We moved through the chaos, a two-person army cutting a path toward the main gate.
It was a strange rhythm. I was the meat shield, taking hits and dodging blades, using [Devour] in short bursts to heal my wounds by eating the enemy's mana. Seraphina was the support. She didn't cast fireballs; she cast rules.
When a merc tried to charge me, she typed a command, and the friction on the ground under his feet became zero. He slipped, face-planting into the concrete, and I finished him.
When a sniper locked onto us, she spawned a "Privacy Wall"—a literal censored pixel block—that blocked the line of sight.
"You're efficient," she noted, watching me dismantle a Level 20 Swordsman. "Your combat patterns... they aren't from a textbook. You fight like a raid boss."
"I fight like someone who's tired of dying," I replied, breathing hard.
We were making progress. The gate was fifty yards away. If we could get out of the school zone, we could disappear into the slums of District 9 where the surveillance cameras were broken.
But the System loves dramatic irony.
Just as we reached the center of the courtyard, the air pressure dropped. The sound of battle faded, replaced by a high-pitched ringing.
The golden airship hovering above us unleashed a beam of solid light. It slammed into the pavement directly in front of us, blocking our path.
The light didn't fade. It solidified. It sculpted itself into a humanoid shape.
A man stepped out of the pillar of light. He was six feet tall, wearing a white suit that remained impeccably clean despite the mud and blood around him. He held a cane topped with a golden skull. His eyes were scrolling streams of green numbers.
It wasn't Viper physically. It was his Avatar—a remote-controlled projection. But it carried 80% of his stats.
[BOSS DETECTED: VIPER SHEN (AVATAR)]20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4FVH8Mesb
[LEVEL: 50]20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0ixFtnQBX
[CLASS: VENOM SOVEREIGN]
"Going somewhere, little glitch?" Viper’s voice echoed, not from his mouth, but from the air around us.
Seraphina froze. "An Avatar Projection. He’s piloting it from the ship."
Viper tapped his cane on the ground. A ripple of green energy pulsed outward. The grass around his feet withered and turned black instantly.
"And you brought a friend," Viper crooned, looking at Seraphina. His digital eyes narrowed. "Admin Access codes? Oh, my. You must be the little spy the Council sent."
He smiled, and his teeth were made of diamonds. "I can't let you leave, darling. You’ve seen my operation. Bad for the stock price."
"You are in violation of Federal Code 9!" Seraphina shouted, trying to sound authoritative. "Stand down or face Erasure!"
Viper laughed. It sounded like coins rattling in a tin can. "Erasure? I bought the Erasure team last week. Now, be good children and die."
He flicked his wrist.
A wave of green mist rolled toward us. It wasn't smoke. It was neurotoxin code.
"Don't breathe it!" Seraphina screamed, typing frantically on her interface. "It's a neurological hack! It deletes your motor functions!"
She threw up a barrier, a blue wall of hexagonal panels. The green mist hit it and hissed, eating through the code like acid.
[BARRIER INTEGRITY: 60%... 40%...]
"I can't hold it!" Seraphina grit her teeth. "His mana density is too high! He's a Whale!"
I looked at the dissolving barrier. Then I looked at Viper, who was checking his cuticles, bored.
We couldn't win. He was Level 50. I was Level 15. The math was impossible.
But I had something he didn't. I had an inventory full of dead things.
"Seraphina," I said, my voice low. "Drop the barrier."
She looked at me like I was insane. "What? We'll melt!"
"Drop it. And when I say 'now,' I need you to delete gravity around him. Can you do that?"
"I... only for a second. The System will kick me out if I do more."
"A second is all I need."
I closed my eyes. I reached into the void inside me. I found the soul of the Swamp Drake I had eaten. I found the lingering data of Chen. I found the fragments of the mercenaries I had drained.
Usually, you digest souls slowly to gain XP. But there was a forbidden technique I had used in my past life. A desperate move.
Soul Combustion.
You burn the data all at once. You destroy the loot to get a temporary, explosive boost in stats. It hurts like hell. It feels like setting your blood on fire.
"Do it!" I roared.
Seraphina dropped the barrier.
ns216.73.216.10da2
and then Add to home screen.