Soulless Soul

Chapter 53: The Worst Person To Ambush

Sky resisted the hardwired reflex to slip into the formless void of the shadows. The structural corruption field permeating the room would choke his regeneration and push his spiritual core closer to a critical systemic desync. In a corrupted instance like Floor 1-4, every uncalculated skill activation chipped away at a player’s core code. He needed to treat his high-tier skills like a final, unrepeatable safety net, relying instead on raw physical agility and the overclocked mechanics of his newly acquired ranged weapon. Survival in the unmapped sectors was a game of stamina management, and he refused to spend his trump card on an opening salvo.

He sprinted along the outer perimeter of the amphitheater, his boots gliding effortlessly across the frozen floor as he mapped the boss’s rotational vectors. Using the slick surface to enhance his momentum, he slid into a wide, sweeping arc that brought him directly into the blind spot of the machine. The reflective ice showed the giant automaton wrestling for dominance with Vesper on the opposite side of the repository pillar. Raising his left forearm, he lined up the crosshairs of his Repeating Crossbow precisely with the Grand Knight’s damaged left shoulder joint, where the iron plates had been pried open by Vesper’s previous kinetic deflection.

Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!

Three heavy, steel-tipped bolts shot through the sub-zero air in a rapid burst, the clockwork gears inside the chassis singing a tight song of mechanical perfection.

The first two projectiles struck the reinforced plating along the upper collarbone, ricocheting harmlessly off the thick armor with a pair of loud sparks that faded into the dense fog. The third bolt, however, tracked true to the crimson laser dot floating across the inner wiring. Driven by the high-velocity tension Chloe had engineered into the frame, it pierced deeply into a glowing blue conduit buried within the exposed joint.

A violent shower of high-density sparks erupted from the wound as the Grand Knight released a distorted, low-frequency mechanical groan that resonated off the obsidian ceiling. The internal energy feedback loop was immediate; its left arm sagged limply, the severed energy line disrupting its movement parameters and throwing off its balance. The electrical arc on its greatsword sputtered, the blue light dimming significantly.

Sky reached down to load another bolt into the firing chamber, his fingers already reaching for his utility pouch to reset the internal spring mechanism.

Then his [Danger Sense] exploded.

It wasn’t the slow, cold itch of a distant tracker anymore. It was a sudden flare of absolute lethality at the base of his skull—a burning alarm screaming that an incoming trajectory was closing in on his vitals at a fraction of a second. A spike of pure adrenaline shot through his body, making his heart hammer against his ribs. The visual interface on his display flashed a warning color he hadn’t seen since the baseline trials.

Something was directly behind him. The air tore open with a sharp, displaced hiss.

An iron-clad figure burst from the concealment of the stealth shroud, the shimmering distortion dissolving to reveal a heavy set of vanguard armor coated in frost. A jagged longsword was already descending in a brutal, horizontal cleave aimed precisely at Sky’s exposed neck. It was a flawless execution arc designed to sever a player’s connection before they could activate an escape routine.

It was Colton. He had been waiting with sadistic patience for the perfect time to strike, trailing them through the cleared archives until they were entirely committed to the boss encounter and their attention was divided. A cruel, mocking grin stretched across the Vanguard Lieutenant’s face, his bloodshot eyes wide with the thrill of an easy kill. He had chosen the exact moment when the Grand Knight’s power fluctuated to ensure there would be no interference, completely confident that his strike would leave the independent rogue dead on the ice.

"Arthur sends his regards, solo trash," Colton sneered, putting the entire weight of his heavy armor into the momentum of the swing.

Sky didn’t even try to block. He knew the mathematics of his own stats too well; a Knight’s raw strength value would completely shatter his wrist if he tried to meet the blow with the thin edge of his Blood Blade, and with his health pooling dangerously low in the red zone, he had zero margin for error. He couldn’t afford to play by their rules or trust a white-tier blade against vanguard steel.

Instead, he pulled violently on the absolute last of his remaining energy reserves, overriding the system’s throttle with pure intent.

[ACTIVE ATTRIBUTE ACTIVATED: DARK BLADE]

Colton’s jagged blade sliced cleanly through Sky’s head, cutting through the dark fabric of his hood with a sickening tear—only for his physical body to instantly dissolve into a streak of formless black smoke. The steel passed through empty air, the kinetic momentum of the missed swing throwing Colton completely off balance. His heavy boots skidded wildly as his sword struck the ground, sending a spray of ice shards across the dark cavern.

Sky reappeared fluidly five meters away near the base of an ice pillar, breathing heavily as his chest heaved against the sub-zero chill. His user interface flickered aggressively under the ambient strain of the environment, but his dark eyes weren’t focused on the vanguard lieutenant.

They were locked entirely onto the Grand Knight.

The mechanical construct had already begun slowly turning its towering torso toward the sudden, explosive burst of player energy generated by the activation of a high-mobility attribute. The system array prioritized energy spikes over physical footprints. Its crimson optical visor flared with renewed intensity, scanning for the source of the disturbance. And right in its primary field of view, struggling to recover his footing after a failed stealth strike, stood Colton, his heavy vanguard armor radiating heat into the cold air.

Sky smiled a cold, sharp smile beneath the fabric of his scarf.

Colton had chosen the absolute worst person to ambush in the entire unmapped sector. He had expected a fragile independent rogue who would crumble under a single backstab; instead, he had just painted a massive target on his own chest plate in front of a war machine. Sky stood perfectly still in the shadows of the pillar, his crossbow leveled and his [Shadow-Bolt] attribute primed, ready to let the dungeon do the dirty work while he conserved what little energy he had left.

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