Chapter 157: 50% Progress

Chapter 157: Chapter 157: 50% Progress

Jeremy didn’t stand on ceremony either, taking them directly.

Leon’s two fragments were Dark and Water, perfectly not overlapping with the three he and Asaro had gathered.

The progress of the main task could be considered half done, saving quite a bit of time.

Jeremy put the fragments away, asking further: "Where did you find them?"

Leon summoned the light screen, pointing to the map that had over half its route revealed: "The giant beast nest at the deepest part of the seabed, and the poisonous scorpion beach on the opposite shore."

Jeremy opened the clue map he had just exchanged. According to it, the placement of the Dark elemental fragment was located in the central area of the sea.

The two places Leon had been to incidentally avoided the central area.

This clue was exchanged not long ago. The Dark fragment hidden there had probably not been picked up by anyone yet.

Pondering for a moment, Jeremy put the map away: "Then you rest first, I’ll go get the remaining piece."

"Going together." Leon and Asaro said in unison.

Faced with that sudden synchrony, Jeremy raised an eyebrow, not refusing: "Whatever."

After a brief exchange, the three reached an agreement.

Currently, it was noon on the eighth day since the game began.

The magical beasts in the Endless Sea had also awakened sequentially. Just clearing the ones swarming them on the way to the central area ate up several hours.

By the time they obtained the fragment and left the sea area, it was already late at night.

After a night’s rest, early morning on the ninth day, the three set off again.

The destination this time was the City of Thorned Bones, a place relatively close to the Endless Sea.

Just stepping across the only red line to enter the city gates, thorny vines like tentacles lunged straight towards them.

The entire mass of vines bore a bright red hue. Not their original color, but a color dyed by blood. Before they even closed in, a thick metallic stench assaulted their noses.

Leon instantly summoned magical flames. The tentacles abruptly halted.

But the very next second, hundreds of vine branches became even more frantic. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

As if having just seen a favorite meal, the slimy dark purple fluid masses clinging to the vine stems — looking exactly like tumors — began to twist bizarrely.

All four directions also gradually swarmed with thorns, hugging the ground and shooting forward.

This situation was no longer suitable for close combat.

Jeremy temporarily put away the Nocturne Bow and the Lumina Ribbon, summoning his scythe.

The clone skill and Death’s Abyss were unleashed in an instant.

The clone swung its scythe down according to the main body’s will. While the undead of Death’s Abyss treated those disgusting tentacles as food, uprooting and tearing them apart, eventually swallowing them whole.

But these tentacles seemed to surge endlessly. As time passed, not only did they not diminish, but they also multiplied, almost entirely blanketing the area.

Leon shot out his lunar blades, simultaneously looking up to carefully observe the surroundings.

The vitality of this type of low-tier magical flora all resides in the main body. The remaining branches are only equivalent to clones it differentiates itself.

And clones share power.

These tentacles had already split into hundreds of branches, meaning the main body was definitely extremely weak.

But as long as the main body wasn’t dead, the branches still possessed infinite self-healing capabilities, in a state of absolute immortality.

Being worn down like this was not good.

Leon’s gaze scanned every corner, missing no spot.

Just as the tentacles recovered once more, the pair of lunar blades in his hand instantly shot out, lunging straight towards a branch deeply retracted in the innermost corner.

That branch looked like it was only there to make up the numbers. But the moment they realized Leon’s intention, all hundreds of the remaining tentacles instantly ceased their attacks, frantically swarming to shield that corner.

Unfortunately, it was too slow. Under the effect of Leon’s skill, the power and speed of the lunar blades both skyrocketed tenfold.

Dark blue blood splattered. A bizarre "squelch" sound rang out.

Then a strange thing happened.

That shortest tentacle was chopped into mush unable to be pieced back together. All the remaining branches instantly lost all their power, as if sucked dry, turning into ordinary shriveled thorny vines.

Seeing this, Jeremy deactivated the clone skill, absorbing the magic power back.

Just as he was about to drop a perfunctory word of praise, he realized there was... a cat scent around.

Asaro standing beside him clearly caught it too. She turned slightly, her gaze pausing at a dark bamboo grove within the city.

"Two people." She gave the exact number.

Jeremy followed her gaze.

The bamboo grove was backlit, and more than half obscured by thorns.

Furthermore, the sky in the City of Thorned Bones right now was gloomy, the light extremely weak. With the naked eye, nothing could be seen clearly, only faintly discerning a figure stepping out.

Not until the moment he left the bamboo grove did the light cover him again.

And the figure he had been obscuring behind him also revealed itself.

The two sides faced each other. The atmosphere went completely dead silent.

The opponents were indeed cats.

Their badge numbers were respectively [Cat 1] and [Cat 99].

Seeing the Sacred Weapons in their hands, Jeremy immediately recognized who the newcomers were.

Lomita and Phoenix.

Didn’t expect to meet here. Furthermore, on opposite sides of the battle line.

Phoenix and Lomita naturally also recognized them instantly.

Phoenix’s gaze swept over Leon standing next to the captain, then to Asaro, whose face wasn’t very familiar.

In his head, he already had the answer for this battle.

Three against one.

He would definitely lose. (Having subconsciously ignored Lomita.)

Phoenix almost didn’t need to think, turning around and walking straight back.

"?" Lomita, who had just mentally prepared herself for a proper fight, froze.

Her bewildered gaze darted back and forth between the two sides.

Hesitating for a moment, she still put away the Glazed Umbrella in her hand and followed.

She wasn’t running away before the battle!

Just that she had made a promise to protect Cat 99 until the match ended, and she wouldn’t go back on her word.

Jeremy wasn’t shocked by Phoenix’s reaction; after all, it perfectly matched his personality.

But Lomita’s reaction was truly beyond expectation.

Didn’t expect that wild cat personality to have a day of proactively yielding to others.

It seemed these two had gotten along not badly these past few days.

Jeremy was very happy to see this.

Lomita, although arrogant, was actually quite lively. Who knows, she might be able to drag that introverted, taciturn version who always looked like he was calculating when the world would end out of his shell a bit.

Beside him, Asaro’s voice rang out:

"Done here, let’s continue into the city."

She didn’t mention anything about chasing those two. From beginning to end, she didn’t even bother to summon her Sacred Weapon. It was unclear if she had seen through the opponents’ identities or simply found it troublesome.

Jeremy retracted his gaze, gave a "yeah" in response, then turned and followed the pre-planned route.