“Puh! Puh! Dammit, where on earth did this freak crawl out from?!”
A man spat out the dirt in his mouth as he lay prone on the ground, swearing loudly.
Just then, the sound of rushing wind echoed beside him. The man snapped his head up only to see the expressionless girl looking down at him from above.
The man immediately scrambled backward in a roll and stood up. “Dammit! You freak, everyone attack together!”
However, no one responded to him.
“...”
Shulim stared at him quietly.
“You’re already the last one.”
The man looked around blankly, only to realize that everyone else had collapsed.
“You—”
Thud!
Intense drowsiness instantly overwhelmed all his emotions. The man's eyes lost focus, and he collapsed stiff as a board.
...
With the collapse of the final hidden sentry, all enemies on the surface had been completely wiped out.
“Next... it’s time to head underground.”
Boom—!!!
A thunderous blast echoed from inside the warehouse building.
Shulim spun around rapidly.
Boom—!!!
Another massive explosion rang out, and a huge chunk of the pristine warehouse building instantly collapsed.
“Is it you... the rat who dared to make a move against me?!”
An astonishing, oppressive aura instantly enveloped Shulim's entire body.
She looked up to see a middle-aged man gripping a mithril longsword, standing on the edge of the collapsed roof. His gaze was locked firmly onto her.
Through the ruined gaps in the warehouse building, she could see a gaping hole blasted through the floor inside.
Did this man smash right through the floor from below...?
Silabein glared down at Shulim, his gaze incredibly cold and dripping with murderous intent. Blood continued to pour from his thigh. For an injury of this severity, he normally could have stopped the bleeding simply by controlling his muscles, but he couldn't do that now. If he didn't use the constant sting of pain to keep himself alert, the overwhelmingly powerful wave of drowsiness would instantly pierce his line of defense.
The members underground had already been wiped out. If he fell too, the entire organization would be wiped from history tonight.
“...I see. You forced yourself to resist it using the stimulus of pain and sheer willpower?”
“...”
Silabein’s eyes were freezing cold. “Are those your last words?”
Boom—!!!
Another corner of the warehouse building collapsed, and in that exact fraction of a second, Shulim's figure was sent flying backward at high speed.
She smashed through several crates lined up along the pier before finally grinding to a halt deep inside one of them.
“Cough, cough... Cough!”
A mouthful of blood trickled down the corner of her mouth. Disregarding her injuries, Shulim's eyes grew calmer and calmer. She raised her head, her gaze piercing through the dust kicked up along her path of flight, locking onto the spot where she had been standing just moments ago.
“...B-Class.”
...
Silabein glanced at the mithril sword in his hand. “She blocked it...?”
Suddenly, another intense wave of drowsiness washed over him. He had no choice but to bite down hard on the tip of his tongue, using the sharp spike of pain to drive back the sleepiness.
“Dammit! Has my condition really degraded this much? Under normal circumstances, someone like her could never have blocked that!”
Suddenly, he snapped his head up to look ahead.
“She’s coming!”
Boom!
The moment the words left his mouth, a rapidly spinning Storm Spear arrived right before his face.
Clang—!
The mithril sword drew a silver trail across the pitch-black night, like a crescent moon rising out of nowhere.
Boom!
With just a single slash, the Storm Spear was shattered to pieces. The dispersing gale sent nearby debris swirling through the air, yet it failed to budge Silabein even an inch.
“Don't underestimate me, brat!!!”
Boom—!!!
Silabein charged forward like a high-speed behemoth, flattening every obstacle in his path. In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Shulim.
Watching the mithril sword slice toward her neck at blinding speed, Shulim had no choice but to raise her own mithril sword to block once more.
The air seemed to burst with a sharp pop, and Shulim's figure was once again sent hurtling back in a straight line, crashing directly into the canal and kicking up a spray of water several meters high.
...
“Guh...”
A large amount of river water rushed into her lungs. Shulim quickly held her breath. Peering through the blurry surface of the water, she could make out a faint silhouette waiting for her on the riverbank.
“...”
There was very little air left in her lungs.
Without hesitation, Shulim spent every remaining scrap of air to chant the incantation for a spell.
“【ᛏᚠᛞᚺᛚᛜᛁᛋᚢᛜᛣᛃᛗᛡᛁᚾᛗᛚᚪᛜᛖᛄᚠᚳᛜᚹᚠᛓᛃᛖᛜᛃᚾᚪᛜᛚᚠᚲᛃᛜᛣᚢᚾᛜᛣᛃᛗᛒ】”
“Water Breathing!”
At the very last moment before her air was completely depleted, the spell successfully activated.
A thin film of air enveloped her entire body, and the suffocating feeling of drowning instantly vanished.
Shulim gasped greedily, allowing air to fill her lungs once more.
Once she caught her breath, she looked toward the surface of the water again. He was still waiting on the riverbank.
Taking advantage of the brief window before her opponent realized she was fine and dove in to pursue her, Shulim immediately began analyzing her current situation.
...I miscalculated. I didn't expect a B-Class to be this powerful, to actually force himself to resist the Dragon's Dream Incense through sheer willpower.
Most crucially, even though his condition had severely degraded due to the Dragon's Dream Incense, Shulim still couldn't even withstand a single strike from him.
We are only separated by a single class...
This massive disparity in strength suddenly made Shulim understand why practitioners were referred to as high-ranking powerhouses starting from B-Class, rather than C-Class.
The gap between C-Class and B-Class was simply too vast!
They were practically existing in two completely different dimensions.
But...
Shulim tightened her grip on her wand and mithril sword.
I must fight!
This is my only chance.
I must defeat him here, once and for all!!!
Shulim's eyes grew incredibly resolved.
...
“...”
On the riverbank.
Silabein frowned deeply, staring intently at the canal. He had been tracking Shulim's location this entire time, so he could feel that she hadn't moved from the bottom of the river. He originally assumed she would try to swim underwater to another location before coming ashore, which would allow him to deliver a fatal blow the moment she surfaced.
However, the current situation was somewhat out of his expectations...
“Did she drown?”
“No, impossible!”
Just as Silabein was wondering what on earth had happened to Shulim, the river's surface before him suddenly began to churn violently.
“!??”
Instantly sensing danger, Silabein leaped backward with a massive bound.
Rumble—!!!
The moment he leapt away from the bank, a colossal wave resembling a tsunami surged from the river's surface onto the pier.
In the blink of an eye, nearly the entire pier was submerged, and the cargo previously stored there was swept away and scattered.
The entire pier was left in absolute disarray...
Splash!
The wave hadn't hit Silabein directly, but because the entire pier was flooded, he had no choice but to stand in the water.
“...Triple-affinity.”
Silabein stared coldly toward the river. What had just transpired allowed him to form a more accurate assessment of Shulim's true strength.
Whoosh...
The floodwater dragged a large amount of debris from the pier back into the canal, and a figure slowly rose from the river's surface.
She walked upon the water, locking eyes with Silabein from afar.
Rate on N.U.
