Chapter 155

R-a - Chapter 155 (Turns out, this chapter took forever to finish. Writing be like that, sometimes :S) (In editing - v2)

‘Oh man, this was definitely not part of the plan.’ Shin’s thoughts were thrown asunder as he smashed into the back of the aquarium, his eyes blurring from the water around him. His Ivory Skin Leather Armor absorbed most of the impact, protecting him from injury. 

The moment he arrived with Number 6, a huge blow had slammed into his arm, sending him flying. His Melding Plate Arm had then grown numb as it sustained a huge amount of damage, a long, clean cut nearly slicing all the way through it. If it had cut just a couple of inches longer, it would’ve dug into his shoulder. 

‘Damn it!’ Shin winced as he tried to shift his arm, glaring at the metal appendage. The damage it had taken had proven to be too much, causing it to shut down. He would have to repair it later if he wanted it to work again. 

At the same time, a feeling of shock rocked Shin’s Soul. This Artifact was inherently tied to his body and Soul, and when it took a sizable amount of damage, he would get hit with feelings of intense shock and pain. 

Micheal seemed like he was able to take anything with ease, but for Shin, this was a shocking experience that almost directly made him fall unconscious. The world fluttered around him as he struggled to hold on, trying to fight his way through the pain. 

‘I. Will. Not. Be. A. Burden.’ Throughout all of this, Shin bitterly repeated a mantra over and over in his head, his eyes blazing as he refused to back down. The pain slammed against him time and time again, all in a matter of seconds, but Shin held on steadily, eventually managing to hold on. 

The struggle was fierce, and it was far from over for his mind. But Shin had recovered enough to regain awareness of the things around him. 

Luckily, Shin had kept holding his breath, doing his best to avoid breathing in any water during the spate of a few seconds where this all took place. He was able to last longer than a typical human when it came to holding his breath, thanks to his Ki, but he could still run out of breath as he had already experienced. 

“Are you trying to drown me? Interesting, if ineffective.” Number 6’s words carried through the water, imbued with Ki to give them sound as he looked over at Shin, his head tilted to the side. As the warrior spoke, a clear, glass door opened up right next to him. 

‘Crap!’ Shin’s eyes widened when he saw this. His few seconds of being frozen had cost him the time he needed for his attack. 

The entire plan he was working with only had a single requirement. He needed to get Number 6 into this aquarium for enough time to shoot. 

“Wait!” Shin blurted out loud, his eyes glowing with Ki as he looked at Number 6 and the area near him searchingly. 

Number 6 paused and glanced back at Shin. The glass-door-portal the elite Numbers warrior had spawned was cracked open, causing water to spill out from it, but not enough to make a difference yet. 

As Number 6 froze for a split moment, Shin did the only thing he could think up on the spot. 

“Hiyaaaa! Wuuuaaah!” Shim mimed what he imagined martial artists sounded like as he raised his arm and one of his legs in a dramatic pose. 

Number 6 blinked, his gaze piercing through the water to observe Shin instead of leaving the aquarium immediately. 

Shin knew very little about this warrior. Most of what he got was from Micheal, or something he had observed himself. 

And one thing he had learned was that Number 6 seemed to be obsessed with martial arts. When Sophia and him clashed back on a rooftop several days ago, the man had purposefully held back in order to test her and observe her skills. 

For a sparse couple of seconds, Number 6 waited to see what Shin was going to do. 

And in that time…

In an almost comically fast motion, Shin dropped his martial art stance and pulled his Soul Pistol from his Spatial Ring. His hands were remarkably steady as he raised his Soul Pistol, aiming it with eyes of steel. 

He immediately fired it. In the same instance, he activated his Expand Ability, causing the bullet he shot to swell to the size of a bowling ball in a split second. 

“Hmph.” While Shin couldn’t see beyond Number 6’s masked face, he could feel the derision present in the man’s snort. Literally, the man seemed to be able to project some of his emotions in the wave of Ki he spread to communicate underwater. Shin had no idea how he did it. 

Number 6’s spear fluttered through the air, well, the water, as he brought it up in a parrying stance. However, the man paused as he watched the bullet blast through the water. Because Shin had made it larger, it had slowed down, but in the end, it was still a bullet. It moved extremely quickly, crossing a dozen meters in split seconds. 

The bullet shot towards Number and then…

Shot past him, missing completely. 

“Fool.” Number 6 left out another snort as he shook his head. His free hand reached out, opening up the glass door portal as he prepared to leave to avoid drowning. 

His gaze has never lost sight of Shin as Shin attacked… well, that had been the Spear Tiger’s plan, anyway. But right as Shin fired his gun, he had disappeared from Number 6’s vision. 

When Number 6 noticed this, an unsettled feeling appeared in his heart, as if something was wrong. He instantly reached the conclusion that he needed to get away, right now. 

Unfortunately for Number 6… 

Just as his hand touched the glass door, an explosion of Elemental Lightning cascaded about the aquarium. With water as its medium, this Elemental Lightning spread itself about, bouncing off the nigh-invincible walls as it looked for a place to displace its charge. It vaporized much of the normal water, dissipating it in a heartbeat. 

And that Elemental Lightning eventually settled on a location, finding its discharge point. 

Number 6’s body. 

Outside the water tank, Shin’s breath wheezed in and out of him as he shook off the water that soaked him, staring at the aquarium. He was currently hiding in the corner of the room, watching the white steam cover his sight. 

On this same floor, he could hear the sounds of battle exploding forth in another room as Executive Riana and the Godfather Organization battled against the remaining Numbers on this floor. 

Shin used his bracelet Artifact, his eyes narrowing as he cast his senses towards the water tank. Faintly, he could detect a source of energy in the tank, indicating that Number 6 wasn’t dead. 

‘Wow, Micheal even managed to guess this too.’ Shin watched as the superheated steam gradually faded.

When Shin had fired his gun, he hadn’t aimed it at Number 6. 

Instead, he’d aimed it at the three boxes he had tied down in the aquarium when he first arrived here.

According to Micheal, these were called ‘Static Light Boxes’. Micheal said he’d made good use of them before, and that they should prove useful if placed in an area underwater. 

Unless they were right next to their target, they wouldn’t cause fatal injuries, Micheal had claimed. They would, however, be able to shock and temporarily stun anyone that came into contact with them. The water would act as an electrical conductor, and, for Elemental Lightning, would boost its potency. 

Even if Number 6 had been boosted in power by a Permanent Nest Core, Micheal had described the Elemental Lightning as a power that required training and awareness to resist. Here on the First Layer, even the strongest would still be temporarily stunned if enveloped in water. Only, most warriors wouldn’t allow that to happen in the first place. 

With only a single second’s pause to let the heated steam fade, Shin teleported back into the tank, his Soul Pistol at the ready. He warped in just a couple of meters away from the source of energy he’d detected, holding his gun tight. 

The fog had faded enough to reveal the bedraggled figure of Number 6 lying on the floor. His armor was steaming, while the mask he wore was now a burnt mess. It looked like it had protected most of his body, but not enough to block the attack. Micheal’s assessment of the level of gear down here had been right again. 

“Well, that’s that.” Shin muttered as he cocked his Soul Pistol and aimed it carefully. He had no intentions of pontificating or gloating. After all, what if Number 6 recovered and attacked? 

Before he fired, however, Number 6’s voice rang out, dragging on in ragged gasps, 

“You have… no… honor…” The powerful warrior’s body shook as he sought to stand, his hands trembling in a mix of rage and as a result of the aftereffects of the Elemental Lightning explosion. 

Shin shrugged nonchalantly as the finished aiming, his eyes hardening, 

“Honor is for fools.” 

He fired, Expanding his bullet in the same motion.

Without fanfare, the bullet directly smashed into Number 6’s mask. Whatever Defensive Artifacts the man had, whatever Abilities he had, they weren’t enough to stop a literal cannonball to the face from point-blank range. 

Just like that, Number 6 died.

.

—-Points Obtained—-

Points Gained: 30,276

.

‘It’s less Points than I thought I’d get.’ Shin’s first thought was a complaint as he fell down to the ground in a heap, clutching at his aching head and arm in turn. His eyes swam as he took several breaths, gathering himself. He winced several times, still trying to shake off the pain.

He focused on the pain for a few seconds, trying to take his mind off the fact that he had just mercilessly killed another human being. 

In the meantime, another screen popped up, informing him of a second thing he’d gained. 

.

—-Reward Obtained—-

Complete Soul Enrichment 

.

‘Huh? Is this the Nest Core thing Micheal talked about? Status!’ Shin eyed it, frowning unintentionally. 

.

— - Status — -

Name: Shin Hopefell

Points: 52,882

Race: Human

Physique: 1 Star 

Soul Quality: 2 Stars

Age: 18

- Stats -

Strength - 29

Endurance - 25

Recovery - 24

Soul - 16 -> 25

Abilities - (3/7)

Warping Phaser Type

Ki Cultivator (Mortal Tier - Middle)

Expand

.

Nestled just below the 1 Star Physique he’d gained, after Micheal showed him how to, was a gleaming, ‘2 Stars’ rating for Shin’s newest stat, ‘Soul Quality.’

Alongside that, Shin could feel several keen changes in the world around him, and himself, as his Soul stat exploded upward, gaining a full 9 points in an instant. 

A rush of feelings came upon him as his senses suddenly become much stronger and his perception of time increased. A giddy feeling of exultation and glee, a rush of happy feelings that were hard to ignore flooded his body and mind with warmth. It was an incredible feeling, as if his entire being had grown incredibly cozy. 

If Shin had to describe how it felt to grow his Soul stat and Soul Quality by such a huge margin all at once, it could only be called pure bliss. 

The damage and shock to his Soul gradually disappeared into nothingness, fading away as Shin’s rapid growth to his Soul stat, and rapid growth to his Soul Quality, overwhelmed whatever damage he had taken. 

Shin didn’t let the pleasure overwhelm him, however, as he noticed that he didn’t seem to have obtained the main, powerful boost that Number 6 had from the Permanent Nest Core. He’d only gotten the less powerful, but permanent effects from destroying multiple Nest Cores. 

He was just about to start adjusting his injured Artifact arm and calm his rather confused feelings down when… 

Shin shivered as his heart dropped. His eyes flicked to the right as the world around him… flickered…

Flickered with warm, golden light, accompanied by a voice tinged loss and sadness as, before Shin’s eyes, a nearby window was slashed into pieces. 

“Six…”

The speaker had short, blonde hair and a manly looking face. He wore a full set of shining, metal armor and wielded a glowing longsword in his hand, looking every bit the brave hero as he cut his way into the skyscraper. 

What caught Shin’s attention, however, wasn’t the man's imposing figure or powerful armor. 

Instead, it was the unbelievably powerful Aura the man unleashed, full of golden light that seemed to push back and overcome anything in its path. It was so powerful Shin felt that, if he had still been injured, he would’ve fallen unconscious without a choice, overwhelmed. 

Garen looked at Number 6’s body, and then slowly looked up at Shin. 

In that tiny moment, Shin’s heart plummeted as a type of sixth sense warned him. 

If he did not move, he was going to die. 

Without even thinking about it, Shin teleported away, warping down to the lower floors as he went to check on Sophia. 

If he had still been present, watching in the room, he would’ve seen Garen move so quickly it almost seemed to be teleportation, arriving right where Shin was just a split second after Shin warped away. 

Instead of wildly attacking in rage, Number 1 only sighed, catching Number 6’s body and carefully laying it down on the ground. All around, on the floor, the sounds of battle faded away as all of the participants became aware of the rather horrifying presence that Number 1 was giving off. 

“Rest easy, now, my friend.” Number 1 covered Number 6’s eyes and slowly stood up, a deep-seated, black anger filling his voice, 

“I will finish what we started.” 

.