บท 55: Auction P4

*BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Explosions rang out as Lewis blocked the attacks with an earth shield.

Flipping back slightly, he gritted his teeth with anger.

He had thought that he would be let off free since most of the level 50's were focused on the relic. Who knew a level 50 would still focus on his Awakening Stone.

However, he wasn't unfamiliar with these guys.

The level 50, Cain, was the 5th rank on the priority list, while the other level 44, Paul, was 6th.

"Lewis! Hand that stone over!" Cain shouted out as his hands lit aflame.

"In the simulation you suppressed us. But this is real life so do the right thing and hand it over!" Paul shouted out as well.

"Pui! Surpass me if you have the capabilities. If you don't, then don't bother." Lewis replied disdainfully.

Rock covered his body as it created a pseudo armour.

*KSH!

Lightning struck towards Lewis while he slammed his palms downwards.

A pillar of earth blocked the lightning, diverting the force into the ground.

"ARG!" Lewis cried out in pain as Cain had managed to land a fireball on his back.

Pivoting on his leg, Lewis caused several rock arms to shoot upwards and grab Cain by the leg.

*BANG!

The arm slammed Cain into the ground with as much force as it could muster.

Paul gathered lightning into his hand, slowly forming it into a dense lightning spear.

Pulling back his arm, he threw the spear towards Lewis.

"URAHHH!!!" Lewis shouted out as the earth wrapped around him.

Gritting his teeth, Lewis resisted the pain and glared towards Paul.

However, the moment he turned his back to Cain, Cain controlled the fire to form a giant hammer.

"HA!" He shouted out as the hammer slammed into the back of Lewis' armour.

*BOOM!!!

His body was launched forwards, causing him to roll for several meters.

"F*CK OFF!" Lewis shouted out just as his mana started to spike upwards.

A huge rock golem was formed next to Lewis.

Quickly climbing up the rock golem, Lewis controlled the golem to punch towards Paul.

He wanted to get rid of the weakest one of the playing field.

"I'm not that easy!" Paul shouted out.

Lightning twisted around his palms while he pulled his palms apart. Sparks jumped from one hand to another as it slowly gathered in the centre.

*BOOM!!!

The ball of lightning shot forwards, smashing a hole through the golem before dispersing into mana.

Paul had to make sure the lightning ball didn't cause additional damage as he would be in trouble otherwise. While they could fight the winners of the bids, they couldn't involve citizens. If they did, a squadron of level 50 patrolmen would hunt them down.

Lewis quickly regenerated the golem back to full HP.

Looking around with urgency, he narrowed his eyes on the skyscrapers.

Raising his hands, rock spikes erupted from the ground causing Paul and Cain to dodge in a panic.

*BAM!

The golem crashed heavily against the skyscraper as Lewis controlled it to climb higher.

Shiro, who was hiding by the roof of the buildings, frowned slightly when she saw where Lewis was running away to.

'Annoying.' Shiro thought.

Crouching down, Shiro put strength into her legs.

Yin Style Phantom Art: 1st Phantom + 2nd Phantom.

Her body flickered every so often as she dashed after Lewis.

Jumping up, she used her passive float combined with her phantom arts to scale the building quite easily.

"Pah! Ha… ha… ha.." Lewis huffed with fatigue.

Shaking his head, he got rid of the slight headache.

This was a problem with earth element mages. While their defence was strong, it took more MP the more damage that stacked up. Holding against the bombardment of a level 50 and 44 wasn't easy at all.

Shiro hid in the shadows as she waited for the level 50 and 44 to catch up.

*BOOM BOOM!

Two figures landed heavily on the roof.

"Lewis, you can't run anymore. Just hand the stone over!" Cain shouted out.

"You know what? Take it. Fight amongst yourself for it!" Lewis retorted.

'While they're distracted, I should hit them off the roof and run.' He thought while pulling out the stone.

"Here!" He shouted as he threw the stone.

Pulling back his hands, he quickly made 2 stone spears.

'Chance!' Shiro thought.

Crouching down quickly, she dashed forwards.

Yin Style Phantom Art: 2nd Phantom + Faded Snow Movement.

Snow erupted outwards as it pushed the three mages away.

"SH*T ANOTHER MAGE!" Cain shouted out as he shielded his eyes.

Shiro managed to grab hold of the stone and store it in her inventory.

'Crap! It was a fake!' Shiro thought as she saw that it was just a normal stone.

*BZZZ!!

She suddenly heard lightning behind her and quickly reacted accordingly.

Twisting her body, she slammed her palms into the ground and activated her skills.

Icy Touch + Tier 2 Ice Magic.

*BOOM!!!!!

The lightning missed her narrowly as the aftershock sent her back.

"Kuah!" Shiro coughed slightly from the force.

"Hand over the stone girl!" Paul shouted.

Flaring her mana, Shiro didn't say anything as ice erupted outwards.

"Tsk! When did this city get such a strong Ice user?!" Cain clicked his tongue as the ice pushed him back once more.

They didn't have the leisure to inspect her right now since a pause could be fatal.

Shiro quickly turned towards Lewis who was dashing away.

Narrowing her eyes, she flicked her wrist and an ice ramp was constructed.

Dashing towards him, she left the other two on the roof.

"Follow!" Paul shouted as lightning flared on his body.

Cain scoffed as he erupted with flames.

Three lights chased after the earth golem through the skies of New York City.

However, most didn't focus on that as another battle was being raged for the relic.

Nan Tian stood on top of a skyscraper and watched everything calmly.

So far everything was within his expectations.

'It seems like her status as a monster has allowed her to fight the level 50 and level 44 on pretty even ground.' Nan Tian thought.

"Huan er, do you want to try fight for the relic as well? Compare yourself to the other level 50's." Nan Tian asked as he looked towards her.

"I'm fine. My speciality lies in hacking and not combat. Maybe if I have my robots with me I might give it a try."

"Alright." Nan Tian replied.

Looking back towards Shiro's direction, he saw her chase after the golem with quite some vigour.

'Seems like she wasn't able to get the stone within one try. Probably got tricked.' Nan Tian thought as he started to float.

"I'll be right back." Nan Tian said before his body flashed away.

Huan er only sighed in frustration. The original goal for them to be here was to look for traces of a ritual being made. Yet now not only did they go off on a tangent, but Nan Tian seemed to be placing a little too much focus on a random girl he saw.

Huan er only pulled up her tablet and hacked all the camera's around the city.

Focusing on the cameras near Shiro's fight, she wanted to see just what was so special about her.

…

Shiro made an ice spear in her hand as she twisted her body on the ice.

Yin Style Phantom Arts: 3rd Phantom – Counter Weight Phantom.

Throwing the spear with as much force as she could, Shiro then crouched low and increased her speed towards the golem.

*BOOM!!!!

The moment the spear touched the golem, the golem was frozen over instantly.

"AHH!!" Lewis was thrown off the golem as he landed heavily across the ground.

"URAK!" Shiro stepped heavily on his chest.

Reaching out her hand, she gestured for him to give her the stone.

Feeling the strength increase, Lewis knew he would be killed if he didn't give her it.

"Here take it!" He said handing her the real stone.

Making sure it was the real stone, Shiro quickly stored it in her inventory.

Back flipping, she avoided two strikes from the level 50 and 44.

Looking around, Shiro tried to think of an exit plan.

However, Cain didn't let her as he started to attack with lethal force.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Fire spears, bombs, chains and cages erupted around Shiro.

Yin Style Phantom Arts: 1st Phantom + 2nd Phantom + Faded Snow Movement.

Her body flickered and escaped the bombardment with relative ease.

Landing on the wall of the building, Shiro's eyes glowed with a neon blue as her killing intent increased.

A blizzard started to pick up while the surrounding area was being completely frozen over.

'Since you want to kill this miss, then it means you're ready to be killed yourself.' Shiro thought as her body faded into the blizzard.

Seeing that this was beyond their league, both Paul and Lewis ran away from the scene.

Only Cain remained as he needed the stone to change his life. He needed it to awaken his second element so he could advance with his class.

Slamming his palms down, fire erupted outwards. Easily overpowering the blizzard.

Shiro was a small distance behind him with her dagger ready. It wasn't a NanoTech dagger since she could feel a constant gaze on her. Therefore she settled with one of the daggers she kept spare from the Yeti Dungeon.

Floating slightly above the ground, Shiro made sure she didn't make a sound.

Creeping up to Cain, Shiro reached out her hand slowly.

Since she was using her 1st Phantom, Faded Snow Movement and Shadow Cloak to keep her presence at a minimum, Cain didn't notice her.

The moment her arms were almost around his neck, she snapped to action.

*PUSHI!

The dagger slit across Cain's neck as her other hand dug deep. Feeling the contact with the spine, Shiro twisted it and broke it in the process.

Increasing the effectiveness of her Icy Touch, Shiro froze Cain from the inside out.

[Beginner Monster (1/10 Humans Killed)]

Seeing the counter go up by 1, she knew she had killed him.

Her level increased by a whole level with just one kill.

[Name: Shiro

Race: Snow Girl (Evolution Criteria yet to be met)

Title: Shadow Empress, Beginner Monster (1/10 Humans Killed), Fratricide

Level: 34

Class: Snow Girl★★, Nanomancer

HP: 46,300/73,100

MP: 39,200/110,000

STR: 470 -> 500 (+110) <+152>

VIT: 425 -> 500 (+85) <+146>

INT: 640 -> 700 (+180) <+220>

AGI: 560 -> 580 (+110) <+172>

DEX: 530 -> 560 (+50) <+152>

DEF: 230 -> 235 (+150) <+96>

< > = Title Bonus

Unassigned Points: 220 -> 0

Attunements:

Ice – Tier 2

Lightning – Tier 0

Metal – Tier 0

Shadow – Tier 0

Balance: 9,420,032 USD

Equipment (Tap to Display)

Skills –

Snow Girl ★★:

Tier 2 Ice magic, Passive Regeneration, Blessed by Ice, Snow Magic, Faded Snow Movement, Cold Aura, Icy Touch, Icy Breath.

Nanomancer:

Dagger Creation, Nano Tech Engineering Tier 1, Sword Creation, Bow Creation, Heavy Weapon Creation, Shield Creation.

Other:

Mini-map, Inspection, Disguise, Mana Barrier, Speed Up (Equipment).

Shared Skills (Yin):

Shadow Buff (Tier 1), Ice Chain (Tier 1), Shadow Cloak (Tier 1)]

With that kill, not only did she get Cain's entire inventory, but she also managed to break through 100k in MP.

Suddenly feeling the source of the gaze come closer, Shiro flicked her wrist and sent a dagger flying towards it.

"Ai. So feisty." Nan Tian said as he caught the dagger between his fingers.

Shiro's breath halted for a second as she saw him.

[Nan Tian LVL??? - ???]

'Sh*t! Why would someone of his level be in this city.' Shiro thought as sweat dripped down her forehead.

"I have to say little snow, nice work." Nan Tian said as Shiro kept a neutral face.

However, her mind was in turmoil hearing what he said.

'Little snow? Who the hell is little snow?!'

"Let me introduce myself. Surname Li, Given name Nan Tian. I am Li Nan Tian. And I have to say little snow, for a snow girl like you to be hidden in this city isn't easy ah." Nan Tian chuckled slightly as he landed in front of her.

Shiro backed off slightly as she couldn't afford to provoke him.

"Ai don't be so guarded." Nan Tian smiled as he gently threw the dagger back to her.

[What's your goal. Since you clearly know what I am, so why aren't you trying to kill me?] Shiro typed out.

"Seems like your verbal functions aren't developed yet. Well just think of me having a mild interest in you. I want to see what a snow girl like you can do while blending into human society." Nan Tian said as he walked around Shiro.

"Would you rather me call you little snow or Xiao Xue? One is the English version and the other is Chinese. You choose."

[Don't call me either. We aren't close.]

"But we will be. I want to recruit you into my branch of the sect." Nan Tian gestured at her.

[No thanks. I don't want to join a faction.]

"This isn't a faction but a sect. A hidden sect to be precise."

[Same thing.]

"Ai so difficult. Hahaha, well just try your best in the faction recruitment event. I'll be watching~" Nan Tian waved before disappearing in front of Shiro.

Making sure that he was gone, Shiro sat down heavily.

She had a frown on her face as she didn't expect someone this high levelled to be in the city.

"Tsk. Who the hell gives someone a nickname before they even meet. Right little Yin?" Shiro muttered as Yin popped her head out of the hood.

However, her mind kept on giving her a nagging feeling like she knew him.

Shiro frowned before sighing heavily.

Standing up, she returned to the dorms.