"Thump…"
The paralysis effect wore off.
The two riders collapsed weakly to the floor.
Kei Shirogane also slumped against the wall, sliding down onto the steps. But after taking a few deep breaths, Kei Shirogane forced herself back to her feet and staggered downstairs to Fumiya Jin's side.
"Fumiya-san… are… are you okay?" Kei Shirogane asked.
Fumiya Jin was currently looking at the massive chunk of flesh on the stairs, which had been split into two. One half had already rolled down the stairs to a lower landing, but the other half remained on this small platform.
Dark blood had already formed small cascades down the stairs… The two halves of the body were completely still; there was likely no chance of it reviving.
Hearing Kei-chan's voice, he turned to look at her, and only after confirming it was Kei Shirogane who had spoken did he nod. "Of course I'm fine."
In fact, rather than just being fine, he felt refreshed and invigorated.
Just now, when he had activated the parry, blocked the initial soundwave, and entered the Golden Super Armor state, the rest of the sonic attack had been completely negated. He hadn't felt a thing.
And then, executing the weapon skill and parry combo felt surprisingly effortless, as if all the energy he expended was drawn from the golden light of the Super Armor.
So, after unleashing the entire parry combo, the damage was dealt, the golden light faded, but Fumiya Jin himself barely felt tired. All he felt was the satisfying rush of the attack.
At the same time, under the gazes of the other three, he also gained a dozen or so Style Points. The Sharpness gauge that appeared in his mind showed that his Sharpness was just a tiny bit away, maybe a few percent, from leveling up again. This naturally put him in an even better mood.
"Oh my god…" Kei Shirogane looked down.
Although the light here was dim, at such a close distance, she could still make out the object's silhouette. The flesh sliced in two, the viscous blood flowing all over the floor… The sight left her both in awe and nauseated.
Thankfully, she had already witnessed a similar scene upstairs and had grown somewhat accustomed to it. Otherwise, she might have thrown up again.
"It… this monster should be dead, right? It won't come back to life, will it?" Kei Shirogane asked Fumiya Jin, pressing a hand to her chest.
"Looking at the situation, that seems unlikely," Fumiya Jin said.
At that moment, the Uber Eats rider also cautiously made his way down. Looking at the scene on the floor, his mouth hung open in an "O" shape.
"Holy crap… Bro, aren't you a little… too badass? You killed such a terrifying monster with a single slash?" The Uber Eats rider was deeply shaken. "Are you a pro player? You've got to be a pro player!!!"
Kei Shirogane couldn't help but recall the glittering golden figure from moments ago… Looking at Fumiya Jin with her watery eyes, little stars began to sparkle within them.
"You can call me a veteran player," Fumiya Jin said, glancing at the Uber Eats rider.
"A veteran player? Isn't that just a carry?!" the Uber Eats rider exclaimed excitedly. "Carry, can you help us get through this? I'm begging you! Once we get out, we'll do anything you want, we'll even clean ourselves out for you!"
Hearing this, Kei Shirogane was stunned, feeling a sudden chill. "Wait… you guys…"
Fumiya Jin waved his hand dismissively. "That won't be necessary. If you're willing to listen, you can follow behind. I won't go out of my way to protect you, but I'll definitely handle any dangers that I can."
"That's great! Thank you, boss! Thank you, boss! Wait a moment, I'll go help my buddy down," said the Uber Eats rider.
"Don't worry about me, bro. You go with them…" a voice suddenly came from above.
The Uber Eats rider grew anxious upon hearing this and was about to subconsciously blurt out, "How could I do that?"
But just then, Fumiya Jin clapped him heavily on the shoulder. The Uber Eats rider let out a pained grunt, the words naturally getting stuck in his throat.
After sucking in a sharp breath, he looked at Fumiya Jin, bewildered. He found Fumiya Jin looking stern as he jutted his chin, pointing up the stairs.
Slightly stunned, the Uber Eats rider looked up the stairs. He saw the DoorDash rider looking at him with a bewildered expression.
The Uber Eats rider suddenly realized something. After a few seconds of silence, he looked at the DoorDash rider's face and asked, "That voice just now…"
"It wasn't me!" The DoorDash rider met his gaze and quickly explained, "But I didn't dare stand up and say it wasn't me right away… I was afraid that would count as me responding to it…"
The Uber Eats rider froze, a cold sweat breaking out all over him. "Jeez… !"
He turned his head to look at Fumiya Jin, his eyes filled with gratitude. "Boss, you really saved my life! I'll have to kowtow to you when we get out!"
"Enough talk. We shouldn't stay here long. You all need to stay alert and not let your guard down for even a second until we're out of this building," Fumiya Jin said as he took Kei Shirogane's hand.
"Okay!"
…
The group started heading down the stairs.
Fifth floor…
Fourth floor…
Third floor…
Although the stairwell was quite dark, their descent was relatively smooth, and they didn't encounter any dangers.
A few strange, mimicked voices were heard during this time, but since all four of them were on high alert, they posed no threat.
Just like that, they reached the second floor and started towards the first.
But just a few steps down, an astonishing, bone-chilling coldness washed over them… They could even feel a numbing pain underfoot, their toes feeling almost frostbitten.
Fumiya Jin quickly stopped everyone and looked down…
This section of the stairwell leading to the first floor seemed to lack those small skylights, so the moonlight couldn't get in. The environment below was almost pitch black, making it impossible to see anything.
At the same time, it was completely silent below, with no sound coming through…
"No, there's a problem downstairs. We can't go down if we can't see," Fumiya Jin said in a low voice.
Kei Shirogane squeezed his hand twice, and he squeezed back twice.
"Then what do we do… The lights in this stairwell all seem to be broken, they're useless…" Kei Shirogane tried pressing the button on the wall beside them, but there was no reaction at all.
Fumiya Jin thought for a moment and said, "Let's go search the second floor. See if we can find a flashlight."
…
The group arrived on the second floor. The situation was the same as the seventh floor: bodies everywhere, and many apartment doors were wide open.
They stuck together and did a quick search. They didn't find a flashlight, but they did find a few powered-on cell phones on the corpses—no signal, of course.
The DoorDash rider also spotted a candle and some matches on the corner of a table, but Fumiya Jin stopped him—telling them to carry the items but not to use them casually. After all, the rules explicitly forbade starting a fire.
In any case, with the phones, they now had flashlights.
The four of them returned to the stairwell, back to where they had been.
Fumiya Jin turned on his phone's flashlight function, keeping it steady, and pointed it down—illuminating…
A dense forest of upright icicles emerged from the darkness.
Those were people!
They were people, one after another, frozen solid!
There were at least a dozen of them, standing packed together on the steps.
And looking at the first floor through the gaps in the stairs… it was crowded, and there seemed to be even more!
Moreover, the stairs beneath their feet and the nearby walls were already covered in a layer of smooth ice.
A faint white mist of ice shrouded the entire area from the mid-floor landing downwards, as if marking this place as a frozen, forbidden zone…
_____
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