Alain watched straight ahead as the giant insect resembled a massive wave, surging towards him.
"Can I withstand this?"
The crimson insect's movements in the environment stirred up wave after wave of "spray," smashing the corridor to pieces. Alain could feel the ground trembling beneath his feet.
He glanced back to see Misha already separated from the lost Mita, each proceeding with their initial plans.
"I wonder if this will even work."
You'll only know if you try, Alain answered himself.
He turned his gaze back to the giant insect. The already enormous creature slammed against the walls, causing gusts of wind from the realistic physics engine.
He took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on the approaching head of the devourer. He placed his hopes on the accelerated body technique bonus, hoping it would allow him to make the next move—
The devourer's head scraped along the ground, sweeping towards him like a cleaning machine.
But Alain pushed off the balls of his feet, leaping high into the air. With the system's power bolstering him, he swiftly cleared its head.
"I am invincible!"
He exhaled sharply, still mid-air, and raised his greatsword high above his head, gripping the hilt with both hands—a strike aided by the physics engine's inertia and his own weight.
"Thwack—"
With all his might, the greatsword left a deep gash on the devourer's body.
Red error messages and bug icons leaked from its body, splattering across the corridor.
Lost Mita, who was running ahead, stumbled slightly at the sight.
Unbelievable... She retracted her previous thought about Alain playing a fighting game mod.
This is clearly a Devil May Cry template, isn't it?
And he even activated a cheat engine...
On the other hand, the girl running alongside lost Mita showed no surprise, only pure pride. She raised her sweet voice, "Honey, you're amazing! You're the best!"
"Of course..." Alain replied softly.
He watched as the giant insect's body poured out like blood, instantly causing large sections of the corridor to become filled with garbled code.
"Huh? The wound even has a splash effect?"
This thing affected every aspect of its existence: whether it was impact or the "blood" that flowed out, it could all damage the game. It was as if... its very existence was to destroy the world of Mita.
Alain dodged the large mass of disgusting goo, his brow furrowed. The giant insect seemed impervious to pain, raising its head again to use it as a heavy hammer, smashing down fiercely.
"Crash!"
He leaped out of the way. The devourer's strike in the center of his vision, Alain felt, could only be described as shattering the void: it smashed large areas of the ground into a mess of code and bugs.
He had taken this hit before, but it hadn't displayed such destructive power. In other words, the insect also possessed a specialization in damaging the game.
Even the model was like this; Alain couldn't imagine what would happen if it hit other Mitas.
"Unbelievable..."
And he was personally fighting such an enemy, and even holding his own. This was something he would never have experienced in his past life in the real world.
He was afraid... yes, he was quite afraid, after all, no one knew if getting hit would mean death.
But an even stronger emotion was excitement.
"Indeed... I still love this game, Mita."
There was romance, character development, Mita, and battles.
Alain wondered if adrenaline worked within the game. He could feel his heart pounding rapidly.
His steps faltered for a moment. Alain held his sword blade in front of him, using it as a shield.
Sure enough, the devourer's impact, like a rushing torrent, slammed into his entire body, forcing him to retreat rapidly.
He glanced back slightly; the insect probably intended to smash him directly into the wall.
Alain simply used its head as a leverage point and leaped away.
The belated "boom" sound shattered the wall's model to pieces.
The devourer, like a python, coiled its body. Its mouthparts, which might have been its eyes, stared directly at Alain.
In the instant their gazes met in mid-air, Alain could sense a hint of disdain from the creature's coiled form.
With a loud "thump," its head attacked again.
But this time, Alain glanced back slightly, smiled faintly, and then turned and retreated without hesitation.
"Thud!"
He could hear the explosive sound of the devourer slamming into the ground, as well as the rising and falling "hissing" sound of garbled code.
As Alain moved forward, the corridor ceiling finally ceased to be dark and the lights turned on.
The light shone brightly on Alain's entire body, also revealing the long, narrow shadow behind him that was closing in step by step.
By some instinct, he quickly dodged towards the wall. Sure enough, the ground where he had stood a second before was subjected to a devastating impact.
"Ha... ha..."
Even with the accelerated recovery bonus, he couldn't withstand such a drain on his stamina. Heavy panting echoed in his mouth.
The giant insect contracted, opening its mouthparts, and "looked" towards him.
Alain had been forced back into a corner by it.
The giant insect deliberately positioned most of its body across the front of the corridor, precisely to cut off all his escape routes.
Alain looked behind him, then ahead, his gaze focused on the insect's mouthparts.
"Click, click."
The devourer manipulated its body, as if wanting to savor its prey's final despair, slowly reaching towards him.
During this time, the insect opened its mouthparts to their maximum extent, even revealing the inner parts of its body.
Like that thing where you peel off a layer of skin.
Alain slowly backed away, the devourer still closing in step by step.
But in the next second, the devourer seemed to discard all patience. Facing its cornered prey, it charged forward fiercely.
But at this moment, Alain took a step back and casually said, "Honey, it's your turn to shine."
"Yes, dear. Thank you for your hard work in luring it here."
Alain lunged to the side.
The devourer noticed that behind the enemy's original position was a door, and standing directly in front of the door was a long-haired girl.
Her delicate figure, in front of the Devourer Complete Form, was as fragile as a mayfly trying to shake a giant tree.
And she was "helplessly" placing her small hand on the door, as if grasping for a point of support in a typhoon, hoping to alleviate the unease in her heart.
The giant insect couldn't quite understand the situation, but switching targets didn't make much difference.
Its programming told it: this was its own encirclement anyway.
Having dodged one attack, it could simply strike a second and third time until it turned the fragile little things into a mess of code.
Then, it saw the girl sidestep, like a welcoming attendant, and pull open the door behind her.
"Welcome~"
Inside the door was a room with intersecting gray and white grids, a black sphere in the center of the ceiling, and black lines on the floor.
"?!" The massive body, upon seeing the inside of the room, broke out in goosebumps-like ripples across its surface.
Under the powerful inertia, the devourer found it difficult to stop its charge. It could only try its best to swerve its head, which was hurtling forward like a speeding train, hoping to avoid whatever was inside.
But just then, that blue greatsword appeared again.
_____________
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