Love, Gun, Cupid

“It’s possible…” Kapok said, “but for tonight, let’s hold our ground. I don’t want to adjust the King of the Forest tonight.”

"Wait, don't speak yet," said Yi Lu Ting Feng. "I heard a sound. Something broke through the barrier at the door and triggered the mechanism I set up beforehand."

This made everyone tense. Mu Mian reached out, and Lin Jiade transformed back into his sword form, which she held in her hand. In order to create an environment for Yi Lu Tingfeng, they stopped talking and instead used their fingers to indicate the approaching target.

First floor, second floor, third floor... Following the signals from the wind and the surveillance footage, the King of the Forest went alone, heading straight for their floor.

As the wind signaled the King of the Forest to reach the corner, Qi Yanli opened the door, performed a tactical roll into the corridor, knelt on one knee, drew her bow, and fired an icy blue arrow swiftly toward the King of the Forest's shadow.

"Ding!"

The arrow struck the king of the forest with a crisp sound. Qi Yanli looked closely and saw a man standing opposite her, about 1.9 meters tall, with a huge body and a blurry face.

A gray robe wrapped around the man, adorned with a full moon pattern. The robe was patched and torn in places, exposing the metal armor beneath, which had blocked Qi Yanli's attack.

Both sides acted simultaneously. Qi Yanli nocked a second arrow, and the King of the Forest reached out, a hook flying out from his sleeve and heading straight for Qi Yanli.

Qi Yanli's pupils contracted. She didn't have time to dodge and could only watch the hook approach. At that moment, Kapok appeared in front of her. She first drew her spare weapon to block the hook, then drew "Lin Jiade," pointed it at the King of the Forest, and infused it with energy.

"Ling Jiade" was launched with a slight tremor, and a white torrent of energy shattered the glass along the way and the glass lampshade overhead, instantly engulfing the King of the Forest.

The King of the Forest was injured, and Di Tao and Yi Lu Ting Feng had already circled around behind him. Di Tao's four steel wings pierced into the King of the Forest's back and, under Di Tao's control, pulled outwards. In the blink of an eye, a twisted and deformed armor plate fell off the King of the Forest's back and spun to the ground.

"Now!"

The one who could deliver the final blow, or be the perfect scapegoat, was Yi Lu Ting Feng. She pointed her parasol diagonally at the ground, pulled the trigger, and the sparks from the tip of the parasol propelled her toward the head of the King of the Forest. In mid-air, Yi Lu Ting Feng's violin deformed, transforming into a battle axe that cleaved the King of the Forest's unprotected back.

After successfully striking the King of the Forest, she drew her weapon and fled at top speed. She saw that she had inflicted a horrific wound on the King's back, but no blood flowed from it.

Some solid matter, resembling lunar soil, appeared at the King of the Forest's wound. Moonlight shone in, and a thin mist followed, causing the King of the Forest's wound to begin to heal.

Qi Yanli reacted swiftly, her multi-splitting arrows striking a nearby window. Thick ice sealed the window, cutting off the moonlight, and the King of the Forest's wounds indeed stopped healing. However, the fog grew thicker and thicker, filling the corridor in the blink of an eye.

Get out of the way!

Having activated her energy vision, Qi Yanli sensed the approaching threat. She clung to the cotton tree and rolled on the ground as the iron hook of the King of the Forest flew over their heads.

Unfortunately, the cotton tree slipped from the hand, and "Lin Jiade" was struck by the iron hook while spinning in mid-air, flying out of the window in an instant.

Chapter 108 The Final Round (9)

After flying out of the window, Lin Jiade took a few seconds to steady himself before diving into the hotel. In his sword-like perception, it was as if his eyes were covered by two black cloths, and he couldn't see anything.

He was forced to revert to human form and land on the ground, switching to his vision of soul light flames. The world turned from darkness to pale, but his situation remained unchanged.

He dared not shout, fearing to disturb the King of the Forest, so he stumbled back to where they had been. Lin Jiade took out his phone, wanting to call Kapok, but then he remembered that their private contact had been severed since he blocked her.

He held his breath and, after three seconds, unblocked the number and dialed Mu Mian's number. The ringtone sounded behind Lin Jiade, startling him. He turned around and saw Mu Mian standing there.

"Don't scare people," he said.

He took a step closer and realized something was wrong. At this moment, it was impossible for Kapok to silently appear behind him just to scare him, letting the bell ring and attract the attention of the King of the Forest.

The moment he stopped, "Kapok" made her move, the blade adorned with moon phase patterns thrusting straight at Lin Jiade. Lin Jiade couldn't dodge in time, because his center of gravity was still forward.

Thanks to the second phase of training by the Reed Warbler, Lin Jiade's strategy of defending against surprise attacks has been ingrained in his bones. Before his mind could form a definite idea, he had already transformed into a sword and was fighting the King of the Forest.

The King of the Forest's swordsmanship is extremely ruthless. If Lin Jiade were to fight in his physical form, he would probably be pierced with one or two holes by his opponent in three rounds. But now he is a sword, so he fearlessly confronts the Oracle's protector head-on.

The King of the Forest retreated, and her slender arm transformed into a hook, slamming Lin Jiade into a corner. Lin Jiade frantically tried to escape, but was hooked again and thrown into the corridor.

He was thrown back by the recoil, and the King of the Forest's next hook was already upon him. In order to interrupt the rhythm of the opponent's continuous beating, Lin Jiade had no choice but to transform back into human form and draw his celestial weapon to take the blow head-on.

The King of the Forest paused for a moment upon seeing his celestial weapon. The moment Lin Jiade landed, the mist in the corridor dissipated, and Lin Jiade saw the King of the Forest, as well as the space between the King of the Forest and himself, connected by a path paved with moonlight.

The King of the Forest stepped onto the Moonlight Path, where his movement speed was greatly enhanced. In the blink of an eye, "she" arrived in front of Lin Jiade.

With a single sword strike, Lin Jiade's shield shattered, and the young man roared as he unleashed the Lionheart spell, using brute force to fight against the King of the Forest.

Unsurprisingly, even with magical enhancements, Lin Jiade couldn't possibly stand up to the King of the Forest head-on. The King of the Forest sent Lin Jiade flying with a single sword strike. Magic circles on both sides of Lin Jiade's waist lit up, and the air currents helped him regain his balance in mid-air. He then transformed back into a sword to dodge the King of the Forest's hook, quickly slipping away and escaping contact with his enemy.

Lin Jiade was thrilled to have successfully outmaneuvered a powerful enemy. He climbed into the elevator shaft and flew upwards, only to be grabbed by an arm that emerged from the thick fog.

He struggled desperately, and when he heard the other person say "it's me," he struggled even more fiercely... He recognized the voice as Di Tao's.

Because of the King of the Forest's previous experience of turning into a kapok tree, Lin Jiade recognized Di Tao but remained skeptical. Di Tao, however, had no room for doubt. This madwoman had disheveled hair and her clothes were covered in her own blood, making her look exceptionally miserable.

"Looks like you've fallen for the King of the Forest in disguise," said the ground peach lazily. "Who does he become in your presence?"

"Kapok".

"It's the same for me, you know. I couldn't calm down when it came to the kapok, and then... that was it."

“How can I prove that I am not the King of the Woods in disguise, and how can you prove that you are not the King of the Woods in disguise?” Lin Jiade asked.

"What the hell?" Di Tao was stunned for a moment. "I was prepared to be mocked, abandoned, and even betrayed by you."

Lin Jiade said, "This competition requires contestants to enter the woodland and face attacks from the king of the forest, with rankings determined by survival time. However, right now, none of us have entered the woodland."

What happens if you're eliminated outside the woodland? The organizing committee didn't say explicitly, and I can't be sure if dying here will count towards the rankings... What if everyone is eliminated due to disqualification, and no one from the First Continent gets promoted to senior professional title this year?

“If I were you, I would definitely try to finish you off,” Di Tao said.

Lin Jiade shook his head: "I am not a member of the Hart family, and I think that you and Mumian have wrong ideas. I want to take revenge on you, but I want you to know even more that it is wrong to simply regard people as tools to measure choices."

“Naive and foolish...just like before,” Di Tao muttered.

Just then, the King of the Forest's hook flew through the elevator shaft, scraping against it. Lin Jiade transformed into a sword to dodge the hook, but it caught on Di Tao's steel wings, pulling her down in an instant.

Lin Jiade transformed back into human form, jumped down to approach Di Tao, severed the wing that had been hooked onto her, and cast his own vine spell on his left arm, hooking onto the protruding metal inside the elevator shaft.

Once free, Di Tao took flight, grabbed Lin Jiade, and flew out of the elevator shaft together. They smashed through the ceiling and arrived at the twelfth floor in a sorry state, even though the hotel only had thirteen floors.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Could it be that the King of the Forest has caught up with us?"

The sound of the wind blew overhead, and she sounded a little nervous. She picked up her violin and played a piece.

Seeing Lin Jiade's "Are you crazy?" look on her face, she explained, "The King of the Forest disguised himself as Qi Yanli to deceive me. I can vaguely sense the energy fluctuations of people around me through playing music, so I use this method to test the newcomer—regardless of whether he is the King of the Forest or not, to see if he has any murderous intent towards me."

As soon as Yi Lu Ting Feng finished speaking, he ran away because the King of the Forest leaped out of the elevator shaft and crashed heavily to the ground. He aimed at Yi Lu Ting Feng, who had his back to him, and hooked him, pulling him to the ground in front of him. He then raised his sword and slammed it down heavily.

Yi Lu Tingfeng raised her umbrella to block the wind, and she managed to block it, but her small body groaned from the impact. Lin Jiade grabbed Di Tao's shoulder and said, "I'll become a sword. Give me speed so I can take Yi Lu Tingfeng and escape."

Di Tao nodded, and Lin Jiade transformed into a sword. Di Tao grabbed him and threw him forward, then turned and ran.

Before the King of the Forest could strike with his sword, Lin Jiade pierced through the back of Tingfeng's clothes and pulled her away from where she stood. Behind them, the King of the Forest's sword shattered the floor tiles with a sickening sound.

As she listened to the wind, she realized what was happening. The tip of her umbrella pointed towards the ground, and flames burst forth. The reaction force pushed her and Lin Jiade out of the window together. She opened the umbrella and, along with Lin Jiade, swayed and fell.

Chapter 109 The Final (10) (17→16)

“Thank you so much,” Yi Lu Ting Feng said to Lin Jiade behind him. “I thought you guys were going to sell me off.”

Lin Jiade didn't speak, not because he didn't want to, but because his thoughts in sword form couldn't reach Yi Lu Ting Feng.

In fact, after breaking the contract with Kapok, Lin Jiade gained the function of a shared bicycle, and everyone can grab his sword hilt and swing it. However, in sword form, only Kapok can communicate with the holder so far.

This displeased Lin Jiade, who then questioned whether his love for Kapok still outweighed his hatred. At that moment, he suddenly remembered Cupid's teachings: yes, whether he loved or hated Kapok, he would retaliate against her mistakes and make her pay the price.

What happens after paying the price?

Du Juan's blockade was activated at this moment, and Lin Jiade suddenly felt a calmness rising from his chest, permeating his limbs and brain. He no longer cared about the future development with Kapok, but focused on the present.

"Huh, you can't speak after turning into a sword? Then I'll talk to you and you can listen. If you have any objections, just tap me lightly."

Yi Lu Ting Feng said, "Anyway, let's find everyone's location first. It doesn't matter who the King of the Forest disguises himself as to sneak in. He is very powerful, but if we unite, we will be able to escape from him."

His injuries healed faster under the moonlight; he accelerated along the path paved with moonlight. His shapeshifting ability, his mist, his hooks and swords made him extremely powerful in one-on-one combat, but once it became a fight against multiple opponents, he would try to cut us down.

That's true. Lin Jiade thought, the history of the King of the Forest's succession is murder, so the Oracle's protector who has been passed down from generation to generation must have strong solo ability, but in the case of team battles, his lack of AoE skills and ranged attack ability will make his weakness of relatively easy-to-dodge single-target control skills infinitely magnified.

Unfortunately, the King of the Forest thought the same thing, so he jumped out of the window and headed straight for Yilutingfeng. But luckily, icy rain fell from the sky, knocking the King of the Forest into the building.

Listening to the wind and looking up at the sky, Qi Yanli cast a shadow as she rode her eagle. The eagle circled, dodging the hook of the king of the forest, while Qi Yanli, riding on its back, took advantage of its range to relentlessly attack.

For a time, neither side could gain the upper hand. Qi Yanli manipulated the eagle to catch Yi Lu Tingfeng, circled around him for half a time, and then sent them into the hotel.

After landing, Lin Jiade transformed into human form and said, "It's dangerous in the hotel."

Qi Yanli explained, "When the King of the Forest is bathed in moonlight, his movement speed and recovery ability will be greatly enhanced. To defeat him, you can only do so in a place where the moonlight cannot reach."

"Then we'll all be on your steed, using our long reach to strike—wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"Because sustaining the eagle for one night consumes too much energy, she is unwilling to expend that energy."

Di Tao's voice came from the thick fog, and then her figure appeared, looking particularly comical with a broken wing.

She listened to the wind playing music all the way, and breathed a sigh of relief after a dozen seconds. She sensed that Di Tao had murderous intent towards her, which made her realize that this was the real Di Tao... If it was the King of the Forest in disguise, then the King of the Forest would be absolutely harmless at this distance.

"What about the kapok tree?" Lin Jiade asked.

“I haven’t met anyone. I mean, since you’re looking for someone to use you, I should be the most suitable person for you, right? After all, I’m a swordsman, and I was the sister of your previous user.”

“If Kapok dies, I will also withdraw from the battle. I came here to help her win,” Lin Jiade said.

Momo wiped the dust off her face: "How can you say something like that? Even Super Idol's puppy isn't as licked as you."

"This isn't licking boots; I sacrificed a part of my personal feelings for something more important."

"You're like a martyr who revels in self-sacrifice."

"Of course I'll be thrilled, because I'm doing the right thing!"

The other two, unaware of the background, simply thought the two were playing a riddle game. The appearance of the King of the Forest interrupted the argument between Di Tao and Lin Jiade, and his grappling hook separated the four in two: Di Tao and Yi Lu Ting Feng leaned against the wall, while Qi Yan Li and Lin Jiade leaned against the window.

As the thick fog dissipated, moonlight flooded the corridor, creating a path of moonlight between the four and the King of the Forest. Without a second thought, the King of the Forest crashed headfirst into Lin Jiade.

"Swearing on the court! Picking on the weak, huh!"

The King of the Forest came down too fast. Lin Jiade didn't have time to change his sword. Even though his teammates helped slow him down, he was still knocked out of the window by the King of the Forest.

He tried to activate the two spells at his waist to maintain his balance, but he suddenly remembered that the series of attacks from the King of the Forest had exhausted the energy of the Amanda Stone he was wearing, and the impact had left him dazed, slowing his sword-transforming speed several times over. Before he could even transform his sword, he was about to experience the feeling of falling headfirst from a height of seven stories to his death.

The howling wind filled his ears, and the pale moon and the hotel's black exterior walls receded further and further away from him. Before he hit the ground, an impact from the side caused him to shift horizontally, tumbling to the ground until he finally stopped at the doorway.

Lin Jiade's blurry vision showed a dark figure straddling him, shaking his shoulders and patting his cheeks. He wanted to respond, but his tongue was tied in knots and he couldn't utter a single word, and his thoughts became exceptionally sluggish.

He was carried into the hotel and shoved into a triangular space formed by a pile of construction waste on the first floor. It was narrow and dark, and he could feel another person pressed tightly against him.

Soon after, his parched lips were sealed by moist lips, and a cool and sweet liquid was sent into his mouth, spreading in his oral cavity and turning into... the taste of Laoshan white flower snake grass water that had been left for three days, combined with durian, stinky tofu and oysters.

Lin Jiade regained consciousness and whispered, "Kapok?"

"Don't speak."

A line of text lit up on Kapok's screen: "The King of the Forest has poor eyesight. He relies more on his hearing to find his way. He is proficient in blind fighting techniques and has special displacement abilities under the moonlight."

Is that why you're hiding in a dark and cramped place, keeping silent? Lin Jiade wondered.