Chapter 36: Black Shadows under the Sword! Midnight Pursuit!
Editor: Henyee Translations
'What is going on?!'
'Why can't I move!'
His entire body felt like it had been fixed onto the spot with superglue. Some kind of force had fixed him in place, preventing him from moving. Right now, he could not even turn his head around.
"Who are you?!"
He realised that he could only change his facial expressions as he looked at the neon advertising text on the building in front of him.
"How could you possibly find me?!"
He gnashed his teeth in horror, a storm was brewing in his heart. It had not been long since the chaotic battle between the seven of them had just ended. 'How did this guy manage to find me!'
No one answered him, but the fear in his heart was growing increasingly greater. He had already tried his best to input mana points into his body, and the feedback informed him that it had taken effect. However, he still could not break free of the restraint!
'How can this be?!'
'Who is this guy?'
'Right now, among the other six people, how can there be someone who can restrain me without me noticing?!'
'Is there a sorcerer from the mysterious division like myself, hidden among them?'
'Impossible!'
'Even if that was the case, with my C-grade abilities, even if I have insufficient mana points, I should still be able to break free of this person's restraint!
'Exactly what is going on?!'
He felt like he was going crazy!
"That… I can help…"
Pfft!
Before he could finish begging for mercy, a silver sword tip emerged from his chest!
"Cough… You…"
An incomprehensible gutteral sound came from his throat. Realising that his body had regained its freedom, he turned around and collapsed onto the ground, and the appearance of his killer finally appeared in his line of sight.
Under the night, there stood a black-haired young man, whose face could not be seen clearly, shrouded in a long black coat. Behind him, a tall human figure floated bizarrely. Its outline seemed to be slightly ruffled, and there appeared to only be darkness under the pitch-black cloak.
A queer and chilling scene.
"You… you… you!!!"
Blood spilled from his mouth as he pointed in horror at the black-haired youth and the monster floating behind him. All of a sudden, he recalled something!
It was a subject that supposedly only B-grade participants and above could touch.
"You are the dark…"
He muttered incomprehensibly. However, he could not finish his sentence before he lost his voice and breath for eternity.
The dragon wing on the sword-blade in his hand closed and vanished. The tall black cloak behind him turned into a black line and converged in his hand, assembling back into a card.
[THE SHADOW]
[Symbolism: The unknown part, the occurrence and eliminator of the problems.]
[Introduction: Power to manipulate the shadows of oneself and others.]
The night breeze was slightly cooling. The black-haired youth, donning a long black coat to cover his figure, quietly looked at the man whom he had killed on the ground.
He was silent for a moment. Then, his entire body started trembling all of a sudden. His right hand covered his mouth with all his might and he bent down, forcefully suppressing the panic and fear emerging from his body that were brewing nausea and disgust in his stomach!
'Killed someone.'
'I killed someone.'
'Just now.'
Realising this fact, he shuddered violently. However, after several attempts to calm down, he forcibly stood up upright again.
It was as if nothing had happened.
[You are the first to eliminate a participant]
[Pursuit activated]
[Approximate locations of other participants have been provided]
[Current Number of Participants: 7/12]
He opened the system's pursuit interface. Several huge circles were marked out on the map.
The circular cyclone appeared under his feet again, and his body began to float off the ground once again, before flying in a certain direction.
…
…
Nighttime, at 2.16 am..
Outside the business district, in a villa residential area.
Even when the surrounding neighborhoods were dark, this villa residential area where only the wealthy lived, was still brightly lit. The beautiful and luxurious villas sat in picturesque disorder in the area.
In the furthest area, which was also where the largest villa was at, a woman in professional attire sat on the soft leather sofa, her brows furrowed and her face turned pale as she looked at the interface in front of her.
[Current Number of Participants: 4/12]
"What's going on?!"
She exclaimed with a frown, forcibly suppressing her anxiety. However, the cause of her anxiety was not because her mental strength was not strong enough. As the one of the C-graders left in this scenario, she had naturally participated in many scenarios in the past.
It was just that the situation was too bizarre.
Ever since the previous night when the seven of them ended that chaotic battle, each of them carrying different injuries as they withdrew from the battle, they had each gone into hiding to heal.
According to her original plan, after the chaos and after the recuperation time, the later half of the night would be when the real fight and killing between them would start.
'But who can tell me?!'
'What the hell is going on here?'
'Starting from an hour after the chaos!'
'Participants are getting killed!'
'How is this possible!'
'Someone already completely recuperated?!'
'And accurately pinpointing each of their locations and successfully killing every single time?'
However, she who had been hiding, still did not know that after killing one participant, the system would automatically award a skill called Pursuit.
"What kind of joke is this!"
She yelled furiously and violently flung the goblet onto the white marble floor!
When she realised that she had entered a special battle scenario, she had initially felt confident about her chances. After all, she was someone from 'Adversity'. As long as she could get her hands on the Night Equipment this time around, her abilities would soar through their skies!
Her status and rank in Adversity would inevitably rise up like a soaring eagle!
However, her expectations were completely shattered at the very beginning, as she had not expected the B-grade participant, Si A, would appear in this scenario. To think that after reluctantly forming an alliance with that suited man to eliminate Si A, something like this would actually still happen!
"Who is it?! Who on earth is it?!"
The woman in the professional attire stared at the interface that indicated only four people were left, and mumbled,
"Who is it?! There are only four people left, four C-grade participants. Besides me, there's that guy from the authorities, the man from Midnight, and that loner sorcerer."
Tightly grasping the armrest of the sofa, she asked through gnashed teeth,
"Who is it amongst them?!"
'Who on earth recovered first?!'
Just when she was suspecting everyone and making wild guesses!
The floor-to-ceiling windows of the spacious living room shattered!
A pitiful figure rolled into the villa together with the expensive silk curtains!
"Who is it!"
The woman was instantly startled! She leaped up from the sofa and shouted! A camlet made of unknown material appeared in her hands!
The figure's face was pale, and his entire body seemed to be on fire as he rolled on the floor. His long black coat and mask had been burnt to pieces!
It was the person from the authorities, someone who was her arch-enemy!
'Why is he so beaten up?!'
The woman in the professional attire, who had exchanged blows with him during the chaotic battle, was taken aback!
Then, the man heaved blood, and with great difficulty, he pulled away the curtain wrapped around him. Placing his weight on the Tang Dynasty sword to prop himself up, he swiftly said to her with a ghastly complexion,
"If you don't want to die, we need to work together!"
The woman in the professional attire was shocked. She peered outside through the shattered window. A breath-taking figure was slowly walking towards them!
His right hand was stuffed casually in the pocket of his dark trousers and a flame was blazing on his left hand, slightly illuminating his face at that moment. And the biggest reason why the figure took away her breath was…!
Si A.
"Yo! Are you planning to pay back the debt you owe me?"
He sneered at her in a familiar unruly, contemptuous tone. The flame in his hand was still burning hot and bright!
This…!
Her body was paralysed and her throat went dry. With the sense of death creeping up, she mechanically turned her head and asked that person from the authorities. Although they were enemies in the finer terms, she could care less at this moment. The only chance of them escaping was if the two of them combined forces!
"What the hell is…"
The rest of her words remained lodged in her throat, because the Tang Dynasty sword had pierced her chest!
"Evil wind con…"
"Older sister?"
It seemed like in just a split second, the injured person in front of her suddenly transformed into her closest family member, her sister. They were mutually dependent on each other from a young age. And now, her sister was blinking her large eyes and looking at her in puzzlement.
The words got lodged back in her throat and she lost her final chance to retaliate. The Tang Dynasty sword… No, a streak of silver sheen penetrated through her chest!
While death was encroaching on her, she seemed to have finally figured it out. Gritting her teeth viciously, she struggled to turn around to see the 'Si A' behind her!
A dark-haired youth in a long dark coat now stood there instead.
Then, her field of view turned completely black.
The woman in the professional attire collapsed on the carpet of the villa, blood slowly oozing out and spreading all over, her eyes still wide open.
After she fell, the person who had dealt her that fatal blow also stilled all of a sudden.
Like a layer of color fading away, that person and 'Si A' finally revealed their true forms. The tall black human-shaped cloak with only darkness beneath, turned into black strips and returned back to the young man's hand.
The faded color did not dissipate. It instead turned into rays of light converging together. Similarly, at the end of it, they merged to form a golden card. On the card, red gems shone faintly.
[THE ILLUSION]
[Symbolism: The desire to escape from reality.]
[Introduction: It has the power to make opponents hallucinate about what they long for and creates illusions.]
The two cards dissipated, and the "illusion" and "shadow" that killed the woman in the professional attire, literally also vanished.
The young man stood outside the villa, looking up at the night sky. His fists were tightly clenched as he exhaled deeply.
"There are still two more…"
-- Gift
received