章節 29: Ch 29: Shuppet [pt2]
The paper mask glowed under the fluorescent light as Shuppet attacked Soma.
Soma was having difficulty keeping up with Shuppet's speed and strength initially.
Shuppet was a ranked player, considered dangerous enough to be sealed by the tower.
He was currently in this tutorial to serve its sentence, and once it was over, the entity would be free to cause havoc on the tower.
'I need to kill this man before he is released on the upper floors. I will not be on the same power level as this man for quite some time.'
Soma had no delusions about his current power level and growth.
He was stronger than an average starting player and some first-floor players.
But taking on a ranker by himself was still a dream to his current self.
Thankfully, the tower was conscious of this difference in power level between players on different floors, providing a safety net for everyone.
Any ranker with the authority to be on a higher level could only use their full power on the lower levels if they got punished or even lost their life.
That was why most players chose not to return to the lower floors if they did not have a reason.
"Are you too full of yourself? You are not even paying attention to the opponent in front of you. You will likely die if you ignore me."
Shuppet seemed to be giggling as it swung around to avoid the random fireball that came its way.
The cloak it wore created a mysterious atmosphere around the entity.
"You won't be able to do anything to me no matter how much you try. Why are you even trying to hit me, human? It is all futile."
Shuppet sounded certain of its victory as it flew around.
It was trying to tire Soma out before attacking.
The paper-masked figure flew around to avoid getting stuck in Soma's attacking pattern.
The first thing Soma needed to do was narrow down Shuppet's range of mobility.
Soma carefully spread his strings out all around the room so that Shuppet would have no choice but to go a certain way.
The strings slowly formed a web around Shuppet, but it was too late to do anything by the time he realised it.
Soma had already surrounded him, and the strings slowly closed around him.
'Caught you'
Soma pulled the strings once he was sure there was not enough space around Shuppet to pull through his strings.
Shuppet realised it a little too late, and when it looked up, the strings were already near its body.
"Do you think this is a joke? Or do you think you can corner me that easily? You need to rethink these choices of yours."
The second Shuppet realised what happened, he turned to smoke and tried to escape.
He likely considered Soma an overconfident kid who did not know his place, and he would have been right if he had not had the future.
But since Soma knew the future, he coated his strings in his power to stop Shuppet's escape.
The phantom-like creature did not notice; it was too high on its victory against Soma to consider what was happening around it.
As a result, it stuck the fence of the webs directly and suffered heavy scorching marks all around its phantom body.
A part of its mask was burned away by these flames as well.
"Oh, my dear! Are you alright? You were saying something about me being unable to touch you, right?"
Soma asked as he tightened the mana-coated strings around Shuppet.
It knocked the air out of the creature and looked at Soma with renewed interest.
"You know how to infuse your weapon with your mana and know better than to let your guard down. Then tell me, are you someone from the tower? Are you here to get revenge on me? But no! You are too young to know anyone I killed."
Shuppet tried to reason why Soma was attempting to capture him.
If Soma had a grudge against him, he should have killed Shuppet by now.
"Don't try to overthink about this. There is only one reason I am keeping you alive: I want to ask you a question. How did you get in contact? with the elder entities?"
Soma's voice was so casual that one would believe he was asking about the current weather.
But Shuppet felt his heart leap in his throat.
"I don't know what you are talking about. What's an elder entity? Let me go before the tower disqualifies you for daring to threaten someone who's part of the tutorial."
Shuppet threatened as he kept backing away from Soma's location.
He was likely afraid Soma knew something about his deal with the elder entities.
Those foreign entities had promised him that nothing would happen to him if he followed their will.
So Shuppet did his best to tell people about this deal just now.
"You don't know what I am talking about? Fine, be that way. It looks like I do not need you anymore."
Soma sighed before he gave up on Shuppet.
The entity breathed a sigh of relief once he was let go.
'A greenhorn is a greenhorn, after all. No matter how much it tries, it will never amount to much.'
Shuppet gloated at its victory, not even realising how much danger it was in.
It never saw Soma's sword heading its way, nor did it notice when it cut through its body.
[You defeated the traitor of the tutorial. A special reward will be prepared for you shortly.]
Soma looked at the message on the screen with blank eyes.
He knew that the message indicated that the situation had been resolved, but somehow, Soma could not bring himself to believe that.
His instincts were telling him that something was wrong.
Soma looked up, and the room shifted a little.
His vision was also hazy, almost like something prevented Soma from looking ahead clearly.
"What's this? Some kind of sneaky attack? I knew there was no way you would give up your vessel this easily."
Soma looked back at where he had killed Shuppet.
The cloaked figure looked up, and that torn paper mask showed a blank face behind it.
No eyes or other human features were visible on that face, causing anyone to flinch in disgust.
-Heheheh
The cloak moved when the entity laughed.
It was reaching noise levels that were uncomfortable for humans.
Soma could also feel his ear protesting at the loud noise, causing him to flinch.
-Where are you going?
-Who are you?
-Why do you know about our existence?
-Are you looking for death?
All those creepy voices tried to dominate each other, so none of them was particularly audible.
The outer entity that controlled took advantage of Soma's distraction to close the distance between itself and his opponent.
Soma was left startled, and he quickly tried to step back.
[Hell fire has been used.]
It was instinctual on Soma's part to block the attack heading for his face, but he could not stop the attack trying to connect with his side.
It had been a while since Soma was last hit so hard, and this sudden attack knocked the wind out of Soma.
He coughed, only to taste blood in his mouth.
'I was not hurt that badly to cough blood, and I don't feel injured enough. Then why am I-'
Soma paused, finally looking at his surroundings and all the smoke flying around.
The smoke did not look normal in colour or texture.
It was an ability this elder entity had.
-So, you finally noticed that there is nowhere for you to escape? That makes things easier for me. I like your body and abilities, so I want to make a deal with you. What do you say?
The mana-coated string cut through the face.
It caught the entity off guard, and the smoke caused Soma. All this trouble finally calmed down.
'Oh, I see. This entity must be selectively controlling the smoke in this area. There is no natural wind to push all this smoke toward me. So, if I keep this entity in check, I can kill it.'
Soma coughed to clear his air space.
Icy Jewel reacted to Soma's distress, making the area around his body colder.
That condenses the harmful smoke, allowing Soma to breathe better.
The entity controlling Shuppet did not realise what Soma had done, and it let its guard down.
Soma pushed himself forward and used everything he had to attack Shuppet's body.
-Y-You can still move? How is that possible? The poison should have-
Soma could have stopped Shuppet but felt that he should finish this fight as soon as possible.
Every nerve in his body urged him to bury his sword right through Shuppet's body.
The smoke tried to slow Soma down by making breathing difficult for Soma.
Cold air condensed the smoke, not letting it reach Soma while he made his final attack on Shuppet.
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