Chapter 14: Emancipator

Hit was halfway to his destination, marching down the main road to Babel, when he stopped in his tracks; the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

'Something's wrong.' Hit could sense it in the air: an unknown force was sweeping through the city. He could not quite describe how he knew this; he just did.

Some animals are known to be omens of disaster, capable of foretelling great calamities. Deep sea fish rising from sea trenches, mass exoduses of hibernating animals; no one truly knows how they can sense the approaching danger, other than instincts honed over hundreds of millions of years. Hit's senses were just as astute.

*Groooarr* *Crash* *Graaaaar* *squelch*

The earth trembled and hellish screams emanated from the east of the city. A moment later and a great stampede of people rushed out into the open. Hit used the narrow alleys to his advantage and quickly zipped up to a nearby rooftop. 'They're in a frenzy. People are going to get crushed under each other's wake.'

He noticed the individuals at the forefront were far better equipped. 'The leaders of the pack are mostly adventurers; the civilians must be at the back.'

Stall owners cowered in terror in their boxes; civilians ran as quickly as their weak bodies could carry them; a mother cried out looking for her beloved child. Crashes and tremors continued to quake as terrible beasts tore through their new territory. A truly evil person would sit back and enjoy the fireworks: humankind at their purest, acting on animalistic instinct alone. Was Hit such a person? He was an assassin; he took people's lives every day without a shred of hesitation. These actions would be described as evil by many. But what is evil? ...What is good?

Some would say that they are two sides to the same coin, one we flip every day. Every time Hit chose to murder someone, this coin landed on 'evil', but who exactly did he kill? Why did he choose to do so?

The vast majority of Hit's targets also chose the path of evil. For them, it was out of self-indulgence, sentencing millions of sentient life forms to miserable lives and agonizing deaths. They raped and tortured; pillaged and ransacked; stole peoples' hopes and futures for all eternity. Hit had eliminated untold misery by getting rid of these pestilences. Unlike them, he took no pleasure in it. It was his job. Yes, Hit's actions were evil, and a part of his soul would forever be impure. However, he always tried to live a life he could be proud of, to never regret any of his choices. He had a strong sense of honour and lived by a moral code. Hit was no monster; he had a plethora of redeeming qualities.

*Ping* He flipped the coin.

Hit dashed from roof to roof, paying no mind to the adventurers below, they could handle themselves. He needed to act as a shield for the defenceless non-combatants.

*Crash* The side of a building was turned into rubble as something heavy smashed against it.

*Greeeeh* *Graaaaa*

Two large monsters emerged from the dust and salivated at the smell of cowering humans dotted around them. They appeared to be immense armadillos with globular bony masses on the ends of their tails. Elongated ears and long snouts shifted around constantly, in a desperate search.

Hit recognised them based on a description he had read. 'These are 'hard armoured'. Not a very imaginative name.' Along with silverbacks, they were the highlights of the 11th and 12th floors. Hit would need to be strategic here.

"Where are you, David!? Oh God...Please!" The woman was still scrambling around, blood dripping from her hands and feet as she picked through rubble. Black streaks were visible on her face as she sobbed.

The monsters snarled and swivelled their bodies towards her. Bony plates grated against each other at every muscle twitch.

*Crash* *RAAAAA!?*

Hit threw a brick at one's small eye, diverting their attention to him. He set himself into his serious stance; now was not the time for caution or showing off. "Over here, filthy vermin."

*Greeeeh!*

*Griiii!*

The creatures screamed and ran towards their new target, tails flailing behind them. Rubble shook following every step.

Hit dodged to the side of the one on his left and launched a tentative punch. Purple energy exploded in a ring around the impact zone, an unusual effect.

Hit took on a pained expression. 'Tough. I'm not getting through that.'

A shadow passed over him.

*Shing*

'Above me'

Hit rolled forwards as the unknown object descended.

*Crash*

Hit glanced back. Pavement was crushed under a bulky tail. A direct hit from that would have surely pulverised his body.

*Grii* His other opponent lumbered behind him. Hit weaved under its legs and stood up beside it. A small cloudy eye darted around feebly. 'Tch. I was hoping I could blind them. Oh well, still a target!'

Blood gushed out as Hit's phoenix eye fist gouged out the colossus' eye.

*GREEEE!*

'Good. I'll just keep hitting soft tissue. ...but they'll lose all sanity and demolish everything if I don't end this quickly.' Hit dodged back as the thing shook its body and slammed against surrounding walls, aiming to flatten him. Once the armadillo tired, it panted in place.

Before Hit could try anything else, the other monster seemed to crouch down and twist its body unusually. It contorted into a circular shape and hid any soft spots under bony plates to avoid suffering the same fate.

Hit braced himself. "Is it going to...!?"

*Zip*

The usually slow hard armoured rocketed towards Hit: It was an impervious ball of destruction.

*Slam*

Hit jumped to the side as it embedded itself in the building behind him.

Silence followed for a moment.

.

..

...

*Crash*

*Shing* 'to the right!'

The ball emerged from Hit's right and would have flattened the boy, if he hadn't rolled again.

'This is going to be harder than I thought.' Hit could only act as a pin as the 'bowling ball' that was the monster slammed back and forth without rest. After nearly a minute of constant rumbling, the monster stopped in place, exhausted.

Unexpectedly, Hit was doing just fine. An advantage that seemed to carry over from his last life, was the efficiency of his time skip. While some fighters burned through their reserves with flashy transformations, Hit would always be able to skip time as long as he was still conscious. No matter what the beast did, it could not catch him off guard.

Strangely, it was still there, rotating intermittently. What was it doing?

Hit looked around the battlefield, it was a lot flatter than before. Thankfully, there weren't any red smears. His other enemy was off to the sidelines, keeping as still as possible. Odd.

'Their vision is laughable, so... it must be trying to sense for vibrations! That's why that coward is motionless behind me. If I can just lure the other one in...'

Hit dashed backwards, stepping noisily this time. As he predicted, the ball zipped towards him, a bloodthirsty aura streaming from it.

Instead of running away like before, Hit ran straight at the hard armoured behind him, something it did not expect. Just before he slammed into it, Hit stomped down as hard as he could...

"Special delivery!"

...and jumped up to the rooftop above.

*EEE!?*

*SMASH* *CRACK*

Pitiful screams reverberated from the two monsters: the armadillo who was chasing Hit had rolled right into the other, cracking its own shell. Whereas, the shocked monster, who had received the unexpected 'present', was tipped over and flailed around on the ground.

Hit grinned and dove down like a falcon. "HRAA!" He punched at the thing's soft underbelly with a time skip jump strike; a purple light glowed from beneath it.

*GRIIIIIIIiiiee*

The hard armoured twitched and breathed out a final death rattle before dissipating into smoke.

Miserable wines echoed from the surviving hard armoured; blood ebbed from fractures all over it.

"Time to send you to hell as well." Rubble crunched as Hit walked towards it.

The creature shivered and hissed at him, swinging its tail in warning.

'Looks like you can't curl up anymore. Ready to be flayed?' Hit's eyes blazed.

*gg...GGRIIIII* The monster overcame its fear and swung horizontally.

*Shing*

'Aiming for my head'.

Hit rolled under the tail and ran across the creature's side. As Hit went, he tore off a piece of cracked armour.

The animal wailed and sent out another projectile attack, which was also dodged perfectly and punctuated by another excruciating peeling sensation.

Instead of bowling, the monster now played a macabre game of wack-a-mole. Try as it might, the animal just couldn't flatten the 'mole'. Hit's time skip and inhuman reflexes made him a maddening opponent.

Piece by piece, large vulnerable spots were widening all over it, all leaking vital life force.

The gargantuan armadillo panted and swayed from side to side due to blood loss, before finally collapsing to the ground.

*Poof*

It joined its 'brother' in crimson purgatory.

'Hmph. Too easy' Despite being nearly invulnerable, and incredibly powerful, stupidity was their downfall. In addition, Hit took advantage of the hard armoured's greatest weakness: their pathetically fragile innards.

Hard armoureds were nearly impossible for a solo level 1 adventurer to defeat, due to their only redeeming qualities: their hard shells and sturdiness. However, their relative slowness made them nothing more than fragile eggs for someone with level 2 strength.

*SMASH*

Hit jumped slightly as yet another monster made its entrance. Rainbows shimmered on the ground as light refracted from the new monster's carapace. It was an immense praying mantis, constructed entirely out of gleaming emerald crystals. Compound eyes gave the thing an alien appearance, accentuated by the creature's jittery movements. Hit would have called it beautiful in any other situation. The insect crashed through another building, sending masonry and dust flying all around them.

"Mama!" Tears streamed down a little boy's face. His head dripped with blood as someone had knocked against it forcefully.

Hit made to rescue the child, but the mantis did not register the boy whatsoever. Its beady eyes were fixed on Hit, as if it were in a trance. Mandibles shuddered sideways and back in anticipation of its next meal.

The monster lunged at Hit, walking legs working in consortium to spring forwards.

"Holy..." Hit didn't even have chance to activate his time skip as the bug swung down a serrated blade that made up its front leg. Hit rolled forwards, instinctively, and the two opponents swapped positions.

A few strands of purple hair wafted away as Hit instantly backed off and went on high alert. 'My body could barely react to that. Insects are incredibly strong, relative to their size, making them worrying opponents at this scale. I'll need to catch up quickly.'

As Hit faced faster and faster opponents, it became apparent that his body was comparable to a prison. His enhanced mind was forced to watch the relatively slow attacks approach, while screaming at his sluggish body to move.

He desperately thought back to his studies; anything to help him in this dire situation. The crystal mantis is a rare monster that spawns on the 15th floor, and is incredibly resistant to magic attacks. Curiously, it is attracted to minerals and gems, making is a novice mage's worst enemy. Perhaps it was Hit's crystalline soul that attracted it.

Hit mimicked his state-of-mind during his death match against the Minotaur and focused on every detail of the insect before him: every twitch, every flex...

*ZIP* every strike!

He dodged to the side and lost a few strands of hair, once more, placing him beside the monster's thorax and abdomen.

*shing*

Blazing red eyes darted all over the creature's body, desperately seeking any granularity.

'Could that? ...Yes! That must be the stone!'

A deep blue orb shone faintly within the monster's thorax; it was almost too good to be true. In actuality, these monsters were incredibly rare and, oddly, spawned against mages more frequently. It was as if the dungeon was sending specialised monsters against its intruders, analogous to the body utilising specific cells and immunoglobulin antibodies against differing pathogens.

Apart from the orb, no other internal structures were visible within the living crystal. Hit realised that focusing all of his energy onto one point may be the incorrect tactic here; therefore, he switched from his phoenix-eye fist to regular punches for a blunter strike.

*C-C-Crack*

Hairline cracks splintered open as Hit's punch cracked the animal's thorax. The attack was super-effective against it!

*SsssHhhHhhiii!?* The insect hissed as pain flooded its body for the first time.

An eerie purple light pulsed throughout the gem-like beast as Hit launched his stored time energy to maximise his punch.

It was the mantis' turn to back off this time; the poor thing chittered as it looked at itself. Looking up, its antenna waved around, as if it was perplexed at the current events. The mantis was out of its element: it was designed to nullify magic-based attacks and cripple parties that relied on weak-bodied mages to progress through the dungeon. This, like any advantage, came at a cost: increased susceptibility to blunt hits. Since mages were so rare, and warriors so common, it made no sense to birth this monster very often. For this reason, the creature had no real strategy against Hit, at least within the cramped dungeon.

A ray of light blinded the monster for a moment, forcing it to look up at the sky for the first time. It opened and shut its wings, ecstatically, as the vast horizons shimmered over it.

*CRACK* *Shiiii!*

"You're wide open" Hit leapt forwards and attacked the pest's weak point yet again, taking advantage of its lapse in concentration.

The animal clicked its jaw and unfurled its wings, beating them rhythmically,

*BBZZZ*

Its surprisingly light body hovered in place: It too had changed tactics, demonstrating the ability to learn and adapt, just like living organisms.

A bead of sweat trickled down Hit's face. 'Monsters on the middle floors are on a whole other level. I can tell the bug's thinking constantly, adapting, as I am.'

*BZZZZIP* *RIP*

Hit almost lost an arm as the creature rocketed at him and extended its arm at lightning speed, slicing a deep cut into his shirt. 'That was far too close.'

Hit whirled around and faced his enemy. It showed no emotion in its 'eyes'; it only possessed the desire to dismember Hit, eliminating his only chance at victory.

The mantis shuddered and turned its head this way and back. The unsettling movements and high-pitched squeaking suggested it was annoyed. Suddenly, it froze, as if paralysed.

A cold, evil aura emanated from it and the bug turned to stare at Hit, robotically.

Hit tensed. 'I don't like the feel of this...'

*BZZZ* The bug soared noisily at Hit, aiming for his abdomen.

Hit dodged, perplexed at the oddly telegraphed attack. Unfortunately for Hit, this time the insect missed, purposefully. While in midair, a powerful leg struck the ground and caused the bug's body to flip; its front leg was flung around, and a sharp blade was now rocketing down onto Hit's motionless arm.

*shing*

.

..

...

The 0.1 seconds became an eternity as Hit could not see any way out of the attack.

'Shit. You got me.' He commanded his body to evade the attack, but there was no chance he'd outpace the guillotine falling down onto him.

'Come on, skip further! I know for a fact I have no limits after shattering them so many times!' Time dilated as Hit was, once again, at death's door. Frustration boiled over into raging fury at his ineptitude.

'Go! Even further... BEYOND!'

Hit's arm swivelled to the side.

'YES!'

His position was sent 0.5 seconds into the future, allowing the blade to pass down unabated.

*CHI!?* The bug froze in midair, gawking at the impossible phenomenon.

A punch can be delivered in less than half a second; this meant that Hit could finally launch very swift, close-range jabs into the immediate future. Launching cacophonies of blows and moving even the shortest distance was still beyond him, but he was finally on the path to glory! The threads of fate that restricted his movements before no longer had any sway over him.

*shing*

*CRACK*

Hit launched a thunderous flash skewer forwards in time, shattering the bug's right front leg.

"Your attacks are now meaningless!" Hit bellowed out a triumphant roar.

Still reeling from the inconceivable movements of this strange enemy, the bug collapsed down, giving Hit a perfect view if its vibrating wings.

"You're staying right HERE!"

*BAM*

A radiant, scintillating wing was easily pulverised due to its fragility, eliminating the mantis' ability to fly.

A shrill scream left the monster's jaw as it mourned the loss of its freedom. Rage also coursed through it; however, instead of limit-breaking power, only reckless abandon followed.

*Shing*

Hit visualised the telegraphed swing and dodged to the side, before launching a powerful right jab, infused with time energy.

*CRACK*

A beautiful array of purple-green lights danced within the crystal monster, released as lasers that blasted and coiled all around the battlefield. It was a resplendent array of violet matrices, a fitting end to a such a glamorous enemy.

Hit watched the show with glee and relaxed, sure of his own strength once more. "Shatter and be destroyed."

The spectacle was finalised as the entire construct shattered into a beautiful 'snow' of iridescent particles. Remaining time energy was given another chance to shine as it was reflected by the fine crystal flakes.

The few observers stood agape at the mythical event; such a feat reminded the civilians of heroes of old.

Footsteps raced behind Hit, causing him to glance over. The woman who was searching for her child bounded towards the crying boy. "Oh, David! Thank God you're safe! I was so sure you were...were..." she buried her face in his hair as the two family members bawled.

A gasp escaped the mother as she raised her head to their saviour. "And thank you! We owe you our lives!"

Hit glanced at her and moved off. "I was just doing my job."

Tears flowed down her face as she watched him go, stunned. "He's... an angel".

Author's Notes

I'm a little worried about making Hit too strong, but I think I have provided good reasoning for his strength. Also, Hit is a crystal Mantis' absolute worst nightmare, and the battle was won as soon as Hit destroyed the monster's arm.

On the other hand, If a minotaur had shown up here, at full strength, Hit would have definitely died.