Chapter 1367: Ever-changing Phantom
That is…
Upon seeing the masked figure, Canary was stunned. In her memory, there were only a tiny number of people who could kill a Chaos Lord so effortlessly, and even players were rarely able to do so. On the contrary, this mysterious young lady slaughtered the Chaos Lord who sneaked up on Erin and the Mini Bubble Gums in the blink of an eye. Besides, judging from the looks of Erin and the two Mini Bubble Gums, they didn’t seem to notice the young lady’s presence.
Who exactly is she?
This question flashed through Canary’s mind in an instant. But as she gazed over, she was surprised to find that the young lady had vanished as if she weren’t there at all. The giant arms that she hacked off earlier were blown to pieces by the artillery bombardment and nowhere to be seen.
“I…”
The scene before Canary was so bizarre that she was at a loss for words. She stared dumbly at the battlefield, and the young lady was no longer there. The two Mini Bubble Gum and Erin, on the other hand, continued battling the two remaining Chaos Lords and seemed to be unaware of what just happened.
It wasn’t surprising since they had their backs facing that Chaos Lord. Besides, it also looked like that Chaos Lord concealed his scent well. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been a complete lack of reaction from them when he coalesced his arms and launched the ambush. Although the scene felt like it took a long time, as a matter of fact, it took less than five seconds from that Chaos Lord’s ambush, to Canary’s attack, and to the appearance of that mysterious young lady.
To be able to slaughter an enemy so quickly in such a short period, the young lady was clearly stronger than players. However, Canary couldn’t recall any information about NPCs of this magnitude either.
The masked young lady shuttled past Canary’s vision so quickly that she wondered if she was hallucinating and had recognized the wrong person. After all, anything was possible on this fierce battlefield, and it wasn’t impossible to be seeing things due to the artillery fire… Perhaps?
While Canary was puzzled, Erin and the two Mini Bubble Gum finished off the two Chaos Lords and returned to the rear of the battle line. And when Canary asked about the mysterious young lady, as she expected, all three of them were confused. It was apparent that they didn’t feel her presence at all—neither that Chaos Lord’s nor the young lady’s. This left Canary feeling really strange…
“Could you have mistaken someone for her, Big Sister?”
Mini Bubble Gum didn’t have much of a problem with Canary’s statement. Upon seeing the unconcerned look on the former’s face, it was apparent that she thought that Canary was seeing things. With Erin’s and their abilities, how could they be attacked from behind by a Chaos Lord and not notice? Even if that Chaos Lord had a special ability that could eliminate his presence, it wasn’t like he could eliminate another person’s presence either. Not to mention, they had to fight Chaos and fighting would inevitably lead to conflict. It would be surreal if Mini Bubble Gum and Erin weren’t aware to this extent.
“Maybe…”
Canary wasn’t a very persistent person to begin with, and the young lady appeared so briefly that Canary wondered if her vision was dazzled back then. If her other self was around, maybe they could testify to each other for a conclusion. But now, relying on her alone to remember what happened and in such a short period of time… After being told so by Mini Bubble Gum, Canary pondered if she was just making up the battle plan in her head or something. Her memory was also fuzzy as to whether she did release her spells earlier.
For that reason, Canary continued to be a little confused in the ensuing battles and her mind also wandered off a few times. Fortunately, there weren’t any more Chaos Lords, so the situation was still rather peaceful. But…
“Big Sister, if you’re really tired, you should take a break.”
Mini Bubble Gum, who dodged a burst of fireb.a.l.l.s, wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and turned back to look at Canary with a sincere gaze. Earlier, Mini Bubble Gum was about to go up and stomp on the Chaos creatures. But she didn’t expect the moment she charged ahead, Canary released a fireball that almost struck her.
Luckily for the projected Mini Bubble Gum, her real self noticed the severity of the situation and pulled her away. Otherwise, she would have had a layer of her skin sizzled even if she weren’t dead. Canary’s mastery of the fire element was of the dominant level. Even if it were Mini Bubble Gum, she would still suffer when caught unprepared by her fireball.
“Ah… Okay…”
Canary, who realized that she made a mistake, blushed in awkwardness and uncharacteristically, didn’t retort. It wasn’t too surprising. After all, the incident left too deep of an impression on her, while the others hadn’t noticed it at all. If they were a bunch of careless people, perhaps Canary would have let this matter pa.s.s. But Canary was different. She was thoughtful and had the tendencies of a perfectionist. So the more she thought about it, the more she figured that something was wrong. As a result, she screwed herself over and just couldn’t concentrate on the battle.
“Erm, yes. I think I should take a break.”
At that thought, Canary put up a helpless smile to the three of them, turned around, and left the battlefield. Honestly, the sound of cannon fire on the battlefield annoyed her as she wasn’t able to think clearly. Although she was worried about whether Mini Bubble Gum would take advantage of the opportunity to make mischief after her departure, considering Erin who was around, there shouldn’t be any problem. In that case, Canary calmed herself down, left the battle line, and returned to her residence located in the rear.
Like Lydia, Erin was equally greedy for pleasure, and even in times of war, nothing had changed. But unlike Lydia, Erin didn’t have a luxurious floating battles.h.i.+p that she could take with her at any time. Despite that, this Dark Dragon wasn’t a worry-free person either. She commandeered a manor located behind the battle lines as her temporary residence. Of course, the people who lived here, besides herself, were Mini Bubble Gum, Canary, Angelina, and Alice, who was in charge of guarding the front lines.
“Whew…”
After closing the door, the sound of cannon fire outside was silenced by quite a lot. Due to the soundproof barrier, Canary couldn’t hear any clamors no matter how close it had been from the battle lines. This quiet atmosphere relaxed her tense nerves. She let out a long breath before collapsing on her bed and staring at the ceiling.
Why am I so bothered about that young lady?
Canary was dying to figure out the reason. Taking a step back, even if this person existed, she was clearly on her side, so there was no need to worry about her causing trouble. However, Canary felt as if there was something not quite right; like her instincts were telling her that she must find out who this girl was.
At this thought, Canary closed her eyes and recalled what happened earlier. She remembered the residual presence of magical energy on her hand and the magical attack she unleashed at that moment. And after she carefully recalled it several times, she confirmed that it was definitely not an illusion, but a reality instead.
But then again, the same question arose: why didn’t Erin and Mini Bubble Gum detect her presence?
It wasn’t entirely impossible if the young lady was at a higher level and stronger than the two of them. In fact, Canary tried to keep an eye on the young lady, but her vision was dazzled. The young lady disappeared almost immediately afterward. Unlike the real Canary, the projected Canary wasn’t a human, and thus didn’t have the physical limitations of a human.
In this situation, she was unable to lock onto the young lady, so that meant that the young lady was indeed more powerful than herself. Moreover, the young lady appeared without any warning. If it weren’t for Canary, who stood at the back and had a clear view, perhaps she would be like Mini Bubble Gum, unable to detect her presence at all.
But even Erin couldn’t detect her presence… Was there an existence in this world that was more powerful than the five Creator Dragons?
That was the part that worried Canary the most. The young lady was mysterious, and Erin was unable to detect her presence. This proved that at the very least, both sides were evenly matched in strength. The young lady was able to evade Erin’s detection, so what about next time?
Since the young girl showed up here, it was apparent that she was paying attention to the battle between Order and Chaos. It was fine to appear here, but what if she went looking for Rhode? Right now, Rhode was only at the level of a top player and didn’t have the power of a Void Dragon…
Bang!
At that moment, Canary heard someone opening a door loudly. Soon after, she heard a soft hum and series of footsteps, followed by some clanging and clacking that interrupted her thoughts. Upon hearing the clamors, Canary sighed in frustration. She got up from the bed, opened the door, and stepped onto the corridor. Sure enough, she saw Mini Bubble Gum on the other side of the corridor, searching a cabinet.
“Bubble, what are you doing?”
“Ah, Big Sister!”
Upon hearing Canary’s question, Bubble, who seemed to be searching for something, raised her head and waved her hand at Canary.
“Nothing, Big Sister Erin asked me to retrieve a doc.u.ment for her. She said she wanted to look at the current problems on the battle lines… So she asked me to look for it in this cabinet….” Bubble lowered her head and continued searching. “… How annoying. I hate these kinds of old doc.u.ments, but Big Sister Erin sure loves them… Aha, found it!”
With that, Bubble picked up a doc.u.ment and waved it in front of Canary with a smile. Then, she left the corridor with the doc.u.ment in hand, humming a melody. And upon looking at the mischievous Mini Bubble Gum, Canary smiled helplessly and shook her head, before turning around, about to return to the room. But at that moment, she suddenly came to a standstill and looked at the end of the corridor with a puzzled expression. Erin’s room was right there. And before Mini Bubble Gum left, she closed its door. But somehow, there seemed to be something wrong to Canary…
“Am I overthinking things?”
Canary mumbled to herself and shook her head. But in the end, she hesitated for a moment, turned around, and walked over to Erin’s room. With that, she arrived at the door, reached out her arm, and pushed it open. Soon, everything in the room was revealed in her eyes. At first glance, the room hadn’t changed at all. Everything was nicely stacked in every corner, and the intelligence on the desk was neat and tidy and wasn’t cluttered in the slightest… Wait, neat and tidy?
At that moment, she finally realized what the problem was. She knew very well that with Mini Bubble Gum’s character, she wouldn’t have any afterthought. If Mini Bubble Gum retrieved something, she would have tossed the place all around to get what she wanted and leave right away. Logically speaking, if it were really Mini Bubble Gum who took the doc.u.ment, the desk in front of her should have been an unbearable mess.
Canary always cleaned up Mini Bubble Gum’s mess, so she was well aware of this bad habit of hers. A few moments ago, she also witnessed Mini Bubble Gum messing up the cabinet and that was indeed her character. But… not only was this table neat and tidy, but it also didn’t look any different from before?
Bang!
All of a sudden, there was another loud bang on the door. Canary turned back and soon after, heard the voice of Mini Bubble Gum.
“Jeez… We’re finally back for a break. Those d.a.m.n Chaos creatures are so disgusting! Monsters that don’t drop equipment or gold are the most boring! It made me want to go AFK! Then again, we really need Big Sister Canary around. Just relying on the two of us for AiE attacks isn’t promising at all. It really is true that there are specializations in the arts. Seems like the ‘maiden cla.s.s’ is still necessary in order for us to have some fun facing those impossible monsters.”
Upon hearing those words, Canary knitted her brows, held back her anxiety, and slowly walked to the stairway to look down. As expected, she saw the two little rascals with tired faces, sprawling on the couch as if they were almost dead. Looking at this scene, Canary’s chest tightened. However, she forced a smile and continued descending the stairs.
“Bubble, you’re back already?”
“Ah… Big Sister Canary. Yes, we’re back… Big Sister Erin has the ghost fleet up there with her. Since there aren’t any Chaos Lords, we came back to take a break…”
“I see…”
Canary nodded in response. Then, she looked at Mini Bubble Gum quietly and asked in surprise.
“By the way, have you delivered the doc.u.ment that Her Majesty Erin asked for?”
“Doc.u.ment?”
At that moment, the two little ones crawled up from the couch, exchanged dubious looks, and turned to Canary.
“Big Sister Canary, what doc.u.ment are you talking about? Big Sister Erin got us to retrieve something for her? When was that? Why are we unaware of that?”
“…”
Upon hearing their response, Canary’s heart sank to the bottom, and even her complexion turned pale. At that moment, the two Mini Bubble Gums seemed to realize something wrong with her. They went up to her worriedly and gazed at her curiously. But soon, Canary took in a breath and said.
“Bubble, get Her Majesty Erin here right away. I have something important to tell her.”
Someone had sneaked into the front lines.
This news came to Erin and Mini Bubble Gums like a bolt from the blue. Even though there were only a few of them living in this estate, it was secured with many layers of enchanted fields from the inside-out. They were allowed to enter and leave, while others couldn’t even get close. After all, these were the enchanted fields that Erin set up with her dragon soul power, and even Canary and Mini Bubble Gum couldn’t lift it and enter without her permission. But now, someone had disguised as Mini Bubble Gum and entered the manor house? Not to mention, she also searched Erin’s desk openly!
Although the doc.u.ments were intelligence on military movements and such, it was basically of little value to non-Chaos beings (after all, with the respect for the strict hierarchy of the undead army, absolute control was held in Erin’s hands). But it still wasn’t a good thing to be looked over by someone like this. Not only that, but what surprised them was that after checking, Erin also found that she hadn’t lost any of the doc.u.ments at all. So the doc.u.ment in Mini Bubble Gum’s hand that Canary witnessed earlier was most likely a copy.
Who that was and why the intelligence was taken weren’t the main points. On the contrary, it was how she got past the strong defenses, showed up in front of Canary in a form indistinguishable from the real Bubble, and walked away openly without raising any suspicion? Just how powerful was that person?
Of course, when Canary thought about it later, she realized that the other party wasn’t without flaws. For instance, although her tone of voice was no different from Mini Bubble Gum, Mini Bubble Gum’s biggest characteristic was that she always mixed reality with games, and spoke using all sorts of gaming and delusional terms.
The person who disguised herself as Mini Bubble Gum apparently didn’t know that, so her way of speaking was too normal to be Mini Bubble Gum. And this was what raised Canary’s suspicion and why she went up to check things out. Otherwise, she would have been fooled without knowing.
And now, the biggest question for them was…
Was it necessary to report this matter to Rhode?