Chapter 8

The battle grew more intense, with Arthur's left hand, transformed into a blade, flashing rapidly in the night, slicing through each parasitic creature with every strike.

However, as Arthur's mental energy depleted to zero, the frequency of the parasitic creature's attacks in his left hand slowed down.

"I can't go on... I need to sleep. It's up to you now... My kind is approaching... Not an ordinary uninfected type, but one that has already been parasitized..."

The mouth on the palm of his left hand said, then used its sharp blade to cut off a section of the roadside railing, fashioning it into a metal rod and handing it to Arthur.

"How can this be!!!?"

Arthur's forehead was drenched in cold sweat.

All living beings have a greedy nature.

After tasting the energy of the mind, the parasitic creature in his left hand became addicted, continuously absorbing mental energy to fight.

As a result, it fell into a deep sleep once the mental energy was completely depleted.

It seemed that in the future, he would need to learn how to control his left hand's fighting to an appropriate level.

As the parasitic creature in his left hand fell asleep, the sensation in Arthur's left hand returned. He grabbed the metal rod and began running in a specific direction, which the parasitic creature had pointed out to him while it was sleeping.

However, whether he could escape was uncertain. After all, based on the anime scenes in his mind, fully parasitized creatures possessed extraordinary speed, attack power, stamina, and various abilities that surpassed human limits.

The only strategy he could think of was to mislead or ambush.

This would require complex terrain; open areas were extremely disadvantageous for him!

At the same time, he noticed another special change in his body.

His swordsmanship talent had been activated, and his body seemed to be bathed in a crimson light visible only to him, likely because the metal rod in his hand was automatically recognized as a sword.

After the swordsmanship blessing skill was activated, Arthur felt a surge of power spreading through his body. Even though he didn't know swordsmanship, he understood how to swing the sword to inflict the most damage on his opponents.

The enhanced damage from the swordsmanship blessing wasn't just a simple increase in attack power. His attack power hadn't increased; rather, the swordsmanship blessing helped him grasp the essence of swordsmanship, teaching him how to swing the sword most effectively!

This was simply—

Incredible.

Even though he had never practiced swordsmanship, he felt as if he understood the essence of the sword in an instant. If this state of holding a sword continued, he would surely improve.

Currently, his swordsmanship blessing was at one star. When it reached four stars, he might become a top-tier swordsmanship expert without a teacher.

Of course, this was just a feeling. The swordsmanship blessing had forcibly enhanced Arthur's swordsmanship experience, but real combat would be the true test.

The footsteps behind him grew louder. Arthur didn't look back; he had no time to. He was racing against death, focusing all his energy on running!

However—

There were also footsteps coming from the direction ahead, shrouded in the night!

Damn it!

A wolf at the back, a tiger at the front!

Was his time up?

A sense of frustration welled up in his chest. If it were just one opponent, he might have had the confidence to keep going, but with another one, he was truly—

In the desperate night, the footsteps became chaotic.

Arthur, panting heavily from the intense sprint, had bloodshot eyes, and his steps became disordered, but he still clung to a sliver of hope.

What about Suzune? Would he ever be able to make breakfast for her again?

Would his uncle be disappointed in his performance?

Would he become another failed experiment for Itsuki Fushizume?

Would anyone remember his name?

Would he never be able to uncover his true identity?

Everything might end here.

In his chaotic thoughts, Arthur recalled the girl from class, Yuki Aizawa, who, despite being his age, had resolutely chosen the journey into the dimensional world.

"Find the good in the bad, and use what you can. That's my motto."

This phrase lingered in his mind, Yuki Aizawa's motto!

How enviable, that such a petite girl could possess a spirit as strong as a boy's, so—

How could he stop now?!

Even if it meant living just one more second, he had to struggle. At least he wouldn't regret it, and he would keep fighting to find a chance to survive.

Overcoming a bit of his fear, Arthur sprinted again with renewed vigor. Though still afraid, a sense of determination supported him. He wanted to see if she was also struggling!~

The moonlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating the darkness. In this sliver of light, Arthur discovered—

The person in front of him was not a parasitized human but Yuki Aizawa, who was also running quickly, holding a black sword in her hand.

So, she was also fighting to survive!~

"Here—"

Arthur pointed to the abandoned factory at the intersection. He had found the city map in the trash earlier and memorized it, so he had thought of this place.

It was an abandoned chemical plant.

Knowing the anime plot, he was aware that a parasitized human body could be damaged by strong acids and other chemicals, which could be used to paralyze the parasitic creature's nervous system, catching it off guard!

It was now clear that there was a fully parasitized creature pursuing Arthur, and another one was chasing Yuki Aizawa.

When Yuki Aizawa saw Arthur, she was surprised. She hadn't expected this ordinary-looking boy to complete the basic mission.

The basic mission was to prevent the parasitic creature from consuming brain tissue.

The mission rules explained by Itsuki Fushizume were—

Five difficulty levels: Simple, Basic, Hard, Hell, and Abyss. This dimensional world had skipped the simple mission, starting directly with the basic mission, and after that, it would naturally be the hard mission.

What surprised Yuki Aizawa even more was that this boy, apparently named Arthur, had not chosen to return after completing the basic mission.

(It wasn't that he didn't choose, but that he forgot to. The system wouldn't remind players to view the mission information panel, and if no choice was made within a minute of completing the mission, the system would automatically move to the next mission phase.)

The second mission phase was—

"Main Mission [Hard Level]: Escape from the pursuit of a fully brain-parasitized creature."

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