Four Split Personalities

The same scene was unfolding in every corner of this small battlefield. Although the warriors by Double Leaf’s side were all formidable, the Heretic Cultists who could freely use the ’Whisper’ ability were truly difficult to handle. It would have been manageable if they had continued to fight conservatively as before, but after Sylvia Frostbloom issued her command, facing enemies that began to forcibly break through, the elite force of over two hundred warriors lost a tenth of their number in the blink of an eye.

Of course, if they had let their opponents leave, even with most of them possessing strange powers, it wouldn’t have been possible to kill so many so quickly, but they didn’t let them.

They were just doing as Double Leaf said earlier, continuously filling the gaps with their lives. So until two minutes later, not a single member of the assassination squad had successfully broken through, and the number of Double Leaf’s warriors had fallen below one hundred and fifty.

In that time, Sylvia, transformed into a crimson phantom darting across the battlefield, had killed at least twenty people. Having released the power of a Blood Seeker, her speed had surpassed that of Epic Tier Thieves and Ranger professions, and she possessed the spellcasting level of an advanced Ice Mage as well as strength comparable to a High-Ranking Warrior. Moreover, with some secret technique of the Blood Seekers, her killing efficiency was increasing every second!

Not only that, but after her initial stealth attacks that disabled Ruber and Kassi, Sylvia no longer engaged with the elites of this force. Instead, she continuously struck at the weaknesses in the encirclement, always striking and retreating without aim to kill, solely to create opportunities for the assassination squad.

And every opportunity she created cost Double Leaf’s side several lives to close!

[Hmm... at this rate, in at most three minutes, this elite patrol force, already nearing half casualties, should be unable to continue the blockade. That means the chance is still there. If we use the ’Whisper’ to cover our escape after getting out of this area... the coalition’s second, and probably last, elite unit should already be on the way. Is it worth it to hold on a little longer and try to create a time gap?]

Jiawen, who had already escaped Double Leaf’s sight with the aid of a few Heretics, gently stroked her chin and squinted her eyes as she weighed the situation in her mind.

[Damn it... at this rate, in at most three minutes, the encirclement will completely collapse. But, if we don’t stop these bastards here, and they end up killing Kleyo, the situation that was already stable will... Where the hell are you, Tan Mo, you bastard? Why aren’t you answering my messages?!]

Double Leaf, while retreating from Sylvia with Deku’s protection, recklessly used a large amount of ice instantaneous magic to restrain the enemy, all the while considering the current situation and vehemently cursing Motan in her heart.

The next second, the message bar finally flashed.

’You @#%*&%!’

’Ah, my apologies~’

Double Leaf almost instantly sent a string of garbled text upon opening the message, then realized the sender wasn’t Tan Mo.

Meanwhile, Jiawen finished her calculations and prepared to make another attempt. Suddenly, she appeared behind Double Leaf, raised her flintlock gun, and, with the aid of the Rapid Reload effect, executed a series of back-shots that interrupted the Moving Blizzard Storm the enemy had been channeling for half a minute.

"Sorry, I’ve suddenly changed my mind and decided to wait and see what happens," Jiawen said with an apologetic smile to Double Leaf, turning around, her attacks growing fiercer.

But Double Leaf, who should have immediately adjusted to continue attacking, instead conjured a Composite Elemental Shield and enclosed herself in it in a duck and cover posture, her smile even more radiant than Jiawen’s: "Sorry, whether you change your mind or not, it’s already too late."

"What the..."

BOOM!!!!

Jiawen had only uttered a single word when she heard a deafening explosion. She abruptly looked up, only to see in a shallow pit not far away, littered with Heretic Cultists, a figure was slowly rising amidst the dust and smoke, half-kneeling. It was a towering humanoid creature over two meters tall, wielding a colossal gunblade, with blue energy ribbons swirling around its robust physique.

The reason it was called a ’humanoid creature’ was because, no matter how one looked at it, it did not seem human!

"What the heck... a terminator or something?"

Even with Jiawen’s temperament, she couldn’t help but make a quip upon witnessing such a scene.

"What demon dares to harm... Hi, miss, how do you do? May I know your age? How many springs have you seen? How old are you?"

Cordova, who had risen from the deep pit, let out a great roar, and then suddenly saw Jiawen, standing not far in front of him, hiding behind four or five heretic cultists. His body shuddered with a shake, a gleam flashed in his eyes, and after asking three completely identical questions, he said in a deep voice, "Don’t panic, I’ll rescue you from the clutches of these criminals right now!"

"Cordova, big brother!"

Double Leaf’s mouth twitched as she rolled her eyes, then she forcefully put on a sweet, cute smile. Hopping on one foot and waving her hands at Cordova, she called out innocently, "That lady is the enemy! And she’s a hermaphrodite, too. The last time we met, she was a muscle brother all oiled up!"

[Hey, hey, hey... Let’s not get into the hermaphrodite thing, I’ve never been some oiled-up muscle brother...]

Jiawen backed away quickly, thinking resignedly. When she heard the name ’Cordova,’ she had already given up all hope. Of course, she recognized the man who occupied the second spot on the player power rankings, always one step ahead of Silent Prayer. She didn’t just know of Cordova, but also from the terribly strong Silent Prayer herself, she had learned that this man’s strength was extremely, extremely strong!

"What the hell?"

Cordova was momentarily stunned, then his metal-like big face twisted up. He raised the Staff of the Punisher high and fiercely swung it, releasing a suffocating blast of wind pressure as he bellowed, "Ha! Demon, where do you think you’re fleeing!"

Jiawen, who narrowly dodged the wind pressure thanks to the Phantom Dice’s lateral shift by two meters, still felt her left side sting where it had been grazed, and had no choice but to order the few people in front of her, "Block that man, protect me."

"Yes!"

Under some strange distortion, these Whisper Cultists, whose strength far surpassed Jiawen’s, did not resist the command at all. Instead, they rushed toward Cordova, murmuring whispers that approximated ’I’m amazing, you’re dumb,’ as they tactically launched an attack on him.

"Be careful! Those things they’re whispering quietly are tricky!"

Double Leaf, who wasn’t particularly familiar with Cordova, loudly issued a warning.

But...

"Knock it off! Who are you calling weak!"

Cordova casually grabbed a heretic cultist who was loudly proclaiming ’your body is weak and powerless,’ and forcefully slammed his head down to the ground. Then, with a single strike of his staff, he crushed another skinny cultist muttering ’my body is indestructible’ into a two-piece staff and, at the same time, activated the three Runes of Giant Strength on the outside of his right leg. With a massive cleave akin to chopping with a battle axe, he crushed the last cultist who had leaped at him without a chance to speak underfoot.

Such a large pool of blood...

"Holy shit!"

Even Double Leaf, with her mental fortitude, was startled. She looked at Cordova, covered in blood and with three gruesome corpses at his feet, and muttered in a subdued voice, "He’s got quite the intense taste..."

[Indeed formidable, not only in strength but also cold, ruthless, and cruel, he truly deserves his reputation as a man even Silent Prayer admits she cannot match.]

Jiawen also focused, adding in a grave tone, "Cordova... truly lives up to his name..."

"Enough chatter!"

Cordova, fearless under Minor Sensory Protection, gripped his staff tightly, leaping high into the air, and lunged at Jiawen with the force of a mountain-splitting axe—

"Prepare to die, you damnable hermaphrodite!"

Chapter 554: The End