Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

It was a dark cloud, a gray lightning bolt lurking within it. The Ringwraiths, riding evil dragons, emerged from the cloud like shadows, the one closest to Xiao Honglu less than three hundred meters away!

Three hundred meters was hardly a difference between three hundred meters and face-to-face for the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, which was actually the nearly 150-meter-long fire dragon Smaug. And the instant these evil dragons, smaller than the Red-Eyes Black Dragon but still nearly twenty meters long, appeared, they spewed forth enormous amounts of venom and fire from their mouths!

That wasn't ordinary fire; it was an evil flame imbued with magical energy and curses, possessing extremely high destructive power. The Red-Eyed Black Dragon's outer energy shield was easily burned away, creating a large rift, and then the poisonous fire surged straight towards Xiao Honglu on the dragon's back!

"Spell - Magic Cylinder"

With a cold snort, the poisonous flames that were about to strike Xiao Honglu abruptly reversed course just before they touched him. The flames returned along their path, instantly returning to the evil dragon that had unleashed them. Two of the three attacking dragons easily dodged, while one sustained a minor injury—not serious, and began to heal immediately after the flames dissipated. However, the focus of this reversal of the flames wasn't the damage caused—the evil dragons, whose attack was momentarily delayed by the reversal of the flames, quickly suffered the consequences of their missed opportunity. For in that brief moment of hesitation, the Red-Eyed Black Dragon, recovering from the attack, had already turned its body and head!

Red-Eyes Black Dragon took a deep breath—

next moment.

'roar----------!!!!!'

The surging dragonfire dyed half the sky crimson. Centered on the airspace where the Red-Eyed Black Dragon resided, the clouds within at least three kilometers instantly transformed into purer water vapor. A violent wind swept outwards, quickly forming rain far below. The three evil dragons, bearing the brunt of the attack, were almost completely burned to a half-cooked skeleton—they didn't even have time to utter a cry before plummeting from the heavens. And it wouldn't be long before a pool of shattered bones appeared on the ground.

The altitude here is... about ten kilometers. The fall was not a short period of time.

Xiao Honglu heard warnings from others through the mental network. Clearly, they had already engaged the enemy. And without exception, the Ringwraiths of Mordor were the first to strike.

Whether the Celestials intended to use the Ringwraiths to wear down the Middle Continent team's stamina and trump cards, or had other plans, Xiao Honglu had no idea. Moreover, he had no time to waste on such trivial matters. Because right before him, high above on the other side of the dragon's back, three unharmed Ringwraiths stood in the air, raising their Demon Cave Swords towards him.

Dragons and Ringwraiths are not on the same level, and the battle begins here.

....................................

It will be several more days before I can go back to the city..._(:з」∠)_

I'll open the bounty once I get back to town..._(:з」∠)_

I deleted the poem about cherry blossoms..._(:з」∠)_

Because there are too many time jumps, it seems we'll have to start over from scratch... _(:з」∠)_

What should I write about this time...? _(:з」∠)_

And I need to feed you... _(:з」∠)_

Chapter 44: Fighting the Air... Fighting Courage

"Spell: Dark Protection Sword"

Three dim lightsabers emerged from around Xiao Honglu, and then, using the intersection of these three swords as a base, a dim light screen rapidly unfolded and expanded outwards. The three Ringwraiths wielding the Demon Cave Swords attempted to dodge or defend, but the light screen easily passed over them. As a result, their movements became sluggish and slowed down.

The Demon Cave Sword is a cursed sword. Although in the original novels and movies, a herb called the 'King's Sword' can heal the wounds it causes, the sword poison that the Hobbits, destined by fate, can withstand might not be able to withstand in their reincarnation. And Xiao Honglu had no intention of using his own flesh and blood to test this.

He couldn't do it; the true Red-Eyed Black Dragon was a different story. As the Ringwraiths were limited by their own speed, the dragon's claws lashed out decisively, grabbing one with its claws, whipping another away with its tail, and the last one broke through the protective barrier of the light screen, successfully appearing about ten meters in front of Xiao Honglu.

Great, now it's one-on-one.

Xiao Honglu's focused mind expanded outwards once more, and this time he still detected no trace of other living or non-living beings. He was unsure whether the Celestial Team was still in a state of lurking or simply did not consider him their primary target. He guessed the former, but reason told him the latter was more likely.

Being looked down upon by oneself or one's teammates can be excused by external factors or other reasons. But if even the enemy doesn't take you seriously... then the situation can only be described as rather bad.

A slight breeze swept past him, making his mind clearer than before.

He then gripped the staff used for casting spells tightly in his hand.

"...Very well." He looked at the Ringwraiths who had already assumed an attack stance and were rushing towards him like shadows. The smile on his face was hard to describe as either indifferent or bitter.

"I am confident that I can handle enemies of this caliber at least."

..........................................

Meanwhile, below the clouds.

While the Overlord and his companions were locked in battle with the Ringwraiths, Xi Moulin, still seated in the hotel, was staring blankly at a steaming cup of honey tea. She gazed at the space before her, but at the edge of her vision lay nothingness.

There was no one there, no monsters there; neither Ringwraiths nor Reincarnators had been seen. Countless runes seemed to flash rapidly in her golden, slanted cross-shaped eyes. And when those runes combined to form a complete shape, she suddenly shuddered and jumped up from her seat.

"Phew~ That was close, we almost capsized in a place like this. To use such a massive barrier to directly interfere with such a large area covering River Valley Town, it seems the Celestial Team still has some trump cards up their sleeve."

She rose from her seat, walked to the door, and pushed it open. But when she stepped onto the street, all she saw was silence.

Outside the door lay Lake-town, a town devoid of pedestrians, Ringwraiths, and even reincarnators. The sounds of bustling streets, marching soldiers, and even the crackling of flames that could be clearly discerned from the tavern, vanished completely once she stepped onto the street. The entire world was shrouded in pure silence, and in this silence, she perceived little danger.

A strange space, an interesting space.

She could clearly perceive that this space was a disguised creation, a massive trap resembling a large-scale sealing barrier. She could even sense the numerous flaws within this space, and with a mere thought, she could unleash her abilities to break it open.

I am inside this space, while the other reincarnators are outside this space.

[Are we just going to leave like this? This level of spatial distortion is nothing to me. Although I was somewhat surprised that the Celestials hadn't used any spatial manipulation of this level before... I don't think they thought they could trap me with something like this.]

Several tiny black vortexes appeared at her fingertips, and she reached out as if to tear this illusory space apart. But before she could act, she hesitated, and some scattered thoughts quietly surfaced in her mind.

Alice just came to tell me that the other reincarnators in the Central Continent Team have strong magical protection, and can even withstand attacks from fourth-tier experts for a while—so this must mean I shouldn't be impatient, shouldn't be impulsive, and shouldn't worry about others but only focus on dealing with the current situation. Hmm… Will taking action rashly lead to terrible consequences?

However, I didn't sense any danger at all.

She looked up at the sky, where the clouds remained motionless. Her slender figure floated slightly upwards, and there was nothing strange in her field of vision.

It looked as if the Celestials had haphazardly created a cage and then lingered there.

[Are you trying to keep me here while you deal with the others? Hmm… I'm a member of the Central Continent Team now, so any casualties will surely be reported to the Main God. And while there hasn't been a report yet… well, with Alice outside, it should be fine. Besides, she said I don't need to think much; I just need to deal with the members of the Celestial Team when they appear.]

[Yes, that's it! My own thinking is always prone to errors, so I shouldn't overthink it. As long as any of the Celestial Team's reincarnators appear, I'll take them down—they can't beat me anyway. And all I really need to do is one thing. That is—]

She suddenly stretched out her hand, tearing countless huge, pitch-black cracks in the air around her.

"If you don't come out, I'm leaving here!"

The next moment, as she moved, a voice rang out from behind her.

"As strong as ever, Celine of the East America team." The speaker had a handsome face and short blond hair, and his voice carried a faint sense of authority.

It was Adam, and as Xilin turned her head, Song Tian and Luo Yinglong's figures also appeared behind Adam—she had a vague feeling that something was wrong when she saw them. But before she could do anything, Adam spoke first.

“It’s really not a pleasant thing to see you here, Ms. Sirin. I have to admit that the alliance between the Central Continent Team and the East America Team has both puzzled and troubled me. Your alliance has indeed put our Celestial Team in a terrible predicament. But fortunately, I now have an opportunity to break this deadlock.”

Sirin ignored him completely, raising her hand and unleashing hundreds of black spears pieced together from fragments of space. Each spear possessed terrifying energy equivalent to the annihilation of several grams of antimatter, capable of causing a small-scale spatial collapse. In the blink of an eye, the Celestials' forms disintegrated, along with a large area of ​​space behind them.

Then, everything returned to normal.

As if clocks had reversed, the damaged space and matter were restored to their original state. Then, the destroyed Celestials reappeared before Sirin.

Xilin tilted her head slightly.

"Self-repair? It seems your expertise in interfering with spatial structures isn't too bad. However..." She raised her hand again, and more spears appeared behind her.

“I think you’d better let me finish what I have to say.” Adam smiled at him, seemingly unconcerned about her earlier rudeness and current obvious hostility. He didn’t move, and Song Tian and Luo Yinglong, standing behind him, stood silently like two guardian deities. It looked somewhat strange, but the tangible energy emanating from them forced Xilin to divert some of her attention to them.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

Something feels off... Hmm, I can't follow my instincts, I can't follow my instincts. My own thoughts must be wrong. Anyway, I'll just do as Alice tells me to.

[Hmm... But the main force of the Celestials is all here, so does that mean the people outside aren't really that much of a threat...? Oh! Alice said earlier that their target is me, so if I just keep these guys tied up here, or even take out one or two of them, wouldn't that fulfill Alice's request?]

[Besides, they're not that strong. Once I crack the structure of this space, these guys will be trapped in this cage!]

With a slight thought, Sirin lowered her hand, which was about to throw a second wave of black spears. While signaling to Adam that he could continue his speech, her mind raced, trying to decipher the principles or laws governing the self-repairing of this space. On the surface, however, she naturally feigned indifference.

"I'll give you the chance to say your last words before you die. After all, I'm a forgiving person. If you're begging and want to live, I might as well consider sparing your lives."

"How arrogant!" Luo Yinglong sneered, taking a step forward to activate the Azure Chain Sword floating behind him. However, Adam stopped him with a single glance before he could act. His voice then rang out again.

"It's just a proposal that benefits both of us," Adam snapped his fingers and continued. "After all, this is a team battle, and in team battles, profit is the eternal theme. Your East America team's plan to ally with the Central Continent team is nothing more than for profit, but I can now provide you with another channel to increase your profits."

[That idiot doesn't even know I've joined Team Central!]

Sirin was overjoyed, but she easily suppressed her excitement with her microscopic level of control. Although she felt a surge of excitement, she still knew to play her part—she reached out and pulled a jet-black spear from thin air, and in the next instant, she appeared in front of Adam in a spatial leap!

"So you're not going to beg for mercy?" The black spear flashed past, only to be intercepted in mid-air by the Azure Chain Sword just before it could touch Adam. However, the moment the spear touched the Azure Chain Sword, it transformed into a chain, locking the flying sword in mid-air while a second spear shot towards Adam from another direction!

“You may continue.” Adam’s form shattered like a broken mirror, and then another intact Adam appeared in another location. “I will not hinder your actions, nor will I influence your judgment. But I think that as the actual controller of the East American team, you should have a good grasp of the big picture.”

His second body was destroyed again, and before his third body could be destroyed, Song Tian blocked the third spear with his sword. Xilin's gaze immediately shifted, but just as she tried to target Luo Yinglong and Song Tian, ​​they quickly vanished into thin air.

[I have a feeling there's something wrong with these two guys... No, no, no! I can't think too much, I just need to keep an eye on them and keep attacking!]

Without uttering a word, Sirin unleashed her full power, her surrounding Void Zones expanding like tentacled monsters to launch a multi-pronged attack on Adam's location. Some of her attacks missed, some hit their mark, and some were blocked by Luo Yinglong and Song Tian, ​​who had been lurking in the void and maintaining a defensive posture. But regardless of success or failure, Adam remained completely unharmed.

"You should be well aware that Team Zhongzhou currently holds an overwhelming advantage. If you can successfully unite, winning this team battle is practically a foregone conclusion. But what happens when the team battle is about to end? Do you think Team Zhongzhou will still cooperate with you as sincerely as they do now?"

A spear pierced one Adam's eye socket, blowing off his head.

"...The answer is obviously no. Because your East American team has two powerful fourth-tier combatants, but you only have two fourth-tier combatants. Lacking teammates to support you, the reincarnators who rely solely on their own enhancements to survive in the horror world are not much different from ordinary plot characters. Especially in team battles where there is no intelligence advantage, the gap between the two will be greatly reduced."

A beam of light cuts Adam in half at the waist, cleaving him in two.

"...The Central Continent Team won't let you two, who are walking reward points, go, because killing you is actually very easy. It's not much harder than killing Sauron. Even if they weren't after their immediate interests, considering the potential changes you two fourth-tier combatants might cause in the final battle, they probably wouldn't show you any mercy."

Several aggregated spatial blocks crushed Adam into pieces, turning him into dregs.

"...Besides, our Celestial Team has an advantage. Don't you think about it? In a world where the forces of justice clearly control everything and set the course for the future, why would our Celestial Team be categorized as part of Sauron's doomed camp..."

The shattered fragments of space tore Adam to pieces.

"Please! You're so noisy!"

This time, however, Adam's physical form remained intact. The pierced Void Ribbon was held in place by an invisible force, causing him no harm.

"...You're right, I think so too." His form gradually faded and dissipated.

"And thank you for your cooperation, Sirin from the Central Continent Team. I'm quite surprised that this puppet has been able to keep you here for so long."

Chapter 45 The Foolish Witch

"Openly repair the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang pass. So that's what you were planning."

Alice stood motionless in the air, surrounded by a world as still and unchanging as the one Sirin had encountered. The three leaders of the Celestials stood in what appeared to be a large triangle, encircling her within a few cubic kilometers of airspace. Vast amounts of energy swirled and churned constantly like ocean tides.

Just a second ago, Alice was standing behind Xiao Honglu, watching his battle.

A mere second later, she arrived at this place alone—even with her extraordinary spatial perception, she couldn't have sensed anything amiss beforehand. But as she fell into the trap, her enemies failed to seize the opportunity to launch their most unexpected attack.

She was unaware of the trap, but that didn't mean she wasn't aware she had fallen into one. As space shifted and the Azure Sword silently emerged from the void behind her, several protective barriers suddenly appeared. Even if they didn't actually provide any real protection, the warning effect was undeniable.

The staff of dominion blocked the first attack, but the second was delayed. After all, for a prepared spellcaster, unless it was a fatal blow, even if it hit, it would be meaningless. And wasting energy was clearly not the style of the Celestial Team's reincarnators.

"So the target wasn't Sirin after all, but me?"

“Compared to that purple-haired guy who’s good at manipulating space, you’re a much higher priority to eliminate.” Adam gave her a slight bow, greeting Alice with the air of an English aristocrat. “Nice to meet you, at least for you, Ms. Margot Lloyd. I’m Adam, captain of the Celestials. As one of the pioneers who arrived in this world, I apologize for any shortcomings in my hospitality.”