Scarface, who understood the situation, hurriedly organized the players near him to go the Southwestern wall, attempting a blockade.
Yet, Jack had been too close and too fast. He had arrived near those stack of boxes. Jack spun his body, his swords smashed aside all the enemies’ weapons before he performed a roundhouse kick, driving his besiegers back with a serious headache.
He then sent a quick slash at one of the boxes. A damage number appeared as well as an HP bar. The boxes were destructible. Without further ado, Jack used his burst slashes. The boxes abruptly turned into cut cartons, revealing a small glass window behind them.
Scarface had modified this warehouse into an enclosed space with just one exit and almost no other opening except that one small mandatory window. He never expected Jack to find out about that small window. He had placed boxes there intentionally to hide that window.
“F*ck! Should have boarded that window instead!” Scarface cursed. But then again, the boarded planks might easily get crushed to pieces by Jack’s strength as well.
“Do not think you can flee…!” Grimclaw came from the side. He swung his halberd wildly with full strength. The afterimages of the swings made it look as if a hurricane was coming at Jack.
“Taste my Tearing Twister!” Grimclaw exclaimed.
Jack watched the martial-art-created hurricane as it approached. The hurricane seemed chaotic, but Jack could feel the mana flowing through the attack. He felt the part where there was almost no mana, the center of the attack, the eye of the hurricane.
Jack thrust out. His thrust was so straight that his sword-light created one straight line. It was another sword art Domon had taught him, One Word Thrust. A companion art with the One Word Slash that Domon had exhibited during the fight with the undead swarm. But Jack’s move, of course, wasn’t fueled by mana manipulation since he had not reached that stage yet. The thrust though, was still as deadly as it was accurate despite its simplicity. It struck the eye of the hurricane, which was Grimclaw’s hand that was holding the halberd.
The hurricane art was abruptly broken. Grimclaw recoiled with a painful yell. His hand almost let go of his halberd.
Jack felt another bullet hitting his body. His HP bar was below half now. He couldn’t afford to hang around and continue playing with the people here. Warpath and Stonecleave were also closing in, with Red Death on their heels.
Jack’s and Red Death’s eyes met for a brief second before Jack turned back and dove at the small window. His two swords thrust out, breaking the glass before his body shot through. He fell to the ground and rolled. He stood back up and found that he was already outside.
Some players and native soldiers outside saw him breaking through. He had been expelled from Death Associates before the fight started in the warehouse. He was no longer a member and his status was now marked as an enemy. The native soldiers came running soon.
Scarface never expected Jack to find out about the secret window, hence he didn’t arrange any blockage outside. But even if he did, it would still be difficult to hold Jack down since it was no longer an enclosed space.
Jack hurriedly drank a healing potion during the reprieve, before hurriedly running towards the nearest wall. He still could not use his skills and spells. He didn’t want to waste time searching for the artifact. It was too risky.
Jack’s speed combined with his Eight Diagram Illusory Steps, gave him an easy time running while evading through the incoming native soldiers. Once he was nearby the wall, he jumped.
His super jump brought him halfway up. He backhand stabbed his Storm Breaker into the wall for an anchor. He continued running up as he backhand stabbed his other sword to the wall as well. As if using ice axes, his two swords stabbed one after another while continued running up the wall acrobatically.
“Shit! It is like looking at a weird monkey with climbing tools,” uttered one of the players who was watching from below.
Some ranged players sent their shots at Jack. Jack ignored them completely, relying on his high defense and HP to tank through the climb. He finally reached the top, which he found was facing the large river. He could see some players and native soldiers coming at him from both sides of the wall.
Without hesitation, he leaped out of the wall and dove into the river.
Scarface and the others, after running for a while, came to the wall where Jack leaped from. They looked down at the water below. No sign of Jack.
“Damn!” Scarface cursed as he hit his fist on the wall fence. “How can we still let him escape after all that?!”
This was such a pity, Scarface thought. If they had managed to kill Jack here, it would have redeemed their failures. The coalition members would see them in a new light and probably give them the respect they deserved again.
“Second boss won’t be happy about this,” Stonecleave said.
“That dude just has to show up when boss White Death and Blue Death was out on a quest,” Earmouth added.
Scarface didn’t comment. He just looked at the water with a turmoil heart. After some while, he took a deep breath and exhaled. Things had happened, there was no need to dwell on the past. He looked over to his side. Red Death was standing some distance away. She was also looking over from the wall to the river. Scarface came to her.
When he was beside her, he asked, “Why are you pulling your punches?”
“I didn’t,” Red Death replied.
Scarface looked at her for a bit, her expression didn’t change. “I’ve known you for a while. That move of yours, Twin Dragon Stabs, should have hit faster than just now…”
“… I am not feeling well,” Red Death said.
“That’s a pity. He wouldn’t have been able to escape otherwise,” Scarface said.
Red Death didn’t say anything further.
Another pair of eyes were watching her from afar. It was Yellow Death’s.
*
Underneath the water, Jack discovered what John had suspected after he cast the Living Water Prison, that he could breathe just fine underwater.
There were some games where players started losing breath and then their HP if spending too long time underwater. There were also games that players were completely fine underwater. Guess Wilted and her partner had opted for the latter version when making Second World.
Jack was not complaining. He had been able to remain under the water indefinitely because of that. He could even drink his healing potion underwater. Weird, but he was again not complaining. He continued swimming away from Death Associates’ headquarters.
Several small fishes were swimming around him.
Hope there was no water monster, he prayed within. As if defying his prayer, some red dots appeared on his radar, coming fast at him.
‘Shit! Can I fight underwater?’ He asked Peniel in his mind. The fairy had retreated into her hidden dimension when Jack plunged into the water.
‘You can. You can also use skills and spells. You should be out of the artifact’s sphere of influence by now,’ Peniel answered.
‘Why didn’t you come out? You can breathe find underwater as well, right?’
‘I can, but I don’t want to.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t want to get wet,’ Peniel answered.
Jack didn’t know what to say to that. He just readied his weapon as he tried to get into a fighting pose, which was weird, considering he was floating in the water.
The hostiles came into view already. There were three of them, they looked like water snakes. Jack used his Inspect.
*
Stinging Eel (Basic monster, Aquatic), level 35
HP: 18,000
*
‘Easy,’ Jack thought. The eels were swimming towards him. Jack slashed his sword down. The eels picked up speed and dodged his slash. They swam to his back. Jack whirled back, but he couldn’t do it as fast as he wanted. His foot was not touching anything. Because of his slow movement, the eels bit his back. Jack felt the pain as he lost some HP.
‘Damn! This underwater fight is difficult. Will need some practice,’ he said.
He kept on slashing but continued to miss his targets. Getting annoyed, Jack replaced his left-hand sword with his staff. He cast Energy Bolts. Felt good to be able to cast spells again.
The bolts chased after the eels and hit them. When the eels came back to him again, he cast Ice Ring, freezing one of the three. Unable to move, Jack slashed the eel while ignoring the other two who continued biting him. Their damages were small.
Seeing Jack ignore their attacks, the eels used their skills. Electricity covered their bodies as they bit, dealing lightning damage. Jack, however, had high lightning resistance due to Lightning God Blessing. The two could do nothing as Jack slashed their frozen friend to death.
Jack then cast Magic Bind, catching another eel and repeating his bully.
When only one was left, Jack reequipped two swords again.
‘Now, let’s use you for practice,’ Jack said.
