Chased

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What the hell just happened…

I wasn't even where I entered the portal. I was right next to the slums of New York. The towering buildings were in the distance, and the surrounding people around me glared at me, probably due to my clothing.

Everybody in the slums was dirty. We barely got any water from our faucets and showerheads, so showers usually lasted a minute. You had to scrub your body extremely fast before that one minute is over.

I held my missing arm as I walked down the dirt street. It was still throbbing and burning even after the wound closed up.

GULP GULP GULP

I swallowed another healing potion that I snatched out of my inventory. I barely even noticed the on-looking people as I ran down the street.

"Shit, my sweatshirt is stained," I mutter, looking at my blood-stained sweatshirt.

I continued to run down the dirt street since I was wary of any lingering enemies. The guy from earlier seemed to be part of an organization, so it wouldn't be strange for him to have brought back up.

He seemed to be running away too easily. He could've stalled for time until his summon was able to be well… summoned again. He has the skill and stats for it, so this is the only plausible answer I can create right now.

[Number of Souls Sacrificed: 129]

[You have sacrificed 128 small souls]

[You have sacrificed 1 large soul]

[Would you like to receive your reward or save for a bigger prize?]

Receive…

[Would you like multiple small rewards or one large reward?]

"Damn, just give me something. I don't think I'll be able to fight off these guys chasing me with only one arm. I need something that will regrow my arm or something," I mutter.

I noticed only a few seconds ago that about five shadow users were chasing after me. And these were only the weaker ones; there could be stronger ones that I haven't been able to sense.

"Large reward," I mutter before picking up the pace.

[Reward has been chosen]

[Congratulations, you have received [Potion: Black Lava Drakes Blood]]

I've heard of a lava drake but never a black lava drake. Well, no matter, It's the only thing that could get me out of this sticky situation.

I opened my inventory and pulled out a large vial of black lava. It wasn't that surprising. Lava drakes blood is literally lava. Scientists have run multiple tests on it, and the lava flowing through lava drakes isn't any different from the ones erupted from a volcano.

I popped open the cork and poured the bubbling liquid into my throat. It immediately started to burn my throat and tongue, so I had to balance it out by activating [Royal Ice Crown]. A whirlwind of ice particles swirled around me, and I directed it towards five directions and swallowed the rest directly.

My body was burning one moment, and the next moment it felt like all of my organs had been turned to ice. Even though I was pushing through all of this, I ran with all of my efforts.

Suddenly, I felt an immense amount of bloodlust coming from the back of my head. Instead of turning my head, I took the fastest side step of my life.

I saw a metal-throwing knife clang on the ground next to me.

Urk- HUFF HUFF… Judging from the amount of bloodlust within that knife and how close it was when I sensed it… it was definitely thrown by a pro assassin.

"SHIT! HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO DIGEST THIS STUFF?!" I yell, placing the ice crown on my head and pushing out a blast of icy air.

A few lesser trained assassins were slowed down, but the rest continued to chase after me. I couldn't pull any rash or dangerous moves since I don't know if there will be another sudden burst of pain.

[You have fully digested the Black Lava Drakes Blood]

[A hint of dragon rages within you]

[Your skills will assimilate with the lava-like properties]

…

[Royal Ice Crown cannot assimilate with lava-like properties]

[Ice Fossilized Snake Necromancy cannot assimilate with lava-like properties]

[Remaing power will be assimilated into Boiling Frozen Blood]

『Status』

[Name: Lucy]

[Race: Ancient Snake (Half)]

[Level: 17/50] (45/100) XP Needed

[HP: 98/109 MP: 18/109 SP: 42/67] - Above Average

[Strength: 129] - Above Average

[Defense: 129] - Above Average

[Magic: 129] - Above Average

[Speed: 129] - Above Average

[Skills: [Ice Fossilized Snake Necromancy] [Royal Ice Crown] [Ancient Sacrifice] [Drakes Bloodthirsty Rage] [Flood]

[Variant Skills: [Lesser Quetzalcoatl's Ancient Fire (Black Lava)] [Drizzle (Black Lava)] [Summon Servants: [Fear]

[Passive: [Photographic Memory] [Black Drakes Blood] [All Language Perception] [Acid Immunity] [Black Drakes Regenration] [Fire and Lava Immunity]

…

[Shop]

[Inventory]

[Map]

[Stored Souls]

…

Seeing my dangerously low mana, I reach into my inventory and pull out a large vial of blue liquid. I drink a few without hesitation but also see my missing arm start to regrow back.

I continue to run down the dirt street and feel the presence of multiple assassins. Now that I regained some more of my concentration, I stopped in my tracks and ran towards the assassins.

I was about to fall into their trap. I thought it was strange that these fuckers were only throwing a few knives. The knives were just to redirect me in their desired direction.

"EVERYBODY COME OUT! SHES NOT AS DUMB AS WE THOUGHT!" A warrior says after coming out from a dark alleyway.

The hell did this dickhead say? Dumb? Me? I've taken pride in being the smartest amongst everybody around me. I won't let you go!

Or that is what I would've done if I fell for the provocation. I could sense multiple assassins hiding around him, ready to take my head at a moment's notice.

Damn, how many people are in this organization?

As I ran past the previous assassins chasing me, they all dashed towards me. They weren't as fast as I thought, but if I got too careless, they could take my head in an instant.

Extinguishing my emotions, I jump up to my head height and lightly land on one of the assassins' daggers. He was surprised as he didn't even feel me touch the dagger in the slightest, even after I jumped off and dashed away.

The assassins didn't get the time to gawk, so they dashed after me. The warrior from before was the closest behind me despite him not even being an assassin. He was even holding a great sword that he threw at me.

Guess I could use this…

I dodge the greatsword as my eyes track to where I could grab the handle. The world seemed to have slowed down, and once I felt the time was right, I grabbed the handle. Spinning around once, I built up enough momentum for me to throw it back at the warrior with double the velocity and power.

The giant greatsword impaled the warrior, and he did a last-minute struggle. He tried to break the greatsword, but with a blast of icy air, he was frozen in place… bleeding out.

I thought everything was normal for a second by how easily I spun the greatsword, but then I looked towards my arm. My entire arm was back, and I was able to move it quickly. Though it took a lot of clenching and unclenching to feel most of my arm, I was finally able to do it after about 10 seconds.

So far, the assassins have been trying their best at attacking me from all directions. They haven't been mindlessly chasing me but splitting up into three groups that would try to pincer me from the front and both sides.

I was running all over the slums, trying to avoid the real New York as much as possible. If I needed to, I could use [Lesser Quetzalcoatl's Ancient Fire (Black Lava)], but that's only for the last resort.

With how well this run and gun strategy is working, I should pick them all off within an hour.

All I've been doing is gathering ice within my palm and forming lances that I throw at any slower stragglers inside the three groups. Since assassins mostly think for only themselves, they weren't going to save their "comrade" any time soon.

Summoning my skeleton snakes was just a waste of mana since they couldn't keep up with our speed. In the beginning, I tried to predict where the assassins would go and summon the snakes there, but it just took too long for them to come out of the ground.

I thought I could've lasted a bit longer, but my stamina is running low. I might die from exhaustion at this rate. Mana and health are easy to recover with potions, but I don't know if there are side effects to drinking too many. I need to be careful.

[HP: 102/109 MP: 106/109 SP: 19/67] - Above Average

As I lifted my eyes off my status, a blast of fire sent me flying across the dirt street. The surrounding bystanders all screamed while running into their houses.

Thankfully I have [Fire and Lava Immunity]; otherwise, that would've done severe damage.

Lifting my head, I see a tall woman with tan skin. She was wearing a mage's robe and held a wooden staff in both hands. Her dark brown hair flowed to the ends of her robe while her pitch-black eyes seemed to look down on me.

"Shit, I might die," I mutter while standing up.