Chương 110: Find out

The bullet flew lazily through the air. It was fast enough not to appear 'time-stopped' for him, but its pace was comparable to a tired grandma. He could calmly walk ahead of it without any worry. To, well, save Sydney. Technically. Probably. It was weird, 'saving' his opponent. Especially since his plans for her weren't that much better than what a bullet would've done. Of course, he'd keep it strictly non-lethal. He didn't miss the fact that so far no one had actually tried to kill him.

Sydney was quite an asshole when things didn't go according to her enlightened plan, but not exactly in the villain territory yet. After all, he still couldn't target El'el, which meant that she at least wasn't kept in a basement against her will or something equally nefarious, not to mention that Mary probably wouldn't be on their side if they did something so clearly evil. More likely than not, El'el was still blissfully meditating in her room, unaware of this whole mess. Anyway.

The unclear degree of Sydney's villainy wouldn't stop him from breaking a leg or two. It would only be fair, after so many leg-assaults she had performed. It was just weird, saving her from a bullet that was flying to her stomach, only to break a few legs instead. Heroic Dash was equally confused. It took him just a moment to appear in front of the woman. He crouched to gently tap her leg with the flat of his sword – not to outright explode it, but to make a clean karmic break.

Something that could be recovered from.

"Hope you didn't lie about the healers," he muttered under his breath. He almost touched her. She disappeared. The buff dropped. A bullet whizzed past his head. What the fuck?! Now that was some bullshit. He started turning around, trying to figure out what the hell had happened.

"Shit," Mark cursed nearby, flicking his dagger at him. The half-translucent cut was nearly instantaneous, almost impossible to dodge from close range. Not to mention deadly, thrown reactively without really aiming. It would separate him in two. Thankfully, the idiot was going to hit Mary with that flick as well. Thank God for the chaos of battle, and easily killable people standing in the middle of it. Even with superspeed, Dennis didn't have time to do anything but move her aside. Mark's attacks were fast.

He could only look around and analyze the new layout of the fight as he moved Mary a few yards away, trying to outrun that fucking slice that was faster than it had any right to be. Sydney stood ten or so yards to the side, seemingly frozen but somehow slowly tracking him with her eyes. Mark looked panicked, still finishing his flick and only now realizing where exactly it was aimed. Lily stood unbothered, calmly aiming the gun at the woman again. What a psycho. Okay, what the fuck had happened? Preparation is Key.

That bullshit skill gave Sydney a reactive teleport. It wouldn't matter how fast he was if she could be blinked out of danger without her conscious input. And, considering the way she was looking in his direction, she got a strong boost to the Mind stat as well, just to fuck him in particular. He was sure that it would be just enough to place those annoying zones where she wanted them even when he was buffed. What a troublesome woman. He released Mary and felt the buff drop at the same time.

She wasn't under attack anymore and there was no way in hell Mark would be careless enough to accidentally fire at her again, or so Dennis' Skill decided. She fell to her knees, groaning and clutching her head. Her staff clacked on the ground.

"Oh fuck don't do that anymore," he heard her mutter. Was she the first 'aware and awake' person he moved with his power? Before anyone could react, Lily aimed the gun at Sydney again. It wouldn't work. The sound of gunfire echoed through the street. A moment later he heard two small clinks. Both the bullet casing and the bullet fell on the ground in front of the girl. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

She kept trying to shoot, but every time the result was the same. Sydney smirked, still watching him. The nature of 'danger' and 'safety' was weird when it came to his skill. Heroic Dash did what it could to stretch the definitions, but it was still limited. Objective reality as the Skill knew it and Dennis' subjective understanding both influenced the outcome of whether he would get the buff or not. When Lily shot the first time, it was a surprise for everyone.

It was reasonable to assume that Sydney was in danger. Now? Dennis knew that she could automatically teleport out of harm's way. And even if that ability was limited by cooldown or mana cost or whatever – obviously, Sydney knew about the danger and took other steps to prevent it. She just couldn't be in the league she was in if something as silly as a gun posed a genuine threat to her. She didn't need saving. Not without the element of surprise on his side.

A 'bullets can't fly' rule in a zone centered around Lily, most likely. Or something along those lines. Mark flicked his wrist again, sending another attack at Dennis while carefully avoiding hitting Mary. With Kriya, it wasn't hard to dodge, since Dennis knew about the attack almost before it happened. He jumped backwards, and then immediately forward again to avoid yet another leg-breaking zone. They were trying to tire him out. Avoiding the ranged attacks from both without using his buff was fucking hard.

He was reasonably fit nowadays in terms of endurance, but nowhere near supernatural. High-intensity calisthenics like this were unsustainable. Something had to change. Their win condition was to not threaten anyone but him. The goons were mostly keeping the civilians out and, quite specifically, not doing anything else. Their role was to reduce the possible chaos. Lily could literally shoot people and yet no one would even dare to look at her unkindly.

The goal of it all was to deny him his buff, and tire him out with precise, targeted attacks. He had to admit that it was working. Getting close to Mark or Sydney with Kriya alone was close to impossible. After all, both of them specialized in keep-away. Mark because it was just his build, and Sydney because her build was specifically to be an annoying fuck to any opponent she encountered. Well, if their win condition was to keep people 'safe'…

Dennis took a swing and threw Muramasa at a goon behind Mark, carefully picking the one that looked the clumsiest. He breathed out in relief when he felt the world slow down around him. This particular strategy was something he avoided because Heroic Dash hated it with passion. It worked, though, because his actions were heroic in greater context – he would, of course, save the goon, and he needed the buff to both kidnap El'el and save Gareth. Ehm, save El'el.

From the clutches of her very gilded cage that she was probably unaware of. Point of it all – it worked, even if barely. He got a feeling that the Skill would snap the moment he would take even a step away from the path to catching the sword. For some mysterious reason, it wasn't in the mood to forgive small detours like it usually did. So, of course, Dennis stood still and did nothing. After all, thrown swords took ages to reach the target, and he needed it behind Mark. For reasons.

Dealing with Sydney would've been better, but the chances of her pulling off another reactive teleport or some other bullshit were too great. Mark was a softer target, and with him out of the picture the fight would swing in Dennis' favor. Those flicks were fucking annoying. Targeting the clumsy wannabe policeman behind him was likewise a safer move.

Mark wasn't too overpowered, but chances were that a rusty–if very well thrown–sword wouldn't pose enough of a threat to him to trigger the buff, especially considering Heroic Dash's dislike for tricks like that. Half a second later, like a total badass, Dennis appeared behind Mark's back, his hand already holding the sword.

"W-wha–" Mark started to mutter before his eyes rolled and he fell to the ground. Dennis kept the cool pose for a few seconds more, facing away from the man, like in one of those cool-ass scenes where two swordsmen exchanged blows in a moment before one of them slowly fell. Farming style points. He glanced at Sydney smugly.

"You're losing," he said, ignoring the pain in his wrist. While some-fucking-how correctly guessing the necessary force to knock Mark out was something that he apparently just could do because his fighting talent was that bullshit, it was a lot of force. It was like hitting a brick wall, the man wasn't shy in putting a few levels worth of points in Constitution, not even having the balls to properly min-max like everyone was supposed to. Sydney didn't look amused.

"Am I?" she asked, trying to appear bored and frankly failing, and clicked her fingers. If he stood still, he would fall asleep. Dennis frowned as he dashed towards the woman, simultaneously dodging the attack. Why did she change the rule? In the same vein, why did she click her fingers, where she didn't need to before? Trying to outstyle him? Without Mark and his annoying-ass near-instant attack, shortening the distance to the woman became a question of time and persistence.

She was spamming her shit, clicking every time she did so. He was dodging her shit, coming closer despite her attempts to keep him away. Why the fuck was she spamming a clearly ineffective attack again and again? He was almost in melee range, and yet she persisted. Getting an idea, he tried throwing his sword again at the mook behind her. The blade flew a few inches before abruptly stopping. The sleep-snap isn't a zone. It's a temporary skill from Preparation.

He was in a zone of 'no-projectiles', and Kriya didn't warn him because it wasn't a danger to him. A quick glance confirmed his theory – Lily gave up and wasn't shooting anymore. Meaning that she freed up Sydney's hands unknowingly. Fuck. For fuck knows how long, he had been in a Control zone that he didn't know the rules of while she spammed attacks with Preparation. Chances were she was changing the rules every time he dodged, keeping them seemingly unharmful, trying to find a correct one to circumvent Kriya.

He rushed towards the woman, finally getting close enough to strike. It was still a contest of speed – if he got to her faster than she figured out the correct rule, he'd win. She stumbled back, not nearly as good at fighting as she was the first time he fought her. His sword pierced her stomach, perfectly avoiding any vital organs.

"You can make a rule to regenerate that one, right?" he muttered tiredly.

"I won." With a shaking hand, she snapped her fingers. He felt drowsy.

"The fuck…" he drawled out.

"Y-your danger-sense is so bullshit," she said, smiling at him weakly." Precognition skills are disabled for 0. 2 seconds, and I am obligated to protect their owner for the next hour."

"You c-can make it stronger with drawbacks," he muttered, feeling himself drifting.

"You didn't tell that you c-could…"

"I didn't," she replied, clutching her stomach.

"Now go to sleep while I sort out this fucking mess." His mind was sluggish. It was hard to think. The last thing he felt before darkness took him was a feeling of the world shuddering. A wave of magic in the air. Powerful presences appearing out of nowhere at the edge of his consciousness. For some reason, he was certain that he would wake up to a System Announcement. Wasn't Kriya important for something? Eh, whatever… It was just a dream.