Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 297, Section 44: The Angel of Freedom

The town of Okechobi was shrouded in thick fog, deathly silent, and the streets were deserted.

The bombing had also affected this area. A crashed bomber created a huge crater in a community near the lake, and the shockwave from the explosion swept across most of the town. A third of the buildings were reduced to burning ruins, and the stench of burning permeated the air.

The small hospital in the town center had its windows shattered by the blast, and the ground was covered with broken glass, overturned medicine bottles, and stretchers.

In the dim light of the emergency lights in the hospital corridor, a figure moved slowly in the silence.

It was a goat, its hooves making a soft cracking sound as they stepped on the broken glass.

But around his neck hung an incongruously a Polaroid camera.

This is naturally a copied and pasted field.

In fact, Tian wasn't sure if his not being attacked was related to his changing into an animal form; this disguise shouldn't have fooled the super-evolved manor owner.

Perhaps the other party simply couldn't be bothered with him, thinking he couldn't endure the thick fog for long.

But Tian was pretty sure that the fog had no negative impact on him, not even as much as radiation.

At the very least, a high radiation dose would cause him to feel a slight itching or stinging sensation on his skin.

He gently pushed open the slightly ajar door to the duty room with his head; the room was much tidier.

His gaze swept across the room, finally settling on a half-open filing cabinet in the corner. He walked over, stuck out his tongue like a nimble finger, and probed into the gap of the filing cabinet. With a gentle flick, a duty logbook bound with a rubber band was pulled out and fell to the ground.

Tian used his tongue to examine the area for a while and basically confirmed that the infection started two weeks ago, when many people in the town had unexplained high fevers.

Then, it's possible that the hospital's doctors were also infected, so they treated the abnormal situation as normal and didn't record it or report it.

That time period coincided perfectly with the launch time of the game "Silver Cup Manor".

However, the game serves as a warning of reality, which is common knowledge among players. What they care about is not the warning itself, but whether there is any useful information hidden behind these records.

Otherwise, he didn't think he had any chance of winning if he went head-to-head with the awakened manor lord.

Tian carefully recalled any possible clues from the game. Had that consciousness representing the true nature of justice truly been completely swallowed up?

Could you help them one last time?

Is there any way to find the existence of that consciousness?
He subconsciously raised one hoof and touched the hanging camera.

As he pondered, a soft thud echoed down the corridor, followed by the rustling of fabric. Tian closed the document and left the duty room.

At the other end of the corridor, Muramasa Taki was deftly taking off her wingsuit and quickly readjusting the weapons she was carrying.

Fire-breaking pill, demon-cutting sword, flying hook, kunai, bow and arrow, hidden blade.

These melee weapons were fixed to various parts of her body, maximizing her carrying capacity while minimizing any impact on her agility and explosive power.

Only one of her melee weapon effects can be active at a time; you can't just blindly pile everything on. Otherwise, you'd end up looking like an old general in a Peking Opera, with weapons instead of flags, turning into a humanoid Gundam.

"field?"

Seeing the goat walking calmly towards him, Taki was taken aback and tentatively asked.

"Hmm," Tian replied casually.

"Any findings?" Taki asked as he took out his summoning hammer.

The hammer gleamed with a faint silver light. After striking the longbow twice, the wood grain of the bow seemed to become even more profound, and the bowstring became a little taut.

This means that the longbow has received a temporary buff and also gained a temporary magic-breaking skill.

On the hammer face, the Chinese character "谰" disappears, and the Chinese character "壹" takes its place.

It's a pity that this useful psychic hammer only has one last chance to be used.

Taki skillfully nocked an arrow, the bowstring half drawn, his wary gaze piercing through the broken window and into the churning fog outside.

Tian, ​​in his goat form, remained silent as his body began to stretch, his bones making soft cracking sounds. A few seconds later, Tian reverted to human form, stood up, and dusted himself off.

"The Angel Game is over. We can't kill him using the same rules as the game. Having completed the game, he may have completely taken control of the Silver Cup. In a sense, he has become an immortal being."

“Referring to the game, his only weakness now might be the Silver Cup itself, but the Silver Cup is most likely inside him.”

Taki nodded in agreement; her line of thinking was probably the same.

The angel statue just now didn't show much power; either it wasn't the manor owner's true form, or he didn't use his full strength.

However, the other party chose to escape into the lake, which became the starting point of this disaster.
"I have an idea that I'm not sure about yet, but the prerequisite is the same as with Silver Cup Manor: we need to eliminate the opponent's main body first before we can proceed with the next steps."

Tian raised his camera and glanced at it, assessing his remaining mental stability.

"Perhaps I can make—"

"Shh!"

Takii suddenly became alert, abruptly interrupting him, turning his body instantly, drawing the bow and releasing the string in one smooth motion.

call out--!
The arrow left the bowstring and soared through the air. The arrowhead was enveloped in a faint glow, and wherever it passed, the thick fog seemed to retreat rapidly to both sides as if in fear, forcibly tearing a brief passage through the fog wall.

The arrow pierced a wall, leaving nothing but swirling mist that quickly closed in after the arrow had passed.

"It seems we're not the only ones attracted here." Taki squinted, surveyed the area, and finally focused on Tian. "Let's communicate via private message."

Tian Wusheng nodded.

Without lingering, the two quickly left the desolate hospital and headed towards Lake Okechobi.

Along the way, the town was deathly silent, with no trace of any mutated creatures in sight. It was as if the entire town's residents and the original creatures had been driven by the plantation owner's will, transformed into a biochemical wave sweeping across Florida.

From this perspective, the title "manor owner" is indeed quite fitting.

On the way to the lake, Tian silently raised his camera and took a few photos of the buildings, cars, and open spaces that were vaguely visible around the street.

Taki didn't ask what it was for, but glanced at his movements and guessed that he was probably preparing for something to come.

Then she received a private message from Tian, ​​her eyes lit up, and she nodded to Tian, ​​giving him an affirmative reply.

Before the two even reached the lake shore, the thick fog around them suddenly began to dissipate, as if parted by an invisible hand.

Above the lake, a lifelike stone statue of an angel floated in the air, its enormous wings spread, a halo above its head, and its gaze fixed on the two people who were gradually approaching.

He had clearly been waiting for a long time.

The lips of the angel sculpture open and close:
"You guys are interesting."

"Would you be willing to become my apostles and reshape the world? I will grant you a new life."

Muramasa Takii's gaze was fixed on the other person's wings.

Has it grown back again? It's definitely a troublesome opponent.

"Which angel are you?" Tian pressed the shutter again, his voice calm. "Michael? Gabriel?"

These words seemed to have touched a nerve with the other person, and his feigned compassionate expression vanished instantly.

"Those high and mighty angels are nothing but slaves devoid of any freedom of thought. I am the truly free angel, I am my own master!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly raised his hand, and a point of dazzling white light gathered at his fingertips, pointing directly at Tian.

Tian was prepared; his face paled for a moment. He moved swiftly, his finger quickly slicing across the photograph in front of him, as if pulling something from it. Then, he made a sharp swipe across the photograph that had just been taken, the one featuring the angel.

The outline of a heavy truck solidified instantly in the void less than half a meter above the angel's head. Gravity took effect, and the heavy steel truck crashed down onto the angel below.

This attack posed a limited threat to the manor owner, but was enough to briefly distract him.

Takii had been waiting for this moment.

"Break the demon!"

The bowstring twanged, and an arrow imbued with demon-repelling power shot forth. The arrow didn't fly in a straight line; instead, it flashed through the air, as if teleporting, and appeared directly in front of the manor lord's chest.

If the other party really is an angel, then Taki's arrow probably wouldn't be very useful.

But the result is obvious; it at least confirms that this is a fake angel, and most likely a demon.

You can't say that the other person is actually an angel, but is also a malicious angel, right?
At that moment, the angel waved his stone wings, easily cleaving the falling truck in two. Fragments of broken steel flew everywhere. His wings managed to protect his chest in time, but they failed to stop the arrow.

Thud! The arrow pierced through his wings and precisely struck his chest.

The stone angel jolted violently, looking down at the arrow shaft in front of its chest, an expression of disbelief appearing on its stone face for the first time. Then, it crashed into the murky lake below, along with the broken wreckage of the wagon.

Boom.

Water splashed high into the air.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Tian took out a bottle of holy spring water and drank it.

This thing can only replenish stamina and heal some injuries, but in addition to stamina, it also consumes mental stability value. Judging from his current reserves, he should only have one last chance to modify the photo.

Before the water droplets had even settled and the ripples were still spreading, Takii seized the opportunity and shot several more arrows at the bubbling spots in the lake.

The arrow sank into the lake without making a sound.

The longbow in Takii's hand contracted, and the demon-slaying power attached to it dissipated like the receding tide, transforming it back into an unusual but unpowerful bow.

She expressionlessly slung the bow back behind her back, drew the Firebreaker from her waist with her left hand, and untied the grappling hook from her tactical belt with her right.

Beneath the lake's surface, the bubbles suddenly became more violent, with dense bubbles churning and surging to the surface.

In the murky lake water, the figure of the stone angel slowly rose to the surface, gradually emerging from the water.

Its chest was pierced by Taki's arrow, its stone-like face was expressionless, but its eyes were like knives, fixed on the two people on the shore.

"Truly...strange abilities. Since you are unwilling to become my followers, then you shall sleep eternally at the bottom of the lake."

"Remember my holy name—Hugo."

The angel sculpture fully emerged from the water, and the cracks on its surface, caused by arrows and wagons, began to emit faint cracking sounds.

Instead of being repaired as before, the stone slabs peeled off and crumbled at an accelerated rate, falling into the lake.

After the fragments were removed, a thick, inky black substance surged in the original location of the statue.

In an instant, the entire Okechobi Lake churned violently, and the water boiled.

One, two, ten. In the blink of an eye, a large number of identical stone angels rose from the lake like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. They floated silently on the surface of the water, their eyes all focused on Takii and Kazuta.

Doppelgänger?

Taki's fingers tightened slightly as he gripped the sword, sweeping across the solemn and holy array of angels.

Tian frowned, deep in thought.

The angel stone sculpture that called itself Hugo completely collapsed, turning into countless pebbles that sank to the bottom of the lake. The remaining black mass of the original body twisted and also plunged into the lake water.

Immediately, the lake water reached its boiling point, creating huge waves like a tsunami at the seaside.

Finally, in the heart of the surging waves, an indescribable, enormous shadow broke through the water. Its massive size was so overwhelming that it made it hard for an ordinary person to breathe.

This is a body that resembles an angel magnified dozens or hundreds of times, but its surface is covered with rough and thick scales like those of a crocodile. Wings of birds such as ravens, bats, and owls grow from its back, but most of these wings are incomplete, with rotten or petrified feathers.

It has giant antlers on its head, and the outline of an angel's face is vaguely visible, but it is elongated and deformed, with its mouth split open to reveal snake fangs and a forked tongue like a lizard.

The limbs were haphazardly pieced together from the hooves of deer and goats, and the toes of mice.

The spider's limbs protrude from its ribs, densely packed, while the scarab beetle's hard shell is embedded in its thorax.

It was a distorted blend of thirteen biological characteristics.

"Your tricks should end now."

The angel's voice had its own reverberation, as if carrying the cries of countless animals.

Taki glanced at the field out of the corner of her eye.

Tian's face remained expressionless, but he spoke rapidly: "Those angels were probably transformed residents, and their strength is definitely not as great as the one from before. Don't worry about me; I'll give you a flash when the time is right."

After saying that, he flickered and quickly disappeared into the thick fog.

The stone angels immediately changed direction and chased after the mist that had disappeared from the field.

But dozens more angels, like an enraged swarm of bees, silently flapped their stone wings and swooped down toward the shore of Takii.

"When did angels become so cheap?"

Without the slightest hesitation, Takii ignored the overwhelming horde of stone statues, slammed her right foot into the ground, and shot towards the twisted behemoth in the center of the lake.

She is not afraid of a war of attrition; her stamina is arguably stronger than any other player's, and she also has a protective spirit jade that can mitigate injuries.

However, to catch the thief, one must first catch the king; getting entangled with these numerous but limited stone statues would only be a waste of precious time.

The swooping angels converged into a torrent of stones behind her, relentlessly pursuing her.

Takii's ninjutsu was superb; he sped across the lake, occasionally using his toes to touch floating debris or broken branches for leverage, without slowing down at all.

The Fire-Severing Pill burned in her hand, precisely cleaving through the arms or wings of any stone statues that blocked her path or launched a sneak attack, sending shards of stone flying.

Her only goal was to merge the true form of the manor owner with the monster in the center of the lake.

The distance closed rapidly, and the monster seemed to sense the threat, its massive serpentine tail sweeping across with a foul stench. At the same time, the scarab shell on its chest cracked open, spewing out a large amount of viscous black liquid.

I don't know what that thing does, but it's definitely best to avoid it.

During his high-speed sprint, Taki suddenly plunged into the water, then leaped out again like a carp, narrowly avoiding the sweeping snake tail.

At the same time, his left-hand grappling hook shot out like lightning, accurately hooking a protruding bone spur on his waist.

She used the momentum to swing, her body soaring into the air, avoiding the splashing black liquid, and landing steadily on the monster's broad back covered with crocodile scales.

The monster let out a deafening roar, its body twisting violently as it tried to throw Taki off. Its enormous wings, composed of various birds, flapped wildly, creating a gale, and its spider-like limbs stabbed out like spears.

Takii's lower body was as stable as a rock, and Dankamaru defended against the main threat of the spider legs.

The clanging of metal striking metal, sparks flying everywhere.

She has already unlocked the basics of growth and the ability to discern.

As long as the opponent's attack speed is not fast enough, it can basically be detected. This is a passive skill with no cost.

Unfortunately, reality isn't a game; there's no way to accumulate a posture bar to trigger stuns or similar benefits.

She precisely parried the stabbing limbs, the blade leaving deep cuts on the hard carapace and scales, some spider legs were even severed.

While parrying the attacks, she used her grappling hook to move quickly along the monster's undulating back towards its head, searching for possible weaknesses or core locations.

at this time--

A blinding light suddenly appeared on the lake shore.

Taki knew that the special method that Tian had mentioned to her in a private message was about to be used.

On the lakeside, Tian's figure appeared the instant the flash of light appeared, and the angel he had left behind rushed towards him.

He held in his hand the photo he had just taken; the photo showed the fused monster in the lake, which even the mist couldn't conceal.

Without the slightest hesitation, Tian reached out and scraped his tongue hard. A layer of thick, dark brown developing solution with a pungent smell stuck to his hand. Then, he forcefully inserted his eight fingers into the monster's body in the photo and tore it apart.

His face was ashen, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his body trembled slightly.

"If you are still alive, if you still want to get rid of this twisted immortality, please help me."

"open--!"

A roar escaped his throat, and the color drained from his face instantly. It was as if all the strength in his body had been drained away. He swayed and knelt on the ground.

The camera lens made a clicking sound, and then exploded with a loud bang. At the same time, almost all of his photos blurred rapidly, and the content disappeared.

Only one photo remains, a picture of children he took at the Miami Collective Home, still faintly visible.

In reality, even he himself is becoming blurred and distorted.

At that moment, a faint light flickered in the monster photograph he had inserted into his hand, as if in some kind of response to him.

Immediately, the monster in the photo was torn apart.

(End of this chapter)