Boooooooooom
The sonic wave shook the buildings around us.
The air flowed in like a tsunami.
I firmly grabbed a cell phone tower to stop myself from flying away.
"Lianne!"
"Ray, I'm okay!", she had reentered my body.
I consolidated my stance on the ground and checked the direction from which the wave originated.
A huge monster was approaching us.
From where I stood, it looked about five to ten metres tall.
The beast's ginormous body looked like a human and it had the head of an ox.
With huge horns, it appeared like a devil.
It was wearing human skin around its groin and its body was covered with grey fur.
It had three eyes. All placed adjacently on its frontal bone. They were shining and a reddish hue could be seen coming out of its sockets.
It was wearing a spiked nose ring and a necklace made of animal skulls.
Its upper limbs had been cut at the elbow joint so it had no hands.
There were patches on its legs where fur was missing and there were inscriptions written there, in a language I didn't know.
It had a tail made of metal, double its body size, and enormous dark wings like a bat.
There was a huge golden crucifixion cross piercing its stomach.
"That! It's a fallen angel! What is it doing here?!", Lianne was flabbergasted.
I checked my RP.
[RP:146]
The beast inhaled air deeply and then roared loudly.
Another sonic wave came, this time even stronger.
The cellphone tower bent wildly and then broke. I was sent flying to a different roof.
I tumbled and rolled before swiftly getting up.
My right side was fractured.
"Lianne! Use this to fill up my RP!"
A tinnitus plagued my ear drums.
I touched my ear with my left hand. It was bleeding.
Lianne had already activated autoheal and I soon felt sound sensations in my ears again.
"Ray, you have to run away! We must escape this space as soon as possible!"
A message came and my transparent screen popped up.
[ -Integrated Trial of Destiny-
Second Task:
The guardian of the Soul Network, Astracus, has gone berserk.
End his life before he rampages further.
Reward: Assistant's system upgrade x1
Failure: Chances to clear Trial of Destiny halved. Next Task difficulty doubled.
Subtask: Complete the Trial in 30 minutes or survive for 2 days.
Subtask can be cleared without clearing the main task. Clearing subtask will clear the main task without incurring a penalty, however rewards of main task will not be available.]
Lianne spoke in an exasperated tone, "Second Task already? It hasn't even been 24 hours since the last Trial."
Lianne's words made it clear that this was unusual.
"Ray, you must hide. He is not someone you can fight!", Lianne begged me.
"What offensive skills do I have?", I asked her.
"You have none. Your body doesn't have enough mana to survive let alone fight. Ray, please reconsider. Fighting him is suicide."
"I may be seeing things differently than you, Lianne."
"What?"
"If I quit, I'll lose my sponsorship. If I hide, my chances of clearing this Trial may not decrease but it won't increase either. I have to take an aggressive approach. If I win, I can upgrade you."
"Ray... but you'll get hurt..."
"It doesn't matter. As long as you're with me, I'll be fine."
Lianne could heal me unlimited times. I had a perfect cheat as long as I didn't get killed in one shot.
The giant angel seemed to have caught on to my determination. It bent its body and got into a charging position.
It exhaled deeply. Dark mist surrounded its body.
"Lianne! Assistant's advice!"
"Starting calculations!"
I activated my stopwatch to monitor the beast's movements in slow motion.
The beast brought its wings close to its body, ready to charge. It inhaled deeply again.
It was going to slam into me. I had to dodge.
I quickly began running sideways on the roof.
In what felt like a fraction of a second, like a titanic sized cannonball, it slammed into the building where I was standing.
I didn't catch its movements at all.
The building was destroyed. I was flying skyhigh.
[HP:2/100]
[Activating autoheal]
[HP: 3/100]
[HP: 4/100]
'Ugh, I can't speak.'
'Calculations complete!' Lianne understood my situation and began talking inside my head.
'Ray, that crucifixion cross in its stomach! Drive it into his chest first!'
'Ugh, but how?'
'Use your unique skill.'
Assistant's advice provided the best solution. If the best solution right now was to go into a debt of pain, it just meant that the task was extraordinarily difficult for me.
When a man is in debt, he shouldn't borrow more. This had to be done but I wasn't going to relinquish my status as a debt free person.
If my hp hit zero again, there would be no guarantee about anything anymore. I had to avoid that.
'Take my left arm', I told Lianne.
'Left arm?', Lianne quickly realized what I wanted.
My arm shattered into a million pieces and my agility skyrocketed.
I felt like a bullet again.
Time slowed down even further.
The stopwatch's effects were also amplified.
I sacrificed my entire arm as collateral. Autoheal won't work on it till I pay my previous debt but the pain I feel will keep my unique skill running.
I was 1000ft above ground level, free falling without a parachute.
Astracus, looked at me from below. He was ready to charge again.
Pieces of destroyed concrete were floating near me.
I used one large broken tile section that was falling above me as a foot hold and looked down at Astracus.
'How long do I have?'
'3 seconds! Maximum!'
I had to impair Astracus before I hit my insurance limit.
I concentrated on him. All my senses were directed only towards him. I felt his fallen existense.
We locked eyes.
1 sand grain started falling inside an hourglass somewhere far away.
Astracus and I both charged at the same time.
The ground he stood on was destroyed completely leaving behind a huge crater.
The tiled floor, which I used to push myself downward, turned to dust.
By the time the sand grain had covered half of its journey, I and Astracus had already met each other.