“What’s wrong?” Sensing the fluctuation in Xia Li’s emotions, Weeping of the Shadow hurriedly asked, “Is something wrong somewhere?”
“It’s, it’s Lunene!” After shrinking back into the corner again, Xia Li gasped for breath in large mouthfuls, “She…”
“Failed to escape?”
“My movements were still too late… it’s all my fault! If only I hadn’t let her leave me at that time…”
“Saying this now is useless.” The black sword expressed, “Take out the card; I will prompt you on how to use it. The most urgent matter right now is to resolve that disgusting mass of things.”
“However, if we do this, will it leave too severe an influence on Lunene?” Xia Li suddenly grew worried—before this, the her who had intended to use this card on someone else had not actually felt so uneasy.
But the moment she thought of the target being Lunene, she could not help worrying…
“In the past, Servant transformations that used UR cards under this kind of extreme situation with controlled players as the target were extremely rare, so I do not know the actual situation,” Weeping of the Shadow answered, “But theoretically speaking, this kind of influence will be very severe: because the consciousness of the transformation target is in an unclear state, it is very likely that the set Servant personality will produce… excessive influence upon them.”
“Ah this…”
Xia Li hesitated once again.
But this hesitation did not last too long—because she was very clear that she already had no time left.
And she was very clear that if she could not succeed, Lunene and the others would very likely never be able to recover.
Then let’s take the gamble!
“Activate Servant Transformation Card!” After jumping out from her hiding place, Xia Li first used Weeping of the Shadow to unleash one “Life and Death Bound,” causing the large number of tentacles approaching her to instantly wither, shrink, and die.
Then she took out that one-star UR card from her carrying pouch, “Transformation target designated as Player Lunene! Come forth, Heart-Powered Psychic Maid Who Brings Surprises!”
When Xia Li, following the prompts of Weeping of the Shadow in her mind, finished reciting this set of extremely shameful lines, the card in her hand, as well as Lunene who was holding an iron water pipe and walking unsteadily beside the main body of the “Soul-Catching Jellyfish,” were both enveloped in dazzling light just like the transformation special effects of a certain American female warrior.
Then, when the light dispersed, Xia Li noticed that a maid outfit had already appeared on Lunene’s body—although it was closer to the kind of cosplay clothing in a maid café—and a broom had also appeared out of thin air in her hand.
After completing the costume change, she first knelt down, revealing a pained expression, then spat out from her mouth one sphere covered in tentacles.
“The parasite has been expelled.” Weeping of the Shadow said, “However, Lunene’s own consciousness has temporarily not recovered. Right now you can only command her to fight.”
“Alright.” Xia Li forcefully bit her lower lip, then nodded, “Lunene, eliminate the enemy! Thoroughly destroy its torso!”
“As you command, my master.” There was no emotion in Lunene’s eyes; she merely raised the broom and, like a line-infantry soldier raising a bayonet to resist cavalry, thrust it toward that ctenophore-like organism.
Then, in the next instant, the “Soul-Catching Jellyfish” suddenly suffered intense compression.
That’s right, compression.
This was the most suitable vocabulary to describe its state—although no object could be seen existing in the surroundings, the torso of this organism was indeed fiercely compressed.
Large amounts of tissue fluid surged out from the damaged cells, bringing a foul odor.
But Lunene did not care about this point in the slightest, and instead continued pointing the broom at the target.
After nearly one minute of continuous compression, the other party’s ctenophore-shaped body was finally squeezed into a pile of viscous, shriveled remains.
Even the grape pomace that had been pressed three times by wine merchants in years of famine would be hard-pressed to look more miserable than this.
After the torso portion was destroyed, the remaining tentacles of the Soul-Catching Jellyfish, as well as the unfortunate people controlled by its tentacles and parasites, all went limp on the ground.
Then, Lunene put down the broom and, with the disgusted expression of an ordinary maid seeing filth all over the ground, looked at the mess on the floor.
After that, she waved the broom left and right a few times, and those remains and stains were swept into a corner to the side.
“Whew… this… is a bit too powerful, isn’t it?” Although she knew that a card that could be designated as UR rank was absolutely not weak, Xia Li had completely not expected that the “surprise” brought by this psychic power would actually be this great!
However, perhaps because of excessive overdraft of mental power, Lunene in the next second somewhat weakly knelt onto the ground; on her arm appeared a mark identical to the blood-red eight-pointed star on Xia Li’s face.
“Eh, quickly go ask the question!” Weeping of the Shadow suddenly said.
“Question?”
“That’s right! As a direct and crude mode of utilizing ‘Extra-Rational Power,’ ‘psychic power,’ aside from moving objects and creating destruction, also has some other uses, such as locating objects!”
“Locating? Ah right!” Reminded by the black sword in her hand in this way, Xia Li immediately reacted.
She immediately rushed to the side of Lunene who was about to lose consciousness and patted her shoulder.
“Lunene! Can you hear me speaking?”
“Ah… I can. Do you have… any orders… Master?” Lunene’s gaze was extremely hollow, completely unable to show the fear from previously fleeing because she feared her as the “Fallen Crown Princess.”
But this hollow expression instead made Xia Li feel a vague fear.
Right now she could only pray that Lunene would not remain in this appearance forever.
“I need to find a few people; help me locate them!” Xia Li said.
“As you… command, Master.”
After speaking this sentence, Lunene suddenly raised the broom in her hand, pointed once toward a position on the ground in the northwest direction, then softly fainted onto the ground.
“It’s the direction of the small chapel; I have already planned the shortest path.” Weeping of the Shadow said, “Just leave Lunene down here; anyway there is already no risk here.”
“Alright, then we should also go settle accounts with those few friends.” Xia Li nodded and rapidly climbed back to the ground along the route she had come down.
Then, Weeping of the Shadow directly projected the target position and path points that Lunene had just located onto her retina.
Because the personnel previously responsible for night watch and patrol had already been completely wiped out by the surprise attack, after returning to the ground Xia Li encountered several trash monsters that had wandered in from the forest.
However, for the her who was filled with rage, this group of trash came at a truly inopportune time.
The first pumpkin head that bumped into her did not even have time to pull out its kitchen knife before it was stabbed straight through by Weeping of the Shadow.
And the giant plucked roasted chicken that came upon hearing the sound was chopped into two sections from neck to butt with one sword stroke.
The remaining few fellows were rather shrewd; before Xia Li turned her attention toward them, they fled the campus in a complete mess and disappeared without a trace.
Of course, Xia Li also had no time to care about them.
After confirming there were no enemies in the surroundings, she immediately ran toward the small chapel and discovered behind the pulpit a secret passage hidden at the edge of the altar.
“As expected.”
After moving aside the wooden boards on the secret passage, Xia Li heard a bout of conversation: in the basement below, Baron Xushinige and his two companions were whispering secretly, and it sounded rather smug.
“…By tomorrow morning, the outside should be taken care of, right?” This was the voice of the man called Rom, “Mm, this time it went just as smoothly.”
“Yes, this time the children’s luck was also not bad; they drew quite a few materials for us,” the woman named Nefiria said, “Same as the previous few times, we should not lack materials.”
“The only problem is boredom.” Rom muttered, “Next we still have to stay down here for a full three days, unable to do anything, and also unable to go out.”
“Then think about your remuneration, brother,” Xushinige said, “Among all Seekers, those who can earn like us are not many—even if others fight to the death to clear a ‘Castle’ or even ‘Queen’-level Game, they cannot make such a large fortune: three people dividing the prizes of fifty people. Tsk tsk, that bunch of fools fundamentally dare not imagine this kind of thing…”
“Moreover, the setting of the Soul-Catching Jellyfish is also too exquisite,” Nefiria said, “As long as they have not broken free of control by the end of the Game, they will turn into flesh puppets without memory or consciousness… This time the battle outside does not seem too intense, and those girls also did not run around everywhere; at most four or five died. In other words, there are at least forty that can be sold on the black market to those buyers who like puppets…”
“Mm, can I keep one?” Rom asked, “That one with dog ears and a dog tail, the banished sinner, suits my taste very well; if…”
“No. Her value at the sellers’ place is extremely high—don’t forget, people of the heavens, especially this kind of former noble young lady, are treasures from head to toe. Just the price of drawing half a liter of blood every month is already enough…”
“Enough for what?!” Finally unable to endure it, Xia Li drew Weeping of the Shadow and directly jumped down.