Serial Player
Chapter 444 - 120: Drive Away Wolves and Tigers

Chapter 444: Chapter 120: Drive Away Wolves and Tigers

The night was as dark as thick ink, impossible to dissipate.

Yet the starry sky was breathtakingly beautiful, countless stars shimmering against the dark curtain of the night.

Every now and then, a meteor streaked across the sky, which reminded Luca of the dazzling girl he met when he was young. She was so radiant, so attention-grabbing, and so....

"Meteors? Those are the spirits of dead heroes. Snap out of it and stay focused on our surroundings." Li Changhe’s voice interrupted Luca’s reminiscence.

Luca’s mood dampened, and he grumbled with a pout, "Can’t I even stargaze without you nagging me at this late hour?"

At that moment, it was already past midnight. The entire city had fallen asleep, but the two of them were on the rooftop of a building, anxiously observing their surroundings.

"Even we, as mages, can’t detect Heroic Spirit Summoning. If their Contractor is summoning a Sword Rank heroic spirit in some corner, we wouldn’t be able to find them at all." Luca sighed. With just their current abilities, searching for the other two in the city was like finding a needle in a haystack.

"It would’ve been fine if my identity hadn’t been exposed. At least then I could use my organization’s resources to check the city’s surveillance. That would be a lot more efficient than what we’re doing now." As a member of the organization, Luca could have quietly used its strength. But since his identity as a Contractor was exposed, he didn’t even dare return to the organization. The stakes in the Seven Kings War were too high, and no one could guarantee whether his colleagues would turn on him for the sake of their team.

"Do you remember how your identity was revealed?" Li Changhe asked, activating the [Hawkeye Demon Eyes] and releasing all three black eagles to scrutinize the quiet city from a bird’s eye view.

"Well, wasn’t it because the Berserker Rank and Assassin Rank found us, and we got caught during the fight..." Luca paused, "You mean they could find the Sword Rank the same way?"

"It’s still unclear how they managed to do that. But they were definitely able to pinpoint our location. Even the Carmen Family couldn’t avoid their detection..." Li Changhe recalled, noting that similar incidents had occurred according to the records. It was unknown whether it was due to [Players] having unique abilities that detected such things, but it was a rather tricky ability.

According to Luca, summoning heroic spirits wouldn’t cause any fluctuations or special phenomena which worked to protect the Contractors.

Not everyone had the Carmen Family’s power to protect Contractors with layers of defenses. Even if their identities were revealed, enemies wouldn’t dare to attack Carmen Heavy Industries.

Most Contractors chose to hide themselves... but this strategy seemed to have failed since someone could always detect the exact locations of the heroic spirit summonings.

However, this saved Li Changhe a lot of trouble. Otherwise, if all seven [Players] played by the rules of the Dark Forest Array, how long would the task have taken?

Now, their task was to wait for the Sword Rank heroic spirit to be summoned.

If the Berserker Rank and Assassin Rank factions decided to make a move, Brother Ting just needed to sense any fluctuations or the black eagles needed to catch on to any activity. Then, utilizing the [Hawkeye Demon Eyes] to track the traces, they might be able to approach the Sword Rank.

This time, their second greatest opponent was [Northern Ocean Ship-Slicer·Qiu Wentian]!

Just looking at the Title was impressive—a Ship-Slicer... the kind who could hack through ships using a Ship-Slashing Blade?

As he thought about this, he saw a ’meteor’ streak backwards across the sky in the far distance, tearing apart the night and blooming wildly in the darkness.

That was... fireworks.

In the real world, it was precisely the time of the year for celebrating with fireworks, so seeing them was quite normal.

The scattered fireworks fell like dandelion seeds, immersing the entire city in a festive atmosphere.

But in this world, the fireworks seemed too sudden.

The black eagles soared towards the night sky, flying in the direction of the fireworks. Li Changhe asked in a low tone, "Is this normal?"

"Eastern fireworks? The first time I saw them, I thought they were signs of war." Luca thought for a moment and said, "Misty City doesn’t have this Eastern custom."

Li Changhe nodded in agreement. It was clear what that meant. Previously, they had thought that the alliance between the Berserker Rank and Assassin Rank factions had fallen apart, and they weren’t sure if the groups would have the nerve to attack the Sword Rank heroic spirit.

Now, it seemed they were quite clever.

"What a brilliant ploy to drive away wolves and tigers!"

At the other side, Carmen Heavy Industries.

The Rider Rank heroic spirit of this contest had been shot in the knee. As the Rider watched the fireworks in the distance, he lowered his motorcycle helmet’s visor, and the engine roared like thunder!

"So that’s it, killing with a borrowed knife!"

The people who had control over the Contractors’ locations had voluntarily exposed the Sword Rank heroic spirit’s position.

If they had followed the previous strategy, no [Player] would have ignored this hint.

The later [Players] entered the world, the stronger and more dangerous they became.

The odds of winning an individual fight were low, so joining forces to besiege their opponents was the best choice.

If the battle situation was more complicated, perhaps even more heroic spirits could be eliminated.

In a sense, this was a maneuver of killing with a borrowed knife and driving away wolves and tigers!

...

On the other hand, in the World Trade Center of Misty City.

A little girl wearing ragged clothes struggled to climb to the top floor.

With her delicate hands, she pushed open the long-sealed storeroom and saw a pedestal placed in the center.

"If I say the oath to this, will my wish come true? Can I really eat those soft cakes?" Recalling the cabinets she had just passed by, the girl wiped the saliva from the corner of her mouth.

Her name was Yami, with no surname.

After all, she didn’t even know who her father was, and her mother was a prostitute in the slums.

Every time Yami saw the bread people casually threw away outside the slums, she couldn’t help but drool.

Fortunately, she had once tasted a piece of bread, which was cast away by a passerby, and the taste of its soft, sweet texture left an unforgettable impression.

’It would be nice if I could eat delicious cakes forever.’ That was her only wish.

Five days ago, however, a stranger left a strange mark on her arm and instructed her to go to the World Trade Center’s top floor storeroom tonight.

As long as she could recite the oath in front of the Array, she would fulfill all her wishes.

"Can it work for cakes too?"

"Of course."

"Can my mother eat it too?"

The mysterious person fell silent for a moment and then said, "Of course. As long as you can complete all of these tasks, your fate will change."

Yami didn’t understand the concept of fate. Was it something more delicious than cakes?

Yami didn’t even know how to write her own name.

But enticed by the thought of those soft cakes, she had walked more than ten kilometers without complaint.

It felt like she had entered another world.

On the way, a kind-hearted vendor even offered Yami a hot dog. That’s when she realized that there were so many delicious things in the world.

Yami felt her mouth salivating even more, so she wiped her lips.

She recited the oath to the pedestal, which she had memorized backward and forward, ready to make her wish come true.

"Announce!"

...

"Oh great and mysterious heroic spirit, please answer my call!"

"Manifest in this world and fight for me!"

As her words fell, dazzling light burst from the Array.

Some incredible existence responded to Yami’s summoning.

Soon, a figure appeared silently behind Yami.

A swift sword strike!

In an instant, the clang of swords filled the air!