1196-1204

Chapter 1196: Enemy

Mini Bubble Gum curled her lips as she stared at the death knight. If it weren't for this damn death knight who attacked earlier, she would have been the first to reach the destination! Even though being first was essentially meaningless, the so-called temptation to be the first for this little fellow was extremely attractive. But now, this annoying death knight actually showed up and stopped her. Was she ready to die a hundred deaths for doing that?

"You...!"

"Wait, Bubble."

As Mini Bubble Gum was about to rush ahead for round two, Rhode extended his arm to hold her back. The latter squinted and sized up the death knight curiously. But before he said a word, an ice-cold and melodious voice echoed.

"Long time no see, Mr. Rhode."

Along with this greeting, hundreds of pitch-black bats flapped their wings and glided to gather beside the death knight, taking shape into a human figure. Shortly after, a nobleman donned in an expensive night suit appeared before their eyes. He wore an elegant and content smile, while his hair was meticulously combed to the back. His entire body was as dark as the night sky, except for the satin and lining on his clothes, which were as scarlet as blood. Upon witnessing his appearance, Rhode twitched his brows.

"Yes... It has been a while, Mr. Di Catlerini."

"That's right, Mr. Rhode... Oh, my apologies—Your Majesty Void Dragon. I'm glad to see you as strong as ever after our last meeting in Soraka Mountain. I didn't expect you to be the mighty Void Dragon. I have to admit that after receiving this news, I was really surprised. I didn't expect a companion I fought side by side to actually carry such a respectable identity. Time sure flies; 2 years have gone in the blink of an eye. I'm astonished that you still remember me."

"Yea... two years gone in a flash..."

Upon hearing Di's words, Rhode couldn't help but lament. Rhode still remembered the scene when he battled against the duke fiend for the first time. Back then, Rhode relied upon his special equipment and entered the Legendary Stage. Under chase from the duke fiend, he barely escaped its death claws. If it weren't for Mini Bubble Gum and Canary, he wouldn't have been able to defeat that monster. Of course, Rhode initially decided to use the strength of these two Phantom Guardians to eradicate Di and his death knight wife. However, Di wasn't foolish either. He fled with his wife upon witnessing the arrival of Mini Bubble Gum and Canary, disappearing before Rhode could catch up. And later, Rhode never saw them in any battlefields, which was why he stopped wondering about them. But now, he was surprised that they were actually here.

"I suppose you didn't come here to reminisce with us, Your Majesty Void Dragon."

"Of course not."

Upon hearing Di's question, Rhode nodded in response. Rhode stared at the pair of scarlet eyes and couldn't detect anything strange. But this didn't mean that Di would be an easy opponent. Di was a powerful spell caster. Back then, when Rhode and Di met, the latter was already in the Legendary Stage. And now, Rhode sensed that Di and his death knight wife were in the Peak Legendary Stage. Since Rhode wouldn't possibly recruit them to his side, he could only eliminate them. While Rhode pondered his options, Di suddenly replied.

"I understand what you meant, Your Majesty Void Dragon. Besides, I'm also aware of the situation in the Country of Darkness. His Majesty Dark Dragon has been acting weirder day by day. Even though I don't know what exactly is going on, it seems like you're pretty clear of that, Your Majesty Void Dragon."

Di said, spreading his arms apart with a smile before gazing at the undead creatures scattered all over the place. There used to be more than 1000 undead creatures guarding this place. But after Rhode's group stormed the area, there were less than 10 undead creatures remaining. But they weren't far from death as they were either crippled or had their limbs snapped off. Upon hearing Di's words, Rhode couldn't help but twitch his brows. He didn't think that Di was lying. After all, if Di were really that smart, he would have used this chance to escape. But...

"Ion has been infected by Chaos."

Rhode responded, staring at Di to catch a tell. After hearing Rhode's reply, Di's expression stiffened but restored its attractive smile shortly after.

"... I see... I'm really surprised. I thought His Majesty Dark Dragon was facing a problem that is more... No wonder... Yes... It all makes sense now."

Di muttered under his breath and nodded as though he understood something. But shortly after, he lifted his head and looked at Rhode.

"Thanks for informing me, Your Majesty Void Dragon. But I regret to tell you that you are unable to prove the reliability of this information without any evidence."

"Right back at you—I don't really trust you guys either. After all, no one can ensure whether you're infected by Chaos or not."

Upon hearing Di's response, Rhode shrugged. They exchanged looks with each other and after detecting the information they needed from each other's eyes, they smiled.

"Bubble, Canary, attack!"

"Got it, Leader!"

Bubble couldn't wait to jump into action. Her eyes glinted in flashes as she metamorphosed into a dazzling light that burst straight ahead. She clenched her fists and heavily pounced on the death knight like a fired artillery shell.

It was this damn bast*rd who ruined my plans. I'm a dog if I don't teach her a lesson!

Facing this attack from Mini Bubble Gum, the death knight lunged at her immediately. As Di's spouse, it went without saying that Elena wasn't a pushover and was also in the Peak Legendary Stage. There was not much to choose between the two, so it was a battle between skills and equipment!

Clang!

Elena slashed the longsword from above, colliding heavily with Mini Bubble Gum's clenched fists. This attack would have been enough to hack Mini Bubble Gum's fists into halves, but the issue was that the little fellow wasn't a good-for-nothing either. Clerics were most adept in protecting themselves. With the buff of spiritual spells, Mini Bubble Gum's fists were tougher than steel and could crash into the razor-sharp blade completely fine.

Facing this attack from Elena, Mini Bubble Gum didn't retreat this time. On the contrary, she opened up her left palm and slapped the side of the blade, at the same time hurling a punch forward with her right fist. Elena evaded swiftly and just as she turned around, a light column exploded from Mini Bubble Gum's right fist, bursting ahead in thunderous rumbles. The light column brushed past Elena's body, but its holy brilliance caused white smoke to burn on her solid and exquisite armor. Even after missing this attack, Mini Bubble Gum had no intention of stopping. She took half a step forward and relied upon her strong defensive power as a cleric. She decided to attack Elena using brute force!

The death knight realized her intention. But as a seasoned swordswoman in the Peak Legendary Stage, Elena wasn't one to be trifled with. She withdrew instantly, raising and laying the longsword in front of her chest horizontally. Then, she leapt and quickly drew a distance apart from Mini Bubble Gum. At the same time, Elena's longsword emanated dark, flowing light. As she flourished the weapon from above, a dozen streams of light erupted from the blade and heavily struck at the defensive barrier around Mini Bubble Gum. Even though Mini Bubble Gum was hugely confident in her spiritual spells, she couldn't help but slow down her pace under the impact of this menacing assault. The instant Mini Bubble Gum slowed down, Elena sprinted toward her side. Meanwhile, a black mist burst out from Elena's blade and shrouded them entirely.

"...!"

At that moment, Di flitted across the battlefield. His scarlet pupils instantly shrunk into narrow slits. He chanted under his breath and stroked his right little finger forward. But at the same time, a wall of flame rose from the ground all of a sudden, blocking the vampire's vision. Canary strolled out of the flames casually, her arms drawing streaks of beautiful runes in midair. The erupting flames spiraled and blasted ahead under the young lady's manipulation, metamorphosing into fire serpents that dove at the vampire ahead.

Boom!

But shortly after, a wall of white bones appeared out of nowhere, positioned right in front of Di as a defensive shield. The fire serpents crashed into the sturdy wall of white bones ruthlessly, shattering it in just a few moments. At the same time, Di raised his right arm. A mist of darkness metamorphosed into a huge bone claw that grabbed at Canary. The young lady swayed her palm and a scarlet magical ritual appeared under her feet. Then, she chanted some incantations and held down her hands.

At the next moment, a stream of red, scorching lava gushed out from the magical ritual and slammed into the white, enormous bone claw!

Chapter 1197: Confrontation

Loud explosions boomed as the large white bone claw clashed with the fire column coalesced from lava. But Canary and Di weren't concerned about the result of their clash. On the contrary, they made spell-casting gestures with their hands immediately after casting their earlier spells. The most important things about duels between spell casters were damage, speed, and accuracy. In 'anime', two people fired beams and competed against each other to see who could last the longest, but it was meaningless in this case. Not only must a top spell caster grasp the proficiency, speed, and mastery to cast spells in the shortest time possible, but one must also anticipate whether the next spell was offensive or defensive and come up with a corresponding response. From a certain aspect, the duel between two top spell casters was like gambling. While one grasped the card in one's hand, one must also guess what card the opponent held and make the right call.

As a spell caster in the Peak Legendary Stage, Di wasn't slow at all. Even though Canary's skills were considered to be above average within Rhode's group, Starlight was a leading guild, after all, and despite her being in the middle to upper rankings, her skills shouldn't be belittled. Canary and Di stroked their hands in midair and made complicated gestures one after another. Then, they retracted their arms almost at the same time, before pushing them forward.

There was neither brilliance nor flashes of lightning. It was so peaceful as though nothing happened. But all of a sudden, the empty ground in front of them ruptured and a raging magical torrent metamorphosed into an ax that split the earth, where not even hard mountain rocks could withstand the powerful strength as they disintegrated instantly. Canary withdrew her arms and placed them on her chest. Then, she drew a circle in midair and shortly after, the coalesced wind blustered around her, taking shape into a sturdy barrier that kept out the splattering debris. But at the next moment, a mystical shadow shuttled out of the mass of debris. It was Di. He stretched his arms out and widened his palms, pouncing on Canary with a mighty force. He thrust his hands on the barrier in the blink of an eye and—bang! The barrier protecting Canary shattered completely. Looking at this result, Di's eyes glinted in delight. But thereafter, a surprising flash reflected in his eyes.

Boom!

The scattered flames exploded and Di retreated quickly as though he was bitten. On the other hand, Canary raised her right arm calmly and slowly. Three bursts of flames like fire serpents slithered across the ground and chased the vampire closely. Facing the oncoming catastrophe, Di gnashed his teeth. A blood mist spurted from his mouth, enveloping the fire serpents ahead and extinguishing them entirely.

"Big Sister Canary's reaction sure is quick."

Upon hearing his younger sister's comment, Rhode couldn't help but nod in agreement. This wasn't a battle to the death, but both sides were giving their all. Even though they didn't manipulate the rules of Order and only carried out a duel between spell casters, it was enough to show their individual strength. Earlier on, Di obviously decided to rely on his ability as a vampire to catch Canary off guard. After all, he was different from a human like Canary. The speed and regeneration ability of vampires ensured that he could dodge the debris effortlessly and not need to defend himself. But Canary had to protect herself as a human, which was why Di attacked decisively and attempted to break through Canary's barrier to defeat her.

But Di was surprised by Canary's quick reaction. The young lady's double mastery in wind and fire prepared her for such a situation. The moment Canary released the wind barrier, her left hand was preparing another spell. As a human, she couldn't compete against Di in speed. But if she prepared her spell beforehand and waited for Di to come knocking on her door, it would be an entirely different matter. And now, it was apparent that Di didn't anticipate this move from Canary and suffered a huge loss. If it weren't for the incredible speed of a vampire that made Canary miss the chance to follow up with her attack, perhaps he would have already turned into a roasted bat.

At that moment, Di decided to stop casting spells. He zoomed in a trail of afterimages, shuttling around Canary continuously. It was apparent that he was using his innate ability to take advantage of Canary. No matter what, Canary was only a normal human being. Even after she arrived at this world and gained her own power through Rhode, her constitution didn't change due to that. When humans faced agile creatures like vampires, they were lacking innately.

Facing the change in Di's attacking style, Canary chose to stay in place. She withdrew her arms and the spiraling, fiery gusts transformed into a perfect shield that enfolded the young lady. No matter where Di attacked from, he would never cause any damage to her. But... in this case, Canary lost her initiative. She lost the ability to lock onto his position and didn't know when he would attack. Logically speaking, Canary should be waiting and observing the situation. But she chose a totally different method.

"Masa... uiy... dis..."

Facing Di's harassment, Canary lowered her gaze without the slightest care. She kept her palms together and chanted in a low voice. Shortly after, runes appeared between her palms one by one, drifting around her slowly. Looking at this scene, Di couldn't help but feel startled. As a spell caster, he knew that this young lady was preparing to release a legendary AOE magical spell and it didn't require her to aim at him either! As long as she cast the spell, Di would be dead!

Di was also dubious as to why Canary chose to release a legendary magical spell right now. Even though this magical spell would be formidable, its biggest flaw was its long chanting time. No matter how, she couldn't complete the spell in just a few seconds. Even if she were ambushed, she couldn't stop chanting the spell or forcefully disrupt it, else she would receive a massive backlash. Judging from the strength that Canary displayed earlier, she would never commit such a mistake.

Is she that confident in her defense? But a mage's defensive shield isn't stronger than a cleric's, after all!

This thought cropped up in Di's head for only a split second. After all, opportunity knocks only once. He should give it a shot no matter what. If not, he would be equally doomed once she released the legendary spell! Di hesitated no more. He drew circles in midair with his hands. His pale, jade-like arms were covered in pitch-black patterns immediately. Then, he lunged at the young lady like a whistling arrow!

Facing this attack, Canary didn't falter at all, or perhaps, she didn't even have the time to react. She also couldn't see what Di was doing exactly. She continued to keep her palms together while chanting the spell. And at that moment, Di's hands arrived beside her.

Boom!

The vampire's hands smashed into the blazing whirlwind barrier. In an instant, the explosion of flames and wind blades disseminated in all directions. Di wasn't surprised, but was thrilled instead. He clearly felt that the barrier wasn't as powerful as he had imagined! Even though the barrier contained unique rule power that made it stronger than barriers cast by ordinary spells, he was also a being in the Peak Legendary Stage and possessed the strength of Order, after all!

Di's eyes glinted in a red, bloody flash. He swung his left arm forward abruptly, spurting out scarlet blood. Despite that, the spraying blood didn't scatter, but coalesced on his right arm into a razor-sharp, blood blade. He raised his right arm and brandished from above!

"———!"

The power of Order collided. The wild, blazing winds struggled to keep up as it resisted the blood blade. Di remained unmoved as he shifted his left hand quickly to make a hand gesture. Then, a pitch-black mist proliferated from his body and gathered on his palm. Di slammed his palm forward, smashing the barrier heavily.

Bang!

This time, the defensive barrier that couldn't maintain its power finally vanished and a bone-piercing chilliness took over the gust and flame. The scarlet blade whistled and aimed at the young lady's neck. Canary was seemingly unaware of what was happening. She continued to keep her palms together and lower her gaze, as the chant was at its critical juncture. However, Di was confident that he could defeat her before she finished chanting the incantation!

Clang!

But... Di's anticipation was smashed to bits after hearing an ear-deafening collision. Before his blood blade managed to contaminate Canary's body, it was locked out by a shining barrier...

The Sacred Spell!

"Ready to die?!"

Canary yelled while Di was flabbergasted. The latter turned to the front without any hesitation. The blood blade in his hand metamorphosed into a sharp spear that penetrated forward. But at that moment, a blinding, holy light column descended from heaven, blasting the blood spear into fragments. Mini Bubble Gum appeared from inside the light column, clenching and hurling her right fist onto Di's body. The vampire couldn't respond in time. In a blood-curdling scream, he flew back upon the mighty impact. At the same time, the death knight following her closely emerged from the mist. She raised the heavy longsword and flourished it at Mini Bubble Gum who had her back facing her.

At that moment, Canary's spell reached completion. She raised her arms, lifted her head, and stared ahead with a clear, sharp gaze. It wasn't Di she was staring at, but the death knight instead. Then, Canary pushed her arms ahead.

The brilliance of magical and spiritual spells dazzled, erupted, and shrouded the entire world. The surging flames and whirlwinds turned into chains that bound the death knight tightly. Shortly after, a revolving magical ritual appeared in midair. Countless bursts of meteor rained down from the sky, bombarding the ground mercilessly.

"It has ended."

Looking at this scene, Rhode said, shrugging and turning to his younger sister.

Chapter 1198: Surrender

"Oh-no-no, they sure lost terribly..."

Di lost his demeanor as he sat on the ground powerlessly. After receiving that punch of holy light and the strafing of meteor rain from Mini Bubble Gum, the pitiful vampire's luxurious clothes were tattered and covered in holes. Not only that, but his neatly combed hair was also roasted like a fluffy henhouse. Elena didn't have it any better either. As she was Canary's target, her exquisite set of armor was completely dishevelled and broken, without the possibility of refurbishment and could be thrown into the trashcan right away. Elena's helmet had also been taken off. Frankly, Elena wasn't outstanding in her looks as a woman. If she were to be judged on the scale from 1 to 10 and Rhode's harem was mainly between 8.5 to 9, Elena would be a 6 at the most. But it was due to this reason that Rhode admired Di even more. Even though it was often said that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, if one's appearance weren't acceptable in the first place, one shouldn't blame others for not recognizing one's value. This was applicable for males and females. If one were to not shower for half a month or do a foolish hairstyle and wear unattractive clothing, it was only natural that one would be disregarded by others. Of course, if these weren't due to objective reasons such as poverty or whatnot, one was simply asking to be judged.

Elena wasn't considered beautiful, but emanatied a heroic attractiveness instead. Perhaps it was due to her being a master swordswoman during her lifetime, she stood on the spot like a straight, unsheathed longsword. What was most eye-catching about her was the blade scar that ran down the middle of her forehead, which seemed to be the reason for her death. But this wasn't what Rhode was interested in. Instead, he realized that this death knight actually had feelings.

Humans often said that undead creatures were fearless. But as a matter of fact, this saying was wrong. Undead creatures weren't fearless. Most of them were entirely devoid of emotions, which explained why they weren't afraid of anything. What they had in them was merely the lowest level of instinct. This was the reason why undead creatures were fearless, but also knew to shriek and flee from pure, holy energy. Just like a finger—it didn't have any emotion and didn't know what pain and happiness were. But if one were to prick it with a needle, it would instinctively shrink away. The so-called emotions of undead creatures were almost similar. Even though undead creatures seemed capable of smiling, they were as though preset and robotic. It was just like how waiters greeted and welcomed customers with a smile as it was the most appropriate expression for the moment. But even so, it didn't represent the genuine feelings of the waiters.

Among undead creatures, vampires were considered to have deeper and richer emotions. They didn't abandon their bodies like undead creatures, but relied upon the strength of blood to maintain their flesh instead. Therefore, relatively speaking, the emotions of vampires were much closer to their souls. However, it was an entirely different matter for the souls of death knights when their corpses were reawakened. Rhode thought that even if Di were to reawaken Elena, she wouldn't have any feelings for him. To vampires, this was as though placing a wax figure of their lover by their side to reminisce old times. But after looking at Elena, Rhode realized that he was wrong. Her gaze toward Di was filled with trust and love. Among undead creatures, this was rarer to find than diamonds.

"Alright, we're your prisoners now, Your Majesty Void Dragon. Honestly, I'm stumped..."

Di forced a smile, stood up, and shook his head helplessly. This time, he suffered a wronged loss. Because no one expected Canary to 'swap' with Mini Bubble Gum in the middle of an intense battle. The reason why Canary abandoned her defenses and focused on casting a legendary spell because at the moment, she had switched her target from Di to Elena. Meanwhile, Mini Bubble Gum gave up battling against the death knight who kept tangling with her and targeted Di instead.

It was actually a simple strategy, but they won by surprising the enemies. The most crucial point was that Canary and Mini Bubble Gum didn't communicate with each other at all, with not even a hand gesture or exchange of gaze. A few moments ago, they fought against their own opponent, but at the very next moment, they switched their targets without any signs, catching Di and Elena off guard. If Canary and Mini Bubble Gum were to have a single interaction, it wouldn't escape the keen eyes of Di and Elena. However, the two young ladies didn't interact from beginning to end, which was why Di and Elena couldn't react to the sudden change in situation in time.

"I'm not as surprised though."

Facing Di's lamentation, Rhode remained calm. Even though there wasn't much difference in levels between both sides, Rhode was confident in Canary and Mini Bubble Gum. In the guild, they were always best partners, especially in PK, where they were most feared by players for their 'double spells combination'. Canary was able to face destruction and death boldly under Mini Bubble Gum's protection, while Mini Bubble Gum was able to beat up the enemy under Canary's cover. Both sides had tacit understanding with each other, so close that they didn't need to communicate to coordinate. Frankly, in terms of experience in joining forces against enemies, Di and Elena couldn't compete against them. After all, Di could cast spells and was half a military adviser. Most of his abilities were already laid out on the table and he couldn't be like players who naturally gained experience through participating in life or death battles. It was due to this reason that Di wasn't aware that after Canary and Mini Bubble Gum became a popular duo, they were basically surrounded by everyone as soon as they entered the arena. They were up against a dozen players and players who were known for being shameless and despicable. In any case, Di and Elena emphasized on 'triad customs' more than players, but players went ahead and fought without mentioning a word. In such harsh environments, if Canary and Mini Bubble Gum were to send signals to each other, they would have been eradicated innumerable times.

"Alright... I'll get to the point now."

Rhode said and turned to the vampire with a forced smile.

"Since both of you are my prisoners now, I shall have an interrogation."

Facing Rhode's words, Di maintained his forced smile, tidied his clothes, and gave a respectful bow.

"As you wish, Your Majesty Void Dragon."

The reason why Di initiated the battle was due to the differences in standpoints and he wasn't willing to get his hands tied and wait to be captured. Now that he had given his all but still lost the battle, it wasn't considered treason anymore. This explained why Di felt relaxed and began to describe his experiences.

After hearing Di's narration, Rhode discovered that the Country of Darkness had changed a lot.

Di was supposed to shine in the war against the Country of Light and become Ion's favorite. However, as Rhode resisted the Country of Darkness's attack in the Land of Atonement, it led to Di being transferred back before he could show his abilities. Even though Di achieved impressive results after receiving orders from Ion later, he wasn't put in an important position. And this time, Di and Elena were transferred back to the Darkness Capital for a strengthening ritual.

As a matter of fact, Di felt odd after hearing about the strengthening ritual. He was a master in transforming spirits, so he naturally knew how rigorous the process of strengthening undead creatures were, and issues would occur easily if there were any mistake. Vampires were a cautious race. Besides, with Di's love for Elena, he wasn't willing to risk losing her. After analyzing the strengthened low-level units, Di realized some problems that left him anxious and worried. But back then, Di had no other choice. After all, the Country of Darkness was a strict, hierarchical country. One could only accept orders from higher-ups without question.

For some unknown reasons, the Darkness Capital suddenly activated the Dark Curtain and the entire city was in lockdown. Fortunately, Di wasn't caught in it. He decisively found an excuse to bring Elena and some strengthened units, sneaked into the army in the front lines, and slipped away thereafter. Di initially decided to find a place to settle down and investigate the mysterious strengthening process before making other decisions. But now...

"I see..."

Rhode pondered for a few moments and nodded. If the Darkness Capital had activated this ultimate defensive mechanism, it was no longer surprising that he couldn't sense or summon Angelina. The enchanted field enfolding the Darkness Capital was indeed tough to crack. Back then, Rhode and other players spent months and couldn't break it apart. Since the Dark Curtain was activated, it proved that something was definitely wrong in the Darkness Capital...

"Do you know exactly when it happened?"

"Apologies, Your Majesty Void Dragon, I'm not too sure about that. But half a month ago, communications from the Darkness Capital were cut off completely."

"Half a month ago, huh..."

Rhode pondered. If he recalled correctly, it was also about half a month ago when he and Erin returned to the Dragon Soul Continent. And now, the Darkness Capital activated the Dark Curtain half a month ago...

Seems like Erin is in huge trouble.

Chapter 1199: Awakening

Recruiting the prisoners of Di and Elena came as a surprise for Rhode. It was especially rewarding to have Di by his side. As an undead creature, Di's research on strengthened undead creatures was relatively helpful for Rhode. One had to understand the enemy in order to defeat the enemy. The Country of Darkness wasn't the prime target for Rhode, but the lurking Chaos was instead. If he could use Di's ability to find ways to curb Chaos, it couldn't get any better.

After taking in both of them, Rhode immediately shifted his attention to their original target, which was the pyramid structure before him. But after taking a closer look at it, he couldn't help but feel taken aback. The entire structure had been sealed off completely. A heavy stone door blocked the way into the passageway, while surrounding ventilation windows were also plugged. Rhode shifted his gaze to Di and upon detecting his stare, the vampire forced a smile.

"I can't do anything about it even if you stare at me, Your Majesty Void Dragon. This isn't our territory, after all. As a matter of fact, we are also trespassing as uninvited guests..."

"Leave it to me, Leader! Watch me crush it open———!"

Before Rhode replied, Mini Bubble Gum clenched her tiny fist and dashed ahead. A holy, white brilliance emanated from her fist, charging up massive energy. In a loud bang, Mini Bubble Gum smashed her fist onto the stone door. But at the next moment, what presented itself before everyone wasn't the scene of the heavy stone door being crushed to bits. Instead, the young lady knelt on the ground, shivering as she clutched her fist with her other hand.

'Argh... it hurts so bad..."

Mini Bubble Gum blushed in embarrassment. If it weren't for the fact that Rhode stood beside her, perhaps she would have cried in pain already. Mini Bubble Gum thought she could shatter the stone door effortlessly, but as soon as her fist came into contact with it, she was stumped to realize that her strength vanished all of a sudden. Be it the coalesced holy power or spiritual spell that she cast on herself, they dissipated thoroughly. Upon detecting this strange phenomenon, it was too late for her to stop...

It was imaginable how painful it was for Mini Bubble Gum, who punched the stone door with all her strength.

"Argh... damn it... why did that happen..."

Mini Bubble Gum gnashed her teeth, stared at her left, swollen fist with tears welled up in her eyes, and barely swung it around. Shortly after, a gentle light descended from above, shrouding the little fellow and healing the sore fist immediately. Mini Bubble Gum stood to her feet and glared at the stone door as though it were her father's murderer.

機械OP・重機OP[静岡県]株式会社イカイコントラクト - 派遣社員/神案件登場!入社祝金30万円×時給1600円～×月収35万円!なのに月の半分はお休み♪即日入寮OK♪

"This damn door is just... Damn it! Argh...!"

Mini Bubble Gum snarled and thrust her foot at the stone door. But at the next moment, she winced, hugged her right leg, and hopped about in torment. One had to admit that this little fellow was completely out of luck. Upon witnessing her plight, Canary hurried over to her side and consoled her softly. Rhode shook his head helplessly at this comical scene. Then, he shifted his gaze to the stone door with equal curiosity. Judging from its appearance, it didn't seem any different from ordinary stone doors and there also wasn't any mysterious aura exuding from it. Despite that, it nullified Mini Bubble Gum's spiritual spells, which was truly puzzling...

"Let me do it, Big Brother. It can't be opened that easily."

At that moment, his younger sister who stood quietly at the side extended her arm and stroked Mini Bubble Gum's hair. Then, she displayed a gentle smile, sauntering to the stone door. She looked ahead with a gentle gaze and raised the battle ax in her hand.

"———!"

A bright, blue radiance emanated from the battle ax. Along with the emergence of the blue light, the mausoleum trembled as though were resonating with it. Shortly after, a symbol resembling a pair of large dragon wings lit up in the same color, right in the middle of the stone door. The shining brilliance from both sides increased continuously. Looking at this incredible scene, Di and Elena widened their eyes in astonishment. When they first arrived at the mausoleum, they had also investigated the area. But what surprised them was that even though this was a mausoleum, there weren't any buried corpses. Not only that, but the protector of this mausoleum also wasn't aware of what exactly was hidden here. And now, this young lady who looked exactly the same as the Void Dragon seemed to be well aware of the situation.

But come to think of it, when did His Majesty Void Dragon have another younger sister?

Rumble...

As the flickering brilliances fused into one, the sealed stone door opened gradually, presenting a hidden passageway to everyone. At this moment, his younger sister lay down the battle ax, lifted her head, and gazed forward in a complicated expression. She blinked, turned around, and smiled at Rhode.

"Let's go, Big Brother. I can feel it."

The mausoleum was spacious, cold, and cheerless. Unlike ordinary mausoleums, the surrounding walls here were neither engraved in intricate patterns nor written in texts that recorded and sang the praises of the buried. Apart from the chilly, spiritual torch flames lined across both sides of the walls, there was nothing else. The group entered the stone door, following the young lady's lead. No one spoke a word, except for Mini Bubble Gum who curled her lips and muttered to herself while staying beside Canary. It was apparent that Mini Bubble Gum was displeased with this mausoleum. If it weren't for the fact that she would be stopped, perhaps she would have burned down this damn place already.

The inside of the mausoleum looked simple without messy turns and corners. After passing through a narrow corridor, the group arrived at a spacious hall. Judging from the angled walls, it was obvious that this was the inside of the pyramid mausoleum. But come to think of it, the structure of this building couldn't be simpler. It was almost the same as a toy made up of building blocks.

"Who are you?"

Just as Rhode sized up the empty space curiously, he heard a voice. Shortly after, everyone witnessed a dark elf wrapped in a white robe, sauntering out from the other end. She gazed at the group calmly. Her eyes were filled with unconcealable confusion.

Margaery was puzzled because no one should be able to enter the mausoleum after she sealed it off. This was also why she was able to remain seated and read a book as the group attempted to open the stone door. Even though the mausoleum seemed really simple and quaint, its most unique feature was its ability to defend against all damage. Be it spiritual or magical spells, none of them would work. Once the mausoleum was sealed off, no matter how monstrous one's strength was, one could forget about causing any damage. But to her great surprise, someone actually unlocked the seal and entered the mausoleum. Margaery sized up the uninvited guests before shifting her gaze to the young lady who stood at the forefront.

"Excuse me, may I know who you are? And why are you here?"

Sizing up the crowd, Margaery asked. Upon hearing her question, Rhode and his younger sister exchanged looks with each other and the latter stepped forth with a gentle smile.

"Are you the current protector of the mausoleum?"

"Ah... Yes. I am Margaery Tyr."

Even though Margaery didn't know why the young lady asked this question, she answered respectfully. For some unknown reason, the young lady was obviously younger than Margaery, but the latter felt an overwhelming pressure from her that forced her to respond. Upon hearing Margaery's answer, the younger sister shut her eyes, wondered in silence, and nodded slightly.

"It has been tough on you, Miss Protector. And now, your duties have officially come to an end... I shall retrieve the item that has been hibernating for a long time. The time to release all the shackles has arrived."

The young lady said, raising the battle ax high as it emanated a blue brilliance.

"———!"

Just like before, the same blue radiance shone as though resonating with her action. But what surprised everyone was that the brilliance wasn't limited to only one spot. On the contrary, the entire ceiling, floor, and columns at the sides flickered in the blue radiance. The young lady lifted her head and gazed at the ceiling.

"Awake, my protector..."

Swish———!

As the young lady mumbled to herself, the blue radiance of the room coalesced and gathered behind her abruptly. The light extended, metamorphosing into a pair of enormous dragon wings on her back, expanding magnificently n midair. Then, the glittering light dispersed and the expanded dragon wings folded together, revealing its true appearance.

Chapter 1200: Sudden Emergence of a Formidable Foe

As the dragon wings disappeared, the young lady's costume restored its original appearance—a gorgeous and elegant battle costume. The battle costume looked like a sophisticated evening gown. The bracers on her wrists flickered in a silver radiance and the silver accessories around the collar made her seem accomplished and experienced. The long dress almost touched the floor, its hem accentuated with gold silk and silver threads, emanating a dazzling magical radiance. What was more eye-catching was the glittering light dust floating above it. Matched with this dark, flowing long dress, the young lady was as though standing on a heavenly river and looking into the distance. Even though the battle costume was beautiful, it looked unseemly, matching the huge murder weapon of almost two meters long.

"How's this, Big Brother? Does it look nice on me?"

Gazing at the dress that accented her figure, his younger sister spun around, lifted the hem of her skirt, and shot a witty look at Rhode. Upon seeing her gaze, he nodded in agreement. Even though the costume didn't match the menacing battle ax in her hands, it did suit her perfectly if he disregarded the huge battle ax. But the only issue now was exactly what sort of power this costume possessed. Rhode couldn't help but consider whether he should borrow the costume from her and check its attributes. After all, he had knelt in admiration after looking at the stats of the battle ax. He was highly suspicious that he might lay flat on the ground this time after seeing the stats of this battle costume...

Shortly after, Rhode didn't need to stress over it anymore because he heard Celia's voice from their spiritual communication.

"Reporting, Master. We've been ambushed!"

***

"Ambush!"

"Enemies are attacking from the right! Madam, what should we do?!"

An earth-shattering barrage of artillery filled the sky. Gaya stood on the bridge and observed the battlefield ahead. A few moments ago, the floating magic warships she led faced an ambush from the ghost fleet. She was stunned as the ghost fleet appeared out of nowhere, where even the sensory crystal from the Munn Kingdom failed to detect their arrival. If it weren't for the enchanted field of the Holy Maiden Statue that was triggered, perhaps they would have faced an imminent catastrophe after they finally realized the infiltration of enemies.

When did the ghost fleet become so competent in concealing themselves so well?

Gaya couldn't help but knit her brows. She pondered deeply. Even though the ghost fleet was widely known for their powerful concealment, it was due to this reason that the floating magic warships in the Munn Kingdom focused a lot in countering this aspect. Logically speaking, the ghost fleet could never pass through the cordon of the floating magic warships without being discovered. But this time, they actually succeeded.

Could it be that the ghost fleet has something that helped them sneak in?

No. Now isn't the time to consider this question!

"All warships, hear my orders. Attack formation—onward assault!"

"Huh? Are we really going to attack them, Madam?"

Upon hearing the command, the battle angel steering the ship was startled. She couldn't help but turn around and gaze at Gaya as the latter nodded swiftly.

"That's right. The enemies were prepared to catch us off guard. If we choose to retreat now, based on our speed, we will be shot down before we turn around successfully. I will never do something so stupid. Pass down the order—all warships engage in attack formation. Target: Ahead. Everyone, get ready to attack. Activate the defensive shield and ready the cannons. After we break through the encirclement, turn in the anticlockwise direction and move toward the rear!"

In quantity, even though there were more floating magic warships from the Munn Kingdom than there were in the ghost fleet, Gaya didn't underestimate the enemies. It was apparent that the enemies decided to focus on one breakthrough point, which was why Gaya chose to retaliate in a similar style to have a high chance of succeeding. But if she were to launch a counterattack naively based on the larger number of warships on her side, it would be an entirely different matter.

The bugle sounded. A holy brilliance shone and coalesced into a sturdy barrier that enveloped the floating magic warships. Fortunately, Gaya's reaction was quick enough. Apart from the dozen floating magic warships on the periphery being surrounded and sustaining different extents of damage, the rest on the inside was mostly fine. At that moment, under Gaya's command, the Munn Kingdom's warships gathered together and burst ahead like a razor-sharp blade.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless flares erupted along with explosions on the defensive barrier, causing the warships to tremble and rumble. However, no one backed off. They continued to charge into the sea of the ghost fleet, taking on the artillery barrage. One had to admit that this move from Gaya was indeed effective. She chose to attack head-on and this decision decreased the amount of damage taken by the warships. On the other hand, in order for the ghost fleet to deal the highest damage to the Munn Kingdom's warships, they were basically positioned sideways from where their attacks were launched. Therefore, when Gaya grouped up the warships and advanced, the ghost fleet couldn't resist their breakthrough. Even though the ghost fleet tried to change their direction and continued to launch attacks from the sides of their hulls, Gaya wasn't foolish either. How could she possibly give them that chance?!

"Continue to advance. Fire all cannons. Target: enemy warships ahead. Fire!!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A string of flashes erupted in the sky ahead. Facing this retaliation from the Munn Kingdom's warships, the ghost fleet reacted correspondingly. Their hulls flickered in a spiritual radiance before turning indistinct and transparent, swiftly and merging into one with the fog. Then, most of the artillery barrage from the Munn Kingdom passed through the ghost fleet, blasting at the empty sky in the distance.

Spiritual form!

This was one of the strongest skills of the Country of Darkness's ghost fleet, and they relied upon this to become the dominator of this night sky. But now, this was also the chance that Gaya was waiting for!

"Continue to fire the cannons. All warships, heed my command. Move at top speed! Attack!"

Along with the whizzing cannon blasts, the warships penetrated the illusory ghost fleet mercilessly and turned anticlockwise swiftly. The ghost fleet didn't expect the enemies to seize this opportunity to pass through their blockade line and couldn't help but fluster in an instant. Even though the ghost fleet wanted to launch attacks on the warships ahead, the biggest flaw of their spiritual form was that they couldn't materialize when objects were passing through them. If not, the objects might split them apart entirely. In this case, if the ghost fleet were to materialize at that moment, the Munn Kingdom's warships inside them would surely tear them apart and they would collapse thoroughly.

"This group of damn bast*rds! Worthless!"

Gazing at the Munn Kingdom's warships that were breaking through his defensive line, Rolan gnashed his teeth tightly. He gripped his smoking pipe with his hand and tapped on the armrest anxiously. Rolan thought he could split up the ghost fleet's formation and launch a pincer attack as soon as the enemies ambushed. But he was surprised that the enemies were so determined in their assault. Before the ghost fleet was able to separate themselves, the enemies had already arrived before them. If Rolan decided to put up a tough fight by sacrificing a few of his warships, it wasn't impossible to stop the opposition. But the problem was that the ghost fleet was too skillful in the spiritual form, so they turned into spiritual form instantly at the sight of the pouncing enemies. In the end, this allowed the Munn Kingdom's warships to puncture them instead.

"Trash! Nothing but a pile of worthless trash!"

Rolan was also aware that this wasn't the fault of his subordinates. After all, turning into spiritual form was kind of like an instinctive reaction for the ghost fleet. However, what made him blow his top was that these guys acted so quickly, but on the wrong occasion... If their ambush earlier was this fast, perhaps they would have already taken down several Munn Kingdom warships!

These bast*rds! When it comes to surviving, they act quicker than anyone!

At this thought, Rolan let out a sigh. But this didn't mean that he was out of ideas. Apart from turning into a spiritual form, the ghost fleet also had another unique skill—teleportation. They could traverse in the death fog freely and launch attacks at the same time. But despite that, the Munn Kingdom also had a trick up their sleeves. The aura protection of the Holy Maiden Statue eradicated the surrounding death fog, so the ghost fleet was unable to roam within the death fog. Facing this situation, Rolan let out another sigh. He turned around and bowed respectfully to the pitch-black figure behind him.

"I'm seeking your help, Sir."

"All warships turn in the anticlockwise direction. Target: ghost fleet. Contain their firepower and retreat at full speed!"

At that moment, standing on the flagship, Gaya gazed solemnly at the ghost fleet and gave a quick command. Even though it was effortless for them to penetrate the ghost fleet, this raised her guard even more. Based on her understanding on the ghost fleet, if the ghost fleet didn't have any strategy and relied upon terrible skills to enter a contest against the floating magic warships, the ghost fleet would be basically throwing their lives away. However, since the ghost fleet had ambushed her, she was certain that there was something they could count on and wouldn't be as useless as they were right now. Due to that reason, Gaya chose to retreat instantly after breaking through the encirclement. It wasn't that she was timid, but that something was definitely unusual. As the Munn Kingdom's warships were in charge of the front lines while Rhode's magic fleet were responsible for the rear, Gaya's top priority was to withdraw the warships back to the defensive range of the magic fleet in the rear and figure out—in safety—what exactly was going on with the ghost fleet!

At that moment, the situation took a sudden turn.

"Madam, something strange is happening!"

"What?!"

Gaya was startled. She looked out of the window hurriedly and twitched her brow upon witnessing the vast white fog turning into a scarlet hue! She felt like the situation was far from good. She had never seen the ghost fleet's death fog turn scarlet all of a sudden.

Gaya raised her guard and ordered swiftly.

"Everyone, retreat at the fastest speed! Activate all defens—!"

Boom!

Before Gaya completed her command, her warship rocked heavily to the side as though it were hit by something. Not only that, but the speed of the warship also decreased drastically. This bewildered Gaya immediately. She knitted her brows and scanned the surroundings.

What exactly is going on?

At this thought, Gaya shook her head and remained silent. She knew the red fog was a strange phenomenon. But now, she didn't have the time to ponder it any longer. As long as her warships separated themselves from the death fog and returned to the safety of the magic fleet, it would be her victory. But this apparently wasn't as simple as she had imagined. She didn't know what strategy the enemies deployed that reduced the speed of her warships by two-thirds. It was so slow that it felt like they were dragging their feet in mud.

At that moment, she heard another loud, sudden explosion.

Boom!

"Reporting Madam, three of our warships are destroyed!"

"What?!"

Gaya was flabbergasted. She looked at the direction of the explosion and turned grim.

A pitch-black figure was hovering where the three destroyed warships were. Even though she couldn't identify who that person in the red fog was, she sensed a powerful, surging energy!

"Damn it!"

Looking at this scene, Gaya gnashed her teeth and ordered swiftly.

"Fire the signal immediately! Request for backup!"

Chapter 1201: A New Enemy

Gaya hesitated no more. She saw how powerful and formidable this enemy was, to be able to bombard three magic warships alone. And now, she had no other choice and could only withdraw most magic warships back to the rear and it would be considered her victory!

"———!"

Shortly after, the dazzling, golden signaling beam shot up from the flagship, capturing the attention of that mysterious enemy. Meanwhile, the surrounding red fog surged and gathered toward the flagship. Looking at this scene, Gaya turned grim. She held the harp in her hands and strummed the strings.

Clang———!

Along with a crisp and melodious note, the invisible sound waves proliferated. As soon as one heard the loud explosions, the coalesced red fog ruptured and dispersed in all directions. Gaya continued to strum the strings and in an instant, a string of harmonious notes formed a sweet-sounding melody that reverberated in the death fog, deafening the surrounding artillery barrages and explosions. It was as though a gamer turning the background music to the loudest while setting the sound-effects to the lowest. The beautiful tune of the harp sounded calm and peaceful, and it definitely wasn't something that should be echoing in a battlefield. It also felt as though a mother embracing and singing a lullaby for her child. In an instant, even the entire world seemed to have quietened. The floating magic warships also gradually lost their voice and the dead spirits also seemingly sank into deep, eternal sleep.

However, Gaya's expression didn't change at all. She put up a stern look while strumming the harp strings, staring at the pitch-black figure ahead. Under the lead of the flagship, the magic warships advanced gradually. Even though most of the surrounding red fog had been dispersed by Gaya, the powerful energy wasn't embedded in them, after all, which was why the speed of the magic warships couldn't increase too much. But now, Gaya couldn't care less about that. It would be good enough as long as she left this area. From her perspective, the mysterious figure also fell into silence gradually as though it had sunken into deep sleep.

Everything lost its original color. The magic warships turned anticlockwise steadily and retreated to the rear. Based on this speed, they would need at least five minutes to escape into the safety range of the magic fleet.

As long as they hung on...

But it was a pity that sometimes things weren't meant to be.

Suddenly, the pitch-black being who stood still shuddered. It raised its head and let out a sharp, hoarse, and unbearable shriek that diffused and punctured Gaya's melody. It sounded as though an obvious, wrong note were played in a wonderful melody. Along with the ear-piercing sound, the entire world shook.

"Oh no!"

Upon hearing the deafening screech, Gaya was instantly startled as she continued to strum the harp strings. However, she repositioned her hand and its motion suddenly became quicker. The hypnotic music earlier turned into a battle movement as though there was an actual, magnificent army with thousands of men and horses charging ahead. The violent and cruel force accompanied by a strong, intense music blasted the pitch-black being. This time, Gaya went all out. She clearly knew that one who was capable of waking up from her melody was definitely stronger than her. Gaya's rule was 'sound'. The tune of her harp was the best proof of killing without spilling blood. As a matter of fact, if one weren't strong enough, one would be infatuated by the tune and act accordingly to the specific effects. If it were a battle movement, one would be jumping up and down in excitement like a drug-addict. But if it were dance music, one would jump to one's death as though one were cursed. If it were a lullaby, one would sink into deep sleep. But no matter what genre of music it was, there was only one consequence.

One could never stop until one was dead.

But since the enemy was able to break free from her melody, it was enough to prove that its manipulation of rules was far better than hers! But in the Country of Darkness, no one like that existed. Gaya was second to Lydia in the entire Munn Kingdom. The fact that the enemy broke free from her restraint took Gaya by surprise.

Along with Gaya's hand motion, the invisible sound waves materialized into an energy torrent that gushed and devoured the pitch-black figure. The pitch-black figure twisted and deformed under the tearing of the sound waves. But at the next moment, it extended its right arm all of a sudden and gripped the air.

———Clang!

In an ear-piercing vibrato, the harp melody stopped abruptly. Gaya took two steps back palely. Her fair, slender finger was dripping in blood. But she gnashed her teeth and continued to place her hand on the harp strings.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

An array of notes erupted. This time, Gaya couldn't care less about the tune, but used her 'sound' rule to attack instead. Along with the movement of her fingers, waves of sound materialized into enormous blades dozens of meters long, striking at the pitch-black figure and shredding the death fog. Facing this attack from Gaya, the pitch-black figure didn't evade at all. Instead, Gaya witnessed the pitch-black figure raising and swinging its right arm in midair. Then, the surrounding red fog devoured the sound blades silently.

But this was enough for Gaya because her magic warships had successfully broken away from the death fog!

"Everyone, retreat right away!"

After releasing another string of sound blades at the pitch-black figure, Gaya commanded immediately. Shortly after, the Munn Kingdom's warships withdrew swiftly. After leaving the mystical sea of red fog and gaining the support of the strong gales, the warships regained their original speed. At that moment, the pitch-black figure finally detected the source of the problem. He let out another ear-deafening shriek and pounced on the warships.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Even though the magic warships had already activated the defensive barrier, the pitch-black figure was stronger than Gaya had imagined. It passed through the defensive barrier and attacked the warships once again. Even though the battle angels attempted to resist it, after two to three continuous explosions, another two magic warships were destroyed.

"It is strong, but why does it feel like it isn't that smart in the head?"

Gazing at the sight of her crashing warships, Gaya wasn't in distress. Instead, she looked strangely at the pitch-black figure. She thought it would find trouble with her directly. After all, it was obvious to anyone that she was the main culprit who stopped it. But instead of laying hands on her, it chose to attack the last two magic warships? What was the meaning of that? The two magic warships were used as bait to lure enemy attacks for safety's sake. And now, the enemy actually took the bait?

Even though the pitch-black figure was formidable, this slight delay allowed the remaining magic warships to leave the sea of red fog and retreat to the rear. The battle angels onboard the two warships didn't fight against the pitch-black enemy, but left the battlefield swiftly instead.

But at that moment, there was a sudden change in situation.

"Ahhhhhh!"

All of a sudden, a fierce, raging bellow reverberated as though the enemy just realized that it was duped. Then, Gaya witnessed the pitch-black figure dashing toward her nimbly. The battle angels ahead tried to stop it, but as soon as the enemy swung its right arm, in a series of blood-curdling screams, several battle angels spurted blood from their wounds as they flew away upon impact. Looking at this scene, Gaya grimaced.

"Everyone, continue to head to the rear. I will stop the enemy!"

Even though the enemy didn't seem bright, its strength was overly powerful. With its overwhelming speed, perhaps more than half of the warships would be destroyed before they got to safety. Gaya hurried out of the bridge and flitted across as she sprinted toward the pitch-black figure. She strummed the harp strings and along with a string of notes, the sound waves shot ahead like razor-sharp blades. But just like before, these sound waves that Gaya had unleashed all her strength in releasing were completely resisted by the red fog. But even so, she succeeded in garnering its attention.

"It's you———!"

Along with a snarl, the pitch-black figure pounced on Gaya abruptly. At this moment, Gaya finally witnessed its true identity.

It was a female vampire who wore a scarlet robe unique to vampires. Her pale, long hair fluttered in the winds. Gaya was certain that she had never seen this vampire before. But the dense, blood aura of death exuding from the vampire startled the black-haired young lady. Gaya had met one of the four legendary generals, the Blood Countess, Ashvril, in the past, but not even Ashvril was as mysterious and formidable as this vampire!

"———!"

Without any hesitation, Gaya strummed the harp strings again before quickly dodging to the side. Her goal now was to capture the attention of this vampire and ensure that the magic warships retreated safely to the rear. Meanwhile, she had to look for opportunities to escape or the situation would be tough if the vampire caught up with her.

But after battling this vampire head-on, Gaya discovered just how powerful she was.

The faint, red fog shrouded the vampire's body and no matter what attacks Gaya unleashed, they were all useless. Even as Gaya released sound blades again and again, they were devoured by the red fog completely. The vampire was also moving at an incredible speed. If it weren't for the 'sound' rule that Gaya possessed where she could move at the speed of sound, perhaps she would have been defeated by the enemy by now.

"Ahhhhhh!"

After continuously missing her attacks on the black-haired young lady, the enraged vampire let out a fuming bellow and glared at Gaya. At the same time, Gaya witnessed her surroundings turning into a red hue. Not only that, but an unknown and powerful force also diffused across the air from nowhere, hauling Gaya's body as though a monster attempting to devour and digest her.

Argh. This is...

Looking at this scene, the young lady was baffled. She raised her harp before her hurriedly, but it was all too late.

Gaya felt an immense pain in her heart and lowered her gaze.

A pale, shriveled palm had extended and clenched her heart.

Chapter 1202: Falling Stars

"Argh..."

A fuzzy world of red enfolded Gaya's vision. But despite that, the young lady gaped and revealed a sinister, twisted smile.

"You want to kill me?"

She stared at the pumping heart in the enemy's hand and spoke in a calm tone as though it weren't her chest that was punctured and heart that was seized. Then, Gaya raised her harp high up and bellowed.

"Other than Lydia, no one is allowed to kill me!"

Along with this snarl, Gaya strummed the harp strings strongly. This time, along with her action, all the strings snapped! At the same time, with Gaya as the center, the world within a range of several hundred miles rumbled.

What's happening?!

Rhode gazed at his surroundings in bewilderment. He also witnessed the strange looks on everyone's faces. Mini Bubble Gum widened her mouth, but he couldn't hear a single sound from her. A few moments ago, he felt an unknown vibration and then, he couldn't hear a single sound, be it wind, voices, or screams. Even after he tried communicating with others using spiritual communications, he didn't receive any response. Not only that, but he also felt like something went wrong. At that moment, he saw his younger sister knitting her brows and raising her right arm. Then, a dark enchanted field flickering in starlight unleashed abruptly, shrouding everyone within. At that moment, the lost voices returned to this world.

"What's going on? What happened just now? Is there a bug in the server?"

Mini Bubble Gum shook her head, turned around, and said. Meanwhile, Canary also widened her eyes and looked around her in shock. Both of them had never faced such a situation before. But Rhode seemed to figure out something and his heart sank. He turned to his younger sister and upon detecting his gaze, her younger sister let out a sigh and spoke.

"... Just now, the rule of 'sound' was shattered."

"..."

Everyone went silent. All of them were formidable beings in the Legendary Stage, so they knew what this meant. The shattering of rules meant the destruction of the rule holder. The situation was just like in the game, where due to Lydia's death, the 'sun' rule of the entire Light Mainland was nullified, so the sun was nowhere in sight. The Light Mainland became so dark that not even a shadow was seen. It took a long time for the dragon soul protection to repair itself. Then, it was worse after the Dark Dragon devoured the Light Dragon. The entire continent lost the 'light' rule and became pitch black. Not only that, but if one didn't use any skill, equipment, or flame torch, one also couldn't see anything within two meters. It was a world without light, which was why many players escaped to the Country of Law after the Light Dragon's soul protection collapsed because they were able to at least see something normally there!

Of course, when Rhode annihilated the Dark Dragon, the 'dark' rule also crumbled. But these were only benefits reaped by the players—they didn't need to light up places at night. On the other hand, Erin's death didn't affect them too much because the 'dark' rule hadn't repaired itself, so the 'moon' rule naturally had to wait in the queue...

Of course, not all deaths of legendary beings would cause rules to collapse because only those who fused deep enough with the rules would cause such influence. Besides, this had nothing to do with their level of strength and was based more on individuals. Some beings were formidable, but the rate of fusion wasn't as high. But even though some beings weren't as powerful, the rate of fusion with rules was extremely high. Of course, there was no such 'honor' for players. Taking Mini Bubble Gum and Canary, for instance; even if they had obtained the Supreme Privilege, their deaths wouldn't cause the holiness, wind, and flame attributes to turn ineffective. After all, players were a group of people who died most often in the game. If a player with a high rate of fusion with a rule were to die over a hundred times, wouldn't the entire continent be in a hectic mess?

But now, someone who grasped a rule power had fallen. Who was it?

"Rhode, I have a bad feeling..."

"Me too."

Upon hearing Canary's words, Rhode nodded in agreement. It wasn't just a bad feeling, but a really terrible one. Because in his memories, there was only one person who owned the 'sound' rule in the Dragon Soul Continent. Rhode hesitated no more and gave a command.

"Retreat immediately!"

Even though Rhode hoped that his guess was wrong, when he led the rest back to the front line at all costs and witnessed the silent Celia and pale Lydia, his heart sank to the bottom. And after witnessing Gaya, who lay on the bed lifelessly, he fell into silence and was at a complete loss. Everything exceeded his expectation. He was well aware of Gaya's strength. Even though she wasn't as powerful as Lydia in terms of rules, she could still fight to a standstill with Lydia in terms of strength. If the setting of 'being invincible under the sun' for Lydia were removed, it would be hard to determine whether Gaya or Lydia would win in a battle. But now, Gaya was actually dead?

"What exactly is going on?"

Rhode gazed at Celia and Lydia, who watched over Gaya. Lize, Marlene, and Lapis were also present, but they were mostly responsible for the preparations of ground attacks. The floating magic warships specialized in air attacks, so Rhode appointed Gaya, Lydia, and Celia to lead. He initially thought that with so many of them around, there shouldn't be any grave accidents. But in the end, something still happened and it was also disastrous...

Fortunately, it wasn't Marlene who died, or magic of the entire continent would crumble altogether and the situation would be worse (though considering that, Marlene was his summoning spirit and wouldn't die that easily). At that moment, everyone's morale was at rock-bottom. Although the relationship between Gaya and them wasn't considered really close, they were still companions who met one another everyday. Not that she was suddenly gone, no one was prepared to face this truth. Facing Rhode's question, Lydia let out a soft sigh and narrated the scenario to him.

As a matter of fact, after Gaya sent out a SOS, Lydia realized immediately that something was wrong. She hurried toward the magic warships where Gaya was located, but the former was too late. When Lydia arrived, she witnessed Gaya raising her hand and snapping the harp strings abruptly. It was at that moment when the entire world went devoid of sound. The ground several hundred miles away, with Gaya in the middle, rumbled. Shapeless sound waves shattered everything in their path, leaving behind a massive, bottomless pit on the surface. Gaya also disintegrated. The pitiful enemy she was up against was blasted away to several hundred meters away by the sound waves, suffering grave injuries, but still managing to sneak away. Even though Lydia wanted to give chase, Gaya's body was reconstructed at that moment and diving to ground. Lydia had no choice but to give up the chase and rescue Gaya instead.

"Why can't we resurrect her?"

Rhode puckered his brows and gazed at Gaya. It was apparent that she was already dead. But she should be able to be resurrected. Even if an ordinary resurrection spell didn't work on Gaya, couldn't Lydia resurrect her? This wasn't logical at all! There should be no restriction on resurrection in the Dragon Soul Continent. Or were there some other issues?

"I used the great resurrection spell, but there is no response from her."

Lydia was in a dreadful mood. Gaya was her closest friend, but Lydia could only watch helplessly as she died. If it were in the past, Lydia would be able to accept the truth. But now, there was clearly the existence of resurrection spells and yet, she couldn't make her closest friend open her eyes again. This was totally unacceptable for Lydia.

"Bubble, give it a shot."

Rhode held his forehead and let out a sigh. It was total chaos out there. Due to Gaya's death, the 'sound' rule of the entire continent had shattered and no one could hear a thing now. The reason why Rhode and the rest could still communicate was due to the enchanted field that he and his younger sister activated. The Void Dragon's unique trait was space creation and that allowed them to temporarily replace 'sound' with their rule. But this wasn't a solution for the long term. For each day that Gaya was dead, Rhode's group would be seeing raised banners in protest. This was worse than in the game because game masters could still make announcements to all players of the happenings.

"Alright, leave it to me, Leader."

Upon hearing Rhode's words, Mini Bubble Gum nodded, approached Gaya, and swung her right arm. Shortly after, along with Mini Bubble Gum's action, a light column descended from heaven and enveloped Gaya. Then, it disappeared shortly after and Gaya remained motionless.

Looking at this helpless scene, Lydia let out another sigh. She tried a few times earlier, but failed to succeed too. And now, after witnessing the ineffectiveness of Mini Bubble Gum's great resurrection spell, Lydia fell into deeper despair and sorrow. However, Rhode's expression didn't change at all. Instead, he scanned Gaya's corpse and turned to Mini Bubble Gum.

"What's the system prompt?"

"Soul missing. Unable to be resurrected."

Mini Bubble Gum didn't seem too mindful as she shrugged. Upon hearing the system prompt, Rhode and Canary didn't reveal any sorrow on their faces, but showed a relieved expression instead.

"I see... That's not too bad..."

"Not too bad?"

Lydia's eyes glinted with hope. She lifted her head and gazed at Rhode.

"Your Majesty Rhode, have you figured out something?"

"Yes."

Facing Lydia's question, Rhode nodded firmly.

"I figured out the reason why we can't resurrect Gaya."

Chapter 1203: Chaos Lord

Perhaps this scene before Lydia and the rest was unbelievable. But for veterans in the game like Rhode and Canary, this wasn't surprising at all. In the late stages of the game, players occasionally met similar instances. As for the reason why it was occasional for them, it had to depend on luck. If one's luck was down, one would face some troublesome characters. One must have forgotten to burn incense or help an old lady cross the road, which explained the bad luck.

And the troublesome character in this situation was referring to the Chaos Lord.

That started in the later stages of the game, specifically after Rhode eliminated the Dark Dragon. Thereafter, the Order of the entire continent crumbled, allowing Chaos to infiltrate and thus begin the phase where players occupied territories and built guild countries. Due to the mass invasion of Chaos, players faced innumerable mysterious Chaos Beings during the expansion of their land. As Chaos wasn't characterized by any rules, in many instances, players had no choice but to name them uniquely to prevent confusion. For example, some Chaos Beings were called 'weak xxx' or 'strong xxx'. But the issue was that these labels were irregular and weren't based on subjective conclusions for being 'weak' or 'strong'. For instance, some Chaos Beings were compared to formidable, boss-level Chaos cores and considered 'weak', while some were compared to goblins and considered 'strong'. From the beginning, players didn't figure this out entirely and discovered that those creatures labeled as 'weak' had millions of health points, where they were harder to defeat than an actual BOSS. On the other hand, those creatures labeled as 'strong' collapsed in a few attacks and didn't even drop any valuable equipment, which was utterly ridiculous... Therefore, after being tormented by the inaccurate labeling of Chaos Beings, players had no choice but to use their own ways to distinguish them. For instance, Chaos Lord was a title they gave to some formidable BOSSes, in comparison to Devil Lord and Demon Lord, because they were similar in strength. This was much easier to understand than the so-called 'weak xxx'! Apart from misleading and deceiving players, these inaccurate labels had no purpose at all!

These deceptive labels and hidden health points of Chaos Lords weren't the most crucial issue to players. The main problem was that once players got into a battle with a Chaos Lord, dead players couldn't automatically be resurrected in battle or by resurrection spells. When one player waited to be revived in battle automatically or relied upon healers to use resurrection spells, one would receive a system prompt—[Soul missing. Unable to be resurrected.]

In that case, that player had only two choices: one, the player could resurrect in the birthplace of his soul where the guardian angel was. The player would also lose some gold coins and equipment tolerance and remain in a state of weakness for several days. Two, the player could find stronger players to annihilate the Chaos Lord. After the Chaos Lord was slaughtered, that player would receive a system prompt stating [The restrained soul has returned to the body] and the player could be revived using resurrection spells.

This trait of Chaos Lords was why players hated its existence. Due to this trait, once a party was defeated, that party could only lay and wait for others to annihilate the Chaos Lord; they could either lose gold coins and equipment tolerance or return home. It could also be said that in the later stages of the game, Chaos Lords were the most hated and annoying enemies. Moreover, their spawn locations were unfixed and they could appear anywhere from starting towns to BOSS areas. Players just couldn't figure out its spawn pattern, where some parties even arrived in a land of Chaos and couldn't find any Chaos Lord. Meanwhile, some parties left the border of Order and faced two to three Chaos Lords and were wiped out immediately. It was simply intolerable...

But despite that, Rhode's Starlight loved these Chaos Lords because Starlight was the only guild that slaughtered their way through everything no matter what the enemies were. This led to many guilds and parties seeking help from Rhode instantly upon being annihilated by a Chaos Lord. Of course, Rhode was unwilling to pass on his responsibilities to others for helping allies and charged a fee by schedule. Even though the guilds were dissatisfied with Starlight looting a burning house, in the later stages, the repair fees for godlike equipment and their tolerance was astronomical. Considering the inversely proportional income and output, many guilds cursed inwardly and had no choice but to seek Rhode's help.

But what enraged the guilds was that while Starlight received the fees and annihilated the Chaos Lord, Starlight also looted the items that the Chaos Lord dropped...

Pay for the drops if you want it; I'll host a live auction now. After all, it was us who defeated the Chaos Lord, no?

As a result, the guilds became selfless model citizens who helped Starlight find wild, valuable BOSSes and even paid them for it... These Chaos Lords spawned randomly. There was a period of time when Rhode waited to see if the public also looked for Starlight's assistance in searching for the location for Chaos Lords too.

Thereafter, the guilds were naturally unwilling to spend any more innocent money. They were strongly determined to succeed and improve their skills and equipment by a lot, where they finally were able to kill a Chaos Lord. On the other hand, Rhode's business gradually fell. But at that point in time, he wasn't attracted by that little profit because when the other guilds were finally able to defeat Chaos Lords for godlike equipment drops, he had already set his sight on the Deepest Labyrinth...

One shouldn't look back at the past—yes, the story also unfolded to his liking...

It was due to the reason Rhode was so familiar with Chaos Lords. When he and Canary heard Mini Bubble Gum's description, they felt entirely relieved. It would be bothersome if it was some unexpected issue. But now this was, in fact, the specific reason why Starlight slaughtered so many Chaos Lords in the later stages of the game. Rhode didn't die in this world before, so he wasn't aware if he would be resurrected to the side of a guardian angel. Despite that, he doubted the same for Gaya. After all, she wasn't a player and didn't own and understand what a system interface was. If she knew what a system interface was, perhaps her corpse would have disappeared by now. It seemed like there was only one solution.

And that was to slaughter the Chaos Lord, release Gaya's soul, cast a great resurrection spell, and everything would be fine.

At this thought, Rhode turned to Lydia and explained the situation. Of course, he didn't mention much about the system interface and whatnot. Even though Lydia stayed on Earth for a period of time earlier and was aware of the existence of this game, due to pressing time, she didn't have a chance to play it. If they weren't pressed for time, Rhode would have returned to the game and to see how the moon princess and archangel played the Dragon Soul Continent together...

Yes, that would be amusing.

"I see."

After listening to Rhode's explanations, Lydia nodded, gripped the sword, and stood up to leave. But Rhode was apparently prepared for this. Upon witnessing her action, he held out his arm to stop her.

"Your Highness Lydia, I think you will have a hard time doing it alone. We don't know how many Chaos Lords there are this time. Since they were able to kill Gaya, I suppose they are strong enough to defeat you. Even though we need to kill that Chaos Lord as soon as possible, things will be troublesome if we are careless and let that Chaos Lord escape."

These words from Rhode weren't just alarmist talk. The reason why Chaos Lords were so tough to handle was that during critical junctures, they would use a method to control the entire battlefield, making all players unmovable. Then, they would seize the opportunity to escape. What made matters worse was that Chaos Lords might no longer stay on the main plane of existence and return back home to the abyss or hell instead... When that happened, players would have no chance of finding them anymore.

As a matter of fact, Rhode felt anxious when he heard Lydia describing the earlier battle. It was apparent that Gaya's final attack dealt huge damage to the Chaos Lord. Fortunately, according to Lydia, that Chaos Lord flew off instead of teleporting away. If not, there would be no hope of rescuing Gaya anymore. But even so, Rhode believed that the Chaos Lord was low on health and it would be best if it could be defeated in one blow. If Rhode's group failed to defeat it in one attack and startled it instead, perhaps it would escape by teleporting. When that happened, Rhode would be in tearless grief. He couldn't possibly make a trip to the abyss, hell, or Seven Fantasy Boundaries just for the sake of one person... Gaya also wasn't his woman, so he wasn't overflowing with love toward her.

"Celia, how's the situation with the ghost fleet?"

"The ghost fleet is standing guard in the distance and hasn't left."

Seems like they are fearless...

Upon hearing Celia's answer, Rhode twitched his brows.

That Chaos Lord was hurt by Gaya and still didn't flee yet. It seems like there is more than one Chaos Lord inside the ghost fleet. If not, they should have retreated for the time being. But now, it seems like they intend to bide their time to create a trap, so it obviously won't work if we charge toward them. But if we sneak over, we will spend a lot of time probing the situation...

Damn it...

However, Rhode wasn't afraid of anyone if he bombarded the area. After he and his younger sister metamorphosed into their dragon form, they could spurt dragon breaths to wipe out the entire ghost fleet. But it was an entirely different matter to investigate who was onboard. The ghost fleet was within the range of the Dark Dragon's soul protection, so he and his younger sister couldn't detect the Chaos Lords' positions through their senses. Besides, no one could guarantee that the Chaos Lords wouldn't escape even if they blasted dragon breaths. In the game, the reason why Chaos Lords remained undetected was because they were immune to most detection methods. Be it the cleric's holy sign, mage's death imprint, or thief's tracking instinct, they were all useless on Chaos Lords. That was why many guilds fought against Chaos Beings naively and couldn't gain any information on Chaos Lords. It was only when they discovered that they were fighting against Chaos Lords that they knew it was too late.

"We have to think of a way to detect the Chaos Lords..."

Rhode shook his head. Among his subordinates, Gracier and Madaras were most suited to carry out this mission. However, their flaw was that they were close-range assassins and might be discovered when they got closer to their targets, especially ones with the caliber of Chaos Lords. But in terms of long-range, Rhode didn't have any useful attackers. Battle angels were capable in mid to long-range attacks, but Rhode was too familiar with their skills. Most of their talent trees were built for battles and vigilance, so they weren't proficient in probing. It was the same for the dawn angels. It was too late for them to gather reinforcements now...

"Oh? By the way, Leader..."

At that moment, Mini Bubble Gum raised her arm all of a sudden.

"Since we're on the topic of probing, why don't you just summon Little Icy? Didn't you have that phantom-guardian-something?"

Chapter 1204: Ice and Snow Child

"Little Icy?"

Upon hearing Bubble's suggestion, Rhode was taken aback. But he soon realized that it was actually not a bad suggestion.

The "Little Icy" that Bubble brought up was Icy Snow, whose name was Yue BingBing in person (Bing as in 'ice' in Mandarin, which probably explained the in-game name). Icy Snow was the number one archer in Starlight and undoubtedly the best among long-range classes in Dragon Soul Continent. Her mastery in archery put everyone in a frenzy. Although she was about the same age as Mini Bubble Gum, she played the game for much longer. She used to be Rhode's neighbor. But as her parents weren't home frequently, she was often in his care. Since she started going to school, her family moved to another city. Rhode gave a virtual-reality gaming helmet to her as a parting gift and thereafter, the little fella was lured into the gaming world of Dragon Soul Continent.

Icy Snow was the only player who had been with Rhode ever since he started playing Dragon Soul Continent. She was innocent, kind, but held a strict attitude. She was like a top student within the guild like Canary. Her results in school were excellent, where she was a champion to several national young-age-group competitions. However, there was something about her that bothered others. She valued the concept of time... A lot.

She was punctual to come online and go offline and would never extend her stay for any reasons. Even when they were in the midst of battling a BOSS, as long as time was up she would go offline immediately and never bother if the BOSS was defeated. This caused a lot of displeasure in the guild. It would be acceptable if they were on just an ordinary mission. But during raids, it was always inevitable to face delays for all sorts of reasons. Delaying the two hours that were agreed upon in raiding a dungeon to three to five hours were common occurrences. But Icy Snow apparently wasn't mindful of that at all. Whenever she came online, she would inform everyone the time she would go offline on that day. Then, she would follow Rhode around to fight some monsters or complete missions before going offline. The cycle repeated itself and her timing was as accurate as a robot.

As a primary school student, it went without saying that Icy Snow didn't have much time to play games. She basically came online for two hours each day before going offline to complete her assignments. Rhode had also memorized her timetable: eat for half an hour, come online after eating, play for two hours, go offline, spend two hours on assignments, take half an hour to shower, and prepare for bedtime. It was only during holidays and winter vacation when she extended her playing time to six hours: three in the morning and three in the afternoon.

If this was all to it, Icy Snow would only be one of the countless ordinary players in Dragon Soul Continent. Players had all sorts of quirks. For Icy Snow's peculiarity, it almost cost her chances to join guild raids. No one could guarantee that they could completely raid a dungeon in two hours. A player who said: "Time's up. I need to go offline to do my assignments" and went offline immediately during critical junctures was naturally unpopular among players.

However, Icy Snow had a special move that amazed everyone—Projectile Shooting.

As an archer, Icy Snow's Projectile Shooting had reached perfection. What was so incredible about it was that whenever she used Projectile Shooting on monsters, the monsters wouldn't retaliate. Even when the monster was a BOSS, it also rarely struck back. This raised controversies among players, where they suspected that Icy Snow used hacks. That wasn't surprising since almost every player thought the same as soon as they witnessed videos of her battles.

The act that shot Icy Snow to fame was when she took on a level 30 berserk mage on Twilight Mountain alone. Back then, she was only level 20 and it was a challenge for her job advancement. She was 200 meters away from the berserk mage, where a forest stood between them. Without even gazing at the berserk mage, Icy Snow raised her bow high, aimed at the sky, and released the arrow. After more than 10 seconds, she lifted the bow again with a slightly adjusted angle and released her fingers again. In total, she did this three times. The level 30 berserk mage didn't even spot Icy Snow and was defeated instantly. What was more shocking was that all the arrows punctured his skull as though a rain of arrows fell from heaven, penetrating and turning him into a hedgehog.

As Dragon Soul Continent was a virtual-reality game, there was a critical-attack system. So even though there was a difference of 10 levels between Icy Snow and the berserk mage, her damage output, element of surprise, as well as the unique critical damage from archers overwhelmed the berserk mage. This was a gamified result. If it were in reality, it didn't matter even if one were in the Elite or Master Stage as an arrow puncturing the skull would leave one without any chances of survival.

This was one of the reasons why many players suspected Icy Snow of cheating. Even though all archers in the game possessed the [Projectile Shooting] skill, that was built within one's horizon, after all. The archers had to first spot their targets before launching the attack. It was the same no matter what skill that was. However, Icy Snow was able to attack without seeing the enemy. Not only that, but her attacks were also all head-shots, so it was hard for people to not suspect she was hacking. Besides, the longest distance that arrows could go was 100 meters. Even though Projectile Shooting could increase the range, the farthest was only 150 meters. In Icy Snow's case, she was about 200 meters away from the berserk mage, not to mention there was a forest between them. Despite that, all her arrows struck the target on the head. Either she was an evildoer or hacker, there was no other way around it.

Rhode was the only one who knew the truth because he was the one who synchronized with Icy Snow to validate this idea of hers. Just like Mini Bubble Gum's 'treating foes as friends' tactic, Icy Snow also came up with some rare, bizarre ideas. For instance, this ultra-long-range Projectile Shooting was one of them. Strictly speaking, this wasn't accomplished by Icy Snow herself. Back then, Rhode hid himself inside the forest and gave Icy Snow the coordinates of the berserk mage. Then, the little fella attacked solely through her own calculations. Frankly speaking, Rhode didn't treat her idea too seriously. Even though it was possible in theory, in reality the chances were close to none, at least for Rhode, that is. But Icy Snow actually succeeded...

After Dragon Soul Continent's officials confirmed that Icy Snow wasn't cheating, she shot to fame instantly, becoming the idol of all archers. As she leveled up, she placed all her skill points into primarily range and secondarily critical rate, greatly increasing her threat to others. In the end, if there wasn't any obstacle between her and the BOSS, she could stand at the entrance of the dungeon and shoot the BOSS to death. Of course, there were players who pestered her for the secret, but the most important factor was 'calculation'. Not only must she calculate the target's position, but she must also consider wind direction, weapon range, and whatnot. Therefore, even though Icy Snow revealed her secret Projectile Shooting on the forum, no one achieved the same result as her successfully. There were no special reasons for that. It was simply that one couldn't possibly be as powerful in calculations as her.

If Canary and Mini Bubble Gum were the 'double-spells' duo on the battlefield that all players avoided, Icy Snow was the one who all players steered clear of at outdoor PK. She didn't need to show up before the opponent and as long as she got the opponent's coordinates, she would aim and release an arrow into the sky. At the next moment, the opponent would basically be struck in the head in a critical blow.

Of course, there were ways to flee from this disastrous Projectile Shooting. For instance, as long as one moved quickly enough or at a non-rhythmic pace to disrupt Icy Snow's calculations. But as the little fella grew in level, her field of perception also expanded. In the later stages, Icy Snow didn't need to rely on her eyes at all. She only needed to rely upon her perception to detect all presence within a range of 1500 meters, which was even more insane than dawn angels. What was even more deadly was that Icy Snow's awakening realm was [Space Detection] and [Teleportation]...

This meant that Icy Snow could release an arrow from the Munn Kingdom and burst the head of a player in the Country of Darkness within three seconds. As a matter of fact, this ability would have little value if others were to own it. Fortunately for Icy Snow, her Projectile Shooting was simply divine and her arrows were entirely silent in travel. What was more crucial was that every time Icy Snow shot an arrow at her target, she didn't care if it was a being or not. The murderous intent from her was basically non-existent and undetectable. Many players lost their lives due to this reason. In the later stages, Icy Snow had her very own title as the 'Little God of Death'. There was a Chinese saying 'when the God of Death wants you dead at midnight, no one dares to keep you alive any longer'. In addition to Icy Snow's 'loli'-like appearance, it wasn't surprising that she was called the 'Little God of Death'.

Of course, there was another origin for this title. There was once a mage who posted on the forum to berate Icy Snow and insulted her family. This enraged Icy Snow. Even though the post was removed for personal attacks, the mage was apparently unfazed. The mage continued to rain curses on Icy Snow on the main channel of the game. Everyone had their own temper and even Icy Snow couldn't tolerate it any longer.

Whenever the mage came online, he would be annihilated by an arrow that came from nowhere. He couldn't even step out of the city. As long as he went outdoors, he would turn into a corpse immediately. This happened repeatedly for months. After being instant-killed for several hundred times, the mage rage-quitted and deleted his character. That was when her title of 'Little God of Death' became widely known.

Icy Snow felt wronged. She wasn't as violent as Mini Bubble Gum or enjoyed battles like Canary. The reason she played Dragon Soul Continent was just to meet Rhode. As for the players that she killed, she thought that they deserved it. They had either taunted or lay hands on her. No matter how righteous she felt, she wouldn't stay around doing nothing, letting others humiliate and kill her while she scuttled to her mother crying.

Based on the current situation, Icy Snow was indeed the best choice. Not only could her [Space Detection] spy on and search for that Chaos Lord, but she could also destroy the Chaos Lord from here with a single arrow. In this case, Rhode's group didn't need to do a thing. But...

Rhode gazed at Mini Bubble Gum without doubtful eyes.

"Is it really because she is more suitable for the job?"

"Of course, Leader, I guarantee. You also think that Little Icy is suitable, isn't it?"

Bubble's eyes glinted, as pure as a hothouse flower. But no matter how Rhode looked at her, he felt like there must be something wrong.

"Alright, I got it."

Even though he felt a little suspicious, he eventually nodded, gestured with his hand, and walked out of the room. According to the rules of phantom guardians, he had one slot left. Considering the fact that he didn't have any long-range, talented attackers and his plan to groom Corina ran into difficulties, summoning Icy Snow was also a decent choice.

Upon entering another room, Rhode closed the door and lifted his head, where he saw the system prompt before him.

[Activate Sphere of Mystery———Phantom Guardian]

[Activated Phantom Guardian. Current Phantom Guardian Count 2/3 (+1). Change Cool-down time to 180 Days. Able to summon (1) Phantom Guardian. Please select]

"Icy Snow."

This time, Rhode had no hesitation. He chose his target quickly.

[Phantom Guardian Activated———Icy Snow (95% Complete). Projection Began]

Shortly after, along with this system prompt, a white brilliance shone before Rhode and a snowy, petite figure coalesced within the radiance. It was an adorable little girl with a beautiful, oval face. She was petite in size, had pitch-black, bright eyes and small, light pink lips. What was most eye-catching about her was the two cat ears above her straight, long, black hair, as well as the swaying tail on her back.

"Huh...? Big Brother?"

Gazing at Rhode, the little girl revealed an embarrassed look. She covered her chest and body with her hands and was at a complete loss. Rhode smiled at the little girl and handed a robe over to her.

"Put this on first..."

Bang!

Before Rhode finished his sentence, someone kicked the door open. The startled duo turned to the door hurriedly. The two Mini Bubble Gum rushed into the room, bursting out in laughter. They each held a magic crystal in their hands to record the scene before them, while extending their arm to point at the confused Icy Snow.

"Hahaha, I knew she would be naked!"

"Hahaha, I've recorded everything! Let's see what you will do about it! Come on, call me Big Sister!"

These two brats!

Gazing at the two Mini Bubble Gum, Rhode was entirely speechless.