Four Split Personalities

With the suicide bombing of the Kirov, all preparations for the final phase of the Soul Requiem Plan were ready. By now, the horde of mutants congested before the long bridge of the Twin Cities had been reduced to just over five thousand. The Princess Guard, with Yu Chen at its core, had successfully reached the opposite shore. The entirety of Cordova city’s population had completed the evacuation, and the Skalan Duchy’s reinforcements led by Bora had also withdrawn from the long bridge. As for the forces stationed on the other long bridge in Cordova... they didn’t have to do anything. They just needed to stop attacking, because those mutants had never been headed their way in the first place.

Game Time PM21:30

Five hundred meters south of the long bridge in Ebi City, Yu Chen, whose complexion was pale and whose whole being exuded a peculiar charm, took out a bottle of light blue potion from her bag and without hesitation uncorked it and gulped it down.

The next second, the "Hypocrite Dead" status that still had almost ten minutes remaining on the young girl’s character panel disappeared instantly. Her delicate and fair face visibly regained its color, and the vitality that had been suppressed to the extreme for the past half-hour finally revived, transforming her back into the charming and lovely figure she once was.

"There won’t be any problems, will there, Your Highness the Saintess?"

Snow Mane looked at the bottle of peculiar potion in Yu Chen’s hand with some concern and hesitated, "Such a slow-acting toxin that can temporarily change one’s life form... I’ve never heard of it..."

Yu Chen shook her head and turned to give the other a reassuring smile, softly saying, "I trust Luna. You see, nothing happened as soon as I took the antidote. Let’s hurry up, Hei Fan is probably about to begin their action."

"Yes."

Snow Mane nodded slightly and gave the reins in her hand a gentle tug to calm down the restless Goru beast beneath her. Glancing at the countless mutants suddenly rushing towards them as if gone mad, she shrugged, "I really don’t understand why they can sense Your Highness from such a distance. Alright, everyone get ready..."

She cast a glance at her comrades around her, turned her mount sharply, activated the Expedition Halo, and loudly commanded, "Charge with me, to Cordova city!"

The other members of the Princess Guard responded in unison, controlling their mounts to turn a neat one hundred and eighty degrees on the spot, following Snow Mane as they raced southeast toward Cordova City.

Behind them, innumerable mutants that had finally begun to cross the bridge were in hot pursuit. Those undying monsters ignored the potent revitalizing powder at the bridgehead, ignored the several hundred reinforcements from Skalan Duchy nearby and Xia Lian, who was also a Saintess, and instead, headed straight for Yu Chen’s position!

Without a moment’s hesitation, not even the thousands of fresh living beings in Ebi City could cause the mutants to waver. The monsters that had finally crossed the long bridge after a full day did not linger in front of the city for half a second but manically followed the footsteps of the Princess Guard, completely treating their ’previous prey’ as if they were air.

Just like the second phase’s replay, Yu Chen alone held the aggro of thousands of mutants, not a single one falling behind.

Meanwhile, the coalition forces led by Motan were also rushing in from behind. They hastened through the long bridge in front of Cordova City, with the Holy Knight Order acting as the spearhead, tightly following behind the tail of the mutant horde. They fervently swung their longswords and lances to strike down those lagging behind, suffering no casualties in the process. They even faced little resistance; it seemed the monsters had eyes only for the young girl miles away, utterly unguarded against the attacks from behind. Even when cleaved in half by the sharp Cross Swords, they still crawled towards the direction of the Princess Guard with madness.

Without any resistance or need for orders, each knight knew this was their last chance to effortlessly broaden their victory. Clenching their teeth, they disregarded all including formation and rhythm, wildly charging to slaughter as many mutants as possible.

Following them, nearly a thousand coalition troops were advancing at a measured pace under Motan’s command. They knew it wasn’t yet their turn to engage, so they conserved their strength as much as possible, moving relatively slowly to preserve their energy. Each person, including the two hundred and sixty players, prepared for the imminent final battle.

Five minutes later

Game Time PM21:37

The Princess Guard dashed through the wide-open south gate of Cordova City, followed by the thousands of mutants that entered without hesitation, plunging straight into the city.

The Holy Knight Order, which had been pursuing and striking down the mutants, stopped chasing after the last mutant barreled through the city gates.

"You’ve worked hard."

Motan, riding his steed Xiao Bai from the rear, pulled up beside Ger, asking succinctly, "How were the results?"

The latter shook his head, "We took down about four hundred, less than expected."

"That’s enough."

Motan let out a breath, then forcefully swung down his right hand, shouting, "Close the gates!"

Two contingents of knights immediately spurred their mounts forward, taking nearly two minutes to close the steel city gate that had been fortified several times over the past half month.

Apart from the southern gate that everyone stood in front of, the other three gates in Cordova City in different directions had already been barricaded during the evacuation. With that, this medium-sized city, now only inhabited by the two dozen or so people of the Princess Guard and over four thousand mutants, was completely sealed off.