The Sage’s laughter roared through the deep tunnel as a flow of wind filled the space within.

  The Chemist’s voice was full of caution.

  “Who are you?”

  The Sage then began chuckling while leaning against the doorframe, the ever-distinct high-pitched voice.

  “Ah yeah, I forgot. You don’t know who I am. Silly me.

  Kneel before my presence!! I am the Sage!”

  She shouted proudly with her arms widened like a glorified statue. Her stance, words, and expression spoke of nothing but pride and arrogance. Her demeanor and young look threw off all expectations from the Chemist of an enemy.

  She had many plans and assumptions about what kinds of enemies she would encounter, but among those thoughts never existed an actual young girl. Especially one that had intentionally come to her, even before the actual war. The pointy, sharp ears, the lack of equipment and weapons, and the carefree attitude despite the presence of an enemy in her view.

  Upon such a sight, the Chemist could only utter.

  “A kid?”

  Both of them were polar opposites to each other.

  One without any wish in this war, obeying orders and fully prepared.

  The weak.

  One looking for something from the war itself, without control and unconcerned with danger.

  The strong.

  Hearing the word from the Chemist’s lips, the Sage pouted playfully. She bounced up and down, swinging her arms in frustration.

  “Eh? I’m gonna be sixteen next year! Not a kid.”

  Sixteen. The Chemist muttered to herself, unsure how she should act against the new face. Killing a kid was a violation of her code, one she had never trespassed once in her past life. Her hand slowly released the toxin tube and moved towards the paralysis agent under her coat.

  Then, she came to a halt. The Sage leaned forwards, still ever smiling.

  “If you’re not going to do something, killing you would be boring, hmm?”

  The Chemist shook at her words.

  It wasn’t from the fact she was a kid, nor was it because she was an intruder who somehow had bypassed the security from outside.

  It was the same feeling she had in her childhood. The days in the orphanage that she had always wished to forget, to leave in the abyss of memories. The nights when the adults came and brought her new chemicals.

  The sight of syringes, the bleeding nose, the laughter, and the boiling heart.

  The fear of the unknown.

  In that moment, she no longer perceived the person in front of her as an innocent maiden. Her muscles and nerves tensed up, preparing for a fight she had never expected. She pierced through the solace and deception on her mind.

  She completely understood it.

  The Chemist had made up her mind. This girl wasn’t just a girl.

  She was a powerful enemy.

  In the next fraction of a second, her hand quickly swapped from the tube under her coat to the revolver fixed on her waist.

  Without hesitation, the first two bullets had been fired with blinding light. They grazed through where the Sage once stood, as the young girl had already leaned to the left the moment the gun was fixed on her.

  “She dodged that?!"

  The Chemist immediately jumped backwards, dashing towards the depth of the tunnel as she unloaded all of the remaining shots.

  The Sage didn’t try to dodge the upcoming wall of bullets. She simply took a light step forward and shifted the center of her body, yet the danger slipped past and bounced off the wall behind her.

  The Chemist continued rushing through the never-ending tunnel, activating the traps set beneath the rocky path. The tripwires stretched into a thin line, with a clicking sound of engine beneath the layer of rock.

  She needed enough distance in order to deploy her poison effectively. Engaging in a direct confrontation would only put her at a disadvantage.

  Once the gap between them was far enough, the Chemist stopped running and rummaged through the selection of chemicals, facing the enemy who was chasing her.

  The Sage was jogging her way towards the Chemist. The rustling sound of heavy cloaks against the hanging golden ornaments grew closer.

  The young girl looked at the hidden wire in her way, as if she had been expecting it from the start. Yet, instead of avoiding the trap, she purposely stomped on the wire with an excited note on her face. The wire was pulled, and the cogs were triggered. From both sides, four poison darts flew silently at her, a hidden mechanism built into the terrain.

  The Sage didn't turn back, but with a steady buildup,

  Hop.

  Like a child on a trampoline, she simply hopped off the ground without glancing over the threats.

  The poisonous arrows swerved through her cloaks and hit the hard surface instead. There wasn't a single scratch on her entire body.

  Such would be a miracle to anyone else, but to her, it was something she had known before.

  “That was amazing! Show me everything! Everything you have!”

  Her enthusiastic voice echoed until the very end of the tunnel, as the Sage tiptoed forward.

  In response to her, a glass vial dropped by her feet with a cracking sound, followed by a mass of murky gas blooming like a flower, spreading its petals.

  The Chemist stood behind the beam, assessing the result.

  “That was a high dose of neurotoxin... She won’t get out of it in one piece…"

  A moment of reorganization. The Chemist's mind reeled back to analyze the Sage’s pattern. Evidence of a seasoned assassin with swift analysis and critical thinking skills.

  “It seems that this girl has a certain kind of reflex or predictive skill, high sensory maybe? But she stepped on the tripwire. Arrogance? Maybe-.”

  Cutting through her chain of thoughts, the Sage proudly emerged from the mud of gas, the silhouette of a sleek black gasmask clear on her face.

  The Chemist, taken aback, decided to flee deeper into the tunnel. That instant, she learned that the enemy had known about her, yet she was still unclear about what the Sage was capable of. Inciting a close-quarters fight wasn’t a wise decision.

  “A gasmask… she learned about me, tch…”

  She then sprayed an acidic agent on a wooden column, the faint green glow quickly melted the structure down, bringing the ceiling to the ground. The rocks collapsed, blowing winds and dust to both sides, thus cutting off the path between the Chemist and the Sage.

  “Really…”

  The Sage stopped at her track, amused by the obstacle in front of her. She turned around and glanced at the already locked entrance, shutting both of them off from the outside world.

  It was a bold choice from the Chemist. Even faced with an unknown enemy of unknown ability, she had no other option than to play a wild card and defeat the enemy at all costs.

  The Chemist’s hand reached the suitcase, unlocking it with a swift motion.

  “First… to wear out the mask…!”

  The Chemist brought out a specialized gun and loaded a chemical vial into the slide. She shot towards the rubble, then the container released the gas into the cracks between each scrap. Instantly, the gas drowned the space on the other end in a sickening red.

  If the Sage had a countermeasure to her poison gas, the Chemist first must take it out of the scenario. She believed the mask wouldn’t last long enough.

  The Chemist leapt through the rough terrain without a look behind. She dropped the gun and the revolver she had emptied. She knew it wouldn’t be close to enough to stop the Sage, but remaining at a distance and assessing the situation were the correct choices for her.

  The underground system was designed to be a deadly maze, with countless dead ends and lethal traps. She was confident the Sage wouldn’t make it past them untouched.

  Hence, the pursuit began.

  --

  Sliding through the darkness, the Sage, still as childish as ever, whistled an unfamiliar melody, something only she had heard of before.

  “Where are you~? I remember you’re just around this corner, right?”

  The Sage had bypassed every trick the place had to offer.

  The arrows, the spikes, the boulders, the dynamite, the razor strings.

  She deliberately triggered each trap and survived all of them, while ignoring all the deadlocks and moving to the right way. As terrifying as it was, the whole structure was devoid of light.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  She brought neither a torch nor a lantern.

  Maneuvering through an endless dark passage without a scratch was a miracle itself, not to mention the impossible layout and the unseen killing machines.

  Even a top-tier squad of experienced explorers wouldn’t make it out alive, well-prepared or not.

  But it wasn’t the case for her.

  She showed no fatigue or sweats, as if the challenges were just an easy puzzle, which she had already known the answer for clearly. It felt like she was cheating, but nothing could change the truth that she was enjoying this chase.

  The instant she spotted the looming intersection ahead of her, she grinned.

  The joint was an elaborate setup by the Chemist. The moment the Sage showed her head into view, a barrage of thirty-nine arrows from left and right would be showered into the center immediately, with a lag time of under a quarter of a second.

  Additionally, each arrow was coated in an acidic agent that would melt through skin and armor at slight contact.

  Furthermore, the surface itself was implanted with hidden tiny poisonous spikes and blades.

  On the opposite end, the Chemist herself, stood in the middle of the route, watching as the Sage continued moving towards her.

  It would be impossible for an unarmed girl to dodge the bombardment of arrows or to slip past them with the fastest running speed. Even if the Sage managed to avoid those threats, the piercing toxin would penetrate her body from the feet, first paralyzing her legs and eventually her heart.

  There was no superhuman.

  There was no god.

  The Sage would not survive this.

  Such was what the Chemist had in mind.

  The moment had come. The Sage poked through the cover, and the automatic crossbows and sentries detected her presence.

  Yet no blood was spilled on the ground.

  The arrows bounced off the hard surface, sending flickers of blaze along the crash.

  The second the arrows flew towards her, the Sage had lifted herself forward, leaping through the arrows with an impossible acceleration.

  The next moment, she landed only a mere step away from the Chemist.

  From where the Chemist was standing, everything had happened so quickly. It was a complete blur in her eyes as the cloaks completely covered the secret behind the unexpected movement.

  Then, using the force pushing the body forward, the Sage spun around and delivered a heavy kick to the center of the Chemist.

  Despite the armor on her chest, the strike was heavy enough to push her backward until she hit the ground a few feet away. Upon a sharp sensation through the ribcage, the Chemist realized the girl had never been unarmed. She quickly got back to her feet, her hand tracing the pattern left on the body armor.

  “What… is that?”

  The Chemist’s attention was fixed on the wheels beneath the young girl’s feet.

  “Ah, this?”

  The Sage chuckled lightly.

  “Rollerblade. Took me two days to get this thing right! Insane, right? Ah! It’s technically not mine, though! I’m just borrowing the design!”

  She skated around in a circle, cheerfully lifting her leg up to show a pair of modified shoes with an intricate mechanism supporting the wheels. It was the first time the Chemist had seen those shoes.

  At the same time, it indicated that the Sage had seen through her trick from the very beginning.

  “Roller… blade?”

  “Yes. Rollerblade! It’s going to be a very famous sport!”

  Famous. Sport. It’s going to be.

  The more explanation put on the table, the more confused the injured woman became. The words coming from the Sage’s lips had turned into a nonsense jungle of information.

  She was completely at a loss for words or ideas.

  But as perplexing as it was, she immediately swayed from the hesitation and acted. She injected herself with a syringe, followed by another.

  The first one was to ease all the pain and pressure on her physical and mental state.

  The second one was to tremendously enhance her muscle strength, nervous system, endurance, and vision.

  In an instant, all of the clouds within her mind were cleared away. She could see clearly through the wall of darkness. Her breathing came deep and quick as she could feel her blood vein burning up like molten lava. The pain had faded away.

  “Twenty seconds.”

  A short amount of time that she could only be allowed to remain in such a state.

  To remain in hell in exchange for power.

  The way of the weak.

  With a forceful step, she charged onward with a fighting stance, her arms raised before her chest.

  Like a moving fortress, the surface ruptured beneath her stride. Within two seconds, she closed the distance between herself and the Sage. Up close, she could clearly see the upward-turned corner of the young girl’s mouth.

  Amusement.

  The one thing that the Chemist despised.

  To shatter that expression, she swung her arm at full force. A jab straight towards the Sage’s throat. The killing intent was clear, filling the deepest void of the tunnel.

  The Sage casually took a step back before the fist barely grazed her chin.

  Following up on the attack, the Chemist released a continuous chain of punches and grabs. Each was delivered faster and stronger than the previous, creating a whirlwind of death. For each strike, the air was snapped with a thundering clap, and the surroundings shivered in shock.

  Yet, none of the attacks could reach the Sage. The Sage didn’t reply to the offensive power with flashy movement, instead, she slowly weaved back on the wheels, staying far enough to not be grabbed or pulled by the layer of fabric.

  Ten. Nine. Eight.

  With little time remaining, the Chemist firmly prepared for a decisive finish.

  Utilizing the constant motion of the bizarre pair of shoes, she trampled the ground with an overwhelming might. From the impact, the surface shattered into pieces and shook the entire area of ten meters around them.

  The sudden shockwave sent the Sage staggered backwards, yet she laughed roaringly.

  “Hahaha! This is it! Come on!”

  However, contrary to the driven force of adrenaline, the Chemist didn’t move forward.

  In a flash, she leaped backwards out of view.

  As the Sage’s laughter rose higher, she glanced down at the vials falling down right in front of her. Toxin. The Sage’s hand immediately reached for the gasmask hidden under the cloak.

  Such had been calculated by the Chemist.

  It wasn’t any ordinary chemical agent that a gasmask could stand against. That was the poison she had used countless times against enemies that were prepared against her specialty. A masterwork that only she could produce. The weapon that had claimed numerous foes.

  Even as she witnessed the presence of the gasmask, the Chemist smirked with confidence.

  “There is no gasmask that could protect you from this one.”

  Instantly, the space was overflowing with a color of black. The Chemist stood far enough from the danger, waiting for the inevitable.

  The enhancer’s duration finally ended. She felt a sudden tightness in her chest, a byproduct of the compound, but she wouldn’t be bothered to look away even for a second.

  The sensation, the feeling that was burning up in her body.

  Nothing could ever divert her gaze away from the brewing storm.

  Yet,

  fate was brutal to her.

  An earsplitting gunshot rang out from behind the curtain of darkness, from beneath the mud of the cloud.

  --

  Before she could process the situation, the Chemist felt the blood urge from the choked throat to the corner of her mouth.

  Blood was spilling out.

  She wiped a finger on her lips instinctively.

  Looking down, her eyes caught the plain redness of blood on the fingertips.

  Further down, she encountered a hole in her chest, where blood was flowing out like a waterfall. Through the crack of armor underneath her shirt.

  Only after a second did the pain finally register.

  However, she had no energy left to scream or to clutch onto the open wound. She fell on her knees, and her vision fixed onto the puddle of blood below.

  Panic. Fear. Anxiety.

  Her body sweated unnaturally as the coldness crept up from her legs and fingers.

  “How?”

  A single word escaped her lips. To her attention, the muffled yet cheerful voice of the Sage echoed through the poison gas.

  “Yeah. You were confident that a gasmask couldn’t be like, protecting me from your toxin, right?

  Too bad, I guess. This boy right here isn’t from this era.”

  The Chemist’s eyes widened before the Sage added.

  “Good job, though. Switching to poison, eh? You suspected I have like, super reflexes, right?

  Hmm… too bad though!”

  With ragged breath and blurry vision, the Chemist knew.

  The end was there.

  Before losing the last ounce of energy, the last string clinging her to life, she asked with a shaking voice.

  “What… are you…?”

  She could see the smile on the Sage, through the smoke and the gasmask.

  Giggling, the Sage answered.

  “Kuhaha. You know what’s funny about knowing nonexistent stuff?

  It’s boring but…

  I can make them exist. Just a bit earlier than they should be.

  Ah, don’t worry. Your backup is going to die soon.

  About how I got in here…”

  Emerging from the cloudy curtain, she held up the communication device in her hand and pulled the cloak down from her neck. A mysterious device strapped around her collarbone and neck glimmered. On her other hand, she held the revolver that the Chemist had dropped before.

  “Well, I talked to you and got you out here with this voice changer. Nothing impressive. Oh, killed the dude outside already, just saying.

  Ah, and this gun I picked up earlier. It would be empty, so I had brought my own bullet from the dead guy.”

  The empty revolver the Chemist had dropped was the gun used by the Sage against herself. The Sage had foreseen it. She had known the revolver would be there.

  To the Sage, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

  Yet, to the Chemist, she felt as if the world had betrayed her.

  She had believed she had been prepared for every scenario, for every kind of enemy. She had every resource, piece of information, and disposable tool in her hand.

  She believed in herself.

  But the world had denied her in the most brutal way. Her enemy was something far more than she had ever expected.

  Was the young girl even a human?

  Inhuman capability and nature. A power beyond her grasp and understanding.

  Every effort rendered meaningless.

  Even as she had poured everything into that moment, the boundary between them was still evident. A line she could never be able to walk through.

  The strong and the hopelessly weak.

  “Seeing the future…”

  Her last words were soft and hoarse, before her body finally hit the ground.

  The fleeting last image in her eyes was of her brother. Only if she had chosen another path. Only if she had walked the path of the weak.

  A bitter regret.

  Thus marked the end for the Chemist.

  “Don’t misunderstand yourself, chemical lady,

  You are strong for facing me, ya know?”

  --

  Walking past the lifeless body and the pool of blood, the Sage obtained the ownerless suitcase and casually unlocked it.

  Then, through the hidden compartment, she drew the ticket out of the container.

  A wrapped package with a seal of the Central Government.

  --

  The ticket.

  A package, the contents unknown. The knot was sealed by a stamp of the Central Government.

  If the content and the wrapping itself were to be harmed in any way, the participant would be eliminated.

  No one would ever risk damaging the seal.

  No one could ever produce a replica, for the content was unknown.

  A clever trick.

  --

  Holding the object to her chest, she then bowed towards the corpse with her legs crossed.

  “Thank you for the fight, Miss Chemist.”

  Despite the grateful words, her actual feeling was obscured. She might be honest, yet her manner betrayed her words in every sense. Afterwards, she returned to her normal self once again. A crystal-clear satisfying expression.

  A deep breath. In. And out.

  Seeing the ticket finally within her possession, the Sage started chuckling.

  Soon, the chuckles turned into perpetual laughter. Her voice traveled through each passage like a morning bell. Until her voice came out dry as she was tired from her own pleasure and satisfaction.

  “Ah… I’m so excited… The story of a hero defeating the demon king… How fantastic! How terrific! Romantic! Wonderful! Is there a word for this feeling?!

  Be abandoned by their party! Revenge story! To be overpowered in another world! To be nothing but a one-sided womanizer! To be loved by everything! How would it feel!? The degradation! The development!”

  She clung painfully tight to her convulsing body, her legs trembled out of pure excitement.

  Amusement. Expectation. Obsession.

  “Hahaha! I can’t wait anymore!

  I will be there to witness it! All of it! I don’t care how many die or not! I will be there to witness your beginning… and your end. Hero…

  Wherever there’s a demon king… there will be you, Hero. What do you see through those eyes of yours…?”

  Eventually, she subsided her intensity and inhaled deeply. In, and out. Her chest moved outwards, gently pushing the cloak with the movement of her lungs.

  --

  Her eyes flickered to an unmoving corner, staring directly at nothing. Or at least it seemed.

  “Sir Wolf.”

  From the darkness, it responded. The Wolf, with the coffin still hanging above. This beast of shadow had been watching the entire fight from a distance, evaluating both of their abilities. It had no intention of saving anyone. It never once had.

  “Brat. Quite a messy job you did here.”

  “Hehe, I couldn’t hold back.”

  “I killed the one on my side.”

  The unseen Wolf glanced at the corpse.

  “So this is the… enemy?”

  “Yeah. She was quite powerful.”

  “Hmm… Was that sarcasm?”

  “Eh… nah.”

  The Wolf let out a silent laugh.

  "Haha. You sure jest, brat. You haven't used half of your foreign objects yet."

  "I need to save them up, ya know? This war for the tickets alone will be much more brutal, and then... the actual war itself."

  In the war, there would be humans rivaling the Sage. Humans who could potentially surpass her.

  The young girl who had slipped into his temple and awakened him.

  That feeling, the monster sensed and understood. For how long had it last felt like it?

  The thrill. The seeking of blood and flesh.

  As a predator, she would be one of the most enjoyable prey. A worthy one.

  To expect more of her kind, to be presented with more dishes on the dining table, filled the malicious beast with urgency and hope.

  After an endless slumber, it had finally found enjoyment in hunting.

  “Don’t disappoint me, human.”

  Its four legs moved towards the body as the tornado of void surrounded the Wolf. The Sage took a step behind, paving the way for the monster preying over the dead Chemist. Without saying anything, she raised her arms, the cloak spreading out like an angel's wings, crossing her legs. The Wolf didn't mind her, its attention fixed onto the bloodied mess.

  “This body will do.”

  And in the next second,

  The Wolf had found the Sheep’s skin.