Four Split Personalities

"Shut up!"

Despite everything, Elsha was still in a raging state, the once goofy little girl now yelling as if she’d swallowed gunpowder, "We agreed on this beforehand, I don’t like you! So stop following me! If you must participate in the fourth phase, fine, I’ll stay here! An apprentice thief like me won’t be much use anyway. If Feather Song insists on my going, I’ll just injure myself severely! Are you happy now?!"

She suddenly stood up, throwing her spare daggers onto the ground as if to vent her frustration.

"What if I don’t go..."

Lorum stared at Elsha blankly and, after a long while, asked dejectedly, "If I don’t go, you won’t... um, hurt yourself, right?"

Elsha nodded, "Then I’ll just stay in the reserves like a good girl. As long as you’re not within a kilometer of me, I’ll be in a much better mood!"

"Let me think about it..."

Lorum nodded, his face ashen.

Elsha snorted and pointed with disgust at the cup in Lorum’s hand, "Drink your medicine first, then let me know once you’ve decided. I’m going to think about where I can stab myself that wouldn’t hurt too much in case you really insist on going!"

Then she turned and ran off angrily.

Half a minute later

"You think..."

Lorum was the first to break the silence, turning to Eman and asking, "If I insist on going, will Elsha really stay here?"

The latter chuckled dryly, "Impossible, but she’ll probably try to avoid you."

"I see."

Lorum shrugged and gently shook the warm sap in the cup, "Then do me a favor."

Eman rolled his eyes massively, "Just spill it."

Lorum carelessly spilled the sap onto the ground and smiled, "When Elsha comes back, can you tell her I obediently drank this stuff down?"

Eman sighed, "You realized it, huh."

"Tranquilizer dust, and I’m guessing it’s the high-grade stuff from the Alchemy Workshop."

Lorum smacked his lips, set the cup aside, and spread his hands, "If I had really drunk it, I probably wouldn’t wake up before dawn."

"You’re that worried about the girl?"

Eman’s mouth twitched as he looked at Lorum, who had lain down again with his eyes closed, "It’s too much, you know. Do you have any idea how long Elsha brooded before you were carried back here? And to be fair, she really is in the reserves, so there shouldn’t be too much danger..."

Lorum snorted, "Wasn’t our third combat sequence also in the reserves? How many brothers do you think we’ve lost already, do you have no clue? And that’s even with the Black Vatican Priest constantly watching the front line."

Eman frowned deeply, "But your situation..."

"I’m well aware of my situation," Lorum cut in.

He shook his head and clenched his bandage-wrapped right hand, "You are Feather Song’s right-hand man. You can’t watch over everyone when the time comes. If it hadn’t been for me in the last battle, Elsha would have died ten times over. So, even if there’s only a tenth of the risk from the third phase in the final stage, I can’t just stay here and wait, because I don’t want her to die. It’s as simple as that."

Eman nodded silently and then chuckled bitterly, "I get it, I’ll cover for you."

"Thanks."

Lorum grinned and then fell into an eerie silence, and after a while, he asked hesitantly, "That thing... Elsha, she... she doesn’t really like three meters tall, does she?"

"..."

Ten minutes later

Elsha, who had sneaked back, saw Lorum passed out on the blanket, with only Eman still maintaining his black panther form squatting there. She tiptoed over, first picking up the cup that had fallen on the ground to check it, and then asking sheepishly, "Did he drink it?"

Eman nodded emotionlessly, "Yeah, he drank it. He was struggling with it, and before he could finish, he fell asleep. The guy even cried before he lay down, sobbing and sniffling."

’Asleep’ Lorum’s forehead bulged with several veins.

"Was I too harsh..."

Elsha seemed to have no clue and mumbled softly in a particularly feeble voice, "But Lorum really can’t fight anymore, he’s always just protecting me, and I... um, it really hurts me..."

Eman’s leopard’s head trembled slightly, fortunate to be in his beast form to conceal his expressions that would have been quite the spectacle, and after a while, he asked in a deep tone, "So, lemme ask you something, do you really like the three-meter-one?"

"Huh?" Elsha blinked in confusion, then shook her head like a bobblehead doll, "How could I? Isn’t the three-meter-one an ogre?"

The leopard’s head in front of her revealed a sly grin that would score 9.0 on the difficulty scale, "Then do you like the one-meter-three ones?"

The elf girl’s face turned bright red, and after stammering for ages, she turned her head away, "Um, that... depends on the person..."

"Pfft!"

Lorum directly sprayed out.

"Eh?!"

Elsa was shocked and gasped, "Lorum, how could you..."

"Tsk tsk."

But then, Lorum smacked his lips, his eyes still tightly shut, and mumbled as if talking in a dream, "Mmm... Mom, hit me again... Zzzzz..."

His cheeks were rosy, as if his mother really had given him a couple of big slaps.

Elsa smiled sweetly, "So cute."

Emang pretended to gag, "So disgusting."

...

Game Time PM 19:45

Having recovered more than half of his Physical Strength Value and Health Points, Motan left Ferman’s bedside and went outside to stand shoulder to shoulder with Yu Chen, who had just returned, whispering, "Was that the last batch just now? I mean, the ones that could be saved."

Yu Chen gently wiped the sweat from her forehead and grinned, "Hmm, should we be leaving now?"

"Yeah, it’s been two hours, not to mention Cordova, Xia Lian must be nearly at her limit by now..."

Motan nodded slightly and looked up at the starless night sky, "Let’s wait another ten minutes, if there’s still no news from ’that side’, then we should prepare to set out."

The girl nodded obediently, and then, with some curiosity, blinked her big eyes and asked, "Hold on, Motan, by ’that side’, do you mean Sister Xia Lian?"

Motan rubbed his temples and shook his head, "Not her, if Xia Lian said she could hold out for four hours, then she absolutely won’t allow anyone to contact us within that time. I’m referring to another front."

"Another front?"

"Yeah, or you could say potential reinforcements."

"I see~"

"Speaking of which, you must do exactly as we discussed earlier when the time comes. No hesitation, got it?"

"Yes, yes, yes, would you like some tea? There’s just a little bit left."

"I’ll take you up on that, thanks."

...

At the same time

In the southwest of Misha County, beside a tributary of the Jin Hui River

A two-person player team sat bored stiff by the bank despite being part of the joint forces. Their position was very far from both main battlefields, and since the fighting started, they hadn’t even seen half a mutant, doing nothing but idly sitting around.

Because of a special mission...

"Xuan Zheng, why exactly has Little Black told us to sit around out here?"

A bald old man with a shining dome and a white beard yawned and asked the other old man beside him, "He doesn’t think a couple of old timers like us are useless over there, does he?"

"Don’t be so hasty, my younger brother Wangsheng. The Black Vatican Priest has his reasons for having us old fellas wait here; don’t get agitated... Ah, I’ve got a bite!"

The white-bearded old man named Xuan Zheng smiled, then with a focused look, he suddenly yanked the fishing rod, pulling up a worn-out boot and exclaimed, "Damn!"

"Look at you, one moment you say not to get agitated."

"Damn!!"

"Calm down, there’s not many fish around here to begin with."

"Damn!!!"

"Hey, that’s enough, seriously..."

"No! Quick, look over there! Look at the river!"

"What monk? Uh... Damn!!"

Not far away, several warships, at least twenty meters in diameter, were slowly sailing towards them. The Magic Crystal Lamps on board flickered with a hazy light, highlighting the engineering cannons on both sides and... the Turbulent Eagle Emblem of the Skalan Duchy shining brightly.

Chapter 449: The End