Monster - Chapter 103
Chapter 103: Thriller Paradise - Angel
Saya McConaughey was dressed in a long, black, hooded robe. On her head, she wore a crown woven from thorns. The barbs growing from the crown pierced her forehead, and blood trickled down her face.
Blood was also streaming from her nostrils. Her deep blue eyes, which usually held a hint of playful mockery, had for some reason turned gold. Though dazzling enough to captivate any onlooker, they held an indescribable wickedness and madness, a world apart from when Lin Sandie had first met her.
Wei had already landed several slashes on Saya's body, yet a composed smile remained on her face. A small part of her face, along with her right ear, had been burned to something resembling charcoal. When she smiled, flakes of charred skin fell from her face, revealing the crimson flesh beneath.
Guided by a natural instinct for danger, the first thing Lin Sandie's attention fell on when they climbed to the fifth floor was the black pull ring on the index finger of Saya's gloved left hand. A thin metal wire dangled from it, looking like the pin of a grenade.
Saya flicked her left thumb against the pad of her index finger, as if flipping a coin. The next second, a violent explosion erupted at the feet of Wei, who was swinging her sword at Saya from a short distance away. Lin Sandie saw Wei's lower body get blown to pieces, but then a silver glint, as if reflected from a blade, flashed through the empty fifth-floor room. Lin Sandie's vision blurred, and she caught a glimpse of Morita Tsuyoshi swinging his katana through the empty air. Wei's previously shattered lower body reappeared. Her black leather shoes planted firmly on the ground, and like a sharp arrow released from a bowstring, she shot toward Saya.
At that moment, a massive explosion roared to the left of the fifth-floor staircase entrance.
The shockwave sent Lin Sandie's organs tumbling inside her, and she nearly vomited blood. Her mouth filled with the taste of rust. She crouched, trying to move to the right, away from the blast, but Lou had already grabbed her by the collar and was dragging her inexorably toward the source of the explosion on the left.
The scene before her blurred. Even with her quick mind, all Lin Sandie had time to do was glance at where Wei had been standing. There was no sign of an explosion there. Instead, a large crater had appeared to their left.
"Wei has a wondrous item that transfers damage," Miu the crow reminded Lou with surprising calmness.
"That Saya doesn't seem to fear injury either." Lou dragged Lin Sandie to a window on the left, where a "black person" was floating.
At the same time, Wei's long, narrow blade slashed toward Saya. The latter pursed her lips and dodged to the side, but Wei's sword moved with the force of a thunderbolt, cleaving through half of Saya's shoulder.
Blood splattered everywhere.
Dragged along by Lou, Lin Sandie couldn't see the fight happening behind them. She could only see the "black person," who had short, silver-white hair. She floated upright in the air, head bowed, hands clasped with her lips resting against her fingers, as if in prayer. Her youthful face was exceptionally serene, and a circle of soft light hovered above her head. Two massive wings wrapped around her body, making her look as holy as a legendary angel delivering the gospel of God.
If one ignored the fact that two other arms below her wings had been blown off.
Moving around this "angel," they could see that she originally had two more arms on her back, but they had been blasted away. Blood dripped from her back, down her thighs and the tips of her feet, and onto the floor.
The scene was too bizarre. Before Lou could explain, they saw Saya preparing to "flip a coin" again.
Half of Saya's shoulder, which had been cleaved open, hung limply at her side. Her face was deathly pale. She raised her only functional hand again, but Wei's assault didn't slow. She swung her sword once more, and the hand Saya had raised was lopped off.
Logically, Saya should no longer be able to trigger an explosion by "flipping a coin," but the sharp-eyed Lou saw the index finger on her severed hand twitch.
At that critical moment, Lou grabbed Lin Sandie and, from behind the praying angel, kicked her hard.
"Fuck! Do you have any common sense?!" Miu's composure was shattered. It shrieked as the "angel," like a heavy balloon, was sent flying toward Wei and Saya by the kick.
However, Miu, who had been monitoring the entire scene, had also noticed something was off about Saya. The crazy woman's shoulder was split open, yet her hand could still move. She had even pulled a trick, using her good hand as a feint while her seemingly disabled hand activated the bomb.
"The crown on Saya's head seems to allow her to remain mobile even when injured." Miu's brown irises flickered. It saw the Crown of Thorns on Saya's head pierce deeper into her forehead, causing more blood to flow down.
"Enya's passive defense is invincible," Lou said, listening to Miu's explanation in the team channel while simultaneously explaining to Lin Sandie. She then immediately ducked into Lin Sandie's arms. The latter was still wearing defensive gear, after all. To Lou, it was a resource not to be wasted.
If she could avoid getting hurt, Lou was determined not to suffer even a scratch.
Another explosion boomed behind them. Lin Sandie's organs churned, and she felt like she was about to cough up blood.
"Enya and I used to play like this," Lou didn't forget to explain to Lin Sandie amidst the deafening blast.
But Lin Sandie's ears were already suffering from intermittent deafness from the shock. She couldn't hear a word Lou said. She just held on to Lou tightly and, in the chaos, glanced at Xing Meilu by the staircase. The other woman had been knocked unconscious by the explosion.
A scene of this magnitude was something they could never have imagined in the past, let alone experienced firsthand.
Lin Sandie just subconsciously held Lou tighter, until the latter pushed her away with even greater force. Only then did she come to her senses, but before she could make another move, Lou had already pinned her to the ground, biting her ear and telling her to wait for a moment.
Lin Sandie couldn't actually hear what Lou was saying. She just felt that, given Lou's usual style, she must have said something like that, because she followed it up with a flirtatious kiss on her lips.
Her face covered in dust, Lin Sandie lay quietly on the floor. She watched Lou's feet as she got up and left. She was being so considerate, so protective, but Lin Sandie felt little joy or gratitude. The emotions welling up inside her were mostly frustration and unwillingness…
The recent explosion hadn't just caused temporary deafness; her internal organs had likely been damaged by the shockwave. Feeling blood welling up from the back of her throat, Lin Sandie quickly swallowed a mouthful of it. After steadying herself, she first looked toward Lou, who was rushing at the floating girl. There was something on Lou that Lin Sandie couldn't see, because from her perspective, the girl who had just been kicked away was now being pulled back to Lou's side. And the moment she was pulled back, Saya flipped her coin again.
Her actions were like those of a madwoman, yet her face constantly wore a calm and unhurried smile, even though she was grievously wounded and covered in blood.
When the motionless, floating girl was pulled away by Lou, Lin Sandie felt as if something had snapped. The girl was no longer the target for Wei's damage transfer. The bomb detonated amidst Saya, Wei, the girl, Lou, and Morita Tsuyoshi. With this explosion, the floor beneath them finally began to shake violently.
"Go!!" At this point, Wei's blade had already pierced Saya's heart, but she felt no joy of victory. She shouted as she pulled the blade out.
Morita Tsuyoshi's expression changed drastically. Without hesitation, he drew the shorter secondary sword from his waist and sliced his own abdomen open from bottom to top. His yellow and red entrails spilled out, some falling to the floor, some hanging from his body. As he did this, Wei, having withdrawn her blade, was already moving to cut off Saya's head.
The two of them possessed wondrous items that transferred damage, which allowed Morita Tsuyoshi to provide support from the rear while Wei never ceased her assault, no matter what happened.
But with the explosion, the entire building was collapsing. Lou, "leading" the still-floating girl, ran back to Lin Sandie's side. Lin Sandie also got up amidst the shaking building.
Using their momentum, Lou grabbed Lin Sandie's hand and leaped out the window.
"Hold me!" Lou shouted. Shaken so violently she was about to vomit blood, Lin Sandie could only read Lou's lips. Without a second thought, she opened her arms and hugged Lou tightly, pressing the other woman's head into her chest.
At that moment, the floor's support reached its limit and collapsed completely. Everyone plummeted downwards. From the moment they had reached the fifth floor, less than five minutes had passed.
Even though the suit she wore was a special protective model from the Rose Society, and she had the highly defensive Temporal Bone on her head, when Lin Sandie hit the ground after jumping from the fifth floor while holding Lou, she still couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood and pass out.
"Are you trying to get Lin Sandie killed, you bastard?!" Miu cursed loudly. If Lin Sandie died, who would help it share the damage from Lou?
"She won't die." Lou climbed out of the unconscious Lin Sandie's arms and gave her a deep look. She hadn't expected Lin Sandie to actually obey her and hold her, acting as her human cushion.
As a result, the latter had suffered internal injuries, while she herself was almost completely unscathed.
"But we can't let Enya open her eyes." Lou looked up at Enya, who was still floating in mid-air, held by her Line.
"Is that… the Spear of Longinus in your hand?! Holy shit!! Doesn't that thing cost a million points?" Miu's feathers stood on end when it saw Lou pull a short, giant-helix-shaped spear from her Space Bag.
"This is just a part of the Spear of Longinus, and it's a replica. It can only be used once." Lou opened one hand, and Enya, who had been floating in the air, immediately flew to her.
"You're going to kill Enya?"
"Don't be stupid. She's been dead for a long time. She's just being used by Tree to hunt us." Lou was perfectly clear-headed. The moment she knew there was a Sentinel from the Main World here, her objective was no longer anyone else.
Angels were a race from the Main World. Members of this race would die if they suffered mental damage, but their physical bodies were extremely resilient. Even if their minds were dead and they had no consciousness, their bodies could still be utilized.
For this very reason, when hunting Angels, one could only hunt their spirits. And in many Tower Worlds, after their spiritual death, Angels were often used as weapons by those with ulterior motives. Like Enya. After her spirit died, the moment she opened her perpetually closed eyes, inextinguishable black flames would burn all around her.
The only weapon that could completely destroy an Angel's body was the legendary god-killing Spear of Longinus.
If it were any other Angel, Lou might have considered using them as a weapon. But Enya was someone she knew. Furthermore, she didn't know what Tree had done to Enya, and the corruption at the root of this world was highly contagious, so she wasn't willing to take the risk.
As for why Lou, who never followed the rules, was so intent on sending the deceased Enya back to the Main World, it was because Lou hoped that when she died, someone would bring her own remains back to the Main World.
Being buried in the Main World, rather than in a Tower World that could disappear at any time, gave Little Rabbit a higher chance of finding her. Therefore, whenever Lou encountered a deceased colleague in a Tower World, she would always find a way to send them back to the Main World.
Although Lou's reputation in the Main World was poor, everyone trusted her in this regard. They hoped that after they died, they would be able to "meet" Lou.
Miu sighed heavily and turned its attention to Saya and the others. In Miu's eyes, Saya had originally been a very ordinary woman, just like Lin Sandie. But human willpower was immeasurable. The madness and calmness she displayed after obtaining wondrous items had allowed her to unleash a destructive power that surprised even Miu.
Now, the entire floor had collapsed. Although the outer walls were still standing, Wei and Morita Tsuyoshi had fallen and were buried somewhere in the rubble. The hunters on the fourth floor, who had been desperately fighting zombies, were also crushed to death.
At least seventy percent of this new batch of hunters who had just entered the park had died in the collapse.
But Saya, through some unknown means, had avoided falling with the collapsing floor. Instead, she stood on the edge of a broken section of the fifth floor. She was holding the unconscious Xing Meilu in her arms. The shoulder that Wei had split open seemed to have returned to its original place, but there was a deep wound on her neck from which blood flowed continuously.
Saya smiled at Lou. The latter had already cut off Enya's head and was holding it, dripping with blood, in her arms as she looked up at her.
"Enya's black flames won't go out until you die. They won't spread, but that part of your face probably won't heal." In the aftermath of the explosion, the surroundings were silent. Lou's voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly to Saya's ears.
Even from a distance, Lou could see that it wasn't just the right side of Saya's face that was touched by the black flames; her arm was also on fire.
"It's fine," Saya shook her head to show it didn't matter. As she did, more black ash flaked off the charred area. "I'll take her with me? You look a little busy, no time to take care of her."
Saya gestured to Xing Meilu, who was still unconscious in her arms.
"The Little Police Flower has my number. Contact me when you have time so we can exchange information," Lou said seriously. "You let me take the blame for so long, you'd better apologize properly."
Saya smiled, her eyes curving. "No problem," she replied.
She could already tell that, for now, Lou was not her enemy.
After Saya left with Xing Meilu, Miu continued to keep watch from the air. Lou first put Enya's severed head back on her body, then rolled up her sleeves. A ripple-like luster flowed over the dark gold patterns on her forearm. Only then did Enya vanish from before them, returning to the Main World.
"…Enya was one of the few Sentinels willing to drink with me." Lou sounded a little regretful.
"Probably because she's an angel and has a strong body," Miu quipped as usual. But after saying it, it felt it was in poor taste. It cleared its throat twice. "Have you noticed that our communication with the Main World has been cut off?"
"Yeah, but it's good enough that I can still send my colleagues' remains back." Lou had discovered this problem a few days ago, but she wasn't too worried. First, worrying was useless. They were in Leviathan now, and many of their skills and items were restricted, limiting their options. Second, she had encountered this situation in other Tower Worlds before.
After dealing with Enya, Lou finally went to check on Lin Sandie. Her chin was covered in the blood she had just coughed up, and she was still unconscious.
For the first time, Lou looked at her without her usual composure.
Propping Lin Sandie up, Lou first removed the bone mask from her head. Beneath it was a pale, beautiful face. Lou stared at it for a long time before muttering, "Whatever…"
Lou felt that she should probably give Lin Sandie mouth-to-mouth resuscitation right now.
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