Chương 77: Chapter 76

A few hours earlier… Lio stood in the center of the cobblestone street, having just hauled himself up from the sewers. He stared at the sky, and for an uncharacteristic moment, Lio's mind was entirely blank. A massive, jagged fissure had ripped across the artificial sky. Lio didn't move. Confusion settled into his mind, a sensation so rare that to him, it almost felt physical, like a cold hand was pressing against his chest. After all, he had lived a thousand years.

He had seen the absolute depths of Ghenna, and witnessed every single one of the terrifying, anomalous whims that the dungeon produced. He had seen Ghenna do many horrific things, but he had never seen this. High above, from the depths of the darkening crack, a colossal silhouette began to lean forward out of the abyss. Then, a voice boomed from the heavens, tearing across the air and rattling Lio's very bones.

"GUILTY!" The verdict echoed through the Floor. Before the sound could even fade, the fissure widened, and the first wave descended. The sky was choked by a living, breathing swarm. Black, multi-limbed horrors poured through the tear in the sky, a cascading waterfall pelting the rooftops and streets below. Screams erupted instantly, swallowed by the deafening shrieks of the invasion. Lio didn't immediately move. He didn't draw his daggers, nor did he run toward the nearest monster.

Instead, he stood perfectly still, his eyes narrowing. There was no point in rushing in foolishly. For now, he would observe the situation. He watched a massive beast shaped vaguely of a horse slam into a nearby building, dragging the screaming occupant into the shadows. Lio's expression didn't change. He had no obligation to save anybody. Besides, it wasn't like he had the time anyway. My party members are my actual priorities.

And since the civilians dying in the streets weren't his to protect, all he had to do was stay out of the main battles, navigate the chaos, locate William and the others, and find a secure place to hunker down until the storm passed. He began to turn back toward the alleyway. But then, a sudden realization pierced through his thoughts. Leaving the civilians to their fate was easy, but leaving Trestfall to ruin was bad business. He thought about the long term consequences.

If he simply hunkered down with his party members and let this wave scour the city clean, the collateral damage would be catastrophic to his own future endeavors. Valuable assets lived here. If the mayor was slaughtered, the political infrastructure Lio needed for the deep floors would collapse. If the mayor's elite bodyguards were wiped out, the city's defense network would be non-existent. And then there was Ergyn.

Lio had plans for that young man, and losing someone with that specific skill set and influence would set him back. Anarchy was only useful if you could control the aftermath, and a completely decimated Trestfall offered him nothing. Lio tsked, unsheathing his Adamantine knife. He still didn't care about playing the hero, but he cared deeply about protecting his investments. Activating [Mach Heart], he leapt up and landed on the rooftop of a nearby fungal building.

From this high vantage point, he could see the ongoing slaughter in much better clarity. Then Lio began to move. Engaging [Mach Heart] multiple times, the rune constricted the muscles in his legs, launching himself high into the air. A single bound carried him twenty feet, clearing the gap between two buildings. Down below, the colony of Trestfall continued to be shredded apart. He vaulted over a broken roof, his boots slightly sliding against the soot-stained tile.

From here, he could see the main resistance against destruction. A cluster of townguard members had formed a phalanx near the western side of the settlement. They held their weapons out, and even from this distance, Lio could see their pale faces clammy with sweat. A second later, a three-legged monstrosity with a flaming torso slammed into them, crushing the center of their line. The phalanx dissolved into shrieks of panic as the monster tore through them, red blood spraying the air.

Lio watched with a deadpanned expression. What a waste. He bounded across another alleyway, his trained eyes sweeping every street. If the governing people of Trestfall died, the city would become a wasteland before the day was out. He needed the infrastructure intact enough to shield his own party. Then, amid the streets stained with dark blood, he spotted a flash of familiar steel. Ergyn. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

The guard captain was backed against a tavern. He was completely alone, cut off from his men by a pulsing wall of multi-limbed horrors. Still, even face-to-face with death, Ergyn's swordsmanship form was impeccable. The captain moved masterfully, his sword gleaming, severing appendages after appendages from the beasts surrounding him on all sides. He pivoted flawlessly, parrying a strike from a chitin-type creature, before slashing its head off in a single, flawless downcut. It was a beautiful dance.

But it was also entirely insufficient. The problem wasn't Ergyn's skill. It was just how many monsters there were. For every one Ergyn decimated, three more filled the void. A third beast, its face hidden by a cracked porcelain mask, was already dashing into his blind spot, its spiked tail coiled to drive straight through the captain's exposed flank. Ergyn was already overextended. He wouldn't be able to block the strike in time. The guard captain had maybe three seconds of life remaining.

But Lio couldn't allow that. He needed Ergyn. And so, as the beast lunged, Lio didn't waste a moment. He stepped off the roof, plummeting down towards the streets. Mid-air, just before he slammed into the ground, Lio triggered [Mach Heart]. Deep within the muscles of his legs, his internal biological energy surged. In just a second, his legs had visibly densified, shrinking in volume as the tissue hardened to the density of iron. He dashed forward, directly behind the flank of the porcelain-masked creature.

He kicked outwards, and the moment his boots made contact with the solid ground, the stored kinetic energy in his compressed legs unleashed explosively. Lio vanished from his landing spot, becoming a gray blur across the stone, traveling the distance between himself and the monster in a fraction of a second. Materializing directly beside the lunging monster, he punched sideways, carrying all of his acceleration directly into the creature's side.

The beast cried out as its body folded cleanly under the immense kinetic force, sending its massive body somersaulting across the street, its spiked tail whipping harmlessly through the empty air. But Lio was far from finished. There were more monsters around them. He activated [Isopolity], directing it towards his knife. Immediately, five perfect ghost copies of the adamantine knife materialized. With a quick flick of his wrist, Lio directed his mental focus toward the nearest beast.

The five ghost-matter replicas surged forward, cutting through the air with a high-pitched whine. Guided entirely by telekinesis, the blades separated, two of the phantom knives driving downwards, burying themselves deep into the shoulder joints of a monster that had been rearing back to strike Ergyn. The beast shrieked in pain. Then, before it could collapse, a third phantom blade slid in horizontally, neatly decapitating it. Lio didn't pause, already knowing that the beast was dead.

He had to hurry, as [Isopolity] was already taxing his brain, requiring absolute concentration to keep the ghost-matter from destabilizing back into nothingness. That wasn't good. Keeping his focus while maintaining his balance in a battlefield was just an unnecessary drain on his stamina. He stepped past the dissolving remains of the creature, his physical Adamantine knife held prepared in his hands. There were now only two monsters left.

They had been flanking Ergyn, but at the sudden interference, they leapt forward, abandoning the exhausted guard captain to pivot toward Lio. One was a bloated nightmare with pores that leaked yellowish puss, skittering forward on segmented legs, while the other was a gaunt, elongated fairy subspecies called a Nightwalker. Lio's eyes narrowed. He sent the remaining two floating duplicates launching toward the Nightwalker. The phantom blades pinned the creature by its upper thighs, slamming it firmly to the street.

As the monster thrashed in agony, Lio focused on the chitinous blob. Using [Mach Heart], he burst forward, using the raw, explosive speed to displace his weight, slipping beneath the creature's guard in a seamless, graceful slide. He rose directly behind it. Then, with a brutal, upward thrust, he drove his real Adamantine knife straight through the soft, unprotected seam beneath its primary head carapace. The blade slipped in effortlessly, and the blob let out a strangled sound, before it collapsed forward.

Simultaneously, Lio snapped his fingers. The two phantom knives currently pinning the Nightwalker to the group ripped themselves free, then immediately slashed the creature's neck, before gliding back to hover in a defensive circle around him. There we go. Finished with killing the immediate threats, Lio severed his mental connection to [Isopolity]. Instantly, the five translucent duplicates dissolved into thin air. He gave his physical knife a quick, casual flick to shed the acidic black sludge on the surface.

Then, he sheathed the weapon. His thighs throbbed from the repeated usage of [Mach Heart], but he simply shook it off. Meanwhile, Ergyn stood completely frozen a few paces away, still brandishing his sword. His face, splattered with dark blood, was one of complete, utter shock. The guard captain lowered his sword, his lips parting as he tried to process what he'd just seen. Well, the shock wasn't a surprise.

After all, Lio had purposefully made Ergyn think that he was a weak Delver that couldn't take care of himself. And so, Lio didn't offer a hand, nor did he offer any words of comfort. He didn't care much about Ergyn's psychological state. There was no reason to. If the guy had learned True Mind, he could easily process this shock given enough time.

"Rally the remaining townguard," Lio instructed.

"And focus your attention into a single sector. Trestfall is finished. Just try and save what you can."

"Hey—wait!" Ergyn managed to shout.

"What... what was that? Where are you going? We need to—" But Lio didn't waste his breath to answer. He didn't have much time, and he'd checked Ergyn off his mental list of immediate priorities. Now, the clock was ticking for his actual party. He wasn't too worried for them, as they were capable enough, but there was still concern. Inside Ghenna, you never knew what could happen. Stepping forward, Lio turned his back on the guard captain.

He sprang up onto the roof of the nearest building, his hands catching a protruding wooden beam. He hoisted himself up over the lip of the structure, disappearing seamlessly into the gray, smoke-choked horizon. Lio sniffed, his nose wrinkling. The air up here was thick with the smell of blood and smoke, but it also gave him a clear line of sight across the town. Right now, he had to map the fastest route to the lodge.

Ophila and the others were smart, so they had probably all headed there when the catastrophe had happened. Lio frowned. He began calculating exactly how many times he could push his [Mach Heart] before his leg muscles tore away from the bone. He had maybe ten more explosive dashes left before risk of total paralysis. He needed to save those bursts for— Lio looked up as a shadow fell over him. Huh. A massive warhammer slammed down toward his skull.