Increasing the Speed [C155]

"How… dare you…"

A cold voice, appearing to come directly from hell resounded in the air. Anyone, by hearing it, would feel their own heart clenched by a hand, capable of crushing it anytime.

The man felt his own body trembling, not even daring to look behind. In his eyes, Met-2 appeared as a mere toy compared to the being who released such a terrifying sensation.

At that moment, he felt a movement coming from behind, as his eyes caught a silhouette passing from his right, darting toward Met-2. An instant later, when the silhouette posed its palm on Met-2's torso, he noticed who it was. "It's him?!"

How could that be the same person as before?

"Leave her..." In front of Shu Himo's palm, four invisible platforms appeared, and with their force of propulsion, they pushed Met-2 away.

As if a mountain was falling on top of it, Met-2 was pressed by the stacked [Hopper_x4], yet, it was barely enough to repel it ten meters of distance. His usual opponents would be sent flying away hundreds of meters, remaining half-dead from such an attack, yet to Met-2 it was a trivial attack, capable only of thrusting it away.

At the same moment, he stared at Phylia. Without saying anything he simply stared, allowing his eyes to convey the feelings his lips could not. Feeling his gaze, Phylia returned his look, staring right into his eyes.

It wrapped her with a frightening chill, causing her to be frozen on the spot. She immediately knew that it was a coldness formed from worry for her, and from an indescribable rage at the pain she felt.

Sometimes, a gaze can be worth more than a thousand words.

In front of such gaze, she could not hesitate and immediately released her grip from Met-2, jumping toward Shu Himo's arms as she morphed again into a little girl.

Softly smiling, Shu Himo pulled her into an embrace, as he gently whispered, "I'm sorry, I will never let you experience something similar, ever again."

"It's fine…" Her tender yet relieved voice echoed in his ears, as she gently shook her head. Even after her phrase, he did not let go of her at all, as if fearful that she may vanish the moment he released her.

The hug appeared so peaceful that it resembled a painting, breaking completely the cold atmosphere from earlier.

Seeing that Phylia was safe, Aura Azusa felt relieved, if she weren't still in a fight she would have relaxed her body just from the relief. Were something to happen to Phylia because of her weakness, she would not be able to bear it.

The man also sighed in relief, yet he was perplexed at the same time, 'They didn't forget to still have Met-2 a couple meters from them… right?'

As if answering his doubt, Met-2 abruptly moved, dashing toward the two and sending a punch. Such punch could easily kill Shu Himo, but the two didn't seem to move at all, as the man paled in panic, 'Did they really forgot?!'

As his worried gaze rested on them, the two moved all of a sudden, slightly before Met-2's punch reached them.

Without giving time to rest, Met-2 dashed again toward them, however, before he could reach the two they suddenly changed direction, offsetting Met-2.

Noticing that Met-2 was not able to change quickly its direction, Shu Himo lightly smiled, 'It seems that it works…'

Normally, Met-2's speed would be way faster than Shu Himo's, however, that would only be the case if they were going in a straight path. By changing continuously his direction, Shu Himo abused the particularity of [Hopper], which let him both stop instantly, and also reobtain immediately his maximum speed.

However, such method was not only tiring but also demanding to his own body, which made him unsure of how much he could last… however, thinking again about the sacrifice from Phylia, he bit his lower lip, forcing himself to continue no matter how he was feeling.

After a couple seconds, Met-2 abruptly increased its speed, catching up with them.

Frowning, Shu Himo promptly used a stacked [Hopper_x4] to dash to the side, however, he could not help but worry as he saw Met-2 getting too close.

Not having another choice, Phylia morphed her arm, transforming it into a metallic tree. With a resolute gaze, she swung it on top of Met-2 slowing it for a moment.

Abusing the moment, Shu Himo reused again stacked [Hopper_x4], dashing further away from Met-2.

After over ten seconds spent evading Met-2's attacks, the continuous change between stopping and dashing overexerted his legs, until when Shu Himo was about not to feel them anymore, numb due to the pain.

Gritting his teeth, he attempted to push his limits until he was completely exhausted, however, Met-2 still had ten seconds of time until depleting its energy. At that moment, he felt regretful, why was he unable to destroy the one who made Phylia feel pain?!

[The User spammed Hopper until exhaustion. Hopper leveled up: Hopper lv_4]

[Hopper lv_4]

[Allows creating a solid invisible platform mid-air as a foothold. It can also be used as a way of propulsion, creating a "double-jump". Limited uses in mid-air based on level, max consecutive uses at lv_4: 5]

Upon sight of the notification, Shu Himo's eyes lit up, as he decided to bet all on a single strike. "Hold onto me." Whispering to Phylia, the latter nodded, as Shu Himo took out his scythe.

Looking at Met-2, Shu Himo narrowed his eyes, as he pressed with his feet on the ground, generating immediately five invisible platforms under his right foot.

The five platforms seemed to merge together, strengthening each other, as they abruptly created a pressurizing power, thrusting Shu Himo away.

From the sight of everyone—even from the one of Met-2—both Shu Himo and Phylia seemed to vanish, leaving behind a small hole on the ground derived from the impact of their abrupt acceleration.

Under the widened eyes of the man, the superior half of Met-2's torso fell on the ground, as its legs stood still, unmoving. Before it could react, Met-2 was split in half, without being able to defend itself in any way.

Hundreds of meters away, Shu Himo fell on the ground, as Phylia tried to support him. He then dragged himself, lying on the ground with his back laid on a tree to rest. His face was in agony, feeling excruciating pain over all his body. His right leg may be broken.

Even if he can use four stacks of [Hopper] easily, the increase from four to five was too extreme, so his body was in no way capable of resisting it. In the end, he was not damaged by Met-2, but from his own skill instead.

Lastly, he heard the usual *Ding* from the system, which gave him a light smile.