“Got it, Big Brother.”
Upon hearing Rhode’s order, Icy Snow nodded with might. She gazed ahead with a stern expression and shut her eyes. Along with this action, the image that appeared before everyone vanished immediately. The young lady raised the jade longbow in her hands. Shortly after, patterns of leaves and branches emerged over the surface of the spotless longbow. They resembled a combination of twisted hour, minute, and second hands. The runes representing time formed two circles that wrapped the longbow in the middle, like a unique-looking clock. Icy Snow’s eyes remained closed as she slowly lifted up the longbow. The clock hands etched on both sides of the longbow began to turn. Then, she reached for the bowstring and pulled it back. Light coalesced on the stretched bowstring and in the blink of an eye, a crystal-clear arrow appeared above it.
Resting on the chair, the pale and exhausted female vampire closed her eyes. Even though she had been confident of winning the earlier battle, she underestimated Gaya’s abilities. The power of ‘sound’ was incredibly rare among higher-level rules. After getting caught off guard, the vampire suffered grave injuries. If it were a cautious person in her place, that person would have retreated immediately. However, the other two formidable beings stopped her from leaving and insisted that she lure Gaya to take the bait. In this case, all the vampire could do now was continue waiting.
And now, she was hoping that they didn’t let her wait for too long. After all, she was severely hurt. Even though she could still force herself to attack, she could only escape immediately if an intense battle were to break out. The vampire opened her eyes, raised her arm, and gazed at the heart that had crystallized. There was a tiny human shadow inside it which was, in fact, the core of Gaya’s soul.
Chaos Lords loved collecting the souls of their spoils of war as works of art. Not only that, but the powerful spiritual powers within them could also be used to replenish their strength. Through encroaching and devouring the soul, Chaos Lords could disrupt the power of rule and Order within it and reinforce themselves. This was also why players couldn’t find their souls after being killed by Chaos Lords. Of course, in the game, one could choose to release the soul. But that was in the game, after all.
Smelling the aromatic scent of the soul in her hand, the vampire’s expression twisted. She opened her mouth and was about to swallow the heart when suddenly, she closed her mouth abruptly.
Patience… I need to be patient. I need to bring this beautiful soul back home and savor it slowly. After I head back, I will have all the time to ‘cook’ this delicious soul. She will crumble and go crazy in eternal despair and agony and become my loyal servant.
At this thought, the vampire sighed and put the heart away. Then, she closed her eyes to continue resting…
At that moment, a bone-piercing, immense pain exploded. The vampire’s eyes sprung open, staring at the arrow that had punctured her neck. She widened her mouth, but could only make a stifled cry. She raised her arms in vain, attempting to pull out the arrow from her neck. However, the Grim Reaper had already brandished its ruthless scythe. The arrow metamorphosed into a blade light, instantly splitting her body completely apart. Before she gripped the arrow, she hung down on the side of the chair motionlessly.
The instant the vampire died, she suddenly heard the soft tick of the clock hand.
Tick.
“———!”
The young lady opened her eyes wide, gazing around her in suspicion. At a glance, there weren’t any changes to the cabin. Everything was as peaceful as before.
Was it just a dream?
She knitted her brows and stretched out her hand to touch her throat. There was neither any injury nor punctured arrow.
What a distasteful one…
At this thought, the vampire closed her eyes, let out a long sigh, and reached out for the spirit crystal from the folds of her clothes to admire it. That dream was so surreal that she felt like she had been pierced in the neck by an arrow. Even for a Chaos Lord, such a traumatic moment couldn’t be forgotten that easily. She stared at the wonderful spirit crystal and her anxious mind settled down gradually. After calming herself, the vampire placed the spirit crystal back into the folds of her clothes…
At that moment, her vision turned black.
In just a few seconds, her left eye stopped functioning. The ice-cold, tremendous pain of death entered the back of her head mercilessly. She widened her eyes in bewilderment. Before losing consciousness, the last thing she witnessed was the arrow that penetrated her eye. Along with a shining brilliance, her head was shattered into bits in the blink of an eye. This time, before letting out a scream, she collapsed from the chair, and the spirit crystal dropped to the ground.
Tick.
“———!”
She opened her eyes once again, staring blankly at the ceiling. She couldn’t help but touch her left eye as though it were aching dully.
That’s strange. What’s wrong with me?
The vampire couldn’t help but knit her brows. She seemed to have had a really strange dream, but just couldn’t recall what it was about. This was a rare occurrence, but it was just a dream, after all… The young lady shook her head and reached out for the spirit crystal to admire it. But after retrieving the spirit crystal, she suddenly had a bad feeling as though she would be in danger because of it. But…
How is it possible? I’m hiding deep inside the ghost fleet. There are also two powerful beings protecting me now. Hah, how foolish of me.
The vampire shook her head in denial, throwing her uncertainties to the back of her head. Then, she raised the spirit crystal and indulged in the beautiful spiritual radiance within…
“———!”
The spirit crystal in her hand plummeted to the ground. She sat on the spot, widening her eyes and staring at the arrow that punctured her chest. The crystal-clear arrow emanated a faint magical radiance. At the next moment, violent space turbulence exploded from it. In a loud bang, the vampire’s body was ripped apart, twisted, and sucked into broken space fragments, vanishing in sight.
Tick.
“No…!”
The young lady opened her eyes abruptly, extending her arm to wipe beads of sweat off her forehead. She used her strong tenacity to stifle her wail.
What happened?
The young lady turned and looked at her surroundings. For some unknown reason, the Chaos Lord felt like something was amiss. After a few moments, she reached into the folds of her clothes to retrieve the mesmerizing spirit crystal… At that moment, she suddenly stopped moving.
Three arrows emanating a faint radiance punctured the young lady from the back of her body, penetrating her eye, neck, and heart. No one knew when the three arrows were fired or how they punctured her body. The Chaos Lord couldn’t budge. She widened her eyes and stared blankly in vain. The spirit crystal in her hand had dropped to the floor. She opened her mouth and tried to scream, but the punctured arrow stopped her from doing so. At the same time, as though resonating with one another, the three arrows exploded in a white brilliance, bursting into the sky in a straight line.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
At that moment, the second hand finally overlapped with the other two clock pointers on Icy Snow’s longbow.
“———”
Along with a string of dazzling brilliance, Rhode’s group witnessed a tremendous, white light beam burst out from the sea of clouds in the distance. It was so powerful that it ripped apart the thick layers of clouds, revealing a huge opening. At that moment, Icy Snow opened her eyes and released her grip on the bowstring.
A blinding white radiance flashed.
“It worked!”
Gazing at this scene, Mini Bubble Gum couldn’t help but yell in excitement. Rhode also nodded in satisfaction. This scene was seemingly puzzling to the rest because they only witnessed Icy Snow closing her eyes, raising the longbow, and then, a brilliance erupting all of a sudden. It was only after the explosion of light that Icy Snow fired the arrow. However, Rhode and Bubble, who were familiar with Icy Snow, knew that she had unleashed her most powerful Arrow of Time and Space. In other words, before Icy Snow raised the longbow and aimed ahead, her arrow had already shot the enemy. Then, she had to complete the step of ‘firing the arrow and hitting the enemy’. Once this step was completed, it meant that nothing could be reversed.
And now, as Icy Snow fired the arrow, it only meant one thing.
That Chaos Lord was killed!
“Oooo———!”
Indeed. In an instant, the silent world restored the ‘sound’ rule. Rhode’s group heard a series of loud, fierce bellows, which meant that Gaya’s soul had escaped from the Chaos Lord’s restraint. But apart from that, there was also something bothersome.
The bellow obviously reverberated from the ghost fleet.
“Attack!”
Staring at the ghost fleet that shifted direction and sailed toward them, Rhode let out a snort. A black radiance flickered in his palm and Succubus appeared in his hand.
“This time, I will make sure Chaos can’t return to where it came from!”
