Solar Mist’s eyes brightened up like new years eve fireworks at Felix falling down with his legs and hands flailing randomly. Yet, what delighted him the most was Felix’s screams.
Zoe and the spectators all had their hands clutched above their heads, not daring to believe that Felix after everything he had been through in the game was actually going to die in such an anticlimactic manner!
Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!…
“What in the god’s name am I even watching!!” gobsmacked, Zoe cried out loud at the sight of Felix getting covered by the dermal armor while falling mid-air towards the sharp spikes in the hole!!!
She wasn’t the only one dumbfounded by the sight, as the spectators, Solar Mist and especially Pure Muscle all had their mouths agape as well.
Smash!
Felix, who appeared like a giant statue made of rocks, slammed into the sharp spikes, sending metallic sparks all over the place. Yet, nothing much happened except for that.
His body didn’t get a single wound or even a scratch by those spikes. He was completely fine, which baffled him and Asna more than it did to the spectators.
‘Felix, did you bribe that bushy guerrilla in the game hall? Or is he your long lost brother?’ Asna asked in bewilderment.
‘F*ck off, don’t associate me with that guerrilla!’ Felix lifted his heavy hand with cold sweat on his back. That was truly a close shave. He totally forgot about the traps laying everywhere.
Before, he was relying too much on his infrared vision to spot those traps and avoid them. But now, he was running full commando without it!
It was natural that he would activate a trap sooner or later. He just never expected that he would actually get saved by an ability thrown at him to kill him.
‘Wait, why did it give me an armor instead of smashing into me?’ He thought to himself.
When he was being chased by it, he assumed that it was an offensive ability, meant to deal damage to him. Yet, instead, it gave him a dermal armor.
What’s the f*cking point?
This question was on everyone’s mind actually and not just Felix. Especially Solar Mist, who was about to lose his shit at such a twist.
Who could blame him though?
Felix was 99% dead or at least going to get heavily wounded from the fall. But now he was standing on the tips of the spikes like he was standing on solid ground! Forget about saving him from the fall, the armor even gave him extra assistance to get out of the hole!
Before he could even insult the somewhat embarrassed Pure Muscle, he saw Felix jump like a rocket from the hole and land on its other side.
“Thank you for the armor, Mr. Muscle.” Felix waved his hand in a playful manner and said, “I will wire you the agreed amount after the game.”
“Till then! Bye-bye!”
Felix turned around and continued his escape with almost the same speed, like the heavy-weight of the armor wasn’t troubling him at all.
Pure Muscle’s eyebrows twitched at such a sight. It was obvious he planned to use this technique to capture Felix or at least slow him down. Yet, it backfired on his face in public view.
Solar Mist removed his glasses and tightened his grip until they broke. Yet, his murderous eyes never left Felix’s back.
Immediately after he saw that Felix was gone, he gave Pure Muscle a dirty glance and snapped his finger. He didn’t have time to deal with Pure Muscle’s screw up.
Spirit Visage never stopped chasing after Felix, and Solar Mist wasn’t going to let himself be left behind with this buffoon.
Teaching him how to not drop the ball? Solar Mist scoffed at what Pure Muscle said before. He messed up way harder than anyone ever could.
Phew!
A carpet made of flame was created under his feet and starting to unroll itself until it reached the other side of the hole.
If it wasn’t a wide hole covering the entire path, he could have just went around it. Sadly, he could only use his *Fire Carpet* ability to help him out.
Immediately after stepping on the fire carpet, his feet brighter up with a red halo, entailing the automatic activation of his passive ability *Fire Marsh*.
“Try to catch up morons.” He gave them one last unfriendly glance and sprinted on the fire carpet, reaching the other side of the hole in a jiffy.
Phew!
Without slowing down his speed, he snapped his finger and the fire carpet disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
Pure Muscle stared at his back with a vicious glint. He actually just got insulted in the same breath as those weaklings behind him. He would rather prefer having getting insulted alone than being treated like this.
“Come here let me help you bypass the trap.” The vicious look he had was replaced with an indifferent one, as he ordered them.
Frightened, the players instead of approaching him, took a step back. Their gut feeling was warning them to do the exact opposite. Yet, it honestly didn’t even matter if they took a step back or a hundred.
One cold look from Pure Muscle made them approach him obediently. They hated the feeling of having their lives under others, but what could they do? If they disagreed with his wishes, he could easily ask the Queen to pop off their brain, on the basis that the contract conditions were broken.
“You first!” Pure Muscle gripped the head of one of the players, making him yelp in pain and fright.
Suddenly under the eyes of the spectators, he hurled the player in the air by his head, like a cannonball!
Thud! Crack!
His body smashed right into the cold metallic floor and rolled at least 6 times like a broken doll before stopping. The sound of his bones breaking was still resounding in the ears of the mortified other player before his head got clutched as well by Pure Muscle’s steel grip.
“Don’t worry Mr. Bloodish eyes, your landing won’t be as nasty as him.” Pure Muscle showed him a sadistic grin and said, “After all, I just had practice.”
“PUT ME DOWN YOU DEMO… AAAAAAA!!!” Before Bloodish Eyes finished saying his piece, he got thrown in the air as well.
Thud!
“Argh!”
Pure Muscle wasn’t lying to him, as he landed straight on the motionless body of the first player. That softened the landing a bit for him.
“Not bad.” Pure Muscle said, smiling. His anger was completely vented on those two poor souls.
“Dermal Armor!” Pure Muscle called out loud while jumping above the hole. His body just like before, started to be covered in grey stones.
Thud!
He landed on his feet and sprinted on the clustered sharp spikes before jumping out of the hole again, reaching the other side.
Without delaying any further, he pulled the conscious player by his collar and chased after the rest. His rocky hand gripped the poor lad so tight, his neck had veins protruding from it.
“L.e..t m..e g.o.” Breathless, the player said letter by letter while tapping his hand in surrender on Pure Muscle’s forearm.
“Oh.” Pure Muscle immediately dropped him after realizing that he was choking him.
“You better make yourself useful then.” He gave him a threatening look and continued his chase with a befuddled expression.
He didn’t want to admit it but he totally lost them. The moment they got out of his sight, there was no way he would be able to spot them inside this maze without assistance. His abilities weren’t really that helpful when it came to tracking others.
“Sir, you are heading the wrong way.” Bloodish Eyes murmured softy behind Pure Muscle. He didn’t have the guts to laugh at him for it.
“Oh? You know how to find them?” Pure Muscle suddenly stopped and ordered, “Don’t answer that, just lead the way.”
Bloodish Eyes didn’t even get the chance to brag about his tracking ability before he got shut down by Pure Muscle.
“Yes Sir.” With slumped shoulders, the player changed direction and sprinted with his head lowered.
Pure Muscle thought that he was upset. But in reality, the player was actually following red bright footsteps that only he could see by using his active ability *Predator Hunt*.
…
‘Damn it, that guerrilla took my armor away!’ Irritated, Flix cursed in his mind while looking behind his back. Immediately after, his eyes made contact with Solar Mist’s murderous eyes.
The prick was approaching him rapidly, as he kept surfing on a carpet made of flame. He wasn’t walking or sprinting, but literally surfing on fire, like he was riding an ocean wave!!
The carpet was continuously expanding in front and withdrawing from behind. keeping always a 5-meter size.
Felix knew for sure that was a technique combined from two abilities or probably even three at once! There was no way in hell that flame carpet was able to do that by itself.
Plus, the fact that Solar Mist started using it just now, instead of before, made it even obvious that it was a technique.
After all, techniques consumed energy like drinking water. If it wasn’t for so, bloodliners would start using only them in fights and not save them up as a final deadly trump card.
Whoosh, Boom!
Argh!
Felix couldn’t but groan in pain after a flaming crow exploded right behind his back. It wasn’t a direct attack, but the explosion managed to leave some red scorched marks on his back. His hoodie was completely torn apart.
This was the 4th crow that was sent in his direction. The first ones didn’t harm him at all since he had the dermal armor protecting him. However, now that it was gone, he was completely exposed to Solar Mist’s full assaults without any way to retaliate.
His energy was enough to let him throw only three bombs before fainting. There was no way in hell he would put himself in that position.
In addition, Spirit Visage was still following above him. He knew that he was merely waiting for him to stop for a couple of seconds to put down his illusion domains again.
Thus, he couldn’t stop or turn to fight Solar Mist. His situation was getting direr and direr. He knew it, the spectators knew it, Zoe knew it, and even Spirit Visage and Solar Mist knew it!
At this point, his only hope was to continue running until the game ends!
Whoosh, Boom!
“Landlord needs a miracle to survive.” Hopeless, Zoe shook her head at the sight of Felix staggering forward few steps, after his back was engulfed in flames of the explosion.
The spectators shared the same view as her. Even Felix’s fans began to lose faith and hope that he could turn this around.
They knew if Felix had enough energy, he would have destroyed those two by now. Sadly that was a big if.
Felix thought of the time he spent a hefty amount of energy to deal with the Terror Serpent, and regrets started to wash over him like a tide.
If only he gave up on the Terror Serpent and aimed straight for the legendary chest, he wouldn’t be in such a dire position. Alas, Felix wasn’t a prophet.
He had no idea that he would be found out by an alliance made of the strongest players in the game after him. He assumed before that at most he would end up meeting with one.
If that actually happened, 5% energy or 1% energy, he was confident in fighting his way through by relying only on his superstrength passive. If that didn’t work, he still could escape successfully.
Unfortunately, Spirit Visage and Solar Mist’s truly complemented their abilities well. One attacks and the other imposed everlasting pressure on him. Not letting him even stop to catch his breath.
Boom!
The sound of the explosion was heard loud and clear in Felix’s ears, as one crow exploded exactly one meter away from his head. His ears were ringing and bleeding, but his expression remained stoic.
His burnt back was pricking him with waves of pain. Yet, Felix merely gritted his teeth and carried on running at his top speed.
In his eyes, this pain compared to the torture he felt during his integrations phases wouldn’t even serve an appetizer. If they wanted to kill him, they need to step up their game!
‘What the hell is he made of! Fall already!! Fall!!’
Solar Mist expression kept getting uglier and uglier. His energy was getting dried up rapidly, yet his attacks, even with direct contacts still weren’t enough to finish the job. He just wanted to make him drop on his feet and Spirit Visage would carry on from thereon.
‘Mr. luke, Spirit Visage said that you need to capture him in the next 500 meters. His ethereal form can’t go beyond it. If you failed, He will be forced to return to his main body. ‘ The Queen’s voice was suddenly heard in Solar Mist’s mind.
Without a hint of surprise, he glanced at Spirit Visage, who was giving him a forced mild smile.
