Chapter 1348 - City of the Decisive Battle (5) (1/2)

A series of explosions blasted, but despite that, it could be heard that the shadowy monsters weren’t actually going up the stairs fast enough. Rhode reckoned that was since they didn’t even consider boarding the elevator. Well, it wasn’t too surprising since one wouldn’t be particularly interested in two big metal doors if one weren’t aware of the existence of an elevator.

Similarly, if it weren’t for Rhode, perhaps Catherine and Little Five might not even consider using the elevator earlier. Meanwhile, the enemies pursuing them seemed to intend on relying upon their feet to climb the building that was hundreds of meters tall. When Rhode heard the explosions, he was slightly tense.

But afterward, he realized that the enemies didn’t understand technology and it wasn’t possible for them to use the elevator to transport them up and down the building. Not only that, but they must have also messed something up which caused the elevator that Rhode’s team was in to come to a halt. In that case, even if they were to meddle with the buttons on the elevator, it would likely be unable to start up again.

“Hurry, let’s get out of here.”

With that in mind, Rhode made a quick decision. He looked up at the elevator display panel and felt pleased at the existence of high tech. They were already two-thirds of the way to their destination in such a short time. As for the remaining one-third, they could run their way up. He didn’t hesitate any longer and immediately opened the elevator doors in front of them.

Fortunately, they were currently situated right at the entrance of one of the upper floors. The three of them ran out of the elevator, rushing toward the emergency exit with Rhode leading the way. The sound of rapid footsteps echoed through the quiet corridor, but it was at this moment that the danger that had been hidden in the darkness seemed to awaken, opening their eyes to the prey that barged into their territory.

“Coo-coo-coo…”

The instant the three of them dashed out of the elevator, Rhode once again heard some strange noises. Shortly after, borrowing the radiance of the ‘huge light bulb’, Catherine, he clearly witnessed shadows in the darkness coalescing into mysterious substances. It was apparent that only the elevator was a ‘safe zone’ in this tower. And after stepping out of it, Rhode’s team began to attract monsters.

“Let’s go, don’t mess with any of them! Keep going, and don’t stop!”

Upon seeing Little Five wielding her sword and about to put up a fight, Rhode gave his order hurriedly. If it were a normal situation, it wouldn’t take long for them to defeat these monsters before heading on with their journey. But now, the situation was different; there were still other people below them, so the moment they got into a battle with the monsters, the people below could hear every one of their movements and commotions.

After that happened, the situation would be much more complicated. Thus, Rhode grabbed Little Five and ran over to the emergency exit as fast as he could. Although the people below were still far away from them, wasn’t that what ‘the tortoise and the hare’ was all about? After the rabbit became lazy, the tortoise would eventually catch up with it.

Upon hearing Rhode’s command, Little Five didn’t say a word, but quickly put away her sword and brought out a packet of potato chips, munching while following behind him. Looking at this scene, Rhode sighed with sorrow. Despite having a foodie and pacifist in his team, at least they obeyed his orders and weren’t too much of a hindrance. Now, he only hoped that the mental projections in other teams would be more incompetent and it would be best if they could also be more of a drag!

It was always better to rely on oneself for everything, and expecting the other teams to be as unlucky as him wasn’t something he counted on much. Every one of them had up to three mental projections of personalities, and according to his experience, there was at most only one ‘foolish’ personality. To a certain extent, these two with him were in a way…

Argh, forget it.

At this thought, Rhode felt crushed.

“Don’t attack, just stay behind me and be wary! Don’t make too much noise!”

In terms of sneaking around and scouting, Rhode was still more experienced than the others. After all, the strict standard of ‘backstabbing’ was meant to ensure that they were undetected until they reached their destination. And naturally, he was incredibly familiar with it. But apparently, Little Five and Catherine lacked this kind of experience, which was why he asked them not to retaliate at all.

Not only that, but he also sprinted ahead of them to the emergency exit and ran up the stairs. Faced with the pitch-black shadows that hindered him, he did little to deal with them. He just waved his sword to split them apart, before pulling Little Five and Catherine and shuttling through the gap. For Rhode, entanglement was the last thing on the agenda, especially in this situation.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

The glow of his sword metamorphosed into incomparably dazzling and brilliant blade rays that flickered in the dark space one after another, illuminating and tearing through the coalescence of deep darkness.

However, the shadows of darkness didn’t give up just yet. Instead, they twisted and winded their bodies, attempting to restore their original form. Rhode was already used to the responses of these monsters. It was very difficult to defeat them completely, so he didn’t pay much attention to this aspect at all. On the contrary, after ripping apart their bodies, he darted across their wounded bodies. Although the combat power of these shadowy monsters wasn’t weak, they were nothing in the face of his strength.

Rhode’s team progressed swiftly and after being reminded by him, Little Five didn’t go on a rampage like before, which could be said to have saved some time for them. After a short while, the three of them arrived on the highest floor. The moment they stepped onto the rooftop, Rhode swung his sword without blinking an eye. Along with his action, the rooftop behind him collapsed, sealing the exit and blocking the path of the shadowy monsters that chased them relentlessly. It was only at this moment that Rhode scanned the place and of course, the first thing he did was to look for the mental crystal that his team worked desperately to get here for. But the instant he saw the mental crystal, he couldn’t remain calm any longer.

Before arriving at the top floor, Rhode’s mind was occupied with thoughts of those shadowy monsters below them and didn’t ponder much about the mental crystal. And now, he found that he had overlooked a legitimate problem. First of all, the tall buildings were hundreds of meters high and even though he stood on the top floor, he saw that the light emanating from the mental crystal at the top of the tall building also illuminated the night sky. There were only two possibilities; it was either extremely huge or extremely bright.

And now, this mental crystal was right in front of him, being both huge and bright!

Its brilliance wasn’t blinding, and even if he were to look directly at it, he wouldn’t feel any discomfort. However, its size was very problematic to him. The crystal itself was nearly seven or eight meters tall and resembled a cylindrical light bulb. He wouldn’t be able to carry even one of them, not to mention carrying 12! It wasn’t a matter of strength, but totally an issue with size! But who knew? Maybe the mental crystal could shrink in size on its own?

With this thought in mind, Rhode approached the mental crystal, knocked, and touched it repeatedly. But unfortunately, no matter what he did, there were no changes in it as if it were completely unresponsive. Moreover, he also let Little Five and Catherine touch it again, but the result remained the same. In that case, this could only mean one thing: none of the methods he used to trigger it was correct…

“Where exactly did we go wrong?”

Rhode had yet to find an answer to this question. He carefully investigated the areas around the mental crystal, but found neither enchanted fields nor magical rituals that could trigger it. He didn’t find any switches or buttons that he was familiar with from memory, but was also certain that Karin didn’t put such a large piece of mental crystal here just to tease him. It was apparent that there must be some secret in this crystal that he hadn’t discovered, which was why it wasn’t activated. And now, his main task was to find this secret in order for it to not be seized by others.

“What the hell is going on with this thing? Do you want me to try slashing it with my sword?”

Looking at the unresponsive mental crystal in front of her, Little Five was the first to lose her patience. She once again drew her sword, eager to make a leap of faith. This time, however, Rhode didn’t stop her. On the contrary, he knitted his brows and remained silent for a moment, before nodding in agreement. And after receiving his approval, Little Five revealed her excitement and complacency, tossing the empty packet of snacks to the side. At the next moment, she stretched out her hands with the sword in hands, her entire body metamorphosing into a green hurricane and slamming onto the mental crystal in front of her. Soon after, the sword in her hands, which was almost as long as her body, sliced through the air and struck the mental crystal heavily.

Clang———!