Chapter 12: The Pursuit

The Wheel of Reincarnation did not immediately agree to Li Bin’s request but instead surveyed the situation around him. At this point, the one-eyed corpse demon and the necromancer siege vehicles sent out by Li Bin had been completely wiped out, but their sacrifice had left a gaping hole in the towering walls of Oyada, allowing a crack force under Damon to slip inside.

Oyada was now plunged into chaos; atop the city walls, Lyon’s team was locked in fierce combat with Carter’s main forces. Over by the city hall, the intense pressure and waves of magical energy unmistakably signaled that Damon was making his move. The troops from the Duchy of Warner, which had once tightly encircled Oyada, had vanished without a trace; in their previous position, only a few shattered fragments of mirrored surface remained. If some high-level heroes or players were present, they might recognize those as shards of a level-3 artifact, the Legion Mirror Device.

The Wheel of Reincarnation glanced toward the city hall, then spoke to Li Bin, “I will help you once, but whether you find your target is none of my concern.”

Li Bin nodded. The Wheel of Reincarnation, seeing this, quickly entered the armories. With his assistance, Li Bin and his companions soon discovered a secret chamber; yet it was already emptied, leaving only a deep, pitch-black passage.

Without hesitation, Li Bin pointed to the passage and said, “Let’s go…”

Reed took the lead, charging into the darkness, followed by Ted and his death knights who had fought their way through the breach in the wall.

Li Bin’s troops quickly caught up with the fleeing group in the passage, and upon seeing them, Li Bin knew the mission was more than half accomplished.

In this small contingent, three prototype construct liches were guiding the way, followed by two squads of nagas. Judging by their number of arms, they were likely level-9 naga queens.

Within the naga queens’ ranks, a silver mechanical vehicle was slowly advancing. From its coffin-sized dimensions, it was most likely Carter’s phylactery.

Li Bin had yet to issue any orders when Reed, unable to restrain himself, leapt forward and shouted loudly, “Carter, surrender your life!”

Carter’s group halted. One of the prototype construct liches spun around and rushed back, raising its hand as magical runes flickered across its body. A bolt of lightning shot forth, striking Reed directly.

Fortunately, Reed’s own magic resistance was high; the attack merely left him paralyzed, causing no serious harm, though he was left somewhat disheveled.

Seizing this opportunity, Carter’s team stopped as well. The two squads of naga queens drew their four curved blades each, forming a barrier before the silver mechanical vehicle.

Behind the vehicle, a male naga with purple hair emerged, leading two construct liches.

At that moment, Li Bin received a system message: “You have attacked the Headshot’s troops and are subject to their full retaliation.”

Before Li Bin could react, the player named Headshot drew his weapon—not a curved bow like most nagas, but three silver composite short bows.

Li Bin was about to speak when he saw Headshot’s six arms moving in a blur, as green poison arrows and purple stun arrows flew toward him in a relentless barrage.

Meanwhile, the two squads of naga queens split off a detachment to meet Ted, who was charging forward with his death knights.

Before the arrows could reach Li Bin, Gru, who was helping command the mixed forces behind him, intervened. Gru shot seven or eight bone arrows at a speed rivaling Headshot’s own, knocking down the incoming long arrows aimed at Li Bin with precision.

Li Bin, seeing that the situation was largely under his control, turned his curiosity toward Gru. This hero, who had evolved from an ordinary soldier bearing his own name, was still something of a mystery to Li Bin. He resolved to find an opportunity to talk with Gru and learn more about his origins.

Just then, Reed suddenly called out, “Something’s wrong! Someone among them is still moving…”

Li Bin looked up but saw nothing. He anxiously ordered, “Nether Lanterns, mass curse over a wide area!”

The Nether Lanterns did not ask why, and immediately unleashed a variety of curses across every direction. Their magical energy was soon depleted, but Li Bin noticed something odd.

On the battlefield, there were five or six spots unaffected by the curses. Li Bin signaled to Bell, who promptly dispatched several Harpy Poisonmists toward those locations.

After the Harpy Poisonmists passed over, nothing changed in those places. Li Bin was puzzled, but just then, a death knight was forced by a naga queen into one of those spots.

A sudden explosion erupted, turning the death knight into a crippled knight on the spot, and even the naga queen was caught in the blast, suffering minor injuries.

“It’s a fire trap? But the enemy has no other heroes left?” Li Bin immediately understood the situation. He carefully analyzed the scene, trying to identify which hero had set the traps.

His attention quickly focused on the silver mechanical vehicle. At first, he had assumed it was Carter’s phylactery, but now it seemed likely to be another hero.

With this in mind, Li Bin pulled young Carter aside and whispered a few words. Young Carter pondered and replied, “Master, before I was transformed into a lich, there might have been a way to locate Carter, but now this method may not be practical.”

“Doesn’t matter if it’s practical or not—let’s try it anyway,” Li Bin said casually.

Young Carter nodded, produced a bottle of magical potion, and drank it all in one gulp. The blue potion turned into wisps of pale blue light, shooting straight toward Headshot, startling him as he feared something was amiss.

Seeing everything clearly, Li Bin shouted, “Kill him and seize everything he’s carrying!”

At Li Bin’s command, Bell was about to lead a charge, but Gru grabbed her. Gru, usually laconic, spoke coolly, “This guy’s mine…”

Helpless, Bell shifted her target, leading her team around the back to attack the mechanical vehicle that was continuously deploying fire traps.

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Headshot provided by reader Omnivorous Well-Behaved
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