CHAPTER 288: THE DELETERS STRANGE ABILITY

Andrew lifted his hand and snapped his fingers.

A thin white line appeared in the air and solidified into a blade. It didn’t look like an item dropped from monsters — it looked like something the System itself spat out.

In a way, that was true, because this was a special weapon used by the Deleters.

He pointed it lazily toward Gabriel.

"Last chance," he said. "Hand him over."

Sophie stepped in front of Gabriel, a determined gleam in her eyes. "You’re not touching him."

Ragnarok rested his greatsword on his shoulder, his expression serious for once. "You think we’re just going to stand aside? How foolish are the NPCs of this world, tsk."

Cassie was already quietly layering buffs, her hands glowing with pale blue light.

Anna slowly stepped forward as well, twin chains in hand. She was also putting on her Silverspeed Boots, given to her by Gabriel, to gain an edge against the enemy.

Samantha had both hands on her staff, lips pressed tight. Two skeletal knights materialized beside her, their eye sockets burning blue.

Yumi’s gaze moved across each of them, especially Sophie and Anna. "Those two... they’re not low-level. HQ’s intel wasn’t wrong."

Garth smiled faintly as he smashed his gauntlet fists together. "That makes this more fun," he smirked.

Andrew sighed, sounding already tired and bored even though the fight hadn’t begun. "Fine. We’ll do it the hard way."

He flicked his wrist.

White light flashed.

One of Samantha’s skeleton knights simply vanished from the waist up — erased. The remaining half clattered to the floor.

Samantha flinched, eyes wide in shock. "What—"

"Fall back," Sophie said sharply. "They’re not normal."

Ragnarok stomped a foot forward, the ground cracking under his weight as he shifted, a mad gleam in his eyes.

"I’ll handle this one!" Garth said, stepping up to meet him.

Metal clashed against strange gauntlets — not with the usual spark or recoil, but with a weird, muted impact, like the wall itself absorbed the sound.

Ragnarok drove all his strength into the swing, veins bulging.

However, Garth blocked with one arm. He didn’t budge. Instead, it was Ragnarok who stumbled backward, boots scraping across the ground. His eyes narrowed; he hadn’t expected to take the enemy out in a single move, but to be thrown back such a distance from a simple clash?

Garth’s lips curved higher. "Good force. But your numbers are still normal-tier."

He moved from his spot and clashed with Ragnarok once again. He twisted his wrist.

Ragnarok’s sword was pushed aside like a toy. The next instant, Garth’s fist slammed into his chest.

"Urgh—!"

Ragnarok was thrown back several meters, smashing through the wall at the side.

Meanwhile, Andrew walked calmly toward Sophie and Gabriel.

Sophie’s gaze hardened, her heartbeat steady.

’No matter what, I won’t let him get past me,’ she thought inwardly as she activated one of her most powerful skills — one she rarely used because of its high mana consumption.

"Gravity Field."

The air around Andrew condensed. Stone cracked under the pressure. The weight in that zone increased several times over.

Andrew’s steps slowed for the first time.

White light flared around his boots. He pushed one leg forward, then another, walking through the increased gravity like it was thick air.

"Don’t waste high-mana spells," Andrew said. "You’ll need them for later floors. Oh... wait. You won’t see them."

Sophie’s eyes narrowed. She changed tactics.

She released the gravity spell and instantly reshaped the mana into a hard green light shield in front of her. It was dense, focused — the kind of control only achievable through precise mana manipulation.

Andrew jabbed the Deletion Edge at it, almost casually.

The shield didn’t shatter.

It peeled.

The center strip simply disappeared, leaving two halves hanging in the air like broken glass.

Sophie’s pupils shrank. Her shield was just casually erased like that?

Before she could process it, Andrew stepped through the gap and swung the blade horizontally.

Sophie spun, a thin green wooden staff materializing in her grasp, intercepting the strike.

Clang!

Her arms trembled. The force behind that casual swing was heavy. She slid back a step, boots digging into the floor.

Cassie looked at her with concern. "Sophie—"

"I’m fine!" she snapped. "Just focus on support!"

Andrew pressed his advantage, swinging again. Sophie spun, blocked, deflected. Each hit forced her closer toward Gabriel.

Samantha tried to flank him. Dark mist gathered in her hand.

"Bone Spear!"

A sharp spike of bone flew toward Andrew’s side. Without even turning, he flicked two fingers.

A short white line cut across the air.

The Bone Spear unraveled mid-flight and fell apart into dust.

Samantha’s eyes widened. "He erased my spell..."

"Yes," Yumi said quietly. "That’s what we do."

Anna moved.

She appeared behind Andrew, dagger aimed at his throat, aura condensed and killing intent sharp.

Her timing was perfect.

Her aim was precise.

Her blade touched his collar—

And stopped.

The edge of the dagger simply... wasn’t there anymore.

The last three centimeters had been erased.

Anna’s eyes went cold. She jumped back immediately, no hesitation.

Andrew glanced over his shoulder, expression unchanged. "Good reaction speed."

He shifted his foot slightly and disappeared — no flash, no teleport animation. He just moved faster than their eyes could track and reappeared directly in front of Anna, the Deletion Edge aimed at her shoulder.

Sophie reacted fast. She retrieved the Silver Bell from her inventory and threw it toward Anna.

A silver barrier appeared in front of her just in time.

Andrew’s blade struck it, cracks spreading across the surface, but the barrier slowed him enough for Anna to roll away.

She landed beside one of the broken statues, breathing hard.

"He keeps cutting through everything," Cassie said tightly. "Equipment, skills, even the environment..."

Ragnarok charged Garth again. This time, his swings were more controlled. Garth met him blow for blow, each impact a dull thud.

"You fight like someone who’s used to being the strongest in the room," Garth said as he blocked. "Bad habit."

"Funny," Ragnarok grinned. "I was thinking the same about you."

He feinted low, then swung high. Garth allowed the blade to graze his shoulder.

A normal player would have lost half their HP.

He barely flinched.

His HP bar — if visible — probably didn’t even move. Then he drove his knee into Ragnarok’s gut.

"Guh—!"

Ragnarok flew back again.

Cassie quickly shouted, "Heal over time!"

A green light wrapped around Ragnarok, but it wasn’t a full restoration. She couldn’t output at maximum under the strange suppression field Yumi had set.

Speaking of Yumi...

She hadn’t thrown a single offensive spell. She stood near the doorway. Whenever the gunslingers fired at her, a thin barrier appeared, absorbing all the attacks.

If one looked closely, they would notice trails of energy spreading from her body. No one knew what she was doing just standing there, but whatever it was... it seemed to be weakening their skills and spells.

It was like a suppression field — sometimes even directly canceling the skills of the Broken Dawn guild members.

Samantha clenched her teeth. She focused on something simpler — not a complex spell, just raw necrotic energy pulled into her palm.

She slammed it into the ground. A burst of dark energy spread outward in a low wave, aiming to numb Andrew’s legs.

The suppression field tried to cancel it, but raw necrotic mana was messy. It still worked, just weaker.

Andrew’s footing faltered for half a second. Sophie took that opening.

She stepped forward and slammed her staff into his side with all her strength, reinforced by a short physical enhancement.

The hit landed. Andrew skidded sideways, his shirt tearing, a bruise forming.

Ragnarok saw it and his eyes widened. "You hit him!"

Sophie’s arms shook, her expression cold. "He’s strong and has this orange skill, but he’s not untouchable."

Andrew glanced at the mark on his side.

He looked more surprised than angry.

"...Nice," he said. "You forced physical damage through suppression. That’s rare."

Sophie didn’t answer. She was breathing harder now — even through her veil, one could tell she was exhausted and running low on stamina and mana.

He pointed the Deletion Edge downward and dragged it across the floor.

A thin line of nothingness traced along the stone.

New text popped up in front of the Deleters only:

[Local Override: Expanded]

[Environmental Editing — Approved]

The floor under Cassie’s feet vanished in a straight line.

"Eh—?" she gasped.

She fell.

But they were deep inside a Tower floor. No matter how powerful Andrew’s strange skill was, he couldn’t directly erase the ground leading to the lower level.

"It seems I got faster than myself," he chuckled amusedly. "Let’s focus on what I can delete."

Anna threw a knife at the Deletion Edge from the side, testing.

The blade turned into white noise and vanished before reaching it.

Andrew spun his weapon once, as if bored.

"This will take longer than expected," he said. "But not by much."

In that particular moment, inside Gabriel’s head, there was only red — and before him stretched a long red-carpeted staircase.