Chapter 112: The Berserk Ghost God

Watching the man become completely unbridled due to having a hostage, Lancer bit his lower lip hard. This was not the only way to finish him off; he had been reckless this time.

"What do you want?" Lancer asked, staring at his opponent.

"Ha! What do I want? Obviously, to kill you!" Halfway through his sentence, he charged directly at Lancer. From the previous reaction, he knew the vampire seemed uninterested in this girl, and his former companion would do anything for his own desires. In other words, the only person this hostage could threaten was—

After dodging the attack, Lancer reflexively prepared to counter, but just as he raised his weapon—

"Do you dare to attack?" The man held Asuna by the neck like a shield in front of him. It was impossible for the massive greatsword to strike the opponent without harming Asuna. With no choice, Lancer had to retract his swing, but in that very instant, the man let out a sinister grin and launched an attack.

"Damn it!" Although Lancer barely dodged the lethal strike, the crack on his black armor was glaring.

"What should I do?" Lancer kept asking himself. As long as Asuna was in the opponent's hands, he could not use his full strength. However, if... Lancer forcefully shook this thought from his mind and began to think again. The opponent was definitely stalling for time. Although he had just shattered the man's strange shield, it would surely regenerate; otherwise, the man wouldn't look so confident of victory. But the most critical issue now was how to rescue the hostage.

Zhao Kuo cast a silent look at Vlad, who stood beside him. Vlad wiped the blood from his shoulder and shook his head helplessly. After all, his mission this time was only to support Lancer. If Lancer chose to give up, there was nothing he could do—or rather, that would have made his mission much easier. Yet, after only a half-day of interaction, he knew Lancer would never give up, just as he himself had never abandoned his convictions, even when those who didn't know the truth called him a demon.

"Sigh..." Zhao Kuo could only lower his weapon in resignation. His only hope was the man currently in the center of the battlefield; he would not oppose him. However...

"Perhaps there is a way." Although he preferred using his own techniques rather than things obtained suddenly, it seemed useful now.

"Can you communicate with him?" Zhao Kuo asked Lianhua, who wore a grave expression.

"I can, but why?" Lianhua was surprised that Zhao Kuo would approach her in such a tense situation.

After briefly explaining his plan, Lianhua thought for a moment, nodded, and notified Lancer.

"!" Lancer's brows twitched, but this seemed to be the best way now.

"Is Kayaba there?" Lancer suddenly shouted to Kayaba.

"I am. What is it?" Kayaba, watching the skirmish from elsewhere, was stunned. He hadn't expected there to be something even crazier than the game he had created.

"Send over the resurrection item in a moment."

"But..." Kayaba wanted to tell Lancer that if one were killed by something other than what he could control, he couldn't save them even by disconnecting their server. They wouldn't just die from the electric shock of his traps; they would suffer brain death, just like the previous victims.

"I know. You want to help the guy beside me create a virtual identity. He will be the one attacking Asuna later..." He paused at the word "attack," then continued, "He has a way to knock that guy away, but this is a safeguard just in case." Lancer waited for a reply.

"If that's the case, no problem." As soon as Kayaba finished speaking, he transmitted an item into Lancer's right hand. He knew it was the item just mentioned.

"Get ready," Lancer signaled with his eyes.

"What are you thinking? Did you forget I have the hostage—" Just as he spoke, Lancer shouted, "Now!"

"Ha!" At Zhao Kuo's shout, the man reflexively held Asuna in front of him. But seeing this move, Zhao Kuo wore a smile of satisfied conspiracy. Without hesitation, he thrust his spear fiercely into Asuna's body, though he was smart enough not to hit a vital spot, piercing only her right shoulder. Then, he swung his spear violently—

"Oh no!" She remembered Zhao Kuo's ability, but it was too late to react.

"New Moon!" A fierce horizontal sweep sent the opponent flying. However, the man, who had been tense, now revealed a treacherous grin. "Ha! It's restored! I've restored it! It's useless—it's all useless!"

Though sent flying, his giant sword could still reach Asuna as she fell away from him.

"Bang!" Although he couldn't use the blade due to the angle, the massive body of the sword knocked the opponent away. Lancer, who was standing by to support Zhao Kuo, felt his pupils widen—

"Nothing! Nothing again! I failed again!" He dropped to his knees. He remembered the small town he had passed during his travels. He had had a bad premonition, but because of his own naivety, the last of the villagers died under the fangs of vampires. He had sworn to protect the innocent—it was the only chivalric code he upheld—but he had failed once more.

"It's you! It's you! It's all because of you!" His unfocused eyes converged again. The color of his armor became increasingly妖艳 (bewitching), and then the armor began to slowly merge into his body. The demonic patterns that should have vanished when he returned to the gap crawled all over him once more.

"Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!" He repeated the words incessantly. His black hair turned white again. Reason had vanished from his eyes, leaving only endless brutality.

"What's going on? Just now..." The rescued Asuna lay in Tianyi's arms. Although she had been struck, she was in a digitized body; as long as a sliver of her health bar remained, she could survive. Zhao Kuo's attack looked powerful but caused little damage, and as a top-tier player, Asuna, though no match for the transformed enemy, could barely withstand the non-lethal strike.

Asuna woke up, looking around in confusion. She recognized only the man who called himself a vampire, and now she believed it—the sharp canines, the pale skin, and the bat wings behind him left her no choice. But apart from him, the person she should have known best was missing, and there were four others whom she did not recognize at all.

"Mr. Vlad, Lancer..." Though not close, they were the only ones she knew, so she asked.

"Awake? It seems it was a success, but..." He looked toward the center of the battlefield. "Lancer has become like this; I fear we will be attacked if we go up to help. What do we do?"

Hearing Vlad's words, Asuna's mouth fell open in shock.