Chapter 200: Encountering the Shade
Crackling bones—
Crackling bones—
The carriage moved slowly, the sound desolate and monotonous. There were only two sturdy horses pulling it, their hooves rhythmically striking the ground.
The coachman, dressed in blue-gray casual clothes, drove the horses lazily.
Inside the carriage, a man and a woman sat on opposite sides, bowing their heads and remaining silent, a heavy atmosphere enveloping them.
After an unknown amount of time, the man broke the silence first.
“Nana, you really don’t have to come along… I’m just going to handle some official business.” His tone was filled with helplessness.
The golden-haired girl tilted her hair to one side, raised her head, and looked directly at the person across from her.
“Brother, I’ve grown up.” Alna gritted her teeth, “If I don’t insist on coming, who knows what might happen to you in the Imperial City?”
“Look at what you’re saying, making it sound like the Imperial City is some catastrophe. There’s no threat from the Dark Faction there; what could happen to me?” Aijue couldn’t help but laugh.
“It wasn’t before, but now it is. The day before yesterday… Brother, you had a conflict with that person from the Imperial City, right?”
“You noticed?”
“…” Alna sighed, “Don’t talk about me; the entire estate knows about this.”
“What!? I clearly didn’t tell anyone!”
“You made such a big fuss, how could no one feel it? You should be glad the Lord Guide is not around, or it would be troublesome if you were questioned.”
“Is that so…” Aijue awkwardly scratched his ear; as a general of Yunshui City, being lectured by his sister was quite embarrassing.
Fortunately, there was no one else here.
Wait… there was one more.
Thinking this, he suddenly pulled open the curtain!
The coachman, leaning in too close, uncontrollably fell inside.
“Old Jiang, what are you doing not driving properly?”
“General! I… I’m sorry, I won’t do it again!”
“Hey, do you dislike your own life too much? You’re not allowed to speak of this to anyone! Do you hear me!?”
“……”
“Alright, brother, don’t scare him anymore.” Alna said softly.
Aijue said in a deep voice, “For Nana’s sake, I won’t punish you this time. Just don’t listen to things you shouldn’t, understand?”
“Y-yes!” The coachman hurriedly nodded.
“Just sit back down; don’t try anything funny…” Just as he was saying this, the carriage suddenly began to shake.
Crash, crash, crash.
“Old Jiang, go out and see what’s going on!”
“Y-yes… mm…” Before he could turn around to go outside, the coachman collapsed onto the carriage floor, clutching his chest.
Blood gushed out and dyed the seat a sinister red.
An arrow was embedded in his chest, hitting the heart flawlessly.
In addition to the coachman, the two horses panicked and neighed, as if encountering something terrifying, starting to bolt wildly, causing the carriage to sway uncontrollably.
Alna watched in disbelief as the corpse in front of her; they were ambushed on the way to the Imperial City!?
Eventually, the two horses seemed to trip over something and fell directly to the ground, while the carriage couldn’t withstand such violent turbulence, and the sound of wood splintering filled the air.
Bang!!
The carriage crashed into a massive tree, shattering into pieces.
Moments later.
A brown-haired man approached the scene slowly, sword in hand.
“Miroi, the person is dead; who are you guarding against? I can’t say I haven’t seen you like this.” Behind him, an archer holding a green longbow laughed.
“Stop the nonsense! Keep an eye out; I don’t believe this guy would die so easily.” Miroi said impatiently.
“Is that so… However, I must say, even if he were alive, he couldn’t possibly escape my arrow.”
“…” Miroi remained silent, staring at the shattered wood.
Suddenly, a cold wind blew by, making his body shiver involuntarily.
Tiny snowflakes fell in front of him. It was snowing…?
His body inexplicably stiffened, and he instinctively stretched his muscles.
A flash of silver light flickered among the wood; in that moment, it felt as if time had frozen.
…
After throwing Kui off the stage, Starry naturally gained the experience, reaching level 33 with 78% experience points.
Even defeating only provided 30% of the experience, a high level of 45 was still quite impressive.
Uncle continued to shout after being thrown off the stage, but Starry ignored him.
According to the rules, he could no longer challenge Starry again.
Half the time had already passed, and she had only defeated two opponents.
If it weren’t for the sudden inspiration earlier, realizing the real limitations of the broadcast battle, the time would have definitely been drained by this Undead.
But this also rang alarm bells for others; at the very least, it would be difficult to knock someone off the stage in the same way again.
However, as long as she defeated one more opponent, then let Fenghua and the main body take care of it, she could obtain the identity of the small broadcaster.
“The next one is…” Starry scanned below, observing who would be her next opponent.
However, looking around, no one seemed inclined to come up. What was going on?
Zane patted a strong black-skinned Minotaur next to him, asking in confusion, “Hey, why is no one coming up? Is it that no one dares to fight her?”
The Minotaur was somewhat surprised; it was rare for a wind wolf to initiate conversation with him.
But he answered readily, “Once someone has challenged, others cannot come up.”
“Ah? Isn’t there only one person on the stage?”
“… I only saw the rabbit, but that timing is uncertain.” The Minotaur pointed at the countdown above Starry’s head.
29:36
29:35
29:34
As he said, time continued to flow.
Only at the start does time begin to move; this is to prevent prolonged periods without challenges.
“Could it be that the countdown is malfunctioning?”
“Impossible!” The Minotaur exclaimed with excitement, “This arena was personally blessed by that Lord; it could never malfunction!”
Blessing…? Does he mean the blessing of Cangshui?
Wait… if there’s no malfunctioning…
Zane suddenly realized a terrifying reality—an enemy was hidden nearby!?
“Damn!”
“What are you shouting about?!” The Minotaur glared with wide eyes, growling.
“N-nothing…”
…
Starry stood still, the Qiu Yue Sword firmly held in her hand.
At that moment, she could feel a slight breeze.
There was no mistaking it; someone was coming, hiding around her.
Without any reconnaissance or anti-invisibility skills, when facing an enemy disguised under the guise of hiding, there are generally two methods.
The first is to use continuous AoE to force the enemy out.
The second is to judge their position based on changes in the surrounding terrain.
The arena was very flat; even after dozens of battles, it showed no damage and was of excellent quality.
However, this also meant it was hard to notice the enemy’s footprints.
Since that’s the case…
Starry suddenly dashed forward a few steps, her weapon spinning—Striking Dance!
-3766
A damage number floated behind her, and the hidden figure revealed itself for a moment before vanishing again.
