Chapter 152: Cat and Mouse Game — Weapons

Chapter 152: Chapter 152: Cat and Mouse Game — Weapons

Jeremy did not stop his hands. The vine-wrapped bamboo stick in his hand thrust forward forcefully, piercing through the griffin’s heart before it could even struggle to get up.

He lunged forward, condensing magic power into his palm, sending the heavily injured one unable to fly — the very one its comrade just risked its life to protect — down to the underworld. His left hand, wrapped beneath a layer of magic power, plunged through flesh and skin from behind, crushing the heart.

It stopped breathing before it could react, crashing to the ground. The eyes glaring wide open before death were written full of indignation, but utterly meaningless.

Jeremy pulled out his hand currently immersed in flesh and blood. Bleeding profusely to a terrifying degree, yet his complexion didn’t change half a fraction. He walked over to that corpse, pulled out the bamboo stick that already faintly showed a few cracked lines, and continued targeting the next one.

Mouse No. 16 not far away took in that entire reaction.

...Quite interesting.

Seeing Jeremy distracted, two griffins instantly opened their giant maws and lunged over, intending to tear his body apart.

But Mouse No. 16 didn’t even bother to turn her head. She casually picked up a few stones, throwing them out like spinning darts.

They were just ordinary stones. But after being pumped with magic power, they swelled a hundred times, crushing over like meteorites.

When the final one in the air swooped down from overhead, Mouse No. 16 also didn’t panic. She bent down to dodge extremely neatly, adjusted her center of gravity, then swung her fist and smashed it straight up.

The punch was heavy as a thousand catties. The griffin’s body in the blink of an eye cracked open with countless bleeding lines. Seeing this, Mouse No. 16 spun around and delivered another high kick. Its flesh and blood instantly turned to mush.

Agonizing screams echoed throughout the sky. But she didn’t stop, closing in and continuously throwing punches. The ear-piercing sound of impact was horrifying; only when the beast completely stopped breathing did she retract her hands.

The remaining two had already been ground into meat paste by the giant stones.

"..."

The entire area turned into a pool of blood because of these two madmen. Griffin blood dyed the ground red, even the mud turned dark red.

The bloodstains on the two of them went without saying. Their faces and hands were almost thickly coated. The majority was the griffins’ blood; a small portion came from the wounds they left behind.

While Mouse No. 16 observed him, Jeremy was also observing her.

After seeing with his own eyes that almost brutal combat method, he confirmed the person in front of him wasn’t the Evelyn or Lomita he knew.

Jeremy pulled back his train of thought, threw a cleansing spell on himself, then said: "Let’s go."

Finished speaking, he spread his wings of light and flew towards the newly opened path.

Mouse No. 16 didn’t talk much, immediately following.

An hour later, Jeremy looked around in all four directions.

They had managed to escape the maze, and even along the way casually picked enough rattan thorn berries and star rice berries to complete the collection task accepted at the very beginning. After reciting the task submission incantation, he received twenty points.

Coupled with the eight points from the four Intermediate Stage magical beasts hunted, it was currently twenty-eight.

But the valley before their eyes, although different from the forest just now, was still just a part of the Labyrinth of Hidden Shadows.

Currently, in front of them were two choices. One was a path leading down to the underground city. Two was a path heading towards the forest. Both had signboards clearly stating they were escape routes from here. As for whether they were perilous situations or not, no one knew yet.

Mouse No. 16’s voice rang out beside him: "For the few days before class advancement, let’s form a team?"

He didn’t expect her to proactively suggest it. Jeremy also had no reason to refuse: "Alright."

Class advancement opens on the seventh day. No one knew if the other party would suddenly turn into a Star-Reverser. The deadline she set completely removed that worry.

Seeing Jeremy nod so decisively, Mouse No. 16’s mood improved. She pointed to the two paths ahead, pushing the right to decide over: "Where do you want to go?"

Jeremy was silent for a moment: "...You choose."

This valley was too open; lingering would sooner or later be sniffed out by Chaos Cats. Furthermore, there were still dozens of magical beasts circling on the horizon. Just in case, it was best to leave early.

But with his luck... for now it’s still better not to do multiple-choice questions.

Mouse No. 16 casually glanced at the signboards: "Then let’s go to the underground city."

"Yeah." Jeremy offered no opinion.

The path down to the underground city required passing through a pitch-black staircase with no end in sight. The consumption along the way was too massive, so the two only walked to save magic power.

Jeremy took advantage of the time to summon the light screen, preparing to spend all his points.

Walking shoulder to shoulder beside him, Mouse No. 16 caught that movement and asked: "Are you planning to exchange for a weapon or a skill?"

Jeremy answered without needing to think: "Weapon."

The bamboo stick earlier was ultimately just ordinary bamboo, unable to withstand massive magic power and impacts. By the time he finished off the final griffin, it had already shattered to mush. Now it was also unclear when the next wave of magical beasts would strike, so prioritizing a weapon was logical.

"And you?" Jeremy asked perfunctorily.

"A weapon, of course. After today, it will be just enough points to exchange for elemental fragment clues."

Jeremy also calculated the exact same way.

Without talking much, he clicked into the weapon draw area.

Fortunately, after being unlucky for so long, there was finally a stroke of luck. The wheel stopped at the A-rank weapon section.

The value belonged to the upper-medium category. Using it to hold out through the seven days without a Sacred Weapon was more than enough.

Pressed confirm.

A glowing ribbon appeared before his eyes.

[Lumina Ribbon: A-rank weapon. Accompanying effect: No blade or sword can sever it, extremely hard to damage.]

That accompanying effect wasn’t anything spectacular, but after all, it was better than empty hands.

The person beside him suddenly stopped walking.

Jeremy turned around, only to see a bow in front of Mouse No. 16. Because they were standing close, he only needed to glance lightly to read her screen.

[Nocturne Bow: A-rank weapon. Accompanying effect: Infinite arrows, no need to retrieve, never misses.]

Not bad either. Was she dissatisfied with this thing?

Noticing that confusion, Mouse No. 16 turned off the screen and continued walking: "I’m quite strong in close combat. Ranged combat is very easy to make mistakes. Later when I shoot, it’s best you don’t get close to the target, lest you get hit by a stray bullet."

"...Alright."

Jeremy understood full well that a mage’s combat style is always molded according to their own Sacred Weapon; generally speaking, everyone only delves deep into one direction. He could sympathize with this point.

Throughout the subsequent journey, no one said anything more.

Midway, the staircase changed into a spiral format. The two walked around for more than half a circle, taking another half hour to reach the entrance to the underground city.

The city gates were not closed. With the naked eye, the ruins inside could be clearly seen.

Jeremy wrapped the white ribbon around his wrist, taking a step inside.

Everywhere in the city were collapsed walls. The wind blew through without causing even a sound, strangely desolate. This place seemed to be a land forgotten for a very long time.

Suddenly, a few footsteps rang out from behind, approaching.

Jeremy and Mouse No. 16 exchanged a look, quickly slipping behind a pile of rubble.

Just as they finished hiding, the sound of conversation reached them.

"A a a a a, these Order Mice, which corner are they hiding in one by one, why are they so hard to find? I’m about to die of exhaustion."

"Be a bit patient. It’s only the first day now."

"Exactly. Besides, the elemental fragment the clue points to is located right nearby. I don’t believe those mice won’t grope their way here."

The closer they got, the clearer their voices became.

Under the interference effect of the Cat - Mouse outfits, the Order Mouse faction would bear a certain instinctive fear towards their natural enemy, the Chaos Cats.

Therefore, Jeremy was also affected. His heart beat fast beyond his control, giving him a discomfortingly realistic feeling about this cat-catching-mouse game this time.