the border.'

He had to do as [Treacherous Phoenix] instructed. He was only lucky that he was already on the northwestern side of the realm.

It was a three-hour journey to where he needed to go. Every second of it was filled with danger, but the time did pass.

Atlas ran and ran and ran. As long as he was running, he didn't think about being hit. He ran until he reached the westernmost point, he climbed a mountain with the assassins right behind him, and when he reached its peak, he saw what was beyond.

A blackness so deep that he could not comprehend it. That was the only thing beyond the end of this realm.

Xiu!

"Argh!"

A whizzing sound filled Atlas' ears. In the next moment, he was groaning in pain. A blade made of qi impaled his leg and left it unable to function properly.

It did not disperse as if it had been prepared to deal with someone who could regenerate. That attack was only one of many. Atlas could dodge them quite well when they came from a distance, but his enemies weren't separated from him by any sizable amount of space anymore.

"What am I to do?!" Atlas shouted into the sky.

This couldn't be the end of it. That God couldn't be telling him to jump into that abyss.

However, as Atlas watched his pursuers approach, create a perimeter, and prepare their attacks, he received the answer he wanted to see least.

[Jump.] Continue your adventure at m|v-l'e -NovelFire.net

Atlas' mind honed in on that word.

"Jump?"

Bang!

He couldn't question it. He was surrounded on all sides by either enemies or an abyss. The attacks now were meant to end his life permanently. These assassins had been herding Atlas towards the realm border. To their surprise, he went there willingly, but did it matter?

He was now going to die. He no longer had a way to escape.

Atlas looked over the edge. He truly did not want to make this gamble.

However, his mind right now was reacting in a split second. His processing power had reached a new height on the verge of death.

There was no sound at all.

On one side, there was only light. Attacks, techniques, and blasts of different Daos combined together in the air and became one massive cacophony of destructive force that enveloped Atlas from three directions.

On the other side, there was only blackness.

'Certain death or uncertain death.'

These were the two options he had.

[Jump.]

Such was the only word that crossed his mind.

Right. He was not going to die here. Even if it was an unbelievable gamble, he had to take it.

Those attacks were mere inches away from him. Their power burned the hairs off of his skin. He could feel his flesh burning away and exposing muscles blackened and charred by the heat.

Atlas felt himself dying, yet he did not make a noise.

He stared his enemies in their eyes. He stared down the symbol of a setting sun that decorated their robes.

Dusk. The organization that forced him into this perilous position. They did not need to hear his vow of vengeance. They would feel its consequences soon enough.

So, he did it in silence. He hid his pain, he hid his rage, and he stepped back.

He stepped back into a void of nothingness and fell.

That was the last the 21st Floor saw of Atlas Vaun.