Chương 207: Not Much To Stand Upon

The man wearing a mask bearing a resemblance to the face of a goblin stopped in his tracks. He felt certain of it now. He was being watched by more than a single person hiding in the shadows… But how did that make sense? A single lunatic prowling an empty building at night was one thing, but a group of them? There weren't enough of those for it to be in any way likely that he had actually run into one of them tonight, of all nights. Here of all places…

"Do you work for the snow leopard? Is that it? Does she have a secret defence team for her businesses? Answer me! Show yourself, or I'll turn this entire place upside down!" He yelled into the vastness of the Purging Station, his echoing voice drowned out by the ambient noises. His voice swallowed by the hum of the constructs… There was no reaction whatsoever. Were they truly not defenders of Leou Palf's interests? Or… Did they know that his threat was a hollow one? That he wouldn't ever dare go against his orders?

How would they even know what his orders were? Or that he had orders at all, for that matter?

"Shit… I'll drag you out, in this case" It was risky, but the presences hiding in the dark were too much of a risk to the completion of his mission–How could he complete it if he was dead, after all? As such, he let mana course throughout the entirety of his body, channelling it into a spell he believed himself to be the only one capable of casting. … In this manner, anyway…

The winged lantern seemed to grow translucent, its mass seeming to change consistency before bloating and spitting out an exact copy of itself. The process happened several more times, resulting in there now being fifteen more lanterns softly flying through the air like tranquil butterflies.

With another spell, he further intensified the light they were casting before manifesting a third spell, allowing them to begin moving at a much faster pace than before, sending them further from him, illuminating large swaths of the Purging Station as he wove yet another spell, turning the lanterns into more than light sources, now–Any motions that occurred within their light, with the exception of his own, would be something he would be made instantly aware of.

Although the overall cost in mana wasn't too great compared to his reserves, casting so many of these spells in quick succession, some of which were not only taxing in the moment, but some of which were going to be continuously draining mana to be maintained at their best. His affinity was a peculiar one, and probably the main reason he had been scooped up from the streets by his lord. He could grant a semblance of life to inanimate objects.

He had needed much training to be able to use this odd magical element, and even then, when granting this 'life' to an object, it had to be by using something as a basis. A snake for the rope from earlier, a butterfly for the lantern… Regardless of it all, he believed that it was worth it to force his unseen adversaries to show themselves. If he wanted to make actual progress, he had to get rid of them.

He was spending far too much time, attention, and energy looking over his shoulder when all of these should be funnelled toward completing the job that had fallen upon him to fulfil. For now, the agent detected no motions whatsoever. Did his enemies know not to move? There was no way for it to be the case. He rarely used this particular spell, and the few who might know were either allies or dead. The intruder remained still, his focus great as he awaited something–Anything.

He knew that his eyes had not deceived him. There was at least one other person roaming this place alongside him. He had even heard her laugh. In the distance, amidst the humming, he heard a soft melody begin to play. Its volume subtly increased until it was perfectly audible even amidst the noisy ambience… It began to come from several directions at once, adding to the sounds of the Purging Stations. He could feel his heart begin to beat faster…

The anxiety caused by the possibility that he might fail this mission was growing within him. He-"No… No, no, no, NO!"

"I see how it is! What kind of spell is this?! How can you target me with it like this, huh?!" The agent wasn't the sort to let his emotions get the better of him, so why was he currently so susceptible to them? It had to be some sort of attack. Was he having the misfortune of being targeted by an innate ability? Or was it just a spell, but one formed from an energy he was wholly unfamiliar with? Whatever it was, he needed to guard himself against it.

Alas, a consequence of him becoming aware that he was being targeted in a manner he could not detect made him panic, he could control it, but it was nonetheless present, just as much as he had a healthy amount of fear inside his heart at the moment, these were normal emotions for a sapient like him to have, they were here to guide him and trigger responses in his body that could not be consciously controlled otherwise. … One of these was the adrenaline being pumped through his veins at this very second.

The unseen threats seemed to realise this, and the melodies stopped, triggering any amount of anxiety, instead contributing to his internal panic, which he thus struggled more dearly to combat as he would have to rid himself of the panic he himself was naturally experiencing to truly fight back. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Nonetheless, by using techniques taught to all agents like him, he was able to keep his mind fresh and cold, allowing him to keep his wits. He clenched his dagger harder than he ever had before, just in time as he witnessed something pop out from the darkness behind a thin gap behind a construct–A gap so small that he hadn't even thought to shine a light into it, believing it impossible for a person to fit there, and yet…

An arm wearing a wide, black and white sleeve stretched from the dark, longer than a person was tall several times over. It swiftly slithered out from its hiding spot, merely poking a hole in the wings of one of the lanterns, one for each, before swiftly retracting away. Mana bullets flew through the air, missing the arm as it swiftly evaded and disappeared from sight, while the lantern came crashing against the ground, shattering into pieces before vanishing entirely due to not being the original.

Without hesitation, the agent rushed over to where the arm had come from, shining light into the thin gaps and… Didn't find anything. The attacker was gone without a trace. There were no motions, and even as he looked himself in case they were simply standing still, he found nothing.

"How much… Can they stretch, exactly?" He wondered, muttering beneath his mask as it dawned upon him that, perhaps, the laughing woman was able to fit into gaps so small that she was literally not currently anywhere he could look into. For all he knew, she might have seeped inside a magical construct through a thin slit. The intruder felt more fear spark within him, all natural as he realised that he definitely wasn't dealing with a random lunatic. This place was perfect for his enemy.

She could hide in places he couldn't check at all. His mission was clear, forcing him not to touch anything besides the main objective… And worst of all, due to the construct messing with ambient mana, he couldn't extend his mana senses. He was dealing with what felt like someone–Or something–Who had been specifically picked to thrive in such an environment. He was at a clear disadvantage. In the distance, he heard another lantern being smashed right after sensing an object being launched directly at it.

It was so far away from where he had just seen the arm that he suspected that it was the work of another enemy–At least, it was better than imagining that the owner of the arm was this fast, or could otherwise expand themselves so widely that they could reach places that were so far apart…

He made his lanterns move erratically to make sure they wouldn't be destroyed so easily, and took off running through the Purging Station, looking left and right constantly in a bid to perhaps spot his objective, but instead, he sensed motions in the light of his lanterns furthest away from him, moments before they were destroyed. Then, just as he was nearing a turn, he heard a soft giggle somewhere behind him.

Before he could do anything about it, he was compelled to turn and look at where it had come from, slowing down and soon stopping as he spotted a short, blue-skinned demon girl standing nearly on the edge of the original lantern he had been keeping close to him. He hadn't sensed any motion from the light, but judging by her corpse-like appearance, it made sense. The agent did not think his spell was meant to detect the motions of a ghost.

Naturally, he was quick to understand that his reaction to the giggle was abnormal, but everything happened too swiftly. His attention had fallen upon the sound and the one who had produced it for just a handful of seconds, but that was a handful too long… When he turned back around, the point of this distraction made itself clear as what looked like a woman sprinted directly at him.

His vision turned blurry as she pounced directly onto him, phasing directly through his body and through the ground as he was overwhelmed by a fear more intense than anything he had ever experienced. The agent knew in the back of his mind that this fear was false, but it was too strong, and he lost control of his legs, falling kneeling to the floor with one hand pressed against the ground, and the other grasping his chest, just above where his heart was.

His only saving grace was the harsh training he had been put through. Due to his unique elemental affinity, the training his lord had subjected him to had been even more thorough than that of most other agents, and it was a blessing. The masked intruder had been taught to cast his spells in a very specific manner, allowing them to remain active for a while even if they required direct attention.

As such, he felt the motions of something monstrous taking shape directly behind him, and that was enough of a reminder to allow him enough clarity to force as much mana within to move. His body emitted a forceful pulse of energy, pushing back what would have been a lethal strike, and also forcing mana into the still-active spell in charge of keeping his mind steady.

The agent was able to turn around, throwing himself onto his back as he finally spotted the owner of that black shoe–A black and white clown woman whose right hand was currently abnormally large and clawed. If not for the pulse, this thing would have shredded the agent's head and spine without a shred of doubt.

"Fuck you, bitch!" He unintentionally yelled his true thoughts as he cast a hail of mana bullets toward the clown, but her body twisted and split. Everywhere a bullet should have hit only went through the air as she literally made holes in her body, or compressed certain parts down as though they had been smashed in.

With an unnecessary twirl, she stepped back in a way that made it look like she was going to fall–But it was all part of the clown aesthetic, as she stretched out her left arm and grabbed the lantern just above the agents, pulling it behind her as she made herself stand straight up. The man was quite confused as to what this was about, but only for a moment… Placing the lantern behind her in this manner caused her shadow to be extended all the way to the masked man.

Two clawed hands reached out from the clown's shadow, and like a cat, the intruder leapt upward, but one of his ankles was snatched nonetheless. The rusty claws dug into flesh, threatening to pull him right back to the ground. He didn't think, he just acted and severed his own foot using his dagger, performing some impressive acrobatics to get away from the clown and her shadow with just one foot.

"No fucking way Leou Palf employs freaking monsters…"