Chapter 337 - Silent Strike (Patreon)

Well, it seems that my buddy BenDover over here got to the 5th floor finally. He probably just started it so our statuses should be similar, maybe him having a slight advantage because of the rewards that he got at the 5th floor for clearing the 4th.

But even then I can't imagine myself losing. He doesn't even seem to detect the presence of my anchors.

I'm long since used to my opponents disrupting them or detecting them and that makes me wonder if it's not as common as I thought. Were the opponents I have faced just good at that and it's not how it usually goes?

Curious, I put an anchor in front of him and he takes a step to follow and kill the women and that's when he finally notices it. He squints his eyes and then to my surprise, he turns around and starts running away, even activating that camouflage skill of his.

Huh?

Before following him, I create two javelins, fill them with a decent amount of thermal energy, and then boost them with kinetic, shooting them at the women.

One of them blocks the javelin intended for her and the other one tries to run away, dodging hers, but the javelins explode into golden flames.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Momo (Hard, 5th)

The other woman starts running away, even dodging the third javelin I shoot but then runs into an anchor and a burst of kinetic energy finishes her off.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Emmmmmm (Hard, 5th)

Then I use the anchors I placed and follow BenDover, easily tracking his location even though he is trying to hide it. To be honest, I would be quite disappointed if I was unable to do so. I put plenty of time into being able to track invisible opponents.

I find him standing in the middle of a clearing filled all over with his traps, something akin to my anchors, but worse.

“I know it's you, Noname! I saw the notifications. Show yourself, you dick!” he shouts.

Things like this feel more satisfying close and personal so I enter the clearing without trying to hide, part of my mana used to strengthen my body. Actively and through Reinforcement.

BenDover is around 30 years old. He has a short pointy beard and creepy eyes. He isn't that tall but his shoulders are wide. The sword he holds is surrounded by sickly yellow mana.

“Finally, I…” he doesn't even finish the sentence and an attack shoots at me from behind trying to surprise me.

An acid-like attack splashes against my barrier and sizzles on it, unable to penetrate it, even with the attack's weak disruptive properties.

A light flashes, blinding me for a split second and when I see again the man is gone and his traps as well.

With a sigh, I enter the clearing, and boosting my body I turn around, grabbing the invisible man by his neck. My other hand grabs his arm with the sword he tries to stab me with.

Out of his mouth, yellow acid spit shoots at my eyes, blocked by a small barrier I create, and behind my back, five needle-like mana projectiles shoot at me only to be stopped by [Redistribution].

I disrupt his mana and break his arm, taking the sword off him. Then I let go and punch his face, using more mana to equal his speed which is in base higher than mine.

When he staggers back I send kinetic energy to the anchor behind him, sending him stumbling back towards me and I punch him again, breaking his nose.

With interest, I watch that the system is not healing the wounds now. So are they healed only in the common area and not during the events? That makes sense.

He curses, dodging my other attack and I sense he is boosting his body to increase his Dexterity.

So I disrupt that mana, doing something that happened to me often until I made Mantle.

His attack slows down, and I punch him again, then kick his crotch, making him… well, bend over, and my knee hits his face, further breaking his nose.

“I remember you said something funny about my parents,” I note.

Not giving him the opportunity to talk, I slow his movement with [Redistribution] and then pierce his side with the sword I'm holding.

Even then, he somehow is able to concentrate enough to create a blue mana dagger in his hand and stab at me at the same time as my shadow moves, trying to grab me and slow me down.

Just a short pulse of disrupting mana cancels both of the attempts, and I knee his face again, sending him to the ground where he groans. He is constantly trying to strengthen his body or activate his skill, but I'm canceling it all with [Resonance].

When I squat over him and grab him by his hair, he tries to say something, but it's hard to understand with his torn lips and broken teeth.

I look at his face, which is a bloody mess. “I do not believe you were able to deal with the Matriarch or Myrra on the 4th floor."

Without letting him say more, I create a small orb filled with kinetic energy over the palm of my hand, and grabbing it with my fingers I push the orb into his mouth.

When I kick him away, I call one more thing, “I will find you in the common area,” and then I let the orb in his mouth explode.

As before, the system doesn't let it happen, and the man just turns into mana particles, being transferred outside.

It seems like the system thought of this kind of attack as well and really doesn't want participants to die. Seeing it in the works I guess I can do some hardcore training later.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ BenDover (Hell, 5th)

My points increase to 69, which is nice, but seeing the black wall of the storm, I decide to move away, heading towards where the white pillar of light is.

 ***

I jump behind the tree and shoot a javelin toward where the group is hiding, barely missing the head of a man from Hard difficulty.

His group shoots a barrage of attacks at me. Rocks, pale blue mana projectiles, and even some decent fire orbs. At the same time, three more move to my right, trying to encircle me while others keep me busy. I send more kinetic energy to the orb I anchored to my core, making it spin faster around me.

When the first woman with a sword and shield rushes at me, I sling it against her where it crashes against her shield, releasing golden flames stored inside.

Right after, I rush at her, absorbing those flames and reusing them in a thin stream of flame that envelops another man.

Strengthening my body, I grab the axe that the third one swings at me, disrupting the mana coating the blade. My kick breaks through his mana armor, and he crashes against his colleague with a shield. I activate the anchor I placed on his chest while kicking him, and golden flames envelop both of them.

Absorbing flames from the man that I burned first, I grab his body, holding it in front of me to block a barrage of attacks, and shoot a javelin with an anchor tied to it toward where they come from.

When I appear behind the trio, they notice it, turning around, but I teleport again, appearing near another anchor in front of them. A thin cone of kinetic energy kills the man who kept using mana projectiles.

The fire mage envelops herself in flames and rushes at me in hand-to-hand combat, only for the flames to die off, absorbed by me. A sword forms in my hand, and I cut her down and transform it into a shield, absorbing a barrage of stone attacks.

I lift my leg and stomp, sending kinetic energy into the ground under me and stopping the man's attack.

He turns around to run away, but two javelins I create pierce him in quick succession.

Sending a detection wave into my area, I relax slightly and force myself to calm down.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Slowly.

Now repeat.

I have to hold myself back to not let go and go on a rampage. I'm enjoying this event way too much.

There are so many people with so many different skills, mostly in groups I have to deal with on my own. I have to do it while saving my mana and stamina and still having to get used to my reduced status. All while being careful of Tess sniping me out of nowhere or Tacita popping out from behind a corner.

“Leaderboard,” I say.

1st (168 pts) - Sset

2nd (139 pts) - Noname

3rd (136 pts) - Savant

4th (91 pts) - Grumpy

5th (84 pts) - Brainiac

Of course, that silly blonde still holds the 1st spot. With her [Farsight], she just needs to locate easy or Normal difficulty people that she can kill with minimal mana and from a large distance.

But Brainiac surprises me. I didn't expect him to climb so high up. Lily better be careful too and not waste her mana if she wants to be in a good state at the end.

It makes me happy that Min-Jae also got into the ranking, currently at the 8th spot, followed by Biscuit that is on the 9th.

Four hours remain and half of the original number of people remain, just a bit over 1200.

That's also when the barrier that wasn't moving up until now shrinks for the first time. The barrier is of solid red colors, letting only light pass somehow and now when exactly 1 hour has passed it starts shrinking at the speed of a top runner.

It's eerie to see it move closer at such speed, especially when looking at the massive area it covers.

At the same time, it starts raining, the rain having droplets with bits of mana inside. Not enough to damage, but enough to make detection types of skills more difficult to use as the droplets splash and burst all over the place, releasing bits of mana.

I [Focus] and filter out bits of useless information and the colors lose some of their vibrancy as the rain falls onto me, drenching me immediately.

The black wall of clouds that is in one direction expands and the lightning can be heard constantly, the strikes reverberating the air and flashes of light lighting the area.

Indeed, the system is good at setting up the mood because knowing about me, a party of 6 men exits the line of trees.

Gareth (Hell, 5th)

Brainiac (Hell, 5th)

Lootenant (Hell, 5th)

Mari (Hell, 5th)

Ghast (Hell, 5th)

Pumpkin (Hell, 5th)

Yeah, seems about right.

“Noname, are you dumb? You guys are on the 6th floor so why did you place such [Restriction]?” Brainiac asks the moment they spot me.

“Because I wanted to. Are you guys cheating? How the hell are that many of your group already grouped up here?”

The redheaded guy who seems to be the most talkative of their group just smiles and shrugs, “Power of friendship!”

“My friend, I hope you won’t blame us,” Gareth stands in front of the others.

A blue armor surrounds him and some sort of mark is placed on every other member of his group.

Testingly, I try to disrupt that connection but it holds strong. Either my skill is not enough, I need more mana, or it's just impossible to disrupt.

“Usual formation,” Gareth says simply.

Brainiac moves to the back immediately with two more guys.

Meanwhile, Gareth heads in first, two more members by his side. Mari, a woman with a dagger and a sword in her hands, and the man called Pumpkin with mana collecting on his fists, elbows, knees, and shins.

I know I should keep my distance, maybe even fly high into the air and bombard them with ranged attacks. This sort of fighting always seems to be the best option. But as always, I decide to stay at medium range, and the reason is simple.

It's more challenging and fun that way.

The first one to attack is Brainiac, and he shoots projectiles I can't see and can barely sense.

To dodge, I tilt my head, and three sharp projectiles miss me, cutting through the air while the thunder roars as the black wall of clouds moves closer.

The shot projectiles behind me seem to disappear, their presence weakens, and they turn to attack me again, all in hopes of me not noticing them.

Acting as if I didn't see them, I create a dozen projectiles of my own, spinning them around my body, and when the man with mana glowing on his limbs attacks me, I dodge to the side, Brainiac's projectiles disappearing before hurting his teammate.

I shoot my projectiles, and the mark Gareth placed on him glows, and a silver hexagonal barriers the size of my fist appear to block them.

The woman with a sword and a dagger senses my burst of kinetic energy and blocks it, and my projectile shot at her is blocked by a silver barrier.

I infuse my golden flames with disruptive mana, and the darkening area around us lights up, the raindrops evaporating as the flames envelop the man attacking me with his fire. The silver barrier surrounds him, and more and more mana powers it to fight against the disrupting properties of my flames.

Even though I know I just need to keep it up for a bit longer and I will get through, I stop and dodge a few more invisible and hardly noticeable attacks from Brainiac, and then an even smaller one from behind me.

“Damn, you are the first one to notice that one!” he shouts.

He falters in surprise as I shoot a javelin at him, boosted by kinetic energy that gets barely blocked by Lootenant who’s staying close to him. The javelin just changes its direction mid-flight and heads to a weird orb Lootenant placed all over, hitting it instead.

Not having time to examine the interesting skill more, I boost my body further, dodging Mari surprised by my sudden increase in speed, and my dagger coated by [Resonance] cuts apart her dagger and sword.

The man with the nickname Pumpkin attacks me from behind, but I just shoot a blast of kinetic energy at him that even now gets blocked by a silver barrier, and I disrupt Brainiac's attacks.

In a smooth movement, I dodge Mari's kick, and the dagger in my hand extends and turns into a spear I burrow into her shoulder, blood spilling.

Before I can send thermal energy into her through the spear, she disappears, Gareth there instead of her, a spear stabbed in his shoulder.

Huh?

A silver light flashes and my barrier blocks it, throwing me away.

I absorb my inertia mid-air, confusing Pumpkin, and his attack misses. Boosting my body, I stab my spear into his leg, but again, he disappears, Gareth there instead of him.

The man in transparent blue armor grabs my spear, and with impressive strength, pulls me closer.

I disrupt a few more attacks from Brainiac, this time needing to use more mana as he seems to be trying to get through my disrupting, and a mace made of silver mana similar to his barriers forms in Gareth's hand.

It clashes against my dagger, and I send more resonating mana through it, carving the mace apart to the man's surprise, and stabbing the dagger into his chest.

He disappears, and instead of him, Brainiac appears, and a barrage of extremely quick attacks clashes against me, cutting into my flesh twice before I disrupt them.

Brainiac is smiling, but I do not attack him. Instead, I use the anchor I placed on the dagger I stabbed into Gareth and appear in front of the man that is in Beyond the same as me. The wounds on his body are already healed, and the armor around him strengthens even more.

I open my mouth, and a tricolored orb just turning bright crashes against him, and then I teleport away despite his attempts to stop it.

Appearing in the air, I look down at the ground, expecting the explosion. Instead of that, a silver barrier surrounds my orb, and with a grunt from Gareth, it disappears, the explosion of white light, shockwave, heatwave, and following implosion tearing the forest nearby apart.

No words are said between them, but they seem to be communicating. And this time, I really regret this limitation of not being able to restore my mana. I want to fight. I want to throw my all against them.

But I can't, I have placed a limitation upon myself and there are still four hours remaining. There is Tess, there is Lily and Tacita, and most importantly, there is Savant.

I check my reserves and close to 20% of my body mana seems to be missing already.

My frustration increases even more when the man that was just standing near Brainiac up until now shoots a lightning spear-like projectile at me, an attack I sensed him charging all this time. He even placed a mark on me that now serves as a guide for the powerful charged attack made of white lightning. Something I let happen out of curiosity.

Instead of dodging or using a black orb to absorb it, I just cover the back of my hand in a barrier of disrupting mana, and with a swing-like movement, I disrupt the attack.

“Fucking monster! You are restricted, so act like that!” Brainiac shouts at me.

“Behind you,” I call back at him.

“As if I would fall for that…” in the middle of the sentence, he stops and shoots dozens of slash-like attacks all around him.

No matter that Tacita dodges them all, a calm expression on her face the entire time. She dodges and parries attacks thrown at her. Lightning and Lootenant's weird orbs either disrupted or flicked away.

When a silver barrier surrounds Brainiac, a wild smile appears on her lips, and her arm moves in a blur. She attacks dozens of times, the mana-coated dagger in her hand tearing through the barrier and turning Brainiac into particles of mana with the last slash that would separate his body from his head.

Well, one of the reasons why I'm up here is because I noticed her sneaking closer.

The rain continues to fall down, making her messy brown hair wet and stick to her face. Wordlessly, she catches my gaze, and she waves at me with squinted eyes and a smile.

The message is simple.

You are not safe there.

Tacita (Hell, 4th)

***

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