Chapter 8: Endless Monsters, Endless Running
Atop a skyscraper somewhere.
Cold winds whistled through the tattered black robe, causing layers of fabric to billow.
A young woman with delicate, beautiful cheeks, whose skin was otherwise entirely hidden beneath the black robe, stood motionless on the parapet. Her frame was so thin she could have been torn apart by the gale at any moment, yet she remained perfectly still.
Her black garment flew upward, revealing the scene ahead and below.
Before her were three skeletal giants, each like a mobile tower, their bones emitting a cold luster similar to ceramic but of a vastly different material. Below, clusters of demonic beasts gathered in several locations, their crawling movements on the ground creating an unsettling, restless sound.
Assassin took a deep breath.
"—As expected—"
Assassin had been tracking the trajectory of the monster spawns all along, but starting from a certain point, she began to notice that if she ventured too deep in a particular direction, the fake Snowfield would generate monsters specifically for her.
This was clearly not right.
Therefore, Assassin immediately cast aside other thoughts and dashed in a straight line toward that direction. The result now lay before her eyes.
"—What on earth is in the northwest that you don't want me to see?"
As a giant's palm came swatting down with a rushing sound, Assassin was forced to move.
Her falling black robe acted like protective coloration, and Assassin herself transformed into a shadow slightly different from the "black shadows" below.
Her feet pushed off, stepping onto something solid.
In her wavering field of vision, a vast expanse of white appeared, as if she were dancing upon steep cliffs.
Assassin's sprint took place nearly ten stories up, maintaining a posture almost parallel to the ground below.
Before the giant could complete its attack, she leaped off that piece of bone, jumping onto the spine of another giant, and then used it as a road, creating a complex, three-dimensional movement akin to omnidirectional mobility gear.
Assassin utilized the super-high speed of her class, tracing a beautiful trajectory of evasion in the blink of an eye.
"[Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat (Frenzy Flash Shadow)]"
During this process, she also unleashed an attack. Without looking back, her hair extended automatically, transforming into blades that sliced at the bones.
However, when she checked back for the first time, she discovered that every strand of hair, which was strong enough to sever demonic beasts, left only shallow scratches behind.
'This hardness...'
Destruction by brute force was unrealistic, meaning Assassin was out of options. However, her speed was faster than the skeletons, so at the very least, she could run.
'I can't beat them, but I don't need to win; I just need to be faster than them'—either way, charging into the place the opponent didn't want her to go was already the predetermined course of action Assassin had decided upon.
She truly didn't want the previous generations of Hassans to see her in this immature state. If the leader of the Hundred Faces could see her now, only capable of blindly rushing forward, they would certainly be disillusioned by the past events where she competed on the same stage.
Maxing out her "Presence Concealment" and returning to the ground, Assassin began to lock onto the northwest and dash, only to find that several skeletal giants hadn't lost her trail. Was her skill in concealing her presence too poor? Although she really thought that for a moment, Assassin quickly realized something was wrong.
In the fake Snowfield, no matter how much she restrained her presence, it seemed ineffective. The entire surrounding environment refused to harmonize with Assassin.
It was astonishing. The effective level of Assassin's "Presence Concealment" had likely dropped to the point of near-extinction.
For some reason, this skill was almost unusable.
While determining her own situation, Assassin avoided the giants' consecutive attacks with the fundamentals of dodging while running; although she couldn't win, there was no immediate threat to her life until the moment she couldn't dodge anymore.
Through the corner of her eye, she could see their massive white skulls.
They could be considered targets possessing a head, but the [Phantasms
Computer] was difficult to convert for such a large skull.
'It feels like they'll never stop exploding...' although Assassin had seriously considered whether it would work or not, and thought about using that Noble Phantasm to turn the skull into an explosive, she hadn't actually done it in the end.
It was dropped.
This was due to another reason that was very serious for Assassin.
Due to her unwillingness to accept the magical energy of a demonic Master—that is, the Dead Apostle Jester—Assassin's magical energy was temporarily supplied by someone within the spirit base of the Saber, Richard.
Usually, the magical energy connection between the two sides was slender but very stable.
However, ever since being swept into the fake Snowfield, her magical energy link to that person—a connection that was too fragile and unofficial compared to a Master-Servant contract—had been severed.
Saber was not in this fake Snowfield. Assassin could only confirm this point.
His absence meant... Assassin did not have sufficient magical energy to constantly use her Noble Phantasm. Assassin's magical energy was also limited, decreasing with every bit she used.
If it dropped to a certain level, Assassin would vanish.
But Assassin could not vanish without uncovering the truth of the replica city. Therefore, Assassin could only keep running blindly.
Maintaining a posture of being chased by the skeletal giants, Assassin led a new batch of generated monsters, shifting about and jumping around. Only when she couldn't avoid them did she use [Delusional Heartbeat], which consumed less magical energy, to sever them with two or three attacks.
It was just like a gaming style where one drags a bunch of monsters to run the map, preparing to escape via extreme means like a portal at a specific location. In the area where Assassin was located, a stream of monsters continuously followed her, creating an extremely spectacular sight.
Among them were countless bizarrely shaped demonic beasts, black figures whose movement methods resembled sliding, and even the number of giant skeletons had unknowingly increased by one. At some unknown time, even black crows began circling the sky.
A long-distance runner dragged a pile of hate across the main street.
The only difference was... Assassin hadn't thought about an escape method at all. If she stopped, she would die.
Although she didn't know where the others swallowed by the black fog had gone, it didn't matter if they were there, and it didn't matter if they weren't. Only by using her own hands to resolve the problems she could not sit idly by and watch could she be called devout... all of the above were Assassin's views.
In other words, she was on a suicide run.
She trudged foolishly toward the northwest of the city, slowly but firmly approaching.
Was it luck, or was it misfortune...
At least up to this point, she was the one with the fastest progress.
There were still seventy-two minutes until the Zealot realized this was not a good thing.
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