Chương 432: Chapter 433: Running Away

<How do we deal with this? > I asked, as we retreated from our hiding place and moved towards one of the labs Anise and Sallia had scouted out during their material gathering expedition. <This feels completely ridiculous. It's like he's bending the laws of reality to fit the needs of his bullets. Trajectory doesn't seem to matter, because his bullets will ricochet to hit other targets - even targets he's not aware of.

He can also convert any type of gas into a burnable substance, even if they aren't naturally flammable. I'm not sure what type of counterattack we can launch here, but we need the splinter of tree bark. > <I'm also frustrated. I can't believe this is just from an ordinary weapon skill, > said Felix. <We were originally talking about how weapon skills were probably one of the least dangerous types of heroic-grade skills, but seeing this guy in action, I can't help but wonder if we were wrong. That was… terrifying.

> <So how do we deal with this? > I asked again. <Obviously, the types of traps I prepared aren't going to work, > said Felix. <This guy is too hard to hurt with… Hmm. With physical objects, now that I think about it. It seems almost impossible to hit him with a physical object… but I wonder how far his abilities go. If we hit him with a purely conceptual attack, or with essence-based attacks, perhaps that would work? > I thought about what Felix had said, and then I grinned.

<You're right - every single one of his responses seemed entirely physical in nature. The reason he could respond to my extinguish is because Extinguish creates a drop of water, which must touch the bare skin of an enemy in order to work. He vaporized the drop of water, thus ending my extinguish before it hit… but that doesn't mean we have no chance. > As one, Felix, Sallia and I all looked at Anise. Anise blinked at us. <Anise, do you have any directly essence-based attacks?

Something that he might not be able to shoot? > asked Sallia. <I admit, I don't remember your full spell list at this point… > Anise smiled at us. <I do! I have over a hundred spells that I learned. I wasn't exactly thinking of this situation in particular… but I do have attacks that are purely essence based. I was originally thinking they might be good against a monster with a really tough hide or a thick shell or something - they should work here as well. > <What spells do you have? > asked Felix.

<I have three that are relevant here. The first one is soundless shriek - it's essentially a type of soundwave based attack. It creates a 'soundwave' that cannot be perceived through regular means - and if the vibrations connect with your eardrums, it'll tunnel inside of your skull and then try to shake your brain around and destroy everything, > said Anise. <The second one is 'essence lance.' It's basically a fireball, except it's comprised of pure essence, with no physical components to it at all.

This means its actual offensive power is a bit weak, but it can still pass through something's skin and then turn itself back into a solid object once inside the body. The third spell is illusion blast. I based this one off of that rune ability Miria used during our third world - the one entirely based on mental attacks. It's a pure mental attack that's meant to stun people for as long as possible. > <The first and third spells sound promising, > said Sallia. <Especially the third spell.

I think that one has the most promise. As far as we know, the big difference someone gets once they step into heroic grade is that the people can start to infuse the laws of reality into their body. I suspect that will prevent or somehow interfere with you trying to create a solid object inside of their body - so I doubt that spell will work as intended. > Anise thought about it for a few seconds, before she nodded. <That sounds reasonable to me. It might still work, but best not to risk it.

So the idea is for me to launch a mental attack and then stun him, then follow up with some kind of lethal attack before he can shake off the spell? > <I think that's the best plan. It should also prevent us from being forced to consume any of our consumable items, which is ideal. We want to save those as much as possible for next world, > said Sallia. <Though, if we are forced to use one, I think Miria's {Dream of Hunger} should be very effective at handling this guy as well.

It would just mean that she wouldn't have the item available next world, since it only restores itself upon death. > Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. <How do we actually take advantage of a moment of weakness, though? The guy is surrounded by subordinates. Trying to handle him while fighting a group seven times larger than us seems… implausible, > I said. <Not to mention, each of those subordinates seems to be only slightly weaker than us.

If we get swarmed, I'm pretty sure we die. > <That's true, > said Sallia <Realistically, we don't have a good way to resolve this fight in our favor. The strongest member of their group can crush us, and the weaker members can swarm us if we devote all of our spells and items to dealing with the stronger enemy. However, I think we're overlooking another weakness. > <Oh? > asked Felix.

<They clearly have backups for the Marks, and directly stealing one with a portal seems difficult, considering how absurd the trajectories of the heroic-shooter's laser beams are. But the Marks aren't the only external object they need in order to survive in the Market, > said Sallia. <I noticed something else when we were watching the group through Felix's cameras.

They have backpacks - and while some of their backpack space is likely filled with loot, I suspect they also have things like food, water, and camping supplies. I forgot about this until now - but the reason we don't need to breathe, eat, drink, or sleep in the Market is because of our bodies, right? The bodies constructed by the Market every time we reincarnate here may have incredibly short lifespans, but they do also have the advantage of obviating most of our basic needs.

We don't need food, water, or sleep here. However, this section of the magic academy has a bunch of kitchens specifically equipped with ways to keep students fed and hydrated. Anise and I also ran into some toilets while we were here. Most of the Market isn't equipped with toilets, because our bodies here don't need to expel waste… but that is evidently not true for people who travel to the Market without getting a new body here.

Most sources of food in the Market itself have been destroyed by monsters and the relentless march of time… > <So you're saying we should destroy their backpacks and starve them out? > I asked. Sallia nodded. <It's similar to our first attack against them. Rather than directly confronting a stronger force, we can make their biology work against them. Of course, this isn't perfect - it'll waste some of our time. But I think it's the most promising way to potentially harm the enemy.

We've already confirmed that the heroic-grade shooter has a weak perception, so if Anise can blow up their backpacks, or if Felix can create a colorless, odorless poisonous gas… we might be able to hit them with traps after all, or find ways to deal with them without direct confrontation. If we wait for them to fall asleep, then either attack them, or sabotage their food supplies from a distance, we could potentially deal with them without exposing ourself to too much risk or wasting too many consumable items.

> I blinked in surprise. <You're right! I forgot they need to sleep. I'm so used to not needing things like oxygen or food in the Market that I forgot outsiders will still need those things. We can take advantage of that. Even if the food idea doesn't end up working out, just the idea of ambushing them while they sleep is valuable. They can't stay awake forever. > <I can try to make a colorless, odorless poison, > Felix said.

<I can't promise it'll be strong enough to actually hurt them - after all, they have pretty strong life force, according to Miria's observations. Still, it's worth a try. If we can infect their food with the poison, and distribute the poison from a distance, it would deal with a big part of our problem. Then, if that works, we can ambush the heroic-grade shooter in a four on one battle, and rely on Anise's magic and Miria's item as a backup plan. I think this can work. > I smiled. We had a way forward.

After a great deal of thinking, we had finally found a way to potentially win - even against a numerically superior group led by a heroic-grade shooter. Even if our plan still had a lot of holes to fill in, and a lot of potential dangers… it was a real way forward. A hope for the future. Then, I frowned, as I glanced back towards the ball room. The scavengers weren't stopping in the ball room, the way I had hoped they would. For several minutes, it had appeared that they were hesitating in the ball room…

but as a group, it now appeared that they were moving towards the exit to the ball room. At first, I thought that they might be looking for us in the entrance hallway to the school - but then, I remembered a conversation we had overheard from the first round of scavengers we had eavesdropped on. Back then, one of the Scavengers had argued that they had already gotten a pretty good haul from the mark - a splinter of wood from one of the innermost branches of the Universal Tree.

Then, the same Scavenger had argued that they should leave the Market now. We needed the splinter of wood - it might offer the one and only solution to our predicament of being unable to purchase more lives. But the Scavengers had no obligation to stick around in the Market. What if they just ran away?