Forge a path to success.

Chapter 344 Starry Chessboard, Dark Serpent Staff Rises (5)

"VV, our first phase of the operation was a success, right?!"

"Theoretically yes."

"Then why is the enemy's attack even more ferocious?!" Ji Huaisu shouted at the top of his lungs, "They're like a pack of mad dogs now!"

She ran along the flower-lined avenue, the surrounding pedestrians being lifted up and flung aside by the dust. Time was of the essence, leaving no room for finesse; the poor citizens were tossed about by the wind like they were on a trampoline. But this time, unusually, there were no complaints, for they too could see the terrifying pursuers behind Ji Huaisu.

A convoy of motorcycles decorated with skeletons crushed flowers, leaving scorched marks, while the madman at the head lashed a long whip woven from sulfur and lava. His head was devoid of flesh and blood; it was a burning skull.

It howled and lashed out with its whip: "Go to hell, blonde woman!!"

"What grudge do you have against me?!"

“He is Sanoliv Capa, a cultist, an extreme racist, and a white woman-hate man,” VV said. “Your appearance may have triggered his psychological trauma.”

"Settling a personal score under the guise of official business!"

Ji Huaisu swerved to avoid the whip, but the long whip appeared out of nowhere, wrapping around her neck and pulling her to the front of the motorcycle wheel. Senoliwei's skeletal jaw opened and closed: "Become the ashes of hell!"

Ji Huaisu pulled hard on the whip, but couldn't break free. Seeing the enemy about to crush her, she leaped on her motorcycle and unleashed a black claw strike. The shadow claw tore through all of Senolivi's defenses, smashing him and the whip into a paper-thin sheet.

Ji Huaisu burned the flattened enemies to ashes with a single burst of fire, then turned in mid-air, mounted his motorcycle, and sped forward. The other motorcycles crashed to the ground in disarray due to the sudden braking, and Senor Livy's henchmen knelt in astonishment and prayed.

"The boss turned to ashes!" "It's Satan's evil magic." "She's the messenger of hell!"

“You’re quite popular,” Vande said.

"Get out of the way!" Ji Huaisu cursed as she turned around, then charged forward with all her might. The fools behind her scattered and fled, and a rain of arrows fell from the sky, piercing every inch of the battlefield in front of her. The Black Death Army's flying units followed closely behind, their numbers so great that she was too lazy to count them.

This is the main reason why she didn't take the open road and ran on the ground. Fighting in the air with a manually controlled 5-point soldier without even using a mount would be pure suicide. Now it seems that the person controlling the soldier actually held back earlier; if they had deployed so many troops earlier, she and Lico would have died on the road long ago.

"Now, let me answer your question. With the main antenna destroyed, the bomb crisis of the third pulse sequence is resolved, and divine communication will soon be restored. The enemy will seize the last opportunity to act. According to the original plan, the enemy would try to preserve their strength to achieve a safe victory, but now that time is of the essence, they will only seek the greatest results and will launch a full-scale attack."

"So you're going to pull off a big heist before you run away?!"

“Your way of thinking is very similar to that of a criminal,” VV praised.

Ji Huaisu ducked to dodge the spear's thrust, and a man dressed like a savage, unarmed, caught up with her motorcycle. She froze him into a block of ice and then smashed him flat with her claw: "You already knew this, didn't you? That's why you talked about the first phase. So what's your second phase of the operation?"

“At this stage, you need to deal with dozens of combat-experienced Rank 4s and at least three legendary Rank 5s. Given the current power gap, I don’t think conventional methods offer any chance of victory,” VV said. “We’ll take a gamble with unconventional methods.”

"Oh, we're going to gamble again! That tone sounds damn familiar!" Van der cried out. "Your unconventional methods wouldn't happen to be..."

"Return to the Third Team headquarters, find Chu Hengkong and release him, then the operation is over."

"I knew it!"

“I’ve also made a backup plan.” VV marked another green dot. “Turn right at the next intersection. I’ll prepare a wind tunnel for you to seek help from the Second Pulse. If you choose this route, we won’t be able to rescue the Third Captain in time, but we can guarantee your safety. You’ve already done your best to help Jing Sha out of the chaos. There’s no need to gamble with me on some uncertain possibility.”

Ji Huaisu sneered: "Do I look like the kind of person who would abandon his comrades and run away?"

“No,” VV said. “So the airflow in that duct is adjusting in your direction, and you will get an acceleration in 10 seconds.”

"Your personality is really awful!"

Ji Huaisu casually swatted away two pursuers, and the red dot marking the headquarters of the Third Team flashed incessantly in her eyes. Behind the red light was a terrifying body as solid as a rock. A giant nearly ten meters tall stood in front of the road, his heavy fist raised high, his petrified skin making his fist look like a small mountain.

"Kalletal, a master of close combat and joint locks, keep your distance from him as much as possible."

Ji Huaisu stared intently at the rock-like man: "Where does he rank in your group?"

"No. 15."

"Damn, he's a tough guy!" Vande shouted.

Ji Huaisu on the motorcycle unleashed his Shadow Claw, while Caletare's giant fist struck the ground ahead of time. The terrifying shockwave traveled along the motorcycle, causing Vande to briefly lose consciousness. The surge of energy erupting from the ground shattered the motorcycle, causing the swinging Shadow Claw to veer off course and hit only air.

Caletare spun around, his massive hand slamming into Ji Huaisu's unsuspecting left side. Ji Huaisu clapped her hands in return, her palm shimmering with starlight. The highly compressed dust burst, launched at the shortest distance, exploded before Caletare's palm, knocking him heavily to the ground.

Carleta lost her balance and fell to her knees. Ji Huaisu used the impact of the explosion to leap up. The temporarily redirected wind channel arrived as expected, allowing her to reach the center of the poem umbrella in an instant!

"You reacted quickly," VV praised.

“Let NO.15 go box with Akong.” Ji Huaisu let out a long breath and fell to the ground like a parachutist. “Do you know what’s going on over there?”

"There is no evidence, only speculation. I believe the enemy has set some kind of trap to isolate his existence from the outside world. Otherwise, we cannot explain why he has not appeared yet."

Vande was still reeling from the shock: "If they're so powerful, why don't they just assassinate us?"

"If you were to devise the plan, how many combat troops would you need to be confident in killing Chu Hengkong?"

“This is enough for now…” Vande came to his senses. “I’m confused. If everyone goes to kill him, there will be no one to do the work. If it were me, I would seal him too.”

“The enemy’s methods are very strong, and I can’t guarantee that I can break through the trap, so it’s a gamble,” VV said. “Thank you both for trusting me.”

"You're too kind. You trust us a lot, don't you? Vande is an expert in this area. He'll be your last bet later." Ji Huaisu looked at the rapidly enlarging Third Team headquarters and handed the badge to the bewildered Vande.

"One last question, VV, your full name is Vilbert, right? Vilbert Velus."

She heard VV's laughter for the first time: "You can also call me boss."

"Remember to pay me my wages later!"

Ji Huaisu abruptly threw Vande out. It and the brooch smashed through a third-floor window of headquarters, shards of glass stinging its skin. It instinctively looked up, wanting to berate its teammate for their madness, but saw Ji Huaisu standing silently before the headquarters' main gate. The serpentine blade, its curved edge slicing through frost-covered armor, plunged deep into her abdomen. Someone was already waiting there. The enemy knew the assassin's power better than they did; they would not allow their plan to falter.

Lylena Barry withdrew her curved sword, her superb martial arts leaving no trace of blood on the blade. She looked up at the shattered glass on the third floor: "What did you lose?"

"I advise you not to get distracted by these things..."

Ji Huaisu gritted her teeth and stood up, freezing her wounds with ice. Wielding her sword, shield, and shadow blade, she charged forward bravely: "What you should be thinking about most right now is how to defeat me!"

·
"That's it?" Blood Smoke kicked at a pebble on the ground. "Is this all the level of the Allied commander from 20 years ago?"

No one answered him. Trek was too weak to speak. He collapsed in the dense forest, his white coat stained crimson with blood. The last explosion had taken his right arm, and the explosion before that had shattered his wooden gun.

The current third captain is unarmed and not even as strong as many of the civilians he risked his life to protect.

“You may not know, but I’ve actually made a lot of preparations. I originally planned to continue threatening you with your subordinates, then your old subordinates, your family, and then your wife… If you can stick to it to the end, even if it’s by taking shortcuts, I won’t mind saying ‘great’ and leaving. If you can uphold your justice, you deserve to live.”

He pointed at the mangled limb with his toe, disdainfully kicking it away.

"But it's a pity you didn't last that long; you weren't the strong person I expected..."

Bloodsmoke made a brand new bomb himself, inflated it, and threw it at Trek.

"Let the weak die with justice in their hearts," Blood Smoke said.

·
At this very moment, the assassins are still wreaking havoc within the Third Meridian.

The mastermind behind it all disappeared without a trace. All that effort was wasted on merely shifting the other party's plans.

This is what happens when someone is caught off guard by someone else's scheme. This aging city-state is already withered and decaying, and the king's plans are nothing more than lifting the veil of vanity from its aged face. Just as an outdated demon king can be defeated by a hero, a dejected hero can also die at the hands of a heretic. The cycle and alternation of time is nothing more than this.

Quite a few civilians must have been injured.

Have any team members died?

How much longer can Lico hold on? Can Ji Huaisu stop that terrifying woman? Has Trek already succumbed to the overwhelming pressure and collapsed amidst the laughter of the bomb-wielding demon?

Vande didn't know, nor did it have time to consider these things. It simply felt that what had happened since the beginning of the day was utterly absurd and illogical, and that those scoundrels had no right to destroy that peaceful and prosperous city-state.

It felt sadness in Yingshi Town, chaos in Jinye City, and the battle in the wilderness was a tragic song of despair. Now it felt anger, a deep anger overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness.

Vande clutched the brooch and ran towards the end of the corridor. It couldn't understand why Rico and the others said they couldn't see it. The door was right there, and the assassin sat there, listless, behind it. It could even see the assassin's expression, the same one it felt now—a sense of helpless despair.

"Hey buddy!" Vande yelled, "Get up and kill someone!!"

It screamed with all its might, but its voice couldn't reach Chu Hengkong's ears. It couldn't even get close to the door that was so close. It ran, jumped, and recklessly crashed into the steel, but the door, so near yet so far, remained unreachable no matter how hard it tried.

Vande suddenly realized something, and slowly lowered its head. What it saw plunged it into despair.

It saw the abyss.

A deep, dark abyss stands before the gate.

As if the starless night had solidified, as if the inky moonlight had solidified, an infinitely deep crack lay across the steel gate. It was insurmountable, and imperceptible, for it was the omnipresent "gravity," an insurmountable chasm that the wingless could never hope to reach.

That was the scheme laid by the monarchy, a night that extinguished all hope. Its trap was a projection of the very source of the First Abyss!
The inability to observe the abyss is actually a sign of divine mercy. If it weren't for the essence hidden deep within Fei De's body, it would have plunged into the abyss the moment it was observed and fallen into its cradle. But that essence can only save itself, while Chu Hengkong has already been isolated on the other side of the abyss, trapped in the labyrinth of the past.

Vande slumped to the ground, powerless. It could almost hear the dull thud of a blade piercing flesh, a sign that the final battle before its gates was over. In this death relay, it had carried the last leg to the finish line, but there was nothing it could do but defend itself.

“I can’t see anything,” it heard Vilbert’s voice say. “What do you see?”

Van Dyne groaned, “The abyss. They have laid down the first abyss!”

The communication channel went silent; it could almost picture the girl's desperate eyes. Then, in the next moment, it heard Violet's voice.

“Please throw the brooch over,” she said. “Please.”

Van der Summoned his last shred of hope and threw the silver badge out like an adventurer casting a torch of hope into the wilderness.

The badge melted in mid-air, its smooth metal shell silently detaching to reveal a staff entwined with two snakes beneath the camouflage, one of the snake heads' eyes glowing. The last of the badge's energy was exhausted at that moment, transmitting the world Vande had observed to the magic scholar thousands of miles away!
At the headquarters of the Dustless Land, Velvet opened her eyes. Her vision expanded through the serpent staff, and she looked through that incredible life form into the materialized abyss, into the man on the other side of the abyss.

Then she raised her staff high, ignoring the gasps of the crowd around her, and the alarming warning echoing from the heart of Dust Isle. She raised the symbol of power to the sky, like an ancient prophet summoning hail and fire!
"The Staff of God!"

Vande suddenly looked up. Something was about to descend, without warning, yet inevitable. Its gaze traveled across the vast distance to the sky, where it saw an incredible behemoth, slumbering above the sea of ​​illusions, awakened by the scholar's command.

The great being received the scholar's signal, and the brooch it threw out became the coordinates of the agreed-upon place. It opened its eyes, casting an invisible gaze, its gaze transforming into light that fell upon the earth, like a god wielding a majestic scepter!
The immeasurable distance was traversed in an instant, and by the time observation arrived, the Staff of God had already descended. The staff fell into the abyss, erupting in a violent clash in an invisible place. The movements of everyone on both sides ceased at the same moment; they looked towards the center of the clash, yet could not comprehend what had happened.

Only Vande saw it, only Vande could observe it. He saw the scepter fall into the abyss, piercing out foul, poisonous blood; the moonlight surged like a tsunami, yet separated before might; the scepter of God parted the sea of ​​despair, and the will of the serpent crossed over like an ark, traversing the other side!
And so the abyss shattered, and the gates opened wide. The struggle of the spirits caused a ripple in the material world, causing the gates to swung inward, and the brooch, on the verge of breaking, drifted down, emitting a sound most familiar to the assassin in his life.

"—Long time no see."

The man opened his crimson eyes and gently caught the brooch, as if holding onto an illusory hand.

"It's been a long time." He smiled nostalgically.

The array that filled the secret chamber closed, and the central winged creature vanished. The jet-black bone wings stretched out, like death itself taking flight in the silence.

Vande's vision suddenly shifted. He saw a serpentine curved sword spinning and flying into the sky, the female assassin's eyes filled with astonishment; he saw the military force that occupied the sky collapse with a roar, countless pieces of iron exploding and falling like rain; he saw a blood-red bomb about to explode, but was grasped by a strong hand.

That hand easily crushed the bomb; the aftershocks of the explosion couldn't even budge it. In an instant, Chu Hengkong grabbed Xueyan's head. He slammed Xueyan's face to the ground with one hand!
　Double update tomorrow

　　
　
(End of this chapter)