Chapter 82
Aside from these invisible demons radiating black light, Yuki couldn't actually see the separated Shiina Hiyori; he swung his sword entirely by feel, passing by and only saying one sentence:
"Come on, keep up with the previous pace and move forward at a steady speed. If you feel a similar sensation again, then dance the noodle dance in place."
"Understood." Shiina Hiyori and quickly stood up. Not seeing Yuki, she followed him at a leisurely pace as instructed.
Invisible to the naked eye, and only visible to the Demon Eye, more and more infant arms stretched out from the floor, seemingly propelled by his counterattack.
Yuki cut her off the moment she appeared, and walked towards Hayasaka Ai, who was still a few meters away, when he saw her suddenly stop her 'madness'.
He turned around decisively, raised his right hand, and aimed accurately at his own head in the pitch black.
Click.
The hammer snaps open, the magazine rotates, its silhouette silhouetted against countless swaying, seaweed-like arms.
The Death Knell is about to toll!
Chapter Thirty-Three: Crossing the Devil's Corridor (First Update)
Within the narrow corridor, the tolling of the Death Knell was enough to clear one direction, revealing Hayasaka Ai raising her gun. Yuki, far from panicking, seemed lost in thought.
Not only can slimes smother people to death, but they can also control their bodies?
A major discovery was made, and then he rushed towards the gun barrel, but after a 'click' sound, the trigger could not be pulled.
Soil-Offering Contract: Team members cannot launch fatal attacks against each other.
That's right.
Yuki's eyes widened, and she rushed forward even faster. This meant that the demon could control the player's body, but the player was still a player, still bound by the rules.
This is only the first layer. This rule can at most allow Yuki to protect herself. When Hayasaka Ai took the initiative to meet the challenge head-on, it was as if she was willing to sacrifice herself.
With a flick of his wrist, Yuki's heavy slash became gentle.
The second layer requires non-lethal attacks to be effective.
Swish--
The Death Knell could not toll, but the blade's cutting power was effective. The demon, of course, was unaware of the contract's rules and acted solely on instinct, Yuki's trap.
"Keep up, hold on tight to Hiyori, keep pace, don't stop."
The two passed each other, and Yuki continued walking straight towards the Tyrant at the front. The tyrant seemed to have noticed the problem and was manipulating him into the wall, determined to take at least one person with him.
But the Tyrant was powerful after all, and he was not as easy to control as Hayasaka Ai. He struggled, but only his left shoulder hit the wall.
The fog was as thick as swamp, and more baby arms stretched out, like dark lines, pulling him deeper into the swamp.
An arm reached out from the corridor in front of Yuki, like swaying seaweed, not only holding him but also climbing up Hiyori and Hayasaka Ai's calves behind him.
The blade sliced through, cleaving everything in two. Yuki realized he was falling behind and growled:
"Left front, 45 degrees, shotgun fire."
Hayasaka Ai was about to shoot at her feet, did not hesitate. Relying solely on instinct, she raised the muzzle of her gun, took a quick aim, and sounded the Death Knell.
Bang!!
Like a twelve-pounder infantry gun firing, hundreds of shot cleared the walls and ground; since Hayasaka Ai couldn't see it, they simply bombarded it.
With his path cleared, Yuki suddenly accelerated, took a step forward, and with a backhand slash, severed dozens of infant arms. He then reached out, tore open the 'skin cover,' and pulled the Tyrant out from inside.
Suddenly the Tyrant was plunged back into darkness, but the heavy breathing of the man beside him could be heard, as if he had almost lost his breath.
But Yuki didn't have time to comfort him at that moment; she quickly glanced around.
Baby arms stretched out from the floor, ceiling, and both sides of the corridor, densely packed, and based on the direction they stretched out, the Demon Eye could roughly pinpoint the location of several people.
With an endless supply of arms, relying on oneself to provide cover was not only inefficient but also made it impossible to leave the corridor. Fortunately, each teammate remained calm despite the panic.
Despite the immense pressure, they continued to advance at a constant speed as ordered, which greatly reduced Yuki's computational workload while maintaining the same speed.
Calculate, think, report points.
"Stick to my back and walk backwards. Seven meters ahead, Incendiary Bullets."
Bang! Bang!
The Tyrant demonstrated the qualities of a veteran player; even with his breathing not yet back to normal, he was still able to accurately shoot according to Yuki's instructions.
Flames erupted Hayasaka Ai and the other person, but there was no light in the black mist; only the arms that had blocked their path were burned to ashes.
It works.
Yuki turned his head and continued to lead the way, his back to the crowd, his mind racing with calculations.
Exploring a hundred meters deeper, the speed of Hayasaka Ai and her companion, the distance between themselves and the Tyrant, the speed at which those arms extended...
"Eight meters ahead, thirty degrees upwards, Storm Bullet."
Gunshots rang out again, and a sharp blade grazed past Hayasaka Ai's head, severing arms one after another.
The Tyrant couldn't see the true blind firing, Yuki didn't even look; he only needed to calculate the blind firing. With the contract in place, it didn't matter if he miscalculated, since the Tyrant couldn't possibly launch a fatal shot anyway.
The fact that Shiina Hiyori came first is also deliberate; she's just an ordinary person, and according to the rules, any attack from the Tyrant can be classified as 'fatal,' greatly increasing the margin for error.
But Yuki made no calculation errors; like a precise clock, he used the Demon Eye to clear a path while simultaneously simulating the entire corridor in his mind.
Where are my teammates? How many steps have they taken? How far did I travel with each step? And then I draw the following conclusions:
"Fifteen meters, it can't stop us."
Yuki's abilities go beyond just having eyes; he moves at a steady pace, updating the information in his mind with each step.
10 meters, 9 meters, 7 meters...
If you don't take drastic measures soon, I'm leaving the building. It's only been twenty minutes; that's far from the result you wanted.
Like someone eagerly anticipating a game of chess, he waited patiently for his opponent to make a move. The fog ahead grew thicker, and a black arm was gathering. Yuki gently patted the Tyrant's thigh.
"Prepare to charge!"
The two instantly switched positions, with the Tyrant clearing the way. The man wearing a gas mask couldn't see anything, only raising one of his two guns and lowering the other.
If you can't see it, then fire.
When Yuki the second shot, he had already pulled the trigger.
Bang bang bang bang...
Gunfire continued. Using the previous guidance, he roughly understood the enemy's location and quickened his pace to begin his sprint.
As soon as he moved, Hayasaka Ai and Shiina Hiyori quickened their pace, while Yuki began to charge backward, using his long sword to cut through the thorns and cover the two of them as they followed, his eyes darting around.
You won't let us leave easily, no matter where we are.
"Tyrant, bend down! Hayasaka, fire!"
Two orders were issued in quick succession, and the Death Knell tolled the moment the Tyrant bowed his head.
Bang!!
Like a thunderclap, the shot shattered the arms gathered at the exit, and Yuki's gaze froze. He moved forward, drawn by his intuition, and looked up at the ceiling.
An arm stretched out; the same black light was inconspicuous among the hundreds of arms, but the game prompts made him understand what it was.
Bloodline Object were discovered.
There was no transmutation reaction visible in the black mist, and Yuki didn't even consider what it was going to do, whether it would block the way or launch a precise attack on someone. He simply took a step forward and swung his sword.
A feeling of being locked on arose, Yuki instead went to meet it. Based on Hayasaka Ai's reaction just now, some things could no longer be considered gambling.
"You think you got a great deal?"
Unable to unleash its attack, beneath the gray mist, an octopus clung to Yuki, bound by a pre-arranged contract:
It cannot attack Hayasaka Ai and Mai Sakurajima.
Swish--
Yuki felt as if he had struck something, and when he reached out to grab it, he only managed to grasp three fingers.
Wow, it shrank really fast.
Her foot landed back on the ground, the blade traced an arc, severing all the infants' arms that had climbed up her legs, then she turned and ran back.
The enemy was startled and retreated; what were they waiting for if not to run?
Yuki caught up with Hayasaka Ai in a few strides. Her arms were already stained with blood, and her head was covered, yet she still wielded a knife in one hand and slashed at her feet while raising her gun in the other and firing forward.
Bang!!
The third Death Knell tolled, shattering the arm at the end of the corridor. The Tyrant was the first to rush out, vanishing instantly from Yuki's perception.
Just a few meters makes all the difference in space; Hiyori's calculations were indeed correct.
Yuki's spirits lifted, and he slashed away from the restraints on Hayasaka Ai's face. Back to back with her, almost pushing the two girls forward, he growled in a low voice, "Switch positions!"
Hayasaka Ai immediately moved to the front of the group. She and Mai Sakurajima were like two reactive armors, sandwiching Yuki and Hiyori in the middle, so that no matter which arm came out from, it couldn't attack.
This bargain is also a constraint!
Yuki resorted to shamelessness, retreating repeatedly, almost pushing the two girls backward, before finally pushing off with both legs and tumbling into the stairwell.
Thump--
The group tumbled together like sandwiches, losing their balance and rolling several times, but the black veil in front of them was instantly torn off, and the dim light of the corridor came into view again.
The stairwell door was wide open, and the hundred-meter-long devilish corridor was left behind. He turned his head and saw the Tyrant rushing downstairs to check if he could reach the first floor, but Yuki didn't need to look; he already knew the answer.
"They're finally out."
My wildly beating heart began to calm down, and just as I was about to turn my head, both hands were already pressed against my face.
"You're not allowed to turn around!"
Chapter Thirty-Four: I'll Increase Attack Speed (Second Update)
Having just passed through the Devil's Corridor, Yuki was quite stressed in his arms, but thankfully his hands were still white and soft.
Hayasaka Ai Shiina Hiyori were a step too late; Yuki and already knew why the two of them were reacting so strongly.
Cutting open the leather sheath was entirely by feel. Yuki wasn't exactly a sword saint, and while he was making the cut, he also accidentally cut open the clothes. So, with a quick glance, he saw the torn clothes and things he shouldn't have seen.
The two sat embracing like ducks, chest to chest, except one was real and the other was fake.
"What's wrong?" the Tyrant's voice rang out from downstairs.
"It's nothing, just keep watch on the first floor, no need to come up," Yuki replied subconsciously, then didn't know which way to turn his head.
Because in front of him was Mai Sakurajima, who was clinging to him like a koala, her long legs wrapped around his waist, her eyes blinking rapidly, still gripped by fear.
The senior student reacted a little slowly, raised her eyebrows, and then poked her head out from Yuki's shoulder, her face immediately turning red.
She saw Shiina Hiyori, her dress torn in two, tightly embracing Hayasaka Ai, whose dress was also open. The blonde girl, no longer the ice sculpture, was gritting her teeth, her face filled with shame and indignation.
"You idiot, you did this on purpose, didn't you?!"
"No way, it's already amazing that I didn't cut them." Yuki shouted his wish. He wasn't Slaanesh's chosen one, and in that state just now, he didn't have the energy to do anything reckless.
It was indeed a misunderstanding, but it was just a coincidence that left the two of them speechless. Mai Sakurajima nodded subconsciously, her expression gradually becoming strange.
Hiyori is one thing, but Hayasaka rarely shows such an interesting expression.
"You... consider this a genuine expression of emotion?"
"Hey, I don't need to act at a time like this, and you, don't take this opportunity to turn your head away." Hayasaka Ai reached out and Yuki down on Yuuki, who was turning his head, then faced Mai, who had a strange Mai Sakurajima on her face.
"Senior, you have no right to criticize me. Holding him so tightly, it can't just be because you're scared, right?"
A slight twitch appeared between her brows, as if something had been touched. Mai Sakurajima was about to retort when she saw Hayasaka Ai give her an ambiguous look.
"If you keep giving him perks, he'll be so happy he won't be able to move. Will he even be able to clear dungeons?"
Mai Sakurajima didn't react for a moment. She looked down and realized that she was riding on Yuki. Because she was looking up, Yuuki's head was buried in her chest.
She jumped up very quickly and looked at the man with a regretful expression.
"Fine, you're taking advantage of me again."
"I didn't do anything, it was my senior who hugged me so tightly." Yuki spread his hands and blinked innocently.
Mai Sakurajima's lips twitched slightly; she finally understood Hayasaka Ai's mindset. Glancing at the blonde girl's amused expression out of the corner of her eye, she almost lost her composure.