Chapter 1353 - City of the Decisive Battle (10) (2/2)

And although Dona reacted promptly, she couldn’t match his speed. Perhaps in the game, a level 85 player could be as quick as him, but in the mental world where he had the attributes of the Void Dragon, even the deity wardens couldn’t match up to him, not to mention card spirits. So even if Dona dodged well in advance, Rhode’s increased speed of attack stabbed at her chest accurately. In this menacing strike, Dona let out a grunt, flew off, and slammed onto the wall heavily, before collapsing to the ground.

The confrontation between them lasted for only a moment. The instant Dona withdrew from the battle, the Grim Reaper and Little Five also attacked from both sides. One of them was full of ghostly aura, and the other one was like an elusive specter. But even so, they weren’t able to gain any advantage over him. After all, there was another person beside him.

“Apologies, this path is closed.”

With a playful laughter, Eleanor swung her scythe across the air, stopping Little Five’s rapid assault. Then, the former turned her slender body to the side, deflected the sword in Little Five’s hand, and struck the long handle of her scythe on Little Five’s body. Even though Little Five was immune to physical attacks to a certain degree, perhaps due to the fact that both of them had the ‘death’ attribute, Little Five wasn’t able to dodge Eleanor’s attack entirely and was struck away.

Despite that, she didn’t end up as miserable as Dona. She somersaulted in midair to counteract the impact. Meanwhile, on the other side, the other Grim Reaper on her team chose to give up after witnessing two of her teammates suffering defeat. Almost in the blink of an eye, they quickly lifted Dona, who hadn’t gotten up from the ground, up and disappeared from Rhode’s and Eleanor’s sight.

“Sigh… What a headache.”

Neither Rhode nor Eleanor had the intention of chasing after them. Because they were well aware that it wouldn’t serve any purpose. If they weren’t within the range of the mental crystal, such battles were meaningless. Of course, it also wasn’t entirely so. As long as they captured, knocked the three of them unconscious and brought them to the respective mental crystals, they could secure the victory without having a fight there. But no one knew if that would work. Besides, the trio fled so quickly that Rhode didn’t wish to waste time pursuing them. Not only that, but he was also starting to feel a little annoyed.

Based on so many encounters with them, he realized that those three personalities belonged to the ‘instincts’ of their respective mental world, which was the toughest personality to deal with. As the saying ‘a leopard never changes it spots’ went, nothing was harder to deal with than one’s instincts. But… What exactly were they trying to achieve?

While Rhode pondered, he didn’t know that the trio that fled from him and Eleanor had already flown past buildings after buildings. They still didn’t communicate with one another and were not even making a sound at all; they simply flew across the air like they were being pulled by an unknown force.

After a few moments, the trio arrived at the roof of a tall building, which didn’t have a mental crystal and was just an ordinary high-rise. But they didn’t seem to care about the crystals at all. They stayed quietly on the rooftop as if waiting for something. Shortly after, they heard a squeak. The heavy iron door on the side of the rooftop opened and a figure appeared in front of them. When they saw that figure, they neither attacked nor approached it. On the contrary, they took a few steps back like fierce beasts as though facing some kind of enemy. Not only that, but their eyes were also filled with vigilance and hostility as they glared at the figure.

“Jeez, I thought I’d get better treatment.”

The person who appeared in front of the trio was the one who started this competition, Karin. But unlike the Karin Rhode remembered, this young lady displayed a wry smile. She had her hands around her shoulders and squinted unpleasantly as if she were sizing up some experimental animal.

“Never mind… I knew it would turn out like this. It looks like you guys seem to be in a mess, but that’s not surprising, though. According to the estimation of my core, Mr. Rhode’s strength is at a pretty high level. If he wanted to, he could beat the three of you without any difficulty. But I didn’t expect him to not have any reaction in the face of your repeated attacks. I wonder if it’s because you, Big Sisters, are really bad at it or there are some other reasons behind it… Forget it, that’s enough for this topic…” Karin came to a pause as she unmistakably sensed the hostility surging in them. But even so, she didn’t look threatened in the slightest. “… Let us continue then, Big Sisters. You don’t have much time left. If you don’t want the core to awaken, you need to give all your strength. Right now, on the outside…”

Rumble…

It was at that moment when another loud collapse sounded. Karin stopped speaking, narrowing her eyes as she stared at the slowly-collapsing tower. A dangerous smile flashed in her eyes.

“There’s not much time left. Everything is going according to plan. I hope that you will continue to work hard, Big Sisters. If you don’t want to be eaten after the core awakens, you should try to seize the present and grab the opportunity for your existence. But you must also be careful; my two other selves seem to notice that something is wrong. Jeez, I don’t want to be exposed. At the very least, it’s still meaningful to me now that the experiment isn’t completely over.”

Karin spoke, lifting her head to look at the dark, gloomy sky and curling her lips slightly. Although her smile seemed gentle and soft, it gave one an unsettling and pressurizing feeling. And perhaps sensing this feeling, the three of them backed up once again. Upon realizing their reaction, only then did Karin withdraw her gaze on the void and smile at them as if she were looking at her satisfying experimental subjects.

“Alright, now that the stalling mission has been accomplished, you can follow the previous plan to activate the next mental crystal. But be careful, don’t meet people you shouldn’t, or even I won’t be able to help you.”

With that said, Karin gently lifted the hem of her skirt and bowed to the trio in front of her. She smiled softly, stretched out her fingers, and snapped. Along with that action, a white, flawless card flew out from her hands. In the face of the card that Karin flicked out of her fingers, Dona reached out her hand and received it silently.

“It seems like this is the limit to your abilities. But don’t worry, I’ve also prepared my trump card. The next time you fight against Mr. Rhode, activate this card if you encounter a tricky situation beyond your grasp. I think it will give you a big surprise. Alright then, I’ll take my leave now… Hoo-hoo…”

Bang.

Along with the laughter, the heavy iron door closed itself. At that moment, the rooftop of the high-rise was empty.