Chapter 228: Shifting Streets
"Into the buildings!" Karrakas shouted. "Now, move—"
Before he could complete his sentence, two shapes dropped from above.
They came down onto the shield layer above the group, landing with enough force that the impact resonated through the barrier and into the air around them.
The upper shields cracked along multiple lines but held, the layers absorbing what they could.
Melody had already activated [Soul Leech].
Her hands were extended, the skill reaching out through the shields she’d built above them, counting them as an extension of herself.
This way, she was able to start draining the mana and energy from the two Automatons that were currently standing on the shields above them.
The beasts bashed on the shields, with the outer layers cracking, but they weren’t able to break through. Especially since Melody was draining their strength.
"Follow me!" Melody yelled.
She dashed towards the nearest building on the right, but three Automatons immediately dropped in front of them before they could take more than a few steps.
The claws came down across the shields in a fast rake, each strike landing within instants of each other.
It felt like immediately a few layers shattered, the next hit. And so, before they could do anything, the three beasts had shattered all the shields they had in front within a second.
Melody’s [Cursed Blade] was already swinging. The flat of the blade slammed into the nearest Automaton’s torso and sent it staggering backwards, its arms windmilling as it lost its footing.
Akira stepped into the gap beside her, her leg blurring forward in a kick that drove into the second Automaton’s chest with enough force to send it airborne, its body hitting the building wall across the street.
But the third was much faster, dashing through the space between them to attack Karrakas.
Lukas swung his sword from the rear of the formation, activating [Dimensional Slash].
The blade vanished and reappeared above the Automaton, the flat side driving down onto it from directly overhead, smashing it into the stone street with a crack that shattered the ground.
It tried to push itself up, but Melody and Akira’s swords descended together to slam into it.
The Automaton came apart under the combined impact, gears and metal scattering across the floor.
[You have killed a C-rank Clockwork Automaton]
Lukas straightened, and then the rumbling returned.
It was louder this time, and the stone paving began to shift, the individual blocks grinding against each other as the mechanism below the city engaged.
The buildings around them began to move. Slowly at first, then with more commitment, the structures sliding and rotating in their massive predetermined paths as the street pulled itself apart.
But they were still standing in the middle of it.
Melody immediately created new [Hex Shields], layering them in front to plug the hole, before driving them forward in a bash.
The barrier slammed into the Automaton blocking their path like a moving wall. The beast staggered backwards, its arms scrambling for balance. It took a few steps back, before slamming its nails into the ground, halting its move.
"Open it!" Akira yelled.
Melody understood immediately, opening a gap to the side of the barriers.
Akira crouched, grabbed the largest piece of the scattered Automaton at their feet, and threw it through the opening in one motion.
The gap sealed in an instant, and Akira activated [Corpse Explosion].
The piece detonated outside the barrier. The blast rippled out across the street, smaller than the earlier explosion by a significant margin.
The fragment hadn’t been large enough to generate the same force, but the fragments tore through the closest Automatons, killing two and injuring the remaining, while the rest were simply pushed back.
Above them, the two Automatons that had been attacking the upper shields were still there. Melody looked up, then she shifted the upper shield sideways in sudden motion.
Both Automatons were sent flying off the barrier at the same time, landing on the shifting street several meters apart.
Lukas raised his hands and activated [Smite].
The golden pillars descended immediately, targeting both fallen Automatons.
The pillars slammed into both beasts, shattering them immediately. It would have taken a few hits, but one was enough because they’d already been weakened by Melody.
[You have killed a C-rank Clockwork Automaton(x2)]
The pillars kept descending, but the remaining Automatons moved swiftly, leaving the attacks slamming into the ground and cratering it.
However, one wasn’t fast enough, and three descending pillars slammed into it in quick succession, the impacts stacking until it shattered.
[You have killed a C-rank Clockwork Automaton]
Akira looked at the scattered corpses across the shifting street. "Cover your ears!"
Nobody had time to ask why before she activated [Corpse Explosion] on all the corpses.
The street detonated.
The force rolled out from every corpse at once, overlapping blasts combining into a single enormous shockwave that rippled in every direction.
Their shields took the full force of it and shattered completely, the cursed energy breaking apart in an instant.
"This way," Melody yelled, already running towards the nearest building on the left.
They followed, but the building suddenly slid away.
One moment it was there, and the next it was moving sideways and was replaced by a blank stone wall.
An Automaton dropped from the wall directly above them, trying to catch them unawares, but Karrakas’ arrow slammed into it, sending it falling away from the group.
"Here," Akira called from their left, catching sight of a safe building. They turned and ran after her.
The building ahead split down its center, the two halves separating like doors opening outwards, and from the gap between them, Automatons poured into the street.
With that option disappearing, Lukas’ head moved this way and that, and through the haze of smoke and dust, he caught sight of a building sitting still on the street.
"Follow me," he shouted, then began running directly towards it.
Then suddenly, the building began moving backwards.
He ran faster.
The two structures on either side of it began sliding inwards like a door, trying to close down the route to the building.
Lukas leapt into the air and hit the window of the building with his shoulder, shattering the glass.
He landed and rolled to his feet in an instant, just in time to see Melody come through the window behind him.
Then Karrakas leapt through, landing on his feet.
Akira, who was behind, dashed through the narrowing gap between the buildings.
As he leapt into the air towards the window, the two buildings closed with her still between them.
"Akira!" Melody screamed.
