Kill the Sun

Nick looked at the two newcomers while they talked with the people from Anatomy.

'I wonder how much Anatomy had to pay them to help,' Nick thought. 'It can't be cheap, but the Specter should be worth it.'

'Sure enough, Anatomy has taken on a huge risk. If this fails, they might need to still pay these two.'

"So, what's the plan?" Kevara, the governor of Metal Works City, asked.

"First, we are going to leave and let him lure the Specter out. We assume that the Specter has a perception-by-perception ability, which means the Specter might not appear if we see the bait," Mundus explained.

"Perception by perception," Liera repeated with furrowed brows. "I've never heard of something like that."

Kevara just shrugged. "Plenty of abilities in the world of Specters."

By the way Kevara and Liera were acting towards each other, Nick could tell that the dynamic between government and Manufacturer was probably different in Metal Works City.

This seemed much closer.

Meanwhile, the governor of Crimson City was always very distant from the Manufacturers.

"And how are we going to know when to intervene?" Liera asked with a skeptical voice.

"We have a way to tell," Mundus answered.

Liera just looked at them with an unamused expression.

"Fine. We'll get paid anyway," she said.

"You get the full amount as long as at least one Demon or Hero shows up," Mundus confirmed.

Liera didn't answer.

"When do we start?" Kevara asked.

Mundus looked at the other two from Anatomy, who nodded.

Then, he looked at Nick, who also nodded.

"We'll start right now," Mundus said.

Then, he looked at Nick again. "Start in one minute," he said.

Nick nodded.

Then, the Heroes looked at each other.

SHING!

And seemingly vanished into thin air.

They moved so fast that it was difficult for Nick to follow their movements.

Now, Nick was left alone, and he took a deep breath.

His ability still hadn't activated again.

Of course, the perception-by-perception thing was only half right.

While it was true that the Specter had to have an ability that strengthened its senses, it wasn't something as extraordinary as being able to sense if someone else was sensing something.

That was something that probably only Fallen, Adversaries, or Eternals could do.

Most likely, the Specter had an ability that allowed it to see someone's surroundings.

Naturally, Nick said that the Specter had a perception-by-perception ability since he didn't want Anatomy to look at him.

Anatomy believed that Dark Dream had some kind of special thing that could lure a powerful Specter out, and they would definitely want to know how that worked.

But with this strange ability in play, Anatomy couldn't look at Nick.

At least, it was not worth the risk.

Obviously, Anatomy was suspicious about Nick's claim. They definitely didn't fully believe it.

However, they only had one shot.

If, by some chance, Nick was right, and they were looking at Nick while he was luring the Specter out, they would waste this golden opportunity.

The Specter would most likely not show up if it sensed a Hero watching over Nick.

Then, Anatomy would need to pay the two from Metal Works City a third of the full price, which was a lot.

Even more, they wouldn't get another chance like this.

So, they basically had no choice but to believe Nick unless they were dumb.

About 30 seconds after everyone left, Nick felt his ability reactivate.

'Sure enough, they won't risk it,' Nick thought.

Then, Nick looked towards the closest cliff.

He slowly approached the cliff, and when he reached the wall of the cliff…

CRK! CRK! CRK!

Nick pulled out his blades and started to dig into the cliff!

The reason for that was the Specter's intelligence.

Nick had already appeared after looking over the cliff twice, and both times, the Specter had failed to find him.

He was not sure if it would fall for the same trick thrice.

So, Nick decided to use a new one.

The reason why he told them that it wouldn't come anymore after ten minutes was to give himself five minutes to prepare.

Nick dug a hole in the cliff and quickly dug diagonally downward.

Naturally, since no one was looking at him, he was over a thousand times stronger than a normal human.

He was essentially a very fast machine that could exert tons upon tons of force with every movement.

The stones were being flung out of the makeshift cave with tremendous speed, and even when the occasional cave-in occurred, Nick just kept throwing the stones outwards.

A couple of tons of stone didn't inhibit him in any way.

After just two minutes, the cave had already become over twenty meters deep, and Nick wasn't planning on stopping.

Another two minutes passed, and Nick slowed down.

'I should already be closer to the water,' he thought.

Then, he took a deep breath.

This was the moment.

Nick angled upward a slight bit and continued to dig, but more slowly.

Eventually, the ceiling of the tunnel began to drip with water.

Nick's heart rate increased, and he took a deep breath again.

Crk! WHOOOM!

Nick scratched the top of the tunnel, and the ceiling suddenly couldn't hold anymore.

Water broke through the ceiling and rapidly filled the tunnel.

As soon as the water broke through the ceiling, Nick's ability deactivated.

Less than a second after the cave-in, Nick charged out of his collapsing tunnel with all of his speed.

Naturally, this was his plan.

He would act like he was trying to create a covert tunnel beneath the shore, just like the one that Solace had created.

Yet, tragically, he would dig too close to the surface and cause a cave-in.

And then, he would just run away.

He was sure that the Specter was within the water, and he was also quite certain that the Specter would be able to sense him as soon as he came into contact with the water.

He was right.

After all, his ability deactivated immediately after he got touched by the water.

Nick charged out of the hole in less than a second, and he immediately shot toward the south, away from the shore.

His ability had activated again.

Nick ran.

He got 300 meters away.

And then…

His ability deactivated.

He looked towards the north, and he saw a tiny speck in the distance.

Nick knew exactly what that was.