Chapter 224

Chapter 217: The World

“Dang!”

The crisp sound of weapons clashing echoed through the darkness, and Thistle was somewhat taken aback that he had managed to block such a swift attack from the hidden sniper. He quickly shifted to Vania’s side, changing his angle to launch another assault. However, Vania was quick to respond, deflecting his strike and quickly aiming her sword at Thistle’s throat, only for him to narrowly evade, leaving just a small tear in the corner of his clothing.

“This swordsmanship…”

Seeing Vania’s display of sword skills, Thistle couldn’t help but take her more seriously, focusing his mind as he engaged Vania with his short kn*fe.

In an instant, their figures danced around the battlefield, the sounds of their blades clashing ringing out continuously.

Thistle, an Extraordinary Being assisting the “Cup,” had considerable strength, comparable to Vania, who used bl**d-Eating skills, meaning they were evenly matched in terms of power. However, Vania’s advantage in technique and experience was evident, but it couldn’t secure her victory at this moment as their speed differentials were too great.

As a Black Tier “Shadow,” Thistle’s agility and speed outclassed those of typical apprentices. The gap in speed between Vania and Thistle was vast, making it nearly impossible for her skill to compensate.

Once Thistle began to concentrate, Vania found herself in an increasingly dire situation. Her attacks couldn’t touch the agile Thistle while he used his speed to launch strikes from various angles. After failing her first two attempts to attack, Vania was forced into a full defensive stance, parrying against Thistle’s relentless speed assaults.

Thistle’s attacks were quick and varied in angle, even leveraging his abilities to briefly blend into darkness, diminishing his presence before launching surprise attacks. Many of his strikes came from Vania’s blind spots, and if it weren’t for her activating the Mind’s Eye, allowing her to sense and intercept attacks from all angles, along with her master-level experience anticipating his movements, she would have been slain countless times already.

This was the absolute disparity caused by their level difference; unless Thistle slowed down his speed by forty percent, Vania could not hope to win.

‘Ah… I can’t hit him at all! I can only passively defend, and I won’t last long like this!’ Vania thought helplessly, realizing that if this continued, she would soon be defeated.

Despite the enhancements from bl**d-Eating and Laurent Swordsmanship, Vania was clearly unable to confront a Black Tier opponent head-on, especially one as strong in close combat as “Shadow” combined with “Cup.”

‘God… please help me!’

……

In the midst of this desperate struggle, Vania silently prayed from her heart. Meanwhile, deep within the underground secret room, Dorothy, anxiously awaiting news, was startled upon hearing Vania’s prayer, her brows furrowing.

‘This is… Vania’s prayer. Is the situation above not good?’

Hearing Vania’s prayer, Dorothy immediately felt tense. She wanted to help, but she had no real way to grasp the situation above. As she pondered, a thought suddenly struck her.

‘System, can I access the visual information of the connector through the information channel?’ Dorothy inquired, reasoning that since the information channel could transmit various types of information, visual signals should also be included. Indeed, the system responded promptly.

‘Yes, but for a complete transmission of visual information, the information channel needs to be widened. Each time requires additional “Enlightenment,” and the target must not resist.’

It’s possible! I just need to widen the connection! Dorothy’s spirits lifted upon receiving the system’s reply, and she quickly directed her prayer towards Vania and Nephnis on the surface.

“Great Akka, I will provide assistance to my comrades in battle; please let them not resist.”

After sending out her prayer, Dorothy concentrated and then spoke to the system.

‘System, prepare to connect me to Vania and Nephnis’s visual information.’

……

On the surface, at the Clear Stream Riverbank, Nephnis, who had just fallen over the river embankment, quietly advanced through the grass on the stony beach, her heart racing as she heard the continuous sounds of clashing from across the river.

‘Is the backup Miss Dorothy mentioned fighting over there? I hope they’re winning, but as an ordinary person, I can’t be of any help.’

While thinking this, Nephnis stealthily moved to a nearby stairway and carefully climbed back up the riverbank, turning to glance towards the River Ditch Bridge where she had just been.

Nephnis saw Thistle’s remaining subordinates emerging from their hiding spots. They gathered at the bridge’s entrance, looking towards the distant battlefield as if discussing something. At their feet lay two corpses, previously struck down.

‘Could those guys be trying to help…? I wonder how many people Miss Dorothy mentioned are assisting, but if those guys go over to help, it might not end well…’

Watching the scene in the distance, Nephnis felt apprehensive, and at that moment, a familiar voice echoed in her mind.

“Great Akka, I will provide assistance to my comrades in battle; please let them not resist…”

“This is… Miss Dorothy’s voice?”

Hearing the voice filled Nephnis with confusion, but the previous words gave her a strange sensation in her mind. Hesitating for a moment, she ultimately chose not to resist this feeling. Similarly, Vania, caught in the ongoing battle, made the same choice.

Thus, the visual information from Nephnis and Vania began to flow through the information channel into Dorothy’s mind. In that moment, what they saw was also visible to Dorothy—her vision was aligned with theirs.

This sensation was familiar to Dorothy, reminiscent of when a Zombie Puppet provided her visual perspective, but this time it was a person instead.

After spending 2 points of “Enlightenment,” successfully connecting with Vania and Nephnis’s perspective, Dorothy immediately began to observe the battlefield from within the secret room, seemingly looking for something.

Vania’s view was a whirlwind of flashing blades and rapidly moving shadows, while Nephnis’s perspective remained steady. Dorothy found what she was looking for within Nephnis’s view—two corpses, the very ones Vania had initially slain.

“Got it, since this is a battle… there must be corpses…”

Looking at the bodies in the visual provided by Nephnis, Dorothy smiled slightly, activating the Zombie Puppet Ring to remotely control the corpses from deep underground.

Indeed, Dorothy’s reason for utilizing Nephnis’s and Vania’s visual perspectives was to employ them as observation points and activate the Zombie Puppet Ring to manipulate the corpses on the battlefield.

The maximum control distance of Dorothy’s Zombie Puppet Ring is a radius of three kilometers. Although she appeared to be deep underground on the sixth layer of the underground ruins, this combined depth was hardly over sixty meters, which did not significantly affect Dorothy’s control range. She could be regarded as immobile at some point within the King Campus.

Three kilometers was ample distance, enough to traverse several small counties from Dorothy’s past life. The ruins of the Star Number Repair Association were located beneath the King Campus, and the battlefield was only about a kilometer away, perfectly within the maximum operational range for Dorothy’s Zombie manipulation. She only needed to sense that area, and with the visual access there, the Zombie Puppet Ring could take effect to raise the corpses.

At the River Ditch Bridge, infused with invisible power, the corpses that Vania had forcibly killed began to twitch slightly, their vacant eyes slowly opening as they stood up silently, gazing toward their chatting companions and the fierce battlefield across the river.