The room shook as the silver projectile of energy rebounded against an opposite wall. A deep crater was dug out of the concrete, chipped pieces and clouds of dust kicking up.
Grey pushed down the waves of nausea, disorientation, and fatigue he was suffering, jumping right up to his feet with a flip.
This time he didnât stumble. The shock of adrenaline from nearly losing his head shook his entire body awake, familiar waves of a feedback loop coming from the Looping Necklace.
Clenching his sword hard, he faced forward.
He had faced one creature with ranged attacks like this on the way here. An ape beast with a tail like a monkeyâwell, three tails. It had not only been fast and agile, but it could spit acid like bullets.
Grey had to use the terrain to his advantage. But those creatures couldnât leave the invisible dome of the battlefield, being restricted the same way he had been.
But the witch was dead, so the domed effect of this battlefield was gone.
However, this cabin was still an enclosed area, and the fireplace was a very narrow entrance. So...
âThere are only so many angles they can attack me from.â
As expected, another attack didnât seem to be coming any time soon.
Given the vantage point, Grey could see the womanâs legs, and she could probably see his. But there was no easy way for them to successfully attack the other. Her projectiles werenât fast enough.
"You... youâre human?"
A small voice caught Grey off guard.
Grey was about to curse up a storm, but then he remembered the state of his face. That woman probably saw the mask, the wiggling worms, and the metallic jaw andârightfullyâlost her cool.
He relaxed a bit.
"I am. The mask Iâm wearing is an item I picked up. I donât want to take it off for... reasons." Grey said slowly.
It was a good thing he had a quick mouth. If he didnât curse like that, she wouldnât have known he was a human.
"Oh..."
The woman didnât seem convinced, probably because his explanation wasnât all that convincing. What was he going to tell her? He didnât want to take off his mask so he wasnât accused of getting off on killing women and stealing the clothes off their corpses?
"Hey, I donât really have time for this back and forth. So if you donât trust me, can you just scram please so I can leave this place? Iâd rather not just stand around if I donât have to."
Grey was irritated. He hadnât eaten, he was thirsty, and he had just been on the verge of finally learning what he wanted to about this Frame he was given and the ring on his finger when this chick came out of nowhere and attacked him.
"I..." she fidgeted a bit.
"You?" Grey made a weird face. What was wrong with this woman? "Shouldnât the registration be going on now? Youâre pretty far from the city."
"Registration?"
Grey frowned. Had the registration not started yet? Then that probably meant that there really was a sunset between when the tutorial started and all of them had ended.
He thought he had been late, but it seemed he was still ahead of schedule. That meant if he hurried along the route he came from, he could make it back to the city before everyone set out.
Was that a good thing? He still wasnât sure.
He had taken Mayâs Nexis Suit again this time, so what if that floating head bastard came again to sit on its ugly high horse?
But if he didnât return to the city, was he going to sleep out here where he could be attacked?
âFrom what I know, those who successfully registered should be given free accommodations for the first day in the city. I havenât used mine yet...â
Thinking of sleep, Grey almost swooned.
âWaitâ.â He snapped back to reality.
If the registration wasnât going on yet, why the hell was this woman out so far?
âThat face...â
Greyâs heart skipped a beat. He would have made the connection earlier if his brain wasnât in such a fog.
He recognized the face of that woman. Wasnât she right next to that uppity, failed politician bastard who cut his head off back when the Great Udon appeared?
Greyâs gaze became frighteningly dangerous.
Why had they followed him all the way out here?
Joaquin couldnât have known Grey was in a time loop. As far as he knew, Grey didnât even know who he was.
Unfortunately for him, he was wrong.
Greyâs adrenaline began pumping through his veins again.
"You havenât heard of the registration? I guess that makes sense. I got to the city pretty early."
"... You got to the city early?"
Grey could hear a trembling in the girlâs voice, but it wasnât out of nervousness.
What was it?
â... Suppressed anger.â
Grey could guess why that was. If she was with the politician cunt, then it meant that she should have been in the first group to arrive. Meaning, she would have been the first to see Mayâs corpse and the state of it.
Especially that it was stripped naked.
âWell, there goes my good guy act. But sheâs restraining her rage for a reason. Probably the same reason sheâs here alone. Theyâre trying to lure me into something. But why?â
Was it just vigilante justice? Maybe. But the effort of making it all the way out here without the map he had would have been an insane amount of effort.
"Yeah," Grey laughed. "I was the first to make it to the city, so I had some time to explore and learn some things others donât know about."
"Oh, thatâs pretty impressive." She said softly.
Grey smiled, but given the vantage point, she couldnât see his face at all, nor how dangerous his smile was.
"If youâre here alone, I can protect you on the way back if youâd like. But I really need some water and food in exchange."
"Oh... yes, I do have some water here. I donât have food, though."
"Thatâs fine, Iâll take water. Iâm coming out."
Grey made his way to the fireplace, letting his sword vanish into his Weapon Space.