Chapitre 17: Chapter 15: Why does this guy constantly risk his life?
Leonard Churchill carefully observed the shadows of the panic-stricken mercenaries.
He had clearly seen that before the man was beheaded, a cut appeared in his shadow on the ground, then his neck was severed.
That is to say, some sort of mysterious force had killed his shadow.
Afterwards, the person died.
"Yet another incomprehensible method,"
Leonard murmured under his breath.
It appeared as arcane as the death spell he encountered earlier.
This surely must be the legendary catastrophe of the fourth floor of the bunker, the one no one had ever seen before.
The intel said that anyone venturing to the fourth floor would mysteriously die. The wounds appeared to be caused by a sharp blade, but no one had ever seen what the monster looked like.
The girl with the mechanical arm, standing nearby, felt a chill down her neck after witnessing this scene.
This mode of attack was too unpredictable, even for her.
She glanced at her companion. Even though the darkness prevented her from seeing him clearly, his steady heartbeat revealed that he wasn't the least bit alarmed.
She knew he was as composed as ever, unfazed by the situation.
The girl with the mechanical arm didn't understand why they were hiding here, seemingly unspotted by the creature.
But after seeing her teammate smash the gas lamp, she began to wonder: perhaps the monsters are unable to detect them in the dark?
How did this guy figure it out?
The girl with the mechanical arm felt she had grasped key points.
However, before she could ponder further, her companion drew his gun once again.
The sound of gunfire rang through the air, bursting the eardrums.
The girl twitched involuntarily, her face underwent a surprising transformation and she turned to look at him, disbelief etched on her face.
...
While the catastrophe was chasing the mercenaries, the two could have avoided it absolutely by quietly hiding.
But what was utterly unexpected was the sound of gunfire!
The sight of Leonard Churchill shooting out five nearby gas lamps left the girl with the mechanical arm absolutely stunned.
Has this guy gone insane?
Wouldn't opening fire now attract the monster over?
Before she could make sense of it, she heard his swift and clear plan of action: "The catastrophe is hiding within human shadows. Once it makes a move against me, if you sense it, notify me immediately. If I make a mistake, you have to kill it."
"..."
The girl with the mechanical arm was suddenly hit with a realization: was he attracting the monster on purpose?
But how do you know that the monster "will definitely" come after you?
And how does he know that the monster was hiding in the shadow when even she couldn't clearly sense its presence?
Wait... Shadows!
If the monster is hiding in the shadows, then wouldn't there be no place for it to hide if there were no shadows?
When are there no shadows?
In the absence of light!
It suddenly became clear to her, she now understood why he had shattered the lamps and retreated to the darkness.
Leonard knew that his actions were bound to confuse his teammate, who was dependent on his combat power, so he had to explain, "Light enables one to see, but it may sometimes obscure the brilliant stars concealed in the darkness."
While the monster had yet to arrive, he added another line, "Once we lose sight of it, it will be much more troublesome to wait until it finds us again."
The girl with the mechanical arm looked enlightened.
Indeed, once the shadow catastrophe has killed the mercenaries, it will certainly search for the remaining live beings in the laboratory—them!
When they were attacked passively at a later time, this creature, which moves silently, dramatically amplifies the risk.
She understood at once why he had chosen to lure the monster now.
She also guessed what he was planning to use to counter it.
Though she mostly understood his reasoning, this was, after all, currently the strongest and most troublesome catastrophe known within this Alternate Dimension!
Does this guy take life-threatening risks without the slightest hesitation, every single time?
...
The sudden gunfire also attracted the attention of the three mercenaries who were on the brink of despair.
They initially paused, wondering who was firing?
Then suddenly, a post-disaster euphoria engulfed them.
Those two idiots had actually lured the monster over!
Wait...something doesn't add up.
Aren't those two guys dead yet?
Didn't the monster find them?
But there's no time to think about that now, they need to run for their lives.
At this moment, the three of them almost wished they had extra legs. In just a blink of an eye, they had already disappeared into the hallway.
...
Leonard Churchill didn't wait for the monster to kill all the mercenaries before taking action. After all, he needed those few bald heads to continue stirring up trouble and triggering the unknown dangers ahead.
Having a survivor or two might be useful.
The gunfire was just to draw the creature's attention, not to get locked in combat.
Fearing the monster still might not take the bait, Leonard pulled out a lighter.
The moment it was lit, the flickering flame outlined his silhouette in the darkness.
The firelight illuminated his face concealed behind a gas mask. Reflected in his eyes were the dancing flames, radiating a fierce determination.
With the lighter behind him, his perpetually moving shadow appeared before him.
The girl with the mechanical arm knew what he was about to do now.
He was using himself as bait to forcefully kill the monster!
His decisiveness gave no time for second thoughts. She had to retreat quietly back into the darkness, on full alert. If her teammate made a mistake, she would be there to remedy it.
It was coming indeed!
She let her senses go full throttle, and suddenly found her target.
"It's here!"
In the same instant, Leonard Churchill received a warning signal, feeling as if his brain had been pricked with a needle.
This mental communication method was something both of them agreed upon, as it was much more efficient than speaking.
Almost simultaneously, Leonard Churchill unhesitatingly activated the "Gambler Dog's Broken Hand" skill card towards his shadow.
Even as he moved, the enlightenment visible in his eyes entered his mind.
[Shadow Monster]
Explanation: Tier One A-rank Catastrophe; dark type pollutant, skilled in shadow assassination. It is a demon that resides in the shadow, capable of silently stealing life away. Death is like a shadow, always following, always near.
Another A-rank Catastrophe again.
The unknown beast from the fourth floor of the bunker.
Because all who saw it, died.
As soon as the Catastrophe infiltrated someone's shadow and got spotted, that person was already dead.
But before Catastrophe made its kill, a mysterious force intervened.
As predicted, Leonard Churchill directed the position-based skill of the card, "Gambler's Dogs Broken Hand," at his own shadow.
The mysterious spells were initiated, followed by enlightenment.
'Curse casted on target; 50% probability...Detection successful...target terminated.'
Leonard Churchill survived.
His shadow, meanwhile, writhed and contorted, dropping to the ground.
Upon a closer look, it was a goblin-like creature as dark as ink - the A-rank Catastrophe known as the Shadow Monster.
Seeing the monster killed, the girl with the mechanical arm appeared at Leonard Churchill's side in an instant. Staring in disbelief at the body on the ground, her eyes seemed to question: another A-rank Catastrophe had been killed? Just like that?
This simplicity gave her an unreal sense.
What happened with the "Gambler Dog" was one thing, now it was the Shadow Monster.
Each killed on first encounter.
If she hadn't been seriously injured herself after hunting down the slightly weaker "Fallen Witch Sect", of equivalent challenge rating, she might suspect that the difficulty rating of this alternate dimension has decreased.
...
Leonard Churchill had previously explained, and the girl with the mechanical arm knew the so-called secret to clearing the level.
She also was aware that the curse card in Leonard Churchill's hand was the "key" to clearing the level.
But...even with the card, there was only a 50% chance!
Fifty percent chance of killing the monster, a fifty percent chance of being blown to bits oneself.
How could he be so bold?
Nobody had ever seen the phantom beast on the fourth floor. Even the information she had bought from the information merchant was limited to fragments of information. How did he know that the beast was hiding in the shadows?
For a moment, she wondered if her temporary teammate was actually a humanoid catastrophe himself. How else would he know so much about this alternate dimension? How had he survived a night with the witch?
As this thought bubbled up inside her, she asked in a strange tone: "How did you know the beast was hiding in the shadows?"
Reading the girls' strange tone, Leonard Churchill guessed that she had misunderstood. He replied amusingly: "It was recorded in those case files I've read before. Elsewhat important clues do you think are recorded in those files?"
Speaking, he also recalled the contents of the files: 'Experimental cell 4011... The subject has mutated for the second time into an A-rank assassin type catastrophe such as the Shadow Thorn, hiding in the shadows...'
"???"
Hearing this, the girl finally realized she had been overthinking. But her surprise was immense.
Now that he had mentioned it, it did seem like some research on the monster had been recorded in the files.
But, she hadn't finished reading that thick stack of files over the course of several days. How was it that he had completely memorized them after only skimming over them once?
The documents were still in her storage space. She asked, confused, "You... You read through all those thick files?"
Previously, they had been under constant threat from the monsters. When would they have had the time to read carefully?
Leonard Churchill casually replied, "Not all. I picked some key points to read. As I was reading, the monster's description matched the information you gave, so I paid more attention."
His thought process was extremely active, and he was able to skim-read at a glance.
The speed with which he read was equivalent to several people reading at the same time.
Perhaps this was one of the very few advantages of his pathological mental state.
However, there was no need to explain it all.
Listening to him, the girl with the mechanical arm seemed to have understood something.
This guy, had he perhaps awakened a mysterious ability in the field of wisdom?
That would explain why, despite his frail physique, he had remained calm from start to finish.
Remembering was one thing, taking action was another.
The girl asked again, frowning, "But… there is only a 50% success rate with the card. Weren't you afraid of losing the bet?"
"Obviously, I won the bet," Leonard Churchill nonchalantly shrugged.
But of course, it wasn't just that.
Seeing the implacable questioning gaze of the girl beside him, he could only explain, "If we don't take other factors into consideration, this level is indeed a life gamble. But now we can confirm that there are other forces at play in this space."
"???"
The girl with the mechanical arm still didn't understand.
This was not something that could be explained in a few words, and Leonard Churchill didn't intend to explain further. He said, "You'll know in a moment. We've passed the challenge of this alternate dimension and now we should be nearing the final round."
Previously, encounters with the Gambler Dog indeed involved gambling, but this was not the case now.
When he saw "Gambler's Dog's Broken Hand", he was certain that he could kill the Shadow Monster.
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