Chapter 134 …
Lindsey Dice was running like mad through the garden of the Cream Dome.
She had just stepped squarely on the shadow pooling like a swamp beneath the wall. The mimic, sensitive to prey attempting to leave its territory, had leapt out from the shadow and was chasing her from behind.
Without looking back, Lindsey ran blindly forward. With every step she took, tiny sparks of electricity crackled beneath her feet.
At one moment, the mimic pursuing her vanished, melting away into the shadow it had stepped on. Simultaneously, the voice of Lilietta, sent through Hannah, pierced Lindsey’s ears.
[Right!]
A bluish lightning coursed through Lindsey’s legs. She leaned as if she might fall, pushed off the ground, and veered sharply to the right.
The mimic, which had disappeared, suddenly clawed at the air from the shadow of the bushes she had been running toward. It snarled at Lindsey’s retreating back, then sank back into the shadows.
[Good, keep running and throw the target ahead!]
Ahead, Lindsey spotted the garden’s rear fountain. She took a piece of candle from her pocket and hurled it at the cherub statue decorating the fountain.
From atop the mansion’s dome roof overlooking the garden, Lilietta fired her gun into the air, then immediately crouched to hide her presence. She whispered into Hannah’s hand, which was pressed against her side.
[Close your eyes in three seconds.]
Following the command in her ear, Lindsey counted to three. By then, she had reached the fountain where she had thrown the candle shard. Standing at the edge of the fountain, she closed her eyes.
As her hair blew and droplets of water splashed on her cheeks, an immense flash of light pierced through her closed eyelids.
The flash grenade hit the candle shard, bending and twisting at impossible angles. The sudden explosion shrank every shadow around her and severed connections to the surrounding dark areas.
───!
The mimic, deprived of the shadow it would have leapt from, silently recoiled in rage.
[Run again, to the left!]
Seizing the opening created by the flash grenade, Lindsey opened her eyes and resumed running.
Escaping with a mimic behind her—able to emerge silently from any shadow—would ordinarily be suicidal.
However, with candle shard targets pre-embedded with contract bullets by Zamiel’s Bullet, flash grenades serving as transition bullets, excellent vision and detection range, high vantage points, and real-time communication, as well as the speed of a lightning mage rivaling a top-class knight,
It becomes possible to lure the mimic toward a specific destination.
A deadly chase of light and shadow unfolded across the beautifully decorated garden.
[Throw a target to the right and run there! Close your eyes in three seconds!]
[Throw the target behind and keep moving forward!]
[Almost at the objective!]
The target was an old shed tucked in the corner of the garden, a building allowing sniper angles from the dome roof.
The shed’s door was already open, lights blazing inside. Lindsey ran straight into the bright interior.
Reinhardt, waiting silently behind the door, watched her enter and saw the mimic leap into a nearby shadow, then closed the shed door.
The mimic emerged from the shadows inside the shed—one of the few large shadows deliberately created by stacked objects.
Without looking at it, Lindsey immediately turned upon entering, scaled a nearby window, and exited again, pausing while holding the wooden frame.
As if on cue, five flash grenades curved through the open window. Transition bullets were fired at the candle shards pre-placed inside, embedded with contract bullets.
As soon as the bullets hit, Lindsey closed the wooden window.
Inside the sealed shed, five flash grenades detonated from different positions. Light spilled through the cracks like beams.
Greeeeaaak!
Explosions of light from various angles instantly eradicated all shadows. Trapped by the light, the mimic shrieked in alarm.
At that moment, Reinhardt, who had climbed above the shed after closing the door, gripped a sword wreathed in aura and aimed at the roof.
Having already fired all transition bullets, Lilietta switched her standard magical gun to sniper mode and targeted the shed roof.
‘The gun’s default sniper mode is convenient.’
From firing the transition bullets to preparing the sniper shot, she had only about ten seconds. Not enough to create a proper twilight effect. And the output limitation on the standard gun prevented her from overdoing it.
So she chose explosive bullets compressed with maximum Odd energy, just like when she had fired the doppelganger.
‘―Multiple rounds.’
When one round is limited in output, fire several in quick succession.
Processing and sustaining a large number of magic bullets requires extreme concentration and control. Turning Zamiel’s bullets into flash grenades while maintaining precision is nearly insane.
Though the volume of Odd used now was smaller than the twelve shots used to defeat the Kraken, the calculation and finesse required were several times greater. Overheating, blood ran from her nose.
If Olivia had seen this, she’d have said, “That’s why I gave Grace a technical support function so I wouldn’t have to see you bleeding from your nose!”
‘But there’s no choice, Oli. Given the situation, this is my best.’
Ignoring the blood, Lilietta shoved the golden bullets in her left hand into the gun’s chamber.
Although the sniper rifle cannot normally fire in rapid succession, clever adjustments and shooter skill compensated.
The reload completed just before the flash grenades subsided.
Hannah peered at her with concern, holding her hand to her mouth. Lilietta’s voice traveled to Reinhardt through the communicator.
[Now!]
At the signal, Reinhardt shattered the shed roof with a reddish aura-coated sword and moved away.
The mimic, temporarily disoriented by the light, instinctively crawled toward the new shadow created by the opening reflecting the night sky.
As its head emerged, Lilietta pulled the trigger.
Explosive bullets descended like golden meteors—twelve in total. From the first trajectory forming to the twelfth converging, it took less than a second.
The night sky was streaked with a golden meteor shower.
Bang, kaboom, bang—explosions echoed in rapid succession. Fire and smoke surged, illuminating a corner of the garden as bright as day.
The mansion’s occupants stirred at the noise. Lilietta slid down the dome roof, immediately after.
Reinhardt, waiting at the designated spot beneath the dome, caught her effortlessly.
“You…!”
Seeing blood streaming from her nose down to her jaw, Reinhardt’s eyes widened. But Lilietta had no time to soothe him.
Soon, the mimic would reveal its true form.
“Move according to plan, brother.”
Pushing him aside, Lilietta pointed toward the mansion.
“Block anyone who wakes up from getting into the garden!”
At that moment, Lindsey arrived and lifted Lilietta effortlessly.
Lilietta rested her shoulder against Lindsey and disengaged sniper mode on the gun. Magical runes on the barrel glowed as the extended parts retracted into the black pistol.
“The preliminary battle is over. Now comes the full assault. Lindsey, your stamina okay?”
“Not perfect, but I can handle being my master’s legs.”
“Good, I’ll leave it to you.”
Wiping the blood from her nose with the back of her hand, Lilietta aimed the pistol over Lindsey’s shoulder. In the rising smoke, a grotesque form emerged.
A massive, black, viscous structure of countless human shadows, twisted and stretching in all directions.
A tree-like form piercing the shed. Every human-shaped shadow covering its twisted trunk had eyeballs, and its top branched like countless hairs.
Hundreds of crimson eyes glared at her in fury, recognizing the one who stripped its shell with gunfire.
Lilietta whispered to Lindsey as she pulled the pistol’s slide.
“When I fire, run.”
