"Damn it!"
Mountain Man could not dodge in time and could only turn aside as far as possible, but the long staff came at him like Gungnir, scraping across the plating of his Exoskeleton Armor and shattering the armor over his ribs with a clang.
Struck so suddenly while moving at extreme speed, Mountain Man lost his balance and crashed heavily to the ground. He bounced several times like a ball, sliding all the way to the edge of the Wooded Belt before stopping.
Within the Wooded Belt, Night-Walking Species crawled out like sludge, but just as they were about to encroach upon him, they sensed the presence of the Wrathful Angel and the Grinning Angels. Trembling, they retreated and huddled deep within the Wooded Belt, watching Mountain Man from far away with eyes full of fanaticism and longing.
To any Night-Walking Species, the power of ashes was no different from divine nectar. How could they possibly not want it?
But there was nothing they could do. Their standing was too low. Faced with the Angel Sculptures, they could only instinctively watch from afar, as lowly as dirt and dust.
Mountain Man struggled to his feet. Beneath his faceplate, the Exoskeleton Armor's self-checks beeped away amid the blaring damage alarms, but he could not spare the time to check its condition and chose to keep charging...
At this hour, rain poured down over the Campus and fierce winds howled. Darkness and storm clouds shrouded the sky, while waves of leaves rustled within the Wooded Belt. Mountain Man alone raced along the Pebble Road, like someone desperately running across a lonely island...
Some blue liquid dripped from the damaged parts of the Exoskeleton Armor, breaking apart in the wind into fine blue powder...
Mountain Man ran more and more slowly, about