Lin Luo felt extremely happy right then. The way Sister Cannon unleashed her EED attack was simply spectacular. Liu Ziwen’s attempts to show off had hit a dead end. However, the brat was outrageously arrogant, treating Sister Cannon as if she were nothing. How could a dignified Level 5 care about a mere reptile? What would that say to all of us devoted Sister Cannon fans?

Looking at that Great Rock Snake, Lin Luo estimated it would evaporate into a puff of carbon dioxide within another minute or two. He knew the tide of battle had turned and hesitated, wondering if he should seize this chance to ambush Liu Ziwen. But that guy’s Beast Taming Tome was only Level 2; that seemed complicated?

He might not be able to beat him!

He might as well wait for Sister Cannon to conclude this in style.

“Ah!” Just then, a girl’s sharp cry reached his ears. Turning, he saw Mikoto’s body tremble violently, and she collapsed powerlessly as if her electrical energy had been instantly drained.

“Sister Cannon!” Lin Luo reacted with blinding speed, catching Mikoto instinctively in his arms. A single glance was enough to fill him with dread. Mikoto’s delicate face was slick with sweat, her delicate brows tightly furrowed, looking as if she were in extreme agony.

Damn it! What’s going on? Does Sister Cannon have a congenital heart condition that’s suddenly flared up? Cheer up, Sister Cannon, you can’t catch a cold at a crucial moment!

Lin Luo was frantic, his thoughts a chaotic mess. If Sister Cannon failed him now, wouldn’t that be courting death!

As Mikoto fell, the electrical light receded, and the world plunged back into darkness. Fortunately, the Great Rock Snake seemed crippled by Mikoto’s attack, lying on the ground like a pile of sludge, utterly unable to rear up again.

“Hahahaha! It’s finally done! The Heart of the World is finally mine!” Liu Ziwen laughed maniacally and strode forward, not sparing a glance for his half-dead summon. His eyes were fixed solely on the girl in Lin Luo’s arms, greed burning within them.

Hearing this, Lin Luo snapped his head up, his voice chilling. “Liu Ziwen, you caused this?!”

“Lin Luo, you truly are an idiot. You thought having a powerful helper meant you could defeat me, but you never realized that the spirit vessel of the Heart of the World possesses a fatal weakness, hahahaha! You lost because of your ignorance.”

“A fatal weakness?” Lin Luo frowned.

“Didn't I tell you? For walkers like us, all your Contractors are mere prey. Although this girl’s power is far greater than mine, I, possessing the Heart Codex, have an absolute method to suppress her. Of course, this method must succeed before she becomes your Contractor, but the clever part is that you haven’t signed the pact yet… cough cough…”

Saying this, Liu Ziwen suddenly clutched his chest and began coughing violently. With every cough, a mouthful of blood sprayed out, and after a few expectorations, his face was deathly pale, looking utterly like a corpse.

“A Contractor who hasn't signed a pact with you poses no threat to a walker; they are merely experience points for us to level up… cough… However, this method has severe side effects for the walker. If not for this desperate situation, I would never resort to using it… cough…”

“You bastard! What exactly did you do?” Lin Luo roared, gently setting Mikoto down. Clenching his fists, he charged forward.

“Hmph, you’ll never know,” Liu Ziwen sneered with a grim face. “Now, I can ask you to die!”

Lin Luo’s heart lurched. Suddenly, he felt a suffocating aura bearing down on him. Instinctively, he recoiled backward.

Zzzzzip!

“Hiss!” A searing, stinging pain erupted on his arm. Lin Luo sucked in a sharp breath and looked down, only to find a gash nearly an inch long had appeared on his right shoulder—blood was flowing freely.

What was that?… Lin Luo was utterly horrified. He hadn’t seen the source of any attack just now.

“Lin Luo, I told you, you’re done for!” Liu Ziwen sneered, his eyes full of disdain. “Without that girl’s help, you are nothing more than an ant to me.”

“Did you summon another strange beast?” Lin Luo said sternly, simultaneously scanning his surroundings with extreme vigilance. The suffocating aura was still present, yet there was no fifth creature in the area. Was it a phantom? Or an invisible exotic beast?

“My Beast Taming Tome is Level 2, you think I can only summon one?”

Sure enough, there was another exotic beast lurking. Where was it? Lin Luo’s eyes began sweeping the area.

Liu Ziwen just smiled without speaking; he savored this feeling of complete control.

A premonition of danger struck again. This time, Lin Luo didn’t dodge; instead, he lunged toward the aura and kicked out. In his Contract State, his physical strength hadn’t improved much, but his agility had increased severalfold, and every attack carried a certain degree of electrical charge. This charge could be used for attack or for perception.

Bang!

Lin Luo’s foot struck empty air, yet it produced a faint impact sound, and a barely perceptible shadow flashed past him.

Lin Luo narrowed his eyes. He finally saw it—the shadow seemed to be a leopard, covered in countless black spots on snow-white skin. The reason he said seemed was because its body was transparent; if one didn’t look closely, it would be completely missed.

An invisible leopard? Lin Luo knitted his brows, a pained expression crossing his face. Though he had managed to glimpse the beast’s form through his last attack, he had paid a considerable price… A wound about twenty centimeters long on his thigh was bleeding profusely.

“See it now? Hmph, not bad for you. I thought you wouldn't spot it until you were dead—that’s a Ghost Leopard,” Liu Ziwen drawled from the side. He was half-lying on the ground now, his face the color of a dead man, seemingly unable to even move. Hurting the enemy by a thousand while losing eight hundred—it seemed his tactic was quite tragic.

Ghost Leopard? Damn your ancestors!

First, it was Pokémon intruding, now it was a creature from Warcraft. Has the dimensional barrier ceased to exist?

Lin Luo certainly wasn't unfamiliar with the Ghost Leopard; it was a legendary pet from World of Warcraft.

The Ghost Leopard’s combat strength wasn't outstanding, but its appearance was undeniably cool because it was transparent. Lin Luo felt a headache coming on; the Ghost Leopard was like an assassin because it could stealth.

As expected, the second Lin Luo spotted it, the Ghost Leopard slipped back into stealth, completely vanishing from sight… The feeling was terrible.

Lin Luo could sense that this Ghost Leopard hadn't been enhanced by Liu Ziwen. But even so, it wasn't something a scrub whose combat power was only 5 could handle. So… what should he do?

Liu Ziwen was crippled. Should he seize the chance to take him out? Since he was the summoner, if Liu Ziwen dropped, the Ghost Leopard would likely return home… This thought lingered stubbornly in Lin Luo’s mind.

It was indeed an excellent tactical option. With Mikoto in her current state, relying on her was impossible, and the Ghost Leopard was beyond his current capabilities. The only hope was Liu Ziwen himself—kill him… perhaps Mikoto would recover then.

Lin Luo made up his mind, contemplating how to execute this tactic successfully… but he failed to notice the brief, sharp glint that flashed across Liu Ziwen’s eyes!

(Seeking recommendations and collections~~~!)