Chapter 415: Be Careful or I’ll Come Over and Slap You Through the Internet!
“Shut up! Everyone, just shut up! The other party hasn’t gone far yet!”
Right at the moment when things were about to escalate, someone suddenly shouted at the top of their lungs.
“Who do you think you are, saying they haven’t gone far? Just because you said so?!” Some angry folks snapped back, clearly not in the mood for calmness.
But the shouty one remained as cool as a cucumber. “We’ve got one of our people tracking that girl. I can locate her right now – she’s not too far from us.” As he spoke, a virtual screen popped up in front of him displaying a real-time map with marker symbols galore.
He reached out, magnifying the map. Everyone could now see the current situation in all its pixelated glory.
At that moment, it was like a spark of inspiration shot through the crowd. The earlier squabble seemed to vanish into thin air because, hey, this is a game! Why get worked up over it?
Perhaps this is what players call ‘teamwork’ or something equally cliché.
With a target in sight, the other players immediately followed suit like lemmings.
As the front row went for the meat, they lagged behind, ready to sip on the broth. Even if it was just for the thrill of the spectacle, that was good enough. Plus, the collective momentum was terrifying; they certainly wouldn’t come out on the losing end.
However, it wasn’t long before they hit a snag. The tracking signal they had zeroed in on mysteriously disappeared.
As they exchanged baffled glances, a few quickly realized it was likely because the other side had figured out their little tricks.
With no target in sight, the fragile trust they had started to build began to wobble like a table with three legs.
Yet those who hadn’t seen the girl yet were unwilling to throw in the towel. They promptly activated their flying gear and headed straight for where she had been spotted.
As someone took the lead, the rest of the players displayed a variety of flashy mounts racing down the streets.
Regardless of the practicality of these rides, to the players, flashy effects were second to none; nothing dared to outrank them, unless, of course, it packed a truly terrifying punch… like a strategic nuclear bomb?
Even a nuke wouldn’t be safe from some ridiculous custom effects slapped onto it!
Their obsession with aesthetics had become ingrained in their very souls.
But as they excitedly sped toward the target, the sunlight cast ominous shadows over the buildings, which suddenly twisted unnaturally.
With a heart-wrenching scream that shattered the air, along with the sound of someone’s mount shattering, a dark, distorted shadow emerged from the building’s shadow, riding a shadow-conjured warhorse and brandishing a several-meter-long spear for a dramatic entrance, spearing that unfortunate soul right through!
But in the next moment, they lost all interest in the poor screamer. They had just realized that a mass of shadowy creatures was marching towards them like they were on a rampage.
These beings wielded primitive polearms and were bulldozing through the players in the front row, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake.
The wealthy players, adorned with their flying gear, were also shaken by this sudden turn of events.
Thinking they’d narrowly escaped danger, they wiped nonexistent sweat from their brows, but the next second, one of them was pierced right through by a long spear, splitting them in two like a party balloon, showering the area with bl**d and gear fragments.
Those who were lucky enough to see their companion’s gruesome fate hastily raised shields to save themselves.
This sudden barrage sent the not-so-serious excavators packing straight to their doom.
At that moment, it felt like the sky above them darkened. A shadow loomed over the area, as if the Shadow Legion had decided this was their playground!
……
Atop a rooftop, I stood alongside Qiu Ruxin, surveying the battleground below. The view was absolutely breathtaking.
Qiu Ruxin’s eyes gleamed with fervor at the carnage, her gaze drinking in the raw display of power. Just a wave of her hand could wipe out the excavators.
I, however, remained coldly observant. The power of the Shadow Legion Summoning Spell was indeed more than I had anticipated. It was not just diverse in troop types but also uniquely cunning, especially effective against this group of weakly coordinated foes.
But… it still wasn’t enough!
I realized that simply killing them wasn’t giving me that sweet, sweet sense of revenge. They were just disposable shells. No matter how much suffering they endured before their deaths, it was all fake.
This wasn’t retribution! Far from it!
What I wanted… was to inflict real damage!
The only method at my disposal, aside from severing their Thread of Fortune—what I like to call “cutting off their internet cable”—was to somehow invade their world.
Oh, how I wish I could just punch the guy behind the screen!
But I had no clue where their world was. Ugh, frustrating!
Wait a minute…
I can’t invade their world?
I instinctively glanced at the Reverse Summoning Spell in my Spellbook, and like a light bulb, inspiration struck!
What if… these guys spread my Reverse Summoning Ceremony in their world? Wouldn’t I be able to drop in anytime?
But now, the question shifted to how an average person could pull off an extraordinary ritual. I had to plan for the worst-case scenario: if their world was so rough that ordinary folks couldn’t access the extraordinary, how could anyone complete the ceremony?
After all, my attempts at summoning mostly relied on creating reverse summoning runes based on this spellbook. Even that didn’t have a strong inter-world connection, let alone simple materials and rituals.
Fortunately, I had some intel on their world from the Real Protection Association. It had extraordinary energy, but most ordinary people rarely had access to it. The only exception seemed to be the energy blocks swapped out in game pods.
But… that was still doable, just a bit harder.
When the Shadow Legion had eliminated the weaklings, what remained were the elite excavators.
It was a shame I wouldn’t wipe them out entirely, but compared to the Summoning Spell and the protection of the Elemental Sprites, the convenience of this spell was invaluable. It required little from me, and even the weak couldn’t escape.
This would make handling complex battlefield situations a lot easier.
“I’m going to take care of some business. Wait for me here,” I told Qiu Ruxin, adding an extra shield around her.
“Are you going to finish off the ones still alive, Sister Xiao Han?” Qiu Ruxin asked instinctively.
“No, what I’m about to do is far more important than just ending them,” I replied, offering no further explanation as I leaped off toward the most chaotic part of the battlefield.
At that moment, the excavators were definitely not having a good time. Their weapons were practically useless against the agile Shadow Legion. If they used their more destructive weapons, they would take out their own teammates.
These Shadow Legion creatures seemed endless, and the longer it dragged on, the more desperate they became.
They couldn’t see it, but I could. The Shadow Legion Summoning Spell was on the brink of being exhausted by these excavators.
“Watch out! The Catastrophe Witch is coming again!”
Amid their exhaustion, one sharp-eyed individual suddenly noticed a figure descending from the sky, a radiant flame sweeping through with a wave of heat.
But just as their despair peaked, the fiery figure hovered above them, sending a hot gust their way.
Right then, the Shadow Legion that had been making their lives miserable faded back into the shadows.
“Congratulations, you have passed my test.”
At that moment, I hovered above them, having dispelled the Shadow Legion Summoning Spell, and I spoke to the remaining players.
“A test? You consider this a test? You—ah!”
At that point, a player who had succumbed to madness spotted me and, in a frenzied outburst, began to curse. It was clear his emotions were all over the place.
But his fate was sealed as I dispatched him in a single blow, making my display of power leave the others stunned.
“Weaklings do not deserve to stand before me and converse, and the arrogant have even less right to speak to me.”
Just then, runes appeared at my vocal cords, and while my voice wasn’t particularly loud, it resonated clearly in every excavator’s ears.
“I know you are players, and I understand what you seek in this world. Just as you suspected, yes, I indeed possess the answers you yearn to know. But if you think I’ll just share them with you, heh… it won’t be that simple.”
As my words hung in the air, excitement flashed in their eyes! Could it be?! The Catastrophe Witch knows something!
Whether I truly knew anything or not didn’t matter; everyone who had survived this long was no fool, and none would dare speak up in question now.
“To be honest, I don’t mind telling you what it is—it’s knowledge. I’m quite curious about it, so… I will only share its existence with those qualified to research it.”
With that, they glimpsed a glimmer of hope. Cowed by my strength, they didn’t dare approach, yet their gazes radiated desire.
“I will only provide you with a clue. Once you’ve thoroughly deciphered it, you’ll know exactly what to do next.”
Once I finished, a rune appeared in my hand, surrounded by a complex array of ritual circles.
Needless to say, the rune was the summons for my Reverse Summoning Spell. They wanted to uncover this secret, huh? Well, I’d toss them a bait. Even if they figured out it was a trick, there’d still be those not ready to give up.
And who knows… they might even conduct research on this rune in their own world. Once they tried, it would replicate and imprint upon their realm.
If they succeeded, the rune would pinpoint their world!
I could then find that world!
Even if I couldn’t conquer it, I could lure the mentors from the Witch Academy over!
All I need is for that civilization… to be wiped out!
With that thought, I stepped forward, my figure dissolving into space as the fiery winds from my Fire Fairy Transformation slowly dissipated.
As they witnessed my departure, they finally breathed a sigh of relief, but their eyes were still glued to where I had vanished, for the rune I left behind hadn’t faded.
Those who grasped the gravity of the situation quickly approached to record the mystical ritual.
They knew nothing about it, but since the Catastrophe Witch called it a clue, they had no choice but to invest time in figuring it out.
Those rushing toward it included many sharp-minded individuals who moved forward to record it directly. Many were wary of them, as they served the game architects.
“What in the world is this?”
“This is astonishing! It must be magic! These patterns… they’re not even physical!”
“d*mn it! Keep your filthy hands off! We haven’t finalized the sample yet! If your clumsiness makes us spend extra time on this, you’ll be sorry!”
Suddenly reprimanded, one startled player was knocked out of the way by another. Principles and profits demand zero tolerance for carelessness.
“Humph! We don’t even know if this isn’t just a smokescreen set up by the Catastrophe Witch to buy time! And what knowledge could surpass that of our world? Our technology tramples theirs…”
“Enough! I really can’t figure out how someone like you has survived thus far. Keep yapping like that, and you might just wake up to find the game’s gone!”
“Who’s afraid of who?! The barefoot have no fear of the shod! Come at me if you dare!”
……
“Sister Xiao Han… I still don’t understand, why not just k*ll them all?”
As I ambled along the empty streets with Qiu Ruxin, she finally couldn’t hold back her question.
“What’s the point of killing them all? Just to vent? That’s meaningless. For them, d*ath isn’t an end. Since you’ve interacted with the members of the Real Protection Association, you should have a clear understanding of what the excavators really are.”
“Uh-huh…”
“There you go! Killing them only takes out their shells. To deliver a real blow, the only way is to invade their world. Only by giving them a true lesson will they understand the consequences of stirring up trouble with beings like me.”
“So… Sister Xiao Han, you want to invade the excavators’ world?”
“Exactly! I’ll spread the ritual to summon me. Let’s see if any chump from that world dares to pull it off.” As I spoke, a sinister smile crept onto my lips, making Qiu Ruxin shiver reflexively.
“So… where are we going now? We hardly have a place to be, right?”
“There’s a wide world out there; how could we run out of rooms? Don’t fret! When the time comes, we’ll just change our appearances, and no one will recognize us. As for where to stay… renting a place is fine or even buying a house isn’t out of the question. Oh, by the way, once we settle down, I’ll have a gift for you.”
“A gift? What kind of gift?”
“You’ll find out when the time comes.” I smiled mysteriously, remaining tight-lipped no matter how much Qiu Ruxin pleaded.
