Pillar of Yita

The snow gradually intensified in the deep night, with snowflakes fluttering down.

Then Colin turned around and walked to the other side of the street, his footsteps sinking alternately deep and shallow.

...

The situation on another street was not much different from what he had anticipated.

The street was now ablaze with light, shadows intermingling, with two or three checkpoints set up by the City Defense Force in the distance.

Colin hid in the shadows and observed for a moment, only to see that the opponents were continually dispatching patrol teams in all directions, and as expected, as their numbers increased, their opportunities diminished.

This was true even in this direction, making one imagine what the scene at the south gate might be.

He certainly did not intend to break through directly from the front. Sticking to his usual method, he darted into a small alley to bypass to the other side of the checkpoint. However, the previously effective method now encountered a problem.

After crossing through the alley, he unexpectedly encountered another patrol team on the other side of the street. The team had just left the area of the checkpoints and were moving toward the alley where he was.

This situation was a bit tricky, but Colin quickly calmed down.

Seeing them get closer, knowing he couldn’t wait any longer, he lightly pressed the black crystal on his chest. The crystal emitted a beam of light in the darkness, and as the Light Page unfolded, it transformed into a Flexible Construct on the ground.

It was a somewhat outdated construct.

It was the ’Mirrorer’ he bought from Golande. Although he later built two more himself using schematics, this one was still the original from the store shelf—according to the shopkeeper, a leftover relic from the Battle of Bain era.

Because he might not have the chance to recover this Flexible Construct later, he naturally chose the one in the worst condition to save. After all, an Alchemist’s work is costly, but saving where possible is sensible.

After setting up the construct, Colin took a quick look outside, only to see that the patrol team was not far from the alley entrance. He withdrew, thought for a moment, and gently pressed his right hand, which was wearing the Control Gloves. Instantly, a wind noise echoed in the street.

A crisp ’bang’ rang out, and the City Defense Force members turned around, only to find nothing but an empty space—the ground floor of a nearby building had a window smashed open by something.

Shards of glass scattered, falling into the snow and reflecting the torchlight.

Seeing this, the City Defense Force immediately reacted: ”Watch the other side,” someone shouted.

At this moment, Colin had already left the Mirrorer’s position and hid in a nearby corner while observing the City Defense Force’s reaction, lightly clenching his right hand.

As the City Defense Force turned back, they saw two figures at the far end of the street, standing near the alley exit. Within moments, the figures wavered and vanished.

”Who!”

”Stop!”

The City Defense Force shouted in surprise and went after them.

Colin frowned at this scene because, contrary to what he imagined, not all of the City Defense Forces went after them—two stayed behind, taking out a Communication Crystal, seemingly to alert others.

”Damn—”

He didn’t expect to miss this point, but now, he could only grit his teeth and charge forward, for the opportunity would slip away, and once the others realized, the situation would become more dangerous than it already was.

Those two City Defense members clearly didn’t expect anyone to be hiding to the side. As they saw Colin charging out fiercely, they were momentarily stunned. One nearly dropped the Communication Crystal from his hands in fright.

Colin, at this point, moved without hesitation, his mind set on a single bold act.

Without thinking much, he launched a Rocket Fist straight at one of their abdomens. Although he didn’t have the intent to kill, that City Defense member doubled over in pain, like a shrimp, unable to get up.

The other one finally reacted, clumsily trying to draw a sword, but his nervousness made him incapable of unsheathing it despite several attempts.

Having lost his left-handed Control Gloves earlier and being on the run without time to repair it, Colin couldn’t launch a second Rocket Fist. Seeing the opponent fumbling awkwardly, he steeled himself and charged headlong into him.

Though Colin was just an Alchemist and not very strong, the opponent was only a Level Seven or Eight Strength System individual—with the level difference, they had no advantage. Caught off guard, the opponent was toppled backward.

Both fell into the snow.

But Colin reacted faster, getting up and running. The opponent reached out to grab him but grasped at thin air—and right at that moment, the City Defense Force’s other part also noticed the Mirrorer hidden in the alley. Although clueless about what kind of construct it was, they knew they had been tricked.

One of them kicked over the construct and, hearing the commotion behind, glanced back, seeing Colin knocking down his colleague and running far away. He opened his mouth wide, pointed in that direction, and shouted:

”There’s someone over there!”

Only then did the City Defense Forces turn around en masse.

Colin almost immediately heard gunfire erupting behind him.

But the guards in Colin Ishurian’s place naturally only had some mass-produced weapons. The precision of white-board muskets in the hands of Level Seven or Eight individuals was to be expected at a range of a few hundred feet.

Bullets flew past, and Colin seemed like a protagonist from a story, seeing pillars of snow rise around him but never getting hit. Even more bullets didn’t have the range, landing far behind him amid the volley of shots.