by N. Heller
The space in front of her now looked like a piece of shattered glass, fragmented and craggy.
"Isn't that obvious?"
Then, King Henry moved two silent steps forward. Once he stepped into his 'domain,' he looked disfigured as if he had been refracted countless time.
"Because...I am a player too," King Henry looked out at her, smiling amiably. Then, he went off to finish his sentence, with his ever gentle voice, "My mission in Time Travel is to find a character named Gabrielle, so I can kill her."
Although Lin Sanjiu knew his hostility all along, his words still turned her blood to ice. Her throat felt raw as she forced out her doubt, "It is impossible. You're not stepping on a metal board—"
"From my side, you're not stepping on a metal board either," King Henry chipped in, his words full of mockery, "You look just like an ordinary woman in the Middle Ages."
As soon as those words were spoken, he raised one of his hands forward, and one behind his back.
Although she had kept her eyes peeled, Lin Sanjiu was still taken by surprise. She felt something heavy pressing against her organs from her back like a million pounds of pressure. She couldn't hold back the urge and vomited a mouthful of blood. At the same time, she concentrated her [Defence Forcefield] around her back, trying her very best to counteract the intense pressure that came from nowhere.
She struggled to look over her shoulders, but it was a wasted effort. There was nothing at her back. The side palace was empty, void of anything even sound. After that, she tried to inch to a side, yet she was thwarted for the second time. The pressure had completely pinned her on the ground; she could not move at all. If she struggled harder, she would hear her bones cracking as if they would shatter at any moment.
After waiting for some time, King Henry frowned. He was quite surprised that the woman in front of him was still resisting.
"Hoh? You don't seem to be using any special ability, yet you can resist my special ability. I guess I've underestimated you. Your body is quite strong," as he spoke, his smile gradually left his face until it turned into a thin line, "Seems like I made a good decision last time by not attacking you recklessly."
Then, King Henry lifted his hands again, seemingly preparing for another move. Regardless of what he wanted to do, Lin Sanjiu knew that once he finished his action, she would be doomed.
The intensity of the pressure that kept her pinned on the ground was getting stronger. It was so immense that calling it a "force" would be to trivialize it. Lin Sanjiu felt she was a mouse trapped inside a jar, and the jar was collapsed right above her immobilizing her.
Under such circ.u.mstance, taking another of King Henry's attacks head-on was something she did not welcome. Seeing that her opponent had already raised his hand, she quickly summoned one of her cards.
Bam!
Something heavy fell in her hands. She had no idea what kind of thing she had summoned in the heat of the moment until a heap of bright orange cat litter spilled from the bag opening and shrouded her in orange dust.
"Hmm?"
The person who had been trapped in his special ability had suddenly gone into the ether. King Henry was stupefied, and he stood in his original spot in a trance. As he subconsciously lowered his arms, a woman rolled out from the thick orange fog.
Lin Sanjiu did not dare to stop as she had a minimal time to make her moves. She grabbed a handful of cat litter and threw it at King Henry. Then, seizing her golden opportunity before King Henry could return to his senses, she frantically rushed to the very far end of the side palace that had not been affected by King Henry's special ability.
Even after Lin Sanjiu'd freed herself from King Henry's clutches, the feeling of being almost crushed to death was still fresh as if it had been seared in her body. Right until this point, she still had no idea how she escaped from that domain. When she skidded to a stop with her battered body and spread opened her bony wings, Lin Sanjiu realized that she had forgotten something.
Right now, King Henry was standing beside her metal board. He seemed to look for something. "Your board… It should be around here, right?" Lin Sanjiu's metal board was invisible to anybody but her, so King Henry couldn't see where the board was. Since he could not see it, he just simply kicked the air twice to test his luck. However, the Goddess of Luck seemed to have abandoned him. His attempts narrowly missed Lin Sanjiu's metal board twice.
"What if he can take my metal board—" Lin Sanjiu's heart beat in a fl.u.s.tered rhythm as the thought emerged.
She quickly calmed herself down and forced a cold smile on her face, "You can't find it. I've kept it well-hidden. Now, all I have to do is kill you within one minute and return to my board."
Tilting his head, King Henry glanced at Lin Sanjiu doubtfully. He couldn't tell whether was Lin Sanjiu telling the truth or telling lies. As such, he decided not to leave Lin Sanjiu's original spot and grunted.
"Come and try for yourself," as he spoke, he waved his hand and shattered another piece of space beside him, turning it into another of his domain, "Just throw everything you got at me."
[Picasso]
The seemingly incomprehensible cubism and abstract painting had shown fantastic utility after it became an ability. Just like Picasso could present his multiple-dimensional masterpiece on a flat canvas, the master of this ability could break any space into smaller pieces and combine them into any planar drawing that he d.e.s.i.r.ed.
Of course, objects that existed in the space would change according to the space. In the painting "Weeping Woman," the positions of the mouth and nose of the woman completely defied the natural human body structure. The master of this ability was fully aware of this, and he knew full well that this could cause death. However, in comparison to the greatness of art, the life of human worth nothing.
"Anything that gets past this domain will become part of my painting," King Henry stared at Lin Sanjiu as he kept his two hands in the air. It seemed that his [Drawing of Picasso] would be revoked once he placed his hands down. He continued to taunt Lin Sanjiu, "Show me what you got. I would like to see how can you come near me."
Lin Sanjiu panicked. She found the task was getting more difficult.
She was severely injured, and King Henry's special ability was extremely tricky to deal with. Fighting him in close quarters was unwise as his [Picasso] gave him both an unbreachable defense and offense. Also, she was unsure whether King Henry still had something else up his sleeve. For example, a special stand-off item would be deadly to her. While she was looking for a countermeasure, the narrator began to countdown. It seemed to her that killing King Henry within a minute was an impossible mission.
Beads of cold sweat oozed from her forehead. Lin Sanjiu searched her inventories from one Special Item to the next in her mind, but she could not find anything that could save her right now.
As the minutes ticked on, King Henry became more relaxed.
He knew that Lin Sanjiu couldn't harm him. She was like a rat in a hole. Even if he remained standing in place doing nothing but letting time tick away, there was only one end for the "Gabrielle" in front of him: death.
Just as Lin Sanjiu gritted her teeth and planned to launch another blind attack on King Henry, the familiar sound of wings flapping drifted through the air into her ears.
"Hey, I just warded off an assailant. I guess you should be in trouble now," Never once had Lin Sanjiu felt that Hei Zeji's unenthusiastic voice would sound like the voice of an angel to her. She held her breath and listened carefully to what he was going to say next, "To be honest, I doubt this paper crane can find its way to you. Nevertheless, if you can hear me, from now on, do as I said."
Chapter 344 - Engage! Queen Margaret!
"Player has left the platform for thirty-one seconds. Please return to the platform within a minute."
As the voice of the narrator died away, the paper crane fell silent as well.
Hei Zeji only gave Lin Sanjiu a few tips. He had no idea what kind of opponent, or what kin
d of situation Lin Sanjiu would be dealing with, so he thought it would be the best just gave her a general idea. Either way, Lin Sanjiu had no other choices left. The crane was the only thing she could rely on.
"All active skills have flaws. There is no such thing as "perfect" abilities or Special Items in this world, " as Lin Sanjiu repeated those words in her mind, she quickly cooled herself down. After she took a few seconds to settle down, she narrowed her eyes and observed King Henry and his [Picasso].
So the flaw of this special ability is "area?"
If [Picasso] could extend indefinitely, then the Posthuman disguised as King Henry would have long become the dominator of the world. Nevertheless, King Henry was extremely cautious. He employed his [Picasso] around him to act as a perfect shield that completely protected him from any possible attacks. Even if Lin Sanjiu successfully figured out the flaw of [Picasso], how was she supposed to make use of the weakness to shatter King Henry's perfect shield?
Taking a deep breath, Lin Sanjiu closed her eyes to recall the lesson that Hei Zeji's had taught her.
"When you see a forest, a sea, or a rocky shore, you naturally think that they are parts of the 'environment,' so they are part of nature. The tree, the sea, and the rocks: all of them are creations of this planet. However, don't forget that we humans were also born from this planet, so why do you have to segregate yourself from the environment?"
As Lin Sanjiu entered the hypersensory state, she felt an intense pain coursing through every nerve ending of her body for a brief second before it slowly receded. Then, a more primitive, solid sense emerged from the depth of her body. That was the voice of her body that was constantly sending information it detected to her. However, she could only interpret the information efficiently after she entered the hypersensory state.
Hence, even though Lin Sanjiu kept her eyes closed, the domain of [Picasso] was so much clearer to her than when her eyes were closed.
The optical illusion caused by [Picasso] might fool the eyes, but it could never deceive the skin, the pores, or the hair. They transmitted everything they sensed without fail to the person's mind.
As if touching a poorly crafted sculpture, Lin Sanjiu had a complete grasp of the domain inside the [Picasso.] She knew full well which part had caved in, which area had risen, and which region had been moved away. It was such an absorbing feeling, and she simply could not withdraw herself from it. She was so immersed in the feeling that she almost had forgotten that about the time limitation she had and the enemy in front of her.
Had King Henry not needed to keep his hands in the air to maintain the [Picasso,] he would have lowered them to rub his eyes lest he was placed under some illusion.
Lin Sanjiu was standing right in front of him. That was what his retinas received and conveyed to his brain. In spite of that, his eyes seemed to skip Lin Sanjiu involuntarily. It was as if she wasn't his enemy but a candle, or a carpet, or a pillar that was not worth his attention.
There were several occasions King Henry had to tear himself away from subconsciously ignoring Lin Sanjiu and look for her again. Only to find that she hadn't moved from her place at all.
She was so invisible that she was barely noticeable. A small smile appeared at the corner of Lin Sanjiu's lips.
"When you begin to realize that you're part of the environment and that the environment is part of you, you've already earned yourself the strongest weapon of all time. A weapon that no one can steal from you."
At first, it was kind of hard to understand the message, but as Lin Sanjiu took a tentative step in her hypersensory state, the meaning of what Hei Zeji said burst upon her.
The information the space transmitted to her within this one step would take up to ten pages to be written. The air flow, the heat from the candlelight, the small heap of dust that fell from the beam just a few seconds before...
At this moment, everything in the world seemed to flow through Lin Sanjiu. She even had the feeling that she had joined this torrent of the world and embarked on a journey with it to billow through the surface of the earth.
About forty meters ahead, the carpet under King Henry was laid slightly askew. The edge of the carpet didn't adhere to the floor but somewhat overlapped on another piece of carpet which made it look marginally higher than other parts of the carpet.
"Have you given up a-already?" King Henry sneered, his words were full of derision. However, he stammered at the last word of his sentence.
He had a dark foreboding feeling since Lin Sanjiu stopped moving. He couldn't bring himself to trust his gut, nor he could explain what was going on around him either. Be that as it may, if he could taunt Lin Sanjiu to make the first move, he thought he might be able to find an opening.
"Hey, I said—"
Before he could even speak his mind, the woman who had been keeping her eyes closed suddenly moved.
Her speed was neither fast nor slow because he could see her every step while, at the same time, she had artfully completed her series of actions before you blinked your eyes.
Utilizing her heel as the center of rotation, Lin Sanjiu spun her body around and kicked the red carpet into the air. With her eyes closed, she extended her arm and caught the carpet. Then, she yanked her arm and threw the carpet in her hand behind her.
King Henry did not realize that the carpet he was standing had lost the lower layer. As the carpet slowly dropped to the floor, he growled, "What the hell are you doing?"
Even with the most precise instrument, nobody could know how much a person would fall when the carpet dropped. This kind of subtle change was beyond the comprehension of the other person involved; however, in Lin Sanjiu "eyes" it was the deciding factor for her to come out ahead in this battle.
This was because she had already proved her speculation.
"Among the different parts of the environment, the easiest object for us to reshape is the air," his was the third message and last message Hei Zeji said through the paper crane. He said, "Every movement of a person changes the flow of air regardless of the magnitude of the strength. Do you think that we, as a Growth-type, can only use the advantages of our tremendous muscle growth and strength to crush our opponents? Do you know that if we hit the air at the proper angle and with enough strength, we could bring forth some amazing effect?"
"Are you blind—"
Before King Henry could finish his mocking or retaliate, something blurry drifted past his eyes. In the next second, he felt an intense pain spreading from his left foot. He g.r.o.a.n.e.d, and his body quivered.
This was all Lin Sanjiu needed. The moment his body quivered in pain, the arms he desperately sustained up in the air all that time betrayed him and swayed down.
Lin Sanjiu felt that she had been waiting all her life for the moment a lapse appeared in [Picasso]. Kicking the floor with her heel, she propelled herself forward. She was extremely fast—so fast that even her thought could not keep up with her supersonic speed.
Before Hei Zeji gave her the lecture, her movements hadn't been so smooth. She would first steady herself and condense energy with her feet, followed by her legs, and then lean her upper torso forward to release the condensed energy. This not only made her slower but also lessened her attack power. That was also why Hei Zeji kept on saying that her body moved with an abysmal level of animatronic stiffness.
After half a minute, King Henry quickly raised his arms and reestablished his [Picasso]. To his dismay, it was too late. The battle had already concluded.
"W-why—" King Henry widened his eyes, staring fixedly at the bone structure that impaled his body. "What is this—"
He arduously moved his blood-red eyes to his left foot. His left foot looked like it had been blown up by a bomb. His shoe and half of his toes were gone. There was nothing left behind aside from a pile of blood and pulp.
"Oh, you mean that," Lin Sanjiu had already opened her eyes. Her amber eyes glittered brightly in the dim side palace as she explained to King Henry, "When I kicked you just now, I r
eshaped the air into spikes. If you hadn't dropped outside the domain of [Picasso,] my attack might never have landed on you."
The prominent nose, deep-set eyes, and that curly hair that belonged to a middle-aged European man gradually disappear from the Posthuman, like an ebbing tide, and revealed the pedestrian-like, dark-skinned face underneath.
Lin Sanjiu did not know his name even after he was dead.
"Player has left the platform for fifty-two seconds. Player is advised to return to platform post haste."
Lin Sanjiu let out a sigh and tore her eyes away from the corpse. After she stepped on her platform, the narrator instantly fell silent.
After that, she took out a paper crane and replied to Hei Zeji, "Thank you. You're such a lifesaver. I've just defeated an assailant too."
After she finished it in a few simple sentences, she released the paper crane. The crane flew and fluttered away behind her.
"Damn it!" She cursed herself inwardly for relaxing too soon after she emerged victorious from a battle. She had forgotten that there was still another person standing right behind her.
As she twisted her head to a side, her gaze met Queen Margaret's graceful and charming as a swan but expressionless visage.
For a moment, her body tensed up. Then, it relaxed in the next second. Lin Sanjiu took on a perplexed expression and looked at the paper crane, the one she released for Hei Zeji had landed on Queen Margaret's finger.
"I warn you," as a lock of golden hair slipped down Queen Margaret's face, a fierce tone that was very familiar to Lin Sanjiu came from her cherry lips, "If you dare to tell anybody about what happened here, I swear I will kill you."
Chapter 345 - I Promise This will be a with New Updates
"Ahem, so…" Although she had many doubts in the combat power she displayed during her previous battle, the first question that escaped her mouth when she met up with Hei Zeji was not in the least bit related to her combat capability. "Why did you choose to play a female role?"