Zarek picked up the greatsword, resting it on his shoulders as dense black Lurker's Godsfall coated him from head to toe. It was probably more than half the width of his body in width, and so heavy it threatened to tilt him forward. He didn't like long weapons to begin with, and wielding one this heavy in his current state was an even more foolish choice in his estimation, but there was no other choice.
His weapons were still in Su's office, and who knew how deep the tunnel networks of this place were? But without a weapon, he had no chance of making it out of here.
And he had every intention of doing exactly that.
Zarek exhaled a breath, his Lurker's Godsfall coating even his face. It could only be said that he looked completely demonic, his hair becoming strings of whipping black.
His flaming amber eyes seemed to be the only points of light on him as he looked up to the railing that Sona and Belladoll stood on. The various instructors had already dropped everything, rushing toward Zarek with all of their might, their only thoughts focused on answering the call of their priestesses.
And yet, Zarek was focused on taking one final glance at Belladoll as though to ingrain her face into his psyche. He could feel her shiver, almost taking a step back before she managed to stop herself, looking down at him with an equally fierce expression.
Chi.
Zarek suddenly moved. He wielded the greatsword with his left hand, his right still clenched into a tight fist.
He cut down two of the instructors, bursting out of the encirclement. Speeding right by Mitch and Snooz, he didn't even give them a glance. In that moment, they seemed to understand the same thing Priya had.
Do nothing.
"Dammit!" Sona found herself panicking from above. She was caught between wanting to go down below and continuing to protect the Head Priestess. But there was a hint of fear in her as well.
Just who was this demon?
She had said so confidently earlier that she was far stronger than Zarek. From what she could tell from his aura and energy, she certainly was.
But she couldn't possibly take Sir Ejold down that easily. It would take several exchanges at the very least. Though she was confident in winning handily, she couldn't make it look… like that. Not at all.
What was most fear-inducing was the gaze Zarek carried. It seemed to be a burning hell, a fury constantly stoking within him that belied his usually cheery demeanor, as though he had well and truly buried a demon within himself.
He walked around like a volcano always ready to implode, raging with an anger within him that was just looking for a target. And right now, that target seemed to be them.
And that filled her with fear.
…
Zarek burst out of the training ground, his hair lashed out, sending tendrils of black with an elastic whippiness to them to latch onto several walls.
The lines disconnected from his hair, forming lines of long ladders alone.
He rolled to the side, avoiding a blade coming for him. His shoulder slammed into a stone wall, the wince of pain not slowing him as he bounced from it. The Lurker's Godsfall on his shoulder had formed against the wall and sent him accelerating to the side.
As though a ping-pong ball, he hit the other side of the tunnel with blinding speed, appearing on the opposite side of his attacker and severing him in half at the waist.
Zarek knew that his stats weren't enough. He was going to have to rely on his Lurker's Godsfall if he wanted a chance here, but he also couldn't just escape.
For him… escaping alone was easy, but that wasn't enough. Just leaving would still leave Priya and the others vulnerable. He needed to do something that could stall them properly.
The words he had spoken just now were only the first step. He needed more.
He deployed his C Class Scouting Skill in full force. He simply didn't believe that even Belladoll or Crux would have a comparable Scouting Skill to him, even if they already had Counter Skills.
Trial of Fire. That was his clue.
He trusted his gut more than anything in this world. He just needed to…
There.
He found it far faster than even he expected.
Suddenly, Zarek stopped, his hair latching against the ground behind him and pulling him back with a snap at his neck. He flexed his body and kept himself upright as a sword grazed through the air just before his throat.
It came out of nowhere—so fast, so sharp—and yet Zarek didn't see any obvious opponent. Behind him there were those still chasing after, but ahead of him was free and clear. There was a straight path forward, and then a few deviating paths to the left and right.
Zarek's eyes sharpened as he landed on one of them, understanding immediately.
It was a truly troublesome Talent, indeed.
A man stepped out from around the corner. Zarek couldn't remember having ever seen him before, and his C Class Scouting Skill rebounded before he could check his stats, but he had a pretty good guess.
The Dalton half of Sakks and Dalton.
He knew that these people would be here too, probably given more prominent positions thanks to their first line of entry. But Zarek could feel something odd about Dalton's stance.
Almost immediately, Zarek rushed ahead, his right hand slamming the top of his fist against Dalton's temple. The man hardly resisted and slumped down to the ground.
They never exchanged a single word, but their understanding of one another was already as deep as it needed to be.
It seemed that there were still some smart people left in the world after all. But Zarek's mind had already focused on other things. Rounding the same corner Dalton had come from, he accelerated, his feet constantly rebounding against the ground and springing him forward.
The heat in the air was only increasing.
If Crux was at the end of this, Zarek was just going to have to find a way to kill that man right here and now. No one would stop him.