Four Split Personalities

Game Time AM 11:51

Just as the two astute girls had anticipated, ten minutes after Cordova officially joined the fray, the Assassin Group was finally completely routed. The originally nearly two hundred-strong force of the Slave Capturing Group and the Heretical Church’s elite now numbered less than thirty still resisting. Those Death Soldiers that had been incapacitated or killed, despite taking down nearly a hundred opponents, were still unable to create any sort of opportunity for their comrades. With Cordova’s tenacious defense and the coalition’s elite holding the line, not a single person had managed to escape the ambush from start to finish.

Although Jiawen had managed to survive up to this point through her cunning and adaptability, her Health Points, Physical Ability, and other stats had all plummeted to below 30%. The storage of one-time use consumables she carried had been used up nearly entirely, and although she had some Healing Potions left, their effectiveness had dwindled to the point where a single bottle couldn’t even restore 3% of her health points, nearly zero effect.

Despite her resolve not to give up resistance, Jiawen had lost all hope that she might survive.

"Ten more... Just ten more deaths, and a gap will appear in this ’final defense line’ around us. Even if I make no mistakes during this process, I’d probably only last until then," Jiawen thought to herself.

She casually grabbed a Magician from the Slave Capturing Group who had just used up his magic, using him as a human shield to absorb two explosively angled shots. She then let go of the charred body, executed an extreme displacement with the just-cooled "Phantom Dice," narrowly evading a "Palm Thunder" attack (homebrew) from Double Leaf, and reappeared behind a tall and heavily injured Heretic still standing tall. Breathing a sigh of relief, she murmured, "Can’t say I’m angry, but being pushed to this point is indeed a bit too unsightly..."

Another explosion erupted not far away, Cordova, with his robust strength, once again reduced the Assassin Group’s numbers by two. Bloodied all over, he swung the Staff of the Punisher like a death god incarnate; each blow was heavy and imposing, causing the ones on the outermost perimeter to stagger back helplessly.

However, Jiawen saw something more.

"Although he still looks formidable, that man’s strength, speed, and lethality are nowhere near what they were before. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have lasted this long. And he’s not the type to underestimate his enemies, which means... does the second most powerful combatant have some kind of restraint or limitation, preventing him from maintaining his peak condition?" she pondered.

After quickly calculating in her mind, the yellowed parchment that had disappeared at some point reappeared in Jiawen’s hands. Lightly pressing it against her rib wound that continued to seep blood, she narrowed her eyes slightly and said, "If that’s the case, I might really have a chance to give that girl a parting gift."

Just as she finished speaking, a searing red pillar of fire shot from the ground, severely burning a Heretic who was too slow to dodge. Meanwhile, two Elven Assassins from the Night Watcher Battle Group beheaded a pair of Slave Capturing Group members who stood back-to-back. Half a second later, Cordova, unwilling to be outdone, turned his Staff of the Punisher, acting more like a war hammer, into a mosaic blur.

"No time to hesitate now~"

Jiawen bit her silver teeth, tore the bloodstained parchment in her hands into pieces, and focused intently on Double Leaf, whispering, "In the name of my lord..."

"Hey hey! Nicely done, everyone. How about I sing a song to comfort you all?"

At that moment, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from not too far behind her. Turning her head, Jiawen saw a new figure in flowing white amongst the crowd, one she hadn’t noticed before. It was a tall Half-Elf with disheveled black hair, holding a Lute, his fingers long and facial features pale, with a hint of sardonic curl at his lips, and his eyes filled with a joy that was utterly unreadable.

Those were a pair of unforgettable eyes. Jiawen remembered that the last time they met officially, the man who went by the pseudonym "Anthony Dabus" also had the same gleam in his eyes just before she was about to kill him.

He seemed exceedingly happy...

But heavens only knew why this individual, who was even pleased by his own death, was so joyous now.

"Someone’s probably going to be unlucky..." Jiawen’s intuition flashed, and she immediately made a plausible judgment that ’that person might be herself.’

"You’re really taking your sweet time, aren’t you?"

Since the victory was already assured, Double Leaf, still in a fairly good mood, didn’t sternly ask Mo Tan behind her to hurry up and bring his folks to join the siege. Instead, she casually complained and then shouted cheerfully to Cordova, "Hey, big brother Cordova, see that scoundrel in the white robe with the sleazy look? If you have the time, just take care of him as well~"

Clearly, her words, both in tone and meaning, were meant as a joke. After all, the attire of those behind Mo Tan was similar to that of the warriors who had been fighting alongside Cordova for a while, so whoever was coming could only possibly be an ally. Thus, Double Leaf’s suggestion that Cordova ’knock someone out of that group’ naturally wasn’t to be taken literally.