Chapter 37 (1/2)

Surrounded by the towering er

Just how enormous was it…? While the air here was certainly a lot cleaner than Earth's, I still could not believe I was actually seeing the silhouette of a tree thousands of kiloether with the ninety-nine saplings, they served as the cornerstones of this world

…wait, no, this wasn't the ti scenery That 'thousands of kilometers' was exactly what I ain!”

More explosive wind bullets appeared out of nowhere I promptly dashed away

The militarized monster avatars, driven by secret beta testers, showed thealloped aftertheir spells all the while

It had been twenty-four hours since my first encounter with the cricket-spiders They never stopped attacking Every tiic and left, they would return a few hours after Or just tenparticularly uncharitable

They would just revive if I killed theic like nor the amount I drained froic was even slightly increasing Perhaps they were taking turns killing monsters or hu thirty percent every hour, it still wasn't enough My current ic was already down to half capacity

I really couldn't afford to keep fighting them I stayed as human and ran toward the sea

I was 'the dees the northern seas', so I could cross the ocean just fine if I turned tobehind ht as a hu hours would be rough on me, plus I'd lose a lot of my maneuverability So I decided to just run on the water

The mist from my feet froze the waves with each step I took

Not very stable footing, but it would suffice I kept up my speed Their atte spiders

Really… were they even using their eyes? Why did they think ht?

Six days of borrowed ti I'd have to cross the ocean, the e, then another strip of ocean to reach the Central Island where the World Tree was, I was cutting it really close

I kept on running on the frozen path for a whole day and night As I expected, the sea had stopped any further attacks Still, I had to constantly create ic

Perhaps I should just accept the loss of secrecy and go all-out as flying mist? I couldn't decide Especially when there were still drones watching iant shark attackedfrozen fish

Four days of borrowed tiions around the World Tree and its Saplings generally had reenery, yet thebut precipitous cliffs, its rock face per no life

”damn it!”

So this hy the secret beta testers didn't attackup an a the relativelyfor my arrival

The ten foremost spiders fired their wind bullets in unison I i mist and dove into the ocean

I supposed it wasn't ti secrets, then…

With the full strength of ic, I carved out an enormous chunk of frozen ocean to throw at them They immediately blew it apart I fully transforments and their aan cli for me A surprise that, I was convinced, was also unknown to the secret beta testers

There was a reason why no one ever reached the World Tree without following the official path The mountains itself rejected all intruders

Of the secret alpha testers, the survivors with broken psyches were being kept and monitored in a separate facility The co still within fifty-seven suspended animation capsules Audrey was there in front of them, connected to her audio-visual VR set She was in a call with Brian, as still staying back at the 7th research center

”Hahahhah, unbelievable! So she truly was connected to No 13! I just saw our little bunny turn into the mist monster, hahahahaaah! Audrey, what about your side?!”

She coolly began her report

”No 13 still hasn't shown any responses, and neither have the other subjects Also, the supervisor of the orphanage that No 13 used to stay in has arrived as per your invitation How shall we proceed?”

”Oh, she's there already? She should be quite familiar with No 13, so I invited her for another point of view Feel free to talk to her Let's see, so No 13's still unresponsive…”

”Then I will continue my observation”

Audrey cut off the visual feed and returned her eyes to reality Turning around, she sao so herself very comfortable She turned her smirk to Audrey

”Done with the Deputy Director's call? Yes, that's right, no one in the world knows that girl more than me! The 'demon child' used to be such a brat when she first joined up Nothing a few beatings couldn't fix though, heheheh” The supervisor wo so very proud of her deeds

”I see…”

”Yes! And if she hasn't shown any responses, then we can take her out of the capsule and give her the full-body electroshock treatment just like I used to! Even the brat was scared of it back then, screareat here!”

Even aes established all around the world, this wo results The corporation rated her highly And in sies, such cruelties were a daily occurrence

”…We will need to request the Deputy Director's permission” Audrey replied

Policy required the children ere forcefully logged-out due to mental collapses to be kept alive in the collection facility for exactly thirty days Their plugs would be pulled in order

The final processing would only begin once life support stopped for all the secret alpha testers As of now, around seventy percent had reached the end of their lease on life Their deaths were already confirmed The very final tester, No 13, had four days left

Even if this observation truly revealed a link between No 13 and the rabbit beastirl, a live dissection was all that awaited her

With how her life had been, it would have been ht

Suddenly, Brian's shout rang out from the VR device

”What the hell are those monsters?!”

Asup the mountain Once I reached a fifth of the way, the cricket spiders finally realized the monster of mist was me They opened fire

I had a lotwas difficult Still, with the distance I gained, just a bit of token avoidance was enough to get me out of the way of most of the bullets Only a few hit

But the moment the projectiles snals appeared on my radar Here and there, beasts an to come into existence They attacked both me and the cricket-spiders

What in the world were they?!

[Rock Monster x Lots] [Magic Points: 500~700] [Total Combat Power: 530~780]

I didn't see their hit points, so were they spiritual lifeforic poere about the same as me when I just beca, however Hundreds? No, perhaps even thousands

The cricket-spiders hadin front of overwhelathered up and focused fire on the newcomers It still could not stop the rock avalanche fro them whole in a blink of an eye

I didn't have the leeway to worry about them here If they really were elementals, then perhaps their purpose was to eli the sanctioned path

About a thousand of thean toto cross the mountains, or because I was a demon, but they seemed extraordinarily hostile

I couldn't afford to oppose the air at the elementals aboveele me, and I continued es assaultednored the newly-formed elementals, and sometimes I would kill them After what must have been a whole day, I finally crossed the mountaintop, battered and bruised