"You have two hours. Your time starts now. Tick Tock Mr. Contender."
The call ended.
I immediately called the number back.
"The number you have dialed is currently unavailable, please try again after someti…"
I threw the handle away.
'Ray, calm down. We need to fig…'
'I know.'
I picked up the device again and recalled Taeyang's number.
Rring Rring
"Hello..? Who is this?"
"Taeyang, it's me, listen we don't have time."
"Ray?! I have been meaning to contact you! Look, you need to come over. John Elton's life is in danger."
"What?"
The ground under my feet slipped. My legs felt weak.
"For now, come over to my house. I'll explain things there."
"No Taeyang, listen to me. Ichika is about to be attacked. Give me her address as fast as you can."
"What?! Wait, I'll get it in a second."
He told me the address and I memorized it instantly.
"And Taeyang where does your mother work?"
"My mother? She runs a small cafe by the river."
"What is the name of that cafe?"
"It's called Tae Snacks and you'll find it close to the bridge. Why? What is wrong?"
'With my stopwatch I can reach both places in under an hour.'
"Ray? What is wrong? Is my mother in danger?"
Anxiety filled his voice.
"Don't worry Taeyang. Nothing is wrong, I just asked because…"
"Don't lie to me Ray! She's my mother! Tell me what is happening to her?! Tell me right now!"
I gritted my teeth.
"There's a bomb strapped inside her bag. They are trying to use her to kill you."
"..."
"Hello?"
No reply.
"Hello? Taeyang?"
Silence filled the booth.
Baam
I smashed the handle on the wall.
'Ray…'
"Lianne, calculate the fastest way to save three of them!"
'Starting calculations!'
I ran out of the booth towards Ichika's direction.
A small pinch of pain hit me.
'Calculations complete! Go to Ichika's house first!'
I had to trust Taeyang for now.
With my stopwatch amplified, I ran at full speed.
…
It took me a minute to reach the address Taeyang had given me.
She was living in her apartment. 18th floor.
Time was flowing slowly, but I had no time.
'Lianne, scan the place.'
'I detect 2 groups with strong mana, Ray.
One is a group of four people waiting on the ground floor. The other group is using the elevator to climb up.'
'Which floor is the elevator on right now?'
'Tenth floor'
Shit. I can't stop them in time.
'Lianne, Assistant's advice again! Give me the fastest way to kill them!'
'Starting calculations!'
I kept my stopwatch running. It was costing me RP and the pain from my unique skill broke me but I kept looking at Ichika's apartment on the 18th floor.
'Please don't let me be late.'
'Calculations complete!'
Another layer of pain covered me.
If 10 Dol was the amonunt of pain beyond which humans stopped feeling the sensation of pain then the combined pain I was feeling right now could be more than 100 Dol which was atleast equal to 10 RP, but it felt minuscule to me now.
'Ray, let's enter the lower level of the dream world and blast that elevator!'
"Now we're talking."
Lianne pulled my consciousness and we entered the grey world.
I saw my physical body standing on the ground.
With time now on my side, I entered the building.
Four men were standing guard in front of the elevator.
"Can I hurt them here?" I asked Lianne.
"Yes, you can but it will only incapacitate them and not actually hurt them physically." Lianne had come out and materialized herself.
"That's good enough for me."
I formed a sphere of dense mana on my palm and blasted it towards them. All their bodies started burning with my golden flames.
"You could have just punched them, Ray."
"Let's go, we have more people waiting for us."
Lianne quickly re entered me and I dashed up the stairs.
When I reached the 11th floor, Lianne came out again.
'We need to enter the soul network deeper if we want to cross this wall. As long as we're at this level, your frame will collide with that wall and we can't do anything.' Lianne said.
I slowly understood the dream depth concept.
Basically, in the first layer was our physical world.
In the second was the dream layer where I could still see and touch others.
In the third layer, living things disappeared but everything else was the same. I fought Astracus in this layer.
Currently Lianne wanted me to enter the fourth layer where my soulframe would become unable to interact even with normal tangible objects.
Time flowed slower the deeper we went. Physical interaction also dropped the deeper the layer became.
"Let's do it."
Lianne again pulled me, this time the experience mimicking the wormhole feel I got when I fought Astracus.
"Now we're at a level below, that is deeper, than where we were when we fought Astracus." Lianne told me.
I looked around. The scenery was dark and hazy. I tried touching the walls but my hand just slipped through. I poked my head through the wall and saw the lift climbing up.
"I need you to jump towards the elevator." Lianne asked me to do something crazy.
I looked at the possible 11 storey fall.
"Are you serious?" I asked her.
"Jump and try to hold on inside. I'll push your soulframe back to a shallower level again so that your frame doesn't fall through the elevator."
I looked at the fall again.
"After you go back to a shallower level, you'll be able to touch them again. Try to grab someone, and then use the Temporary Soulframe swap and take over his body." Lianne continued.
"How do I use it?"
"Activate it and you'll be able to see his soulframe. Pull it out and enter his body."
I closed my eyes and prepared myself mentally.
"Whoo. I'll regret this later." I exhaled deeply.
"Let's go Ray." Lianne dematerialized again.
With a final deep breath, I jumped through the wall.
My body entered the elevator and then my consciousness got pushed upwards like Lianne had said.
Activating the God of Purity's reward, I reached for the nearest man I could grab and pulled out his soul.
I immediately felt a pull from his physical body. It was like a black hole, pulling me in.
I entered it and returned to the physical world.
"Hey, Gary. What do you wanna do with that girl?"
One of the guys inside the lift was talking to me.
The guys inside were talking about their plans.
"I wanna have some fun with her before we take her to Boss."
"Why is Boss suddenly into young girls?"
"Who cares brah, I just want to get my dick wet."
"Yeah man. I thought Dragon's cove beating our business meant extra work . Who knew we'd be getting a nice vacation like this?"
"What do you say Gary? How do you want to fuck that girl?"
I closed my eyes and smirked.
"Huh? Gary, do you have a good position in mind?"
"You used to do a lot of gangbangs, right Gary?"
'Lianne.'
"The only one I'll be fucking up is…" I opened my mouth.
'Now, Ray.'
"You all."
I burst all the mana inside my new body at once. The icy mana of the guy named Gary erupted inside the space and froze everything.
"W..what!?"
"You bitch! What are you doing!"
I opened my eyes.
"Killing you all." I smiled.
Golden fire raged over the ice. The elevator blasted and started falling.