Chapter 365: Is This Going To Be A Consecutive Battle?
Translator: Pluto Editor: Vermillion
The effect from the Special Items could buy them precious time. This time, Puppeteer finally displayed his full prowess.
Lin Sanjiu leaped from a lamppost to the half-melted roof of a building. Before she could think about the card in her hand, the ground beneath her suddenly shook violently, like the churn waves in the ocean. For a moment, everything was topsy-turvy. Even with her agility, Lin Sanjiu could not maintain her balance properly so she had no choice but to crouch.
The building which had already been riddled with holes made creaking noises. It cracked into a few segments from its interior due to the magnitude of the quake. Gripping the uppermost beam of the infrastructure tightly with her fingers, Lin Sanjiu stopped herself from falling off the roof. The sunny blue skies gradually turned dark as thick gray clouds gathered and suffocated the even the tiniest bit of sunlight out of the sky. A large hurricane was approaching them from afar. Countless broken pillars and damaged roof tiles spun around the eye of the hurricane. With a loud whoosh, Pumpkin Route was decimated. Everything instantly sank into darkness.
However, that wasn’t even the most impressive part of that attack.
An earth-shattering rumble tore through the dark sky as the ground shook violently. When Lin Sanjiu narrowed her eyes and looked at the ground behind her, she took a few seconds before she could react to what she saw.
There were multiple large fissures on the originally flat ground. She couldn’t even tell how deep those fissures were. Yet, the ground started moving as ocean waves. The waves came one after the other. The ground moved upwards and downwards, like waves and also like a meat grinder. Grind. Grind. Grind. As if the ground was about to swallow the entire world.
Everything within the area targeted by the “waves” became like small little rafts on a raging stormy sea. That included the layers and layers of thick empyesis. In the blink of an eye, the waves swallowed them. Even though Lin Sanjiu was not even within the area of attack, She had to run to the far side of the roof to avoid being swallowed by the waves as they passed the building she was on.
“So, a person’s ultimate power can reach such levels?”
The duoluozhong and Puppeteer had disappeared from the middle of the road once that insane tremor started. In fact, Lin Sanjiu couldn’t even tell which part of the rubble was actually the road. The hurricane was so strong that Lin Sanjiu could barely open her eyes. She was also afraid that if she loses her grip, she will be pulled into mid-air.
“Is this Puppeteer’s true strength…”
Just as Lin Sanjiu shuddered from that thought. She couldn’t help feeling very fortunate that Puppeteer did not use his ultimate abilities on her. At the same time, she suddenly heard Puppeteer’s voice in her ears, “Quick! Get ready! My ability only lasts for 10 seconds!”
“Get ready? Get ready to fight with that duoluozhong?”
However, she couldn’t even see where that duoluozhong was now!
Lin Sanjiu regretted that she did not get a mic from Puppeteer but right now there was nothing much she could do about it. As she had been shifting positions due to the wind, she thrust her skeletal wings into the ground and fixed herself in that position. Next, she quickly scanned the two remaining cards.
The fourth Special Item had a very ordinary-sounding name and function. It was called [Green Dragon Crescent Blade]. Lin Sanjiu squinted her eyes to look at the description and found out that it was just a weapon with a boosted attack power. On the other hand, the Special Item on the other card seemed very familiar to her, it was a [Parchment Contract].
Without a second thought, Lin Sanjiu immediately reverted the [Parchment Contract] to its original form. Anyone would have made the same decision. Once the item physically appeared in her hands, it fluttered noisily in the wind. If it wasn’t for Lin Sanjiu’s quick reaction, the Special Item, albeit rare, might have been ripped in half by the wind. She held the edges of the contract tightly. “Oh!” An exclamation escaped her mouth when she glanced down at the contract.
Now she knew why the name of the item was familiar to her!
She clearly remembered seeing the same item when she was in the pocket dimension in the Garden of Eden. At that time, the Old Man Fairy got Cinderella to sign on an identical item. 1 At that time, it did cross Lin Sanjiu’s mind to snatch that item from the fairy. However, due to the three confusing timeline in the pocket dimension, she did not get the item in the end.
“Where did Puppeteer find this item? Has he been to Garden of Eden too?”
Unfortunately, this was not the time for Lin Sanjiu to ponder about such matters. There were only a few more seconds before Puppeteer’s ability deactivated. Lin Sanjiu skimmed through the words on the sheepskin parchment as she remembered the description and instructions she read from her card.
[Parchment Contract #168]
In ancient fables and fairytales, whenever a demon wanted to make a contract with a human, it would bring out a parchment contract like this… If a demon has unlimited powers, why would they even bother with this troublesome detail? The exclusive company which produces these parchment contracts to demons for centuries finally decided that they had to improve their branding. With this in mind, 250 parchment contracts have been released to the market for a market test.
Effect: This item belongs to the “Interspecies Parchment Contract Series”. Once the contract has been signed, no changes can be made to it during the contract period. When a user wants to use the contract, he can just set conditions and details in his mind. This contract is immediately effective once the contractee signs the contract. Considering the species of the contractee, a handprint, a personal seal, a scratch, a drop of body fluid, or lipstick, etc, are all acceptable. To be honest, as long as a part of the contractee’s body touches the empty signature area under “contractee’s signature”, the contract would be effective.
Contract period: the length of the contract is determined by a very complex algorithm. It involves the difference between the absolute value of the combat capabilities of both parties, the power ratios, the contract type, difficulty, benefits, etc. After the contract had been signed, the user would see an automatically generated contract period. The contract period cannot be amended.
However, there is one important note. The terms and conditions of the contract cannot include anything that forces the contractee to harm themselves. Contracts that involve self-mutilation, self-amputation among other cannot be established.
“Puppeteer’s items are all too heaven-defying! ”
Lin Sanjiu wrapped the [Parchment Contract] around her left hand at lightning speed. She left the empty signature area on the outside. If she touches the duoluozhong with the back of her hand, the contract would be effective! Additionally, with the [Parchment Contract] protecting her hand, she didn’t need to worry about the effects of the empyesis. After all, a Special Item shouldn’t be affected by that.
Lin Sanjiu bent her knees and then launched herself into the air. The ability that Puppeteer used to created that massive destruction finally deactivated. Just as sudden as it had started, it disappeared in an instant. The dark clouds in the sky vanished in a couple of breaths, revealing the bright moons and stars. The quakes stopped and the air currents became calm. The only thing that was left behind was the upturned ground which still appeared as though it had swallowed an entire sky.
A paper-thin figure stood above an upturned patch of ground. It was Puppeteer. Even the deeper granite layers of the ground could be seen. Yet, there was no sight of the duoluozhong
“Where is that thing?” Lin Sanjiu shouted as she dived straight into the middle of the fully-devastated Pumpkin Route. The gallons of empyesis had been buried thousands of meters under the ground. It was so effective that there wasn’t even a bit of empyesis left above ground.
Puppeteer looked up. The glitter around his eyes was now a shimmery gray. When Lin Sanjiu was just a few hundred meters away from Puppeteer, he noticed the [Parchment Contract] around her hand. He suddenly lifted one corner of his lip. Lin Sanjiu was caught off guard for half a second by his unexpected smile.
She shuddered instinctively and cursed softly, “Damn it!” She instantly stopped. As she spread her wings wide open, she pulled her body backward hurriedly…
Suddenly, a huge gush of foul-smelling fluid shot out from the uneven fissures in the ground. The reddish-black goo smeared a patch of the sky as it shot toward Lin Sanjiu. Drops of fluid sprayed everywhere. Lin Sanjiu found herself surrounded by that fluid. “Give me back my Parchment Contract!” An obsequious and grating voice came out from the fluid.
“So, this was what Puppeteer stole from that duoluozhong. “
It was clear as day. That bastard had openly used her as bait again.
Lin Sanjiu did not have the time to consider how Puppeteer would attack the duoluozhong. Right now, she didn’t know where that duoluozhong was and what condition it was in. She could only see a body of reddish-black fluid coming toward her. There was no place for her to evade it. Just as it was about to touch her. A thought flashed in her mind and she immediately covered herself from head to toe with her [Defence Forcefield]. She activated her [No coincidence. No story] almost at the same time and took out her [Tornado Whip] consecutively. Without even looking in front of her, Lin Sanjiu shielded her head with one arm and whipped out a tornado with another.
Looking at those badly damaged buildings, Lin Sanjiu already knew what would happen to her if the fluid touched her body. Surprisingly, the tornado she whipped out managed to hold back the spray of fluid for a short while. Lin Sanjiu wasn’t sure if it was because of her [No coincidence. No story] ability. Even with that short window of time, she managed to steal a breather. She promptly took a few steps backward.
Before she could pull the Parchment Contract away from her wrist, she suddenly sensed that something wasn’t quite right.
The tornado from her item and that foul-smelling goo seemed to be fusing too well.
“Good. Good…” The duoluozhong’s disembodied voice sounded once again but Lin Sanjiu was still unable to track its true body. “I will give this to me, I’ll just have to accept it!”
Her heart missed a beat. Lin Sanjiu did not have the time to remove the Parchment Contract from her hand. She sprinted toward a spot not far from her as fast as she could, as if her life depended on it. After Puppeteer’s attack, the duoluozhong had also apparently used one of its last resorts to protect itself. Other than the tornado that she had released, she could not see any sign of the duoluozhong. When its voice faded, the tornado that reached the sky suddenly changed directions and followed Lin Sanjiu with a whoosh.
With the added momentum from the tornado, it was as if the foul-smelling fluid had been poured on a spinning top. Its spread grew tremendously and the spray was definitely more intense. Seven or eight spots of it landed on Lin Sanjiu’s body one after the other. Small holes quickly appeared on the back of Lin Sanjiu’s clothes. Even though the corrosive fluid did not eat into Lin Sanjiu’s skin because of her activated [Defence Forcefield], it consumed her higher consciousness at an alarming rate.
“Just hang on for a bit more,” Puppeteer said in an unhurried manner into her ears. Even after such a long time, Puppeteer had not moved. “He lost his form after my attack, but I am going to find the ‘nucleus’ of this goddamn creature soon.”
“If you don’t hurry up, I will bloody well be nuked soon!” Lin Sanjiu ranted breathly. She detected another large splatter of smelly fluid heading her way. She immediately threw herself to the ground, rolling and scrambling to get out of the way. Originally, she thought that Puppeteer couldn’t hear her so she did not anticipate his answer, “If you ruin what I plan, I am sure you will die even faster.”
Lin Sanjiu cursed and swore inwardly at both Puppeteer and the duoluozhong. She clenched her teeth and decided to stand her ground.
Running away wasn’t a long-term strategy!
The tornado, along with its swirling putrid, reddish-black fluid, instantly shook a few times as if provoked by her actions. It spewed the disgusting fluid everywhere before stopping abruptly seemingly without reason. However, Lin Sanjiu quickly understood.
A black shadow suddenly flashed within the tornado. Something within the tornado suddenly spat out a large amount of empyesis. The fountain of empyesis covered the sky above Lin Sanjiu.
“How wasteful,” Lin Sanjiu exclaimed when she saw countless wobbling bubbles of empyesis falling from the sky. She did not even move an inch from where she stood. “I’m only one person, why would you need so much of this.” Lin Sanjiu muttered.
The figure standing far on the high ground suddenly moved. However, Lin Sanjiu gave him only a fleeting glance before she cast her full attention to the empyesis above her. Every millisecond could mean a difference between life and death for her.
Lin Sanjiu activated [PHOTOSHOP/CS6]’s “Eraser” function. She shut both her eyes and honed her hypersensory state like an extremely sensitive radar which caught every bit of movement around her. Lin Sanjiu moved her body like an expert martial artist as if her movements were almost by natural instinct. She glided naturally as if she knew exactly where she had to be at each moment. However, she wasn’t counter attacking. With the physical “Eraser” icon in between her fingers, she erased her targets.
Thankfully, the empyesis wasn’t a biological lifeform. When Lin Sanjiu waved the eraser over her target, she left a streak of pure white emptiness.
After a few seconds, or a few minutes, there was a shift in her hypersensory state. Lin Sanjiu opened her eyes. The countless bubbles of empyesis had all disappeared. She managed to witness the final stage of Puppeteer’s attack.
The tornado had already been destroyed. Over ten patches of black spots hovered in mid-air. They were the congealed form of the empyesis fluid. Despite how much they struggled, their fate was unavoidable. With a soft pop, the black fluid dissipated in the air.
Once his opponent was defeated, Puppeteer suddenly fell directly from the sky to the ground with a thud. He seemed to have sustained serious damage from the fight as well. His skin was a bloodless, pallid white. It was as if he had been pulled out from a pool of water.
“Are you alright?” Lin Sanjiu yelled at him from a distance after hesitating for a second. Puppeteer ignored her completely. After quite some time, he finally spoke, “Give me back my items.”
“Gosh! What a small-minded person!”
No matter how much Lin Sanjiu appreciated the items, there was no way she would keep his items for herself. She took a step toward Puppeteer. She had the four Special Items in her hand when a rumbling sound suddenly came from the arena behind them.
Both Lin Sanjiu and Puppeteer were more than familiar with that sound. That was the sound of the walls when someone came out from a station. With his slightly trembling arms, Puppeteer quickly propped himself and sat up. Lin Sanjiu turned behind and watched as a person walked out from the arena. She narrowed her eyes without saying a word.
“Hello, we meet again.”
An average looking young man with gold-rimmed spectacles nodded at her politely.