CHAPTER 42: [ DARK MASK ]

If she was fast before, Alexander wasn’t sure what to call this.

She left the pole, and ran so quickly that without his visual spells he wouldn’t be able to track her hands and legs.

His eyes followed her every movement, her every step, every breath.

She was insanely fast.

Alexander slowly walked forward, entirely ignored by the monsters.

The four statues couldn’t contain her, she slowly chipped at them with her sickles, dents growing deeper on their legs.

The stone arrows that left the archers’ bows hit where she stood seconds ago.

On his face only one thing showed: amazement.

Then, he saw it.

A flicker.

As she stepped behind the enemies, and while the Lich was concentrated with its staff up, her mask turned dark.

Its white exterior turned abyssal black.

"How..."

She was behind them, then, in a single second she dashed through, hitting each individual statue.

The one with insect-like features fell forward.

She ran toward it, hitting its head in a flurry of blows that looked like one single strike.

It finally crumbled, its body turning into a pile of rubble on the tiled floor.

Fae’s mask was back to white. Alexander’s confused expression lingered for a moment.

She wasn’t as fast as Titan’s Guild, ’Sleeping Giants’.

When they arrived in the test room, they were so fast he could barely react despite seeing their every move.

She was at a speed that was close, however.

With [ The Gift ] and [ Sacrifice ], she shared his sight and his stats.

A combo that was simply too strong.

And if they could figure out how to trigger the black mask...

She fought the remaining three statues by herself, dodging their attacks while chipping at their bodies at her own pace.

He didn’t need to do anything.

He could see the Lich up there, preparing what must’ve been another summon.

Alexander focused on its eyes, but nothing would come out of it.

The entity he invokes simply couldn’t take hold in this monster’s mind.

Alexander raised his hand, his cloak fluttered behind him as he kept walking forward.

A rift opened in-between the archers, tendrils swiftly reaching upward, their tip extending toward its feet.

One of the archers used its hand to grab at it, tearing the tendril away.

The rift closed, Alexander frowning.

His pace slowed down, his eyes still fixated on the boss.

A single line was breaking through his vision.

He stopped using the Will Breaker’s borrowed sight.

Each eye that covered him blinked shut, one by one, vanishing.

He came to a full stop, standing aside while watching Fae fight.

The way she moved around her targets, flowing through her moves and sidesteps like she truly belonged on the battlefield was more than impressive.

She was strong.

If she had any real weapons in her hands, this fight would most likely already be over.

Looking at her deal with this room by herself proved that she was his strength.

Sacrifice? The Gift? Even the mask she wore, nobody else would be able to sustain it.

Nobody else would be able to sustain the entity’s weight on their shoulder, yet she could.

There was no ally, no guild, no friends that could benefit from his spells.

No one but her.

There was only one way for him to fully benefit from his cultist spells that would turn anyone else insane in seconds. It was to rely on her.

He could see her cold, serene approach as she danced with the monsters.

She wasn’t upset or angry. She wasn’t scared or ecstatic.

She was a killing machine—one that depended on him.

The archers were almost halfway down, he could tell the damage they had sustained was too much, even if they were the ones best carved.

The other one that was supposed to serve as a sort of tank barely fulfilled its purpose.

It was large in size, but Fae’s speed was too great, it couldn’t keep up.

Again.

In a flash, the mask turned black.

Fae’s speed doubled once more, she swept through the battlefield in one dash.

It turned white as she slid to a stop, turning around once more toward the enemies.

Alexander’s gaze jumped from one enemy to the next.

What was different?

Why is the mask activating?

The area she was in when it activated was the same both times.

Alexander raised his voice.

"Fae!"

She glanced toward him, sliding to a stop outside of the statues’ reach.

She looked at him, awaiting what words he might have for her.

If she looked cold during her fight, she looked warm at this instant.

"Go behind them once more, after standing in front of them for a short moment. It’ll activate the mask," he said.

She nodded, the warmth he felt leaving.

She walked toward the front, the archers readying another arrow while the tank stood in front of them, both hands near the ground, as if to catch her.

She ran forward, the arrows missing again.

She jumped in-between the tank’s hand and its leg, then across the archers by jumping and turning sideways mid-air.

She didn’t bother attacking them, focusing on what Alexander exactly said with blind trust.

Once behind them the mask turned black again.

Without waiting, it felt like lightning hit the room once more.

A loud crackling sound echoed on the walls. Fae’s steps dug into the tiled floor, each one cracking under her speed as her weapons struck every enemy on her path. She was leaving behind a path of destruction everywhere her feet landed.

She got through the archers and the tank, her strikes landing twice as deep.

Alexander held his breath.

She was about to cometo a stop in front of them, yet just couldn’t.

She stumbled to the ground and rolled to her side.

She slid sideways on the ground all the way to the back wall with the momentum of he dash, her back breaking the stone it hit.

He could hear the damage it did from where he stood, his expression pale.

She didn’t move, small rocks falling behind her.

Another loud sound echoed through the room, grabbing his attention.

All three statues had fell to the ground.