“=)” the clone kept smiling, peeking from behind Stark’s shoulder.
It couldn’t stop its aura from pouring out itself, so to everyone else, it just seemed like plain killing intent, and an extremely powerful one at that.
“…!” Officer already had his guns in hand, but they suddenly began to morph slightly with their owner’s will, a beautiful ocean-like aura waving around them, then he pointed them not at Stark, but at his clone, “What’s that thing!”
“Stay back buddy,” Yuri’s attitude went from extroverted and cheerful to full serious mode, his gray eyes shining deeply as aura poured out of them.
In comparison to Stark’s aura though, his was completely gray, and as for his weapon…
~SWISH, SPARK~
Ten golden stars began to surround the boy, all shining.
[Power of the Stars] was his weapon, and it was unique, no matter how you thought about it.
“…” Kokoro didn’t speak at all as she didn’t tap anything on her tablet, instead she just got up, and began to hold her tablet with her two hands while pointing it at Stark’s clone.
~FWISH~
Five blue things came out of the tablet, and they were… holograms: a sword, a shield, a spear, a person in armor holding a sword, and a two meters tall monster that REALLY resembled the guards Stark had fought, actually, no… it definitely was a guard.
‘Perception!’ Stark yet again used his skill to check out what her ‘main’ weapon was, and it was… [Synchro Tablet].
Basically, she could use her tablet and aura to summon holographic and powerful weapons/people/monsters that could actually deal real-life damage.
Guns, golden stars, and a tablet that can summon holograms, it was a very unique set of weapons… and Stark’s fist in comparison seemed pretty plain, was that the power of [Domination] and its ability to grant ANY kind of weapon?
As for the white-haired girl, she did in fact activate her aura, it was white and surrounded her, but she didn’t summon her weapon.
“…=)” and almost as if trying to sabotage itself, the clone positioned itself for combat, alerting the others that there was true danger now.
‘Sigh…’ Stark almost wanted to laugh, “Clone Frenzy… HP Transfer!” he activated the perk he had never used until now since it was both useless and too dangerous to give 2000HP to his clone.
And then…
~SLAM~
He gently slammed the back of its head.
“-1482!” his attack was extremely weak, so it didn’t deal enough damage to kill it with the additional HP he had given it.
“…=(” the clone held the back of its head for a few seconds, almost acting as if it was hurt, but Stark knew it was all acting since these things don’t feel pain.
“Don’t mind it… it’s just… me!” Stark turned back to the others and shrugged.
“…” all of them looked at one another, then back at Stark, before deactivating their auras.
The golden stars disappeared as they all suddenly flashed to the ceiling (or sky), the holograms slowly went back to the tablet, and Officer just put down his guns.
“You should tell that thing to watch out… it’s really creepy,” Officer could be seen sweating a bit, and it was the same for all the others: they truly didn’t like that thing, it was almost like it was staring at their souls, and ready to kill them at any moment.
~STEP, STEP~
Stark began to head toward the others, and specifically toward the door as he wanted to open it.
“So Akira and Leader are still trying to find the key?” he asked while opening up his [Spatial Inventory].
“Precisely,” Yuri went back to cheerful mode, “They said they didn’t want to wait in here doing nothing, so we’re just waiting for them to find it…”
‘So they saw them, meaning that it was Lolia who died…’
“Ok, so who killed Lolia?” he suddenly asked.
It had been less than two hours since the trial started, but it had already become taboo to ask about the whereabouts of a participant or about who killed them.
“Probably the crazy katana guy or the sect leader,” Officer shrugged, his expression darkening as a crimson vortex began to form in his eyes, “Fucking criminals…” he mumbled.
“And about the rewards, do you know what they are?”
“Nope, they wouldn’t tell us, so we don’t even know who did it, maybe they are even… among us,” Yuri joked around, but nobody could deny that it was a possibility.
Stark was now only three meters away from the door, his eyes never leaving the other participants, and in that regard, [Superior Clone] was the best possible bodyguard.
~TAP, TAP~
The clone gently taped Stark’s shoulder, and when he looked back, he could see that the smile on its face was wider than ever before as it pointed at Yuri.
[He did it], it couldn’t talk, and it hid behind Stark so that no one saw its movement except for him, but he immediately understood.
‘…’ Stark’s eyes fell on Yuri as the latter smiled at him, an innocent look on his face, but Stark’s gaze was judgmental, and when his clone informed him of Yuri’s actions, he immediately noticed how fake his expression was.
‘Thanks,’ Stark mumbled to his clone as he reached the door, he truly couldn’t trust any of these people, even Officer that seemed to hate crime could have other motives after all.
“Are you gonna wait for them to get the key too?” Yuri laughed.
‘Annoying…’ Stark gritted his teeth as he pulled out the key of his inventory void and suddenly inserted it into the door’s lock and twisted it.
Of course, Stark’s clone stayed on guard if anybody tried anything, acting like a bodyguard as it looked at each of the participants one after the other, the smile on its face would probably haunt them.
A blinding light emitted from the keyhole the moment he did that, taking all the others aback.
The bronze door slowly creaked open, revealing a dark corridor with a spiral of stairs going up.
[The sublevel 3 Floor has been opened! Head to the exit to be able to climb to the next level!]
And so that panel appeared in front of everyone, even those that were still trying to find the key in the giant maze.
Finally, after almost two hours and three deaths, they would finally be able to reach the third sublevel, meaning only… 4 floors to go, if they counted floor 0 which would only be the fight against the warden.
‘…Let’s go,’ Stark mumbled, and his clone smiled as they both began to ascend, the others shocked that he had so casually opened the door.
Soon after, they began to climb up as well, then it was Akira’s and Leader’s turn.
And so just like that, everyone left the fourth sublevel.
