Chapter 159 - Skirmish (2)

It was a very concise message.

They soon realized that, although it was concise, it wasn't just a simple message.

"Agh!"

"Wh-what… My body is melting?!"

As soon as they were summoned, lots of people began screaming.

Lilybell was surprised by the screams and turned around. A horrifying scene unfolded in front of her.

Some people disappeared as soon as the fog touched them, and the bodies of some disappeared as if they’d been erased. It was horrifying enough to make anyone feel chills.

"Ugh! W-wait…! Isn’t this war? Isn’t it a war quest?"

Was that what they meant by ‘go out before you get devoured by the fog’?! She finally understood things at that moment.

She struggled to even watch horror movies, so seeing people getting erased was quite shocking for her.

Lilybell was so surprised that she began running toward the town before she noticed.

People usually looked at her streams because her clumsiness was fun, but they couldn't help but be surprised by what happened next.

Crack!

- What?

- ???

At that moment…

The upper half of a user behind Lilybell was torn apart.

There was no way a human with only half of their body left would be able to remain alive. The person soon became light and was devoured by the red fog.

- What the?

- I really got surprised…

- I threw my phone into the air.

- It suddenly became a horror game.

Lilybell had set the streaming screen to a third-person point of view, so she wasn't able to see it, but everyone else had seen it.

A black figure had appeared from the fog and devoured someone.

"Wh-what…? What did everyone see…?"

Although Lilybell was trying to act calm, her face had turned white while reading the chat.

- You better run, lol.

- If the fog touches you, your body is going to melt… Also, there's a ghost inside there.

- It seems like the safest place will be where there are more people.

Just like the chatting window said, Lilybell, who was about to be surrounded by the fog, was in danger.

The moment she tried to move to a safe place…

An unknown, dark figure appeared on the stream for a short while.

Thanks to it appearing clearer, they knew that its silhouette resembled a human's.

- Is that a devil?

- Fog ghost…

A warning alarm began sounding in Lilybell's head.

First… she had to group up with other people! While thinking that, she began running toward a party in front of her.

It was at that moment that the black figure moved.

Slash!

"AAHH!"

Lilybell screamed and fell to the ground.

The atmosphere was already chilly enough, but the user’s head next to her had suddenly vanished. Anyone would be surprised in that situation.

- Woah, this is fucking crazy…

- It really is a horror game, lol.

Unlike the noisy chatting window, Lilybell was lost for words. Her face paled.

It felt even scarier due to the sensory synchronization.

"Ah, I survived…! I survived. Everyone…!"

Lilybell's face brightened.

Thankfully, she found a group of about 20 users.

Were they a big guild? She thought that she should be safe with them.

Lilybell approached them while thinking that when something unbelievable happened in front of her.

Crack!

The sound of wind was heard coming from somewhere.

At the same time, the limbs of about twenty users were separated and scattered away as if they’d been caught in an explosion.

Lilybell looked, dumbfounded, as the users’ legs, bodies, and heads were scattered away and disappeared after turning into light.

"Ah…"

It was the effect of Hyun's «Invisible» and «Biorhythm Acceleration» mixed with Ain's claws, but neither Lilybell nor the people watching her stream knew about those things.

It looked like their bodies had just fallen apart on their own, so it was even more gruesome.

After a short while, «Invisible» ended. It was then that Lilybell was able to see the black silhouette that looked like a shadow.

It was Ain's silhouette, but no one noticed it was her.

After all, the teeth and claws clearly belonged to a vampire.

Not only that, but since the Demonic Energy amount had reached its max, Ain's body had turned pitch black.

"U-ugh…!"

The Blessing of Darkness made those that belonged to the Heavens scared of you. The bigger the difference there was between levels, the greater the effects would be.

Lilybell began running desperately.

Lilybell's heart was beating fast while running when…

Ting!

[You've found a side road that leads to the Ruins of Darkness!]

[You've obtained 3283 contribution points! (Currently 13)]

A message suddenly appeared.

- Woah, what?

- 13?

- 13!

- What happened?

- Was it real?

The contribution rate went up so much because Lilybell had been able to see beyond the wall.

Thanks to the View Share magic, the location of a road that the fog had blocked was revealed.

But Lilybell didn't notice she'd earned contribution rate because she was overwhelmed by the devil in front of her.

"Sniff… D-don't kill me… Please…"

As soon as she reached a blocked road, her legs lost strength and she collapsed.

Her expression was so strong that, for a while, the fact that she'd reached 13th place in contribution rate was buried.

- What's up with that face? LOL.

- Stuffed angle, lol.

- One thing became clear… You'll die if you go there~

[You've died!]

[You won't be able to log in for the next 48 hours!]

Lilybell's stream conveyed a special meaning to herself, the viewers, and the Priests of the Holy Kingdom that were looking at it through View Share.

「Oof… I almost lost her.」

Hyun sighed in relief after killing a user that had gotten closer to the town.

'was she a user who only focused on Agility and movement skills…?'

Hyun had never seen such an unbalanced character, so he’d almost let her into the town.

Even if he'd lost track of her, there was a distance between her and the inn where Louise was staying, so there shouldn't have been many problems.

Except for a few incidents, everything was going as Hyun planned.

‘Three, two, one…!’

Hyun began counting inside the fog.

Slash-!

Every time the count ended, the shadow claws shone, and at least one enemy scattered into light.

«Efreet's Claws», which had turned black, moved again when the next count was over.

'Five, four, three, two, one, now…!'

Slash!

The leader of a party that was made of tankers was killed in one hit.

They were probably confused about what had killed him and why he'd died.

After a hunt was over, Hyun hid in the fog again and began counting.

'Three, two, one…!'

He was counting to increase the effect of «Angel's Basic Sword Art».

- If you don't attack for 8 seconds, the damage output of the next attack will increase by 210%.

They said that a predator didn't make useless movements while hunting.

Hyun was, at that moment, a vampire that hunted Heavens users. He didn't need to make any useless movement to neutralize the enemies.

He only used the necessary strength.

'Two, one, now…!'

From a certain point, every time he swung the black claws, a new message appeared.

['Skill: «Angel's Basic Sword Art» is being activated consecutively after cooldown!]

[The proficiency rate of the skill is increasing fast!]

The skill added a few decimal units and activated every eight seconds.

Attack, rest, attack, and rest again…

During the eight seconds he rested, he planned the next attack.

Optimizing skill usage was Hyun's specialty; it also wasn't something someone could easily copy.

Repeating the same cycle on a battlefield where there were numerous variables wasn't something that was easy to do.

[Skill: «Angel's Basic Sword Art» proficiency rate has maxed out and is increasing to level 6!]

The skill level that they were struggling with increased at once.

Being able to activate the skill without delay against a user meant that your proficiency with using that skill was really high.

Although it was good news, Hyun and Ain showed no reaction.

Hyun was concentrating, and Ain was impressed.

「Ain.」

「Oh, yes…?!」

Ain came back to her senses after hearing Hyun's voice.

「I'm going to use that skill again.」

Ain understood what he meant.

He was going to use «Invisible» and «Acceleration» simultaneously.

The moment he used «Acceleration», he went above a human's capabilities, so not even Hyun was able to perfectly control his body under those circumstances, which meant he needed Ain’s help.

「Did you wake up a bit?」

「Yes, I'm doing better…!」

「Okay, let's swipe away everything that's in front of us!」

Hyun moved, and Ain attacked.

If they separated their roles, they could freely move while under the effects of «Acceleration».

That was possible because of the experience they'd gained while playing together.

Ain descended from the skies with a pair of giant claws on her hands.

Giant claws that no one could see…

It took a second before an entire guild was wiped out.

After «Invisible» activated, spheres of light poured out like rain.

Hyun, who had realized something, smiled.

「You swung your hands a few times even though no one was left, right?」

Hyun had seen Ain not stopping her attack despite all the opponents having been destroyed.

That was a mistake that happened when you couldn't control your speed.

「But it doesn't matter…!」

「I wasn't trying to blame you. It's just that it looked funny.」

「Hmm… I haven't fully woken up, so my body isn't moving as I want.」

He smirked at Ain's excuse.

He wasn't thinking of blaming Ain. After all, it’d taken him lots of practice before he could control «Biorhythm Acceleration».

He'd said it because Ain using both hands to scratch the air looked cute.

「Where are so many users coming from?」

They'd run out of things to talk about, so Hyun changed the topic.

「What do you mean?」

「Look, over there.」

Hyun pointed to a place where new Heavens users were appearing.

They were looking around at the view of the Symmetrical World, surprised.

「Those people… they aren't coming here by a portal. They probably came walking from the other side.」

「That's probably it.」

「But they aren't appearing from just one place.」

Hyun looked around.

Heavens users were appearing simultaneously from diverse places. They were all starting to appear in places that weren't covered by fog.

「Doesn't it seem that the summoning is getting more precise?」

Until the day before, many players died as soon as they were summoned.

But surprisingly, they hadn't seen even one casualty like that on that day.

Ain's eyes widened after she realized that.

「You're right! There isn't anyone dying as soon as they appear anymore!」

「Yes, although the location of the fog changes every hour, they're being safely summoned.」

That was what he meant by saying that the summoning was getting more precise.

「I think… that the Holy Kingdom is searching for the safest road possible.」

「Road…?」

「Yes. When they become certain that they’ve found it…」

Hyun was wondering whether or not he should say something so ominous, but he decided to tell her.

He thought that he should tell Ain, at least.

「That's probably when the real attack will happen.」

「The number of users will increase?」

「No. Not that…」

Although a fight between users may sound amazing on the community boards, in the world of Asrian, what they were seeing just looked like a fight between idiots.

The Main Quest…

Was a quest that had the name 'Darkness' in it going to end so easily? Hyun didn't think so.

「Heavens… I think that NPCs from the Holy Kingdom will come.」

Hyun thought of the Holy Kingdom Knight they'd met in Kaidan Castle.

「What kind of NPCs?!」

「Probably ones that are way stronger than users.」

The Holy Kingdom had numerous groups of Knights, but it didn't matter which squadron it sent. Users didn't stand a chance of winning against them.

Ain with «Assimilation» wasn't able to handle even one Knight. Although he was a named one, he wasn't even a captain.

His original plan was to try to resist in the town and go there with Louise as soon as the road cleared, but from the moment Heavens’ NPCs entered the town, that plan would be useless.

If NPCs were going to appear, when was that going to be? In a few hours? In a few minutes?

「I have a bad feeling.」

「About what?」

「I think that something is about to happen.」

Seeing how there weren’t any users dying as soon as they appeared, it was obvious that the Holy Kingdom had figured out how the fog moved.

That meant that the expedition was over.

Then, they really didn't have that much time.

Knight squadrons were going to be able to cross to the Symmetrical World safely.

Hmm… Ain frowned after hearing the complex explanation, but she decided not to think too deeply about it.

「We just have to keep fighting, right?」

「Well, that's true…」

Worrying about things they didn't have a countermeasure for was just a waste of time.

For the moment, blocking the Heavens users that were trying to advance toward the town was more important.

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