CHAPTER 866: 863: THE THIRD NIGHT (1)

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[NIGHT THREE BEGINS]

Daily Rule Activated: Three Things Will Be Taken

Warning: The City Hungers

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Corey was not surprised when he saw that three things were going to be taken on the third night.

His fears had been proven right, and he knew that he was right to have been moving as fast as he could to the main source of the corruption.

It was unfortunate that the Third Night caught up to him before he was able to reach the main source of the corruption of the Dying City, but he was still going to survive no matter what.

’I wonder if these things are going to be taken from one person or if it’s going to be spread out.’

A pondering light flashed in his eyes, and then his pupils constricted.

Focus

Focus was one of his talent skills which he rarely used nowadays because he had no use of it.

It was basically a skill that put his brain in overdrive and allowed him to see things in a slow motion.

Focus had been one of the skills that had saved his life in the past, but he had no use of it now because of his Stars of Consciousness.

With his Stars of Consciousness, his perception was already very high, and if he wanted, he could put his brain in overdrive to the point where an average Tier 4 running at him would be like a turtle running at him.

If he had not gotten his Stars of Consciousness so early, he would have been using Focus a lot of times, especially when battling people that were Tier 4 and above.

Although Focus could still help him, it could not help him in the past when he was battling Tier 6s as a Tier 2.

The difference in their physical strengths was just too much back then.

As for why he used it now?

It’s because he needed the increase in his perception to survive. No matter how little it was.

99% of his Stars of Consciousness paused their activities and increased his perception to the highest limit it could achieve, and Focus increased it slightly, allowing it to barely cross the limit.

The world around him slowed down until it looked like the world was frozen around him.

The pupils of his Eyes of Dreams and Nightmares were constricted to tiny pin holes, and Corey could see every single movement that was happening around.

The movement of the dust. The slight churning of the fog. The sound of whispers floating through the thick fog. The feeling of the ground subtly trembling due to something unknown.

The twitch of a show that should not have twitched.

He could see, hear, and feel everything around him.

And his current hyper-focused state was dangerous for even somebody like Corey because he was consuming so much mental energy to the point that even a Tier 7 would be shaken by the amount of mental energy he had consumed in the span of three seconds.

In the fourth second, Corey’s eyes narrowed slightly.

’There.’

It was minute. So ridiculously subtle that it could have been ignored even if he was using his Eyes of Omniscience without been in his current hyper-focused state.

If not for the combined overdrive of his Focus skill and his suspended Stars of Consciousness, he would have missed it.

The wind had been moving from the west to the east. But the fog to his right suddenly moved from the east to the west, almost like something else was blowing at it.

Corey’s gaze sharpened, and he slowly turned his head to the right.

Through his hyper-focused state, he noticed it the more, and without hesitation... he moved.

White sparks flashed on his legs and feet, and he did not take a step back.

No.

He took a step to the side.

FLASH STEP!

CLAP!

The loud sound of thunder echoed across the churning thick fog, and in Corey’s previous position, what he feared came to pass.

The ghostly baby arms with too many fingers and too many joints that tore out his tongue appeared a few meters from his previous position.

They floated and writhed through the fog for a second before lunging not at where he previously stood, but his current position.

Corey’s eyes widened slightly despite having anticipated such an outcome.

’Too fast!’

He had anticipated the arms to move at a speed that was faster than anything he had ever expected which was why he had moved from his previous position in the first place.

However, the arms were still too fast despite him being in a hyper-focused state.

His instincts howled, and then he moved.

He recalled how his instincts warned him about teleporting when he first attempted to teleport to the safe house that was right in front of him.

So, he darted backward with Lightning Step

while lowering his head. He vanished from his spot in a silver streak.

Hissssssssshhhh!

The air screamed as the arms missed his head by a hair’s breadth.

They remained frozen in shock, and then they began twisting violently as though they were confused and shaken.

They had not expected to miss.

They never missed.

Corey did not see the reaction of the arms because he was trying to create as much distance as possible from the arms.

He continued moving without hesitation and he weaved through the thick fog while still maintaining his hyper-focused state.

Despite the immense consumption of mental energy, he needed to be in such a state to be able to keep track of the arms.

Each of his step covered massive distances. His expression was cold.

Focused.

Emotionless.

But his mind was racing.

’I’m not surprised that I was targeted, but it still sucks... Hopefully, my plan works.’

He glanced over his shoulder, and his Eyes of Dreams and Nightmares widened slightly as he saw a second set of arms emerging from the fog.

It was directly beside the first set of arms, and it seemed to awaken the first set of arms from its stunned state.

’Once again... Why am I not surprised?’

He clicked his tongue, and then he increased the output of Lightning Step despite the growing veins on his head and the strain that was beginning to appear in his mind.

Meanwhile, the arms went after him with a speed that would put every Tier 6 he had ever faced to shame.

Despite increasing the distance between him and the arms to over a kilometer, they crossed more than seven hundred meters in less than three seconds.

’Damn it.’

And then Corey made a decision.