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Chapter 1350: City of the Decisive Battle (7)

“What in the world is this place?!”

Gazing at the lush, green forest around her, Little Five stomped her foot in displeasure. Meanwhile, Rhode and Catherine, who stood beside her, were also at a loss. It wasn’t surprising that they reacted this way. Right after the two Catherines fused into one, the magical ritual that enveloped the entire roof spun and teleported Rhode’s group to a godforsaken place before they could even respond. Although they didn’t know where this place was, judging from the glow of the shining mental crystals around them, it was apparent that they had been transported to another area.

“This looks like a park...”

Looking at the fountain and benches ahead, Rhode was quick to reply. At the same time, he was also certain that this area was definitely not the place they were before. After all, along the way, he observed their surroundings carefully and didn’t notice any parks or similar places. Judging from that, it could be seen that they were now in a completely new area. And from here, Rhode finally figured out the rules of this competition. The 12 mental crystals weren’t just placed there for contestants to snatch away as they liked. Come to think of it, the 12 mental crystals corresponded to 12 personalities.

When the crystals were activated, the corresponding personalities would be transported to each other for a battle, and the winner would decide who could keep the crystal. This process was repeated three times. After the three personalities fought to determine the winner, they were reunited as the core personality. However, in order to avoid a situation where everyone was focused on strategy, Karin also designed this random teleportation rule so that there was no way for one to obtain all the mental crystals at once. After teleporting to an unfamiliar area, they had to help others, as well as rely on others, to reach their destination. This way, no matter how much they couldn’t get along with one another, they would still develop some sort of connection and friendship.

But Rhode also found that it wasn’t that simple.

The disappearance of a mental crystal meant the disappearance of a personality. And the teammates that were supposed to team up would also be missing one as a result. Karin would definitely not overlook this problem. As a matter of fact, such random teleportations might also serve the purpose of disrupting teams from regrouping after losing their member. And perhaps the reason why Rhode’s team didn’t lack one member was due to the fact that they were the winner of the earlier battle. After all, the Catherine on his team absorbed the other personality and not the other way around.

In that case, Rhode, Little Five, and Catherine would, in turn, face tougher obstacles ahead. It was likely that the other teams would unite against them; no matter how strong a dog was, it wouldn’t be able to stand up to a pack of wolves. And now, Rhode had just figured out the rules of the entire game and hadn’t yet worked out how the mental crystals worked. Were the personalities they represented fixed? Or were they random? If they could handle one’s mental crystal, could someone else handle theirs the same? It wasn’t entirely impossible for Little Five and Catherine to be teleported to other places throughout their battles, was it?

“All in all, let’s move on and see what happens.”

Speculation would always remain speculation. And to avoid speculation becoming reality, the best way was to strike first and gain the upper hand. Although Rhode didn’t know what this place was, there was ultimately one destination for the three of them: the towers with mental crystals; anything else was completely out of Rhode’s scope and consideration. Thus, he waved his hand, beckoning to the two of them, and walked out of the park along the side path, heading toward the nearest tower. But he soon realized that something wasn’t quite right as soon as he stepped out of the park.

“What’s... going on?”

Little Five wielded a sword in her right hand and licked a lollipop in the other hand, staring at the scene before her with an astonished gaze. Not only her, but Catherine also widened her eyes uneasily. The instant the three of them exited the park, what appeared before them was a broad avenue. But that wasn’t the main thing. The main thing was the masses of what looked like pitch-black stains. At first glance, they looked like grease stains. But Rhode was able to tell that they were the same shadowy monsters they fought earlier.

However...

“These things... should be dead, right?”

Rhode stepped forward and cautiously touched the corpses of the shadowy monsters on the ground which looked as if they were punctured and deflated balloons: smooth and cold to the touch. However, he didn’t care about such a trivial matter. Instead... Did the shadowy monsters they defeated earlier also leave their corpses behind? The answer was no.

In the previous tower, his team resisted several ambushes from the shadowy monsters. And whenever they were about to die, they would let out a miserable screech and crumbled to the ground. Their body then became as thin as shadows and disappeared into nothingness. But now, this scene was entirely different. The shadowy monsters were clearly dead with their corpses left behind. Not only that, but when Rhode touched them, he also sensed the ice-cold aura of death emanating from their bodies. This wasn’t just a matter about them being defeated but rather, they were completely annihilated by someone, so much so that Rhode’s team didn’t face any obstruction upon arriving here.

“...”

Something isn’t right.

Rhode frowned and rose to his feet, scanning the area with wary eyes. The only light source on the broad avenue before him was the dim glow of street lamps that flickered from time to time and illuminated everything in sight. But that made him shiver involuntarily as if he were standing in a cemetery, where cold, lifeless air shrouded him and almost penetrated his skin and bones. This was the first time he had ever felt this sort of mysterious aura of death. It was as if everything around him was ‘obliterated’.

“Let’s head in a different direction instead.”

After much consideration, Rhode gave up walking on this path. After all, the situation was just too bizarre for them. This path led to the closest tower to them and the traces of battle on the path indicated that another team had already passed through here long before his team arrived. It seemed like the other team was definitely strong and Rhode had no choice but to become a pursuer.

He wasn’t interested in stepping into ambushes by initiating offensive battles. Hence, after some consideration, he selected a relatively distant path instead. On the other hand, Little Five and Catherine didn’t object to his decision. Now, Rhode was like their leader, while they also didn’t have much of an opinion. As long as the orders given by him weren’t particularly outrageous, they wouldn’t refuse and would obey them.

But as Rhode turned around and left, he didn’t notice a figure wrapped in a black cloak watching him silently from the top of a nearby tower. After observing his decisive departure, that figure let out a low grunt of dissatisfaction, turned around, and a pair of eyes that shone with spiritual flames emanated brightly in the darkness.

“Your plan failed. They didn’t take the bait.”

In the face of the black robe’s words, a crisp, bell-like laughter sounded in the darkness. Then, a figure appeared like a faintly discernible firefly.

“I knew it wasn’t that simple. After all, they won the previous battle.”

Along with a voice that sounded like the cold wind blowing above the grave, the presence of that indistinct figure became increasingly clearer. Soon after, a young lady whose entire body emanated a spiritual glow appeared in front of the figure in the black robe. If Rhode were to meet that young lady, he would definitely be rather surprised because she was precisely Little Five.

But unlike the teenage foodie following him around, this young lady was around 17 to 18 years old. What appeared on her ghostly face was a smile full of confidence and cunning, which was completely different from the Little Five in Rhode’s memory.

“A team that obtained a mental crystal in such a short period is definitely stronger than we thought. It is especially so for that human. If it weren’t for him, the other two wouldn’t even notice anything out of the ordinary here. But... Eleanor...”

The specter young lady spoke and gave a helpless sigh, before turning to look at the figure wrapped in the black robe with some dissatisfaction.

“If it weren’t for the problem with your abilities, perhaps they wouldn’t have noticed the peculiarity so early. That’s why I said, as much as possible, please don’t act rashly for the time being...”

“Hmph, I don’t care. I simply enjoy doing it. And if you’re not happy about it, just get ahead of me next time and kill all those bast*rds!”

Upon hearing the specter young lady’s complaint, the black-robed Grim Reaper paused slightly, before eventually letting out a snort and speaking with some displeasure. And in the face of the Grim Reaper’s response, the specter young lady spread her hands apart helplessly and forced a smile. But before she said anything more, another voice echoed from the darkness.

“Alright, there’s no point in you guys bickering here. Since they already sensed the problem, it’s useless for us to continue waiting here. We’re better off continuing our mission according to plan. As long as we obtain sufficient mental crystals, we will be able to secure the final victory. Leave them alone for n-...”

“Leader.”

And just before the person hidden in the darkness finished her sentence, all of a sudden, another spirited voice interrupted and spoke in an enthusiastic tone as if she were watching a bustling show.

“Dona spotted another team rushing toward that human’s team. Shall we head over and see what’s going on?”

“Another team?”

Upon hearing this remark, not only did that person hidden in the darkness pause for a moment, but the eyes of the specter young lady and Grim Reaper also glinted as if they were eager to check the situation out. But eventually, the voice in the darkness coughed and spoke.

“Don’t bother. We’re better off taking care of our own business... There’s not much time left.”

As soon as she finished her speech, another tower collapsed with a thunderous crash. And looking at the scene before them, the mysterious figures gathered on the rooftop went silent for a moment, before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Rumble...

Rhode lifted his head and looked toward the direction that let out deafening rumbles. Due to the tall buildings around him, he couldn’t see what happened at the back. But judging from the trembles he felt on the ground, he could tell that another tower must have collapsed. But... Why? Logically speaking, even though the fight between two teams would cause damage to the tower, the damage should only be limited to the area around the mental crystal and its surroundings. Could it be that there was something else he wasn’t aware of?

Swish!

While Rhode pondered whether there were any undiscovered issues, a whistling gust of wind suddenly came barreling toward him. If he hadn’t reacted in time, this punch alone would have been enough to blow his brains out. But he was someone not to be trifled with either. The instant the punch was hurled at him, he came to an abrupt standstill and slanted his body to the side.

Almost instantly, he unsheathed his sword from his waist and slashed a dazzling blade arc. Facing this retaliation, the ambusher withdrew its fist and set up a criss-cross stance with its arms against the deadly blade. Soon, in a loud collision, Rhode struck away the ambusher in the darkness.

But the threat didn’t end there. While Rhode was ambushed, Little Five and Catherine were also under attack. The ghostly sword and spinning scythe slashed at them from behind. Although this ambush happened swiftly, Little Five wasn’t a fool either. The instant she realized that Rhode was attacked, she drew her sword and spun around to protect herself. As for Catherine, it also wasn’t easy to break through her ‘invulnerable’ defenses, despite her doing nothing.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

After the collisions of weapons, Rhode noticed three shadowy figures retreating and vanishing in a flash. Perhaps sensing the failure of the ambush, the ambushers fell back quickly instead of continuing the zealous fight. They were so fast that Rhode only witnessed the shadows flitting across his eyes. And just when he wanted to take a closer look at them, they had already turned around and fled decisively, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

“Arghhh, who are these bast*rds! What do they want!”

Little Five initially decided to engage in a good battle with them, but she didn’t expect these ambushers to escape quicker than a rabbit. And before she reacted, they were already gone from her sight, leaving her so furious that she stamped her foot on the ground. Meanwhile, Catherine hugged the snacks in her arms with a bewildered expression, completely unaware of what just happened.

“How despicable! Shameless! What’s the point of sneaking up on someone? Come out and fight us face to face if you dare! Cowards!”

Although Little Five screamed in rage, no one responded to her. The only thing the three of them saw was the cold, silent alley, as well as the uninhabited dark city. Whistling winds blew across the place, lifting a few leaves from the ground. But they didn’t hear any other noise except for Little Five’s echoing snarls.

“Shame on you for sneaking up on us! Mr. Rhode, let’s find those guys and beat the crap out of them!”

“Do you know where they ran off to?”

“I...”

After hearing Rhode’s question, Little Five was left speechless. In fact, she didn’t know where they fled to because the pace of their ambush was too quick, where apart from Rhode, none of them noticed. Little Five instinctively relied upon her experience in battles and managed to resist the ambush. But she couldn’t mention any details of the attackers even if she wanted to. Despite that, she didn’t give up on her opinion.

“But are we going to just let those bast*rds continue following us? Their ambush failed, so they’ll definitely come back to find trouble with us again!”

Upon hearing the little one’s refutation, Rhode couldn’t help but knit his brows. He had to admit that Little Five wasn’t entirely unreasonable. The ambushers were clearly engaging in guerrilla warfare with them, which was something that Rhode was really experienced in and understood it more than anyone else.

He also had to admit that this current environment was indeed suitable for guerrilla warfare. However, he couldn’t understand the reason why they attacked his team. If the number of mental crystals was scarce, their motive would be understandable. But now...

The corner of Rhode’s lips curled up slightly, revealing a hint of a smile. Indeed, in terms of objective, although it was apparent that the ambushers came here for them, his team would surely be in trouble if this continued. Fortunately, not only did he know how to attack, but he also knew how to defend. Since the ambushers used this strategy to put pressure on him, he wasn’t entirely out of ideas to counter them...

At this thought, Rhode twitched his brow, narrowed his eyes, and said.

“No, let’s keep moving toward our target and leave those guys alone.”

“Huh———?!”

After hearing his reply, both Little Five and Catherine were stunned.