Chapter 108: The Turning of the Tide
As Lanser and Zhao Kuo grappled fiercely on the ground, the battlefield opposite them underwent a sudden reversal.
Vlad looked down with contempt at the two men before him, as insignificant as ants, and let out a mocking laugh. “How about that? Didn’t you just loudly claim I was nothing but a faceless nobody?” With a sharp thrust, he sent the man bearing the sacred shield flying, then deftly dodged an attack from behind.
“You bastard!” both men roared in unison, but it was futile. Though stronger than ordinary men, they were worlds apart from someone who had forged his greatness through countless battles.
“Why hasn’t that guy shown up yet?” Their only hope lay with the man who had accompanied them here. Though silent and reserved, his strength was undeniable. They pinned all their hopes on him to defeat the enemy and come to their aid.
Yet as time dragged on, the sounds from the other direction grew faint, and their anxiety mounted. Vlad’s words plunged them into despair.
“As expected of a Knight of Blood. Already done with them? Looks like I need to hurry up too.” He no longer carelessly wielded his spear but gripped it tightly.
“My next strike will send you straight to Satan!” A gray aura coiled around his spear. As the embodiment of a colossal cursed relic known as the Execution King, the curse binding it was far stronger than that of any solitary execution pillar. It was clear he had taken matters seriously.
“Is it really going to come to this?” The man claiming to be Garen glanced at the black crystal clutched in his right hand—a treasure only he possessed. None of the others had obtained it, and he didn’t know why. Yet a voice inside urged him that using it could change his fate. He was no fool; he knew using it would require a sacrifice. But staring down the enemies before him, his sole option to survive was to...
---
While Lanser and another exchanged a rather “passionate” volley of personal attacks, a sudden explosion rang out from another direction.
“What the hell is going on?!” Lanser barely had time to react before a shadow hurtled at him like a tempest.
“Damn it!” His last shred of composure told him now was the moment to act decisively—
A swift 360-degree turn, a lifted leg, toes stretched taut—a fierce kick!
The figure hurtling from the north was sent flying into a still-standing eastern wall.
With a cloud of dust settling, a silhouette finally emerged.
“Cough... cough...” Vlad, leaning on his spear, slowly approached Lanser before collapsing at his feet.
---
“Vlad, rest in peace. I will avenge you.” Lanser squeezed out two tears, then, somehow producing a white flower, placed it gently on Vlad’s chest.
“Don’t just go around killing people so casually, you bastard!”
“And aren’t you the one trying to kill me?”
“By the way, where did you get that flower?”
Watching Vlad unleash a legendary triple sarcastic retort, Lanser thought truly, heroic spirits were all adorable.
“Ah, no big deal. But shouldn’t we first deal with that Meow King who followed you here?” Lanser spoke as if it concerned him not at all, then deftly retreated to narrowly evade a sword energy blast.
Though furious, Vlad’s battle-hardened instincts saved him once more as he dodged with bat-like winged swings.
“What on earth is this?” Staring at the man calling himself Garen, now enveloped in a writhing black aura that made Lanser sick, he was genuinely shocked. Earlier, merely observing the aura’s strangeness left him uneasy, but now he realized the gravity of the situation.
“Tch—so we’ve been ambushed.” Lotus, hovering nearby, suddenly remarked.
“What’s really going on?” Lanser felt his previously stable worldview collapsing. He had thought his was just a “normal” transmigration, but now there were three others who had also crossed over. Except one was a loser, the other two had even unlocked double transformations. Lanser wanted nothing more than to throw down his weapon and shout in frustration.
“Don’t think I’m the only god in this world. Looks like that guy was pulled away by the enemy. Locked away, I can’t help you now. But...” Lotus’s grim expression softened a bit, “since he was taken from me, hmph! Apparently, the enemy can’t control him either.”
---
“Hahaha! I’ve got it! The power of the King of the World is mine! Bow before me!” A man clad in black armor struck a domineering pose, hands on hips, shouting to the heavens like a demon lord.
“This guy’s hopeless, isn’t he?” Vlad, unwilling to admit defeat by this fool, muttered.
“I don’t know him! I don’t know him! I don’t know him...” Zhao Kuo adamantly denied ever having been teammates with this lunatic.
“Thank goodness...” Lotus seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
“I never thought I’d witness such a grand, aged chuunibyou!” Lanser continued his flirtatious banter, though he hadn’t anticipated how this fool would change after gaining his power.
---
“If he tries to say something like ‘Now I’m invincible,’ I swear I’ll eat Vlad’s spear.” Lanser silently cursed the obviously afflicted chuunibyou before him.
“Watch as I crush you worthless fighters with a power level of five!” The man wielded his weapon again, unleashing a flurry of attacks.
But Lanser and his comrades were no fools. They dodged rather than met blows head-on. Watching them leap about, the man laughed arrogantly, “There’s no one in this world who can match me!”
The group had just gathered, and Vlad and Zhao Kuo exchanged exasperated looks, while Lanser’s expression remained inscrutable.
“Vlad, let’s discuss something.” Lanser suddenly said to him.
“What is it? About this guy in front of us?” Vlad’s mind was full of curses. What started as a promising opportunity had turned into this aged chuunibyou disaster. He could only sigh in helplessness.
“Can I borrow your spear for a bit?”
...
A sudden silence fell. Vlad felt utterly discombobulated. He was curious why Lanser would even ask such a thing. But at that moment, the most important thing was—
“Are you on drugs too?”
---
Setting aside Lanser’s madness for now, Lotus pondered how to resolve their predicament. The three of them combined had less than a thirty percent chance of winning. Then she remembered someone...