Chapter 5777: Chapter 4800: Murderous Intent on a Rainy Night (7)

Time, thought Arkham Batman. If they wanted to complete the remaining seals simultaneously, then without any long-distance communication tools, how to act at the same moment was the hardest problem.

Even if they started from the same place, the distance to each target spot was different, so the time spent would be different too. If they acted immediately upon arrival, that would still leave Shiller time to hunt the others. Once someone went down during that window, the odds of finishing simultaneously would plummet.

In other words, they needed to agree on a signal. After reaching their assigned locations, they could only act upon receiving that signal; that would be the safest. But the biggest problem was that they were too far apart, they had no way to communicate, no flares or anything—so how were they supposed to send that signal?

But the instant he saw the lightning, Arkham Batman had an idea. He didn’t know if this was something Doctor Manhattan had deliberately designed, but aside from causing trouble for the Exorcist side on a stormy night, the lightning could also serve as a signal to act, because it was something visible across the entire map.

As long as they agreed that, after reaching their targets, they would all move at the next lightning strike, then there was a good chance they could complete the seals at the same time.

Arkham Batman calculated the intervals between the lightning strikes he’d seen; basically none exceeded twenty minutes. The castle was large, but starting from the center, twenty minutes was enough to reach any location, so there was no need to worry about someone not arriving before the lightning came.

That made the biggest problem the teammates. He hadn’t told Scarlet Spider-Man yet, but the unreliable teammates might not just be one, but two. Even if those two stayed alive, using them as half a person each was already pushing it.

To start three seals at once, they needed at least four people, because someone had to pin Shiller down. Arkham Batman, Black Widow, and Scarlet Spider-Man were completely fine, but having to choose between Constantine and Rorschach—how was that any different from choosing between two piles of dog shit?

There was actually another way, which Arkham Batman had thought of too. Since he had a Skill that sped up sealing, it might be possible for him to kite Shiller while sealing at the same time.

In other words, he would rather do two jobs himself than hand even one of them to either Constantine or Rorschach. Neither of those two could be trusted.

But in the blink of an eye, Arkham Batman made up his mind. He said, "Forget about No. 1 and No. 5, it’s just the three of us. You’re the most mobile—go look around, see if you can find other seal locations, and find Natasha while you’re at it. Meet under the big tree in the middle of the garden in half an hour. And whatever you do, don’t get caught."

Half an hour was basically the limit. Letting this version of Shiller wander around the castle for half an hour meant someone was probably going to get stabbed again, but there was no other choice. Blame it on drawing two completely unreliable teammates.

Arkham Batman wasn’t cursing fate either. He circled around the castle, and just as he was about to re-enter through a side door, he ran into Rorschach again, the guy with the inkblot mask. Rorschach clearly wanted to say something, but he’d probably been muted by the admin. Arkham Batman had no time to argue with him; Shiller was far too dangerous, and he had to keep moving. If Rorschach bogged him down, he’d be dead.

Arkham Batman strode quickly into the castle. Rorschach tried to follow, but suddenly he heard a burst of intense music. He turned his head, and amid flashing blades came a chorus of brutal screams.

Arkham Batman, who had already stepped into the castle, paused. Even if this was a game, even if he really didn’t like this teammate, he wasn’t going to just abandon him. Arkham Batman took a deep breath, flicked his Cloak, and turned back.

Rorschach had clearly let his guard down; his assessment of Shiller’s strength was completely wrong. He’d probably just been lucky before and never faced Shiller head-on. After all, he was No. 5, so he got dropped in a single go.

Arkham Batman didn’t have a med kit on him and couldn’t revive Rorschach at all, so all he could do was pull Shiller away and hope another teammate would come pick him up. Spider Man had been moving along the walls the whole time; he should spot him soon.

Arkham Batman practically brushed shoulders with Shiller as they passed. He knew that after each slash, Shiller had this habit of wiping his blade, and couldn’t immediately chain another strike. He slipped past during that gap, waited for him to finish wiping, then hit him with a Cape Dizziness.

But Shiller didn’t even look at him, just stood there staring at Rorschach. Arkham Batman’s heart sank instantly. Not good—Shiller was probably going to camp the corpse. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

This was the hassle of having the enemy controlled by a player too. If the seals were buffs for Shiller, then anyone could see the best plan was to complete the remaining three seals in a short burst. Of course Shiller could think of that as well.

So now the numbers didn’t matter, and the sacrifices didn’t matter either. As long as he could whittle down the number of Exorcist-side operatives who could still move, so they couldn’t complete all three seals at the same time, he’d be able to drag them all to their deaths sooner or later.

Although now with Rorschach being guarded there was only one left and four of them remaining, four people were already pretty much the upper limit for carrying out the plan. If anyone tried to play hero and come save someone, and he chopped one more of them, finishing the plan would be way too hard.

Arkham Batman was stuck, not sure whether to stay or go. He wanted to stick around to warn whoever came next, but he didn’t want to waste time, and he was also afraid that if he stayed here too long he’d just give Shiller more Points. After hesitating for a moment, he still turned around and left.

He hadn’t gone more than a few steps when another white light suddenly flashed from Shiller’s body. Arkham Batman was so mad he actually laughed. Sure, another seal was gone, but whoever sealed him—could you at least check Shiller’s status after the seal first? Playing tag with a Ghost but nobody cares what state the Ghost is in, huh?

Arkham Batman retreated fast, but it was already too late. Shiller Flashed right in front of him.

For a split second, Arkham Batman thought the game had bugged out, but it hadn’t. Shiller literally just took one step, and the next second he Flash-teleported more than a hundred yards to appear right in front of him, raising his hand and slashing down with the knife.

Arkham Batman’s reaction was insanely fast too; he immediately threw out a Cape Dizziness. After interrupting that attack, Arkham Batman originally wanted to use the time Shiller took to wipe his blade to slip past him and rush back into the castle, so he could play doors with him.

Instead, with a whoosh, he took another hit.

At this point even Arkham Batman couldn’t help cursing in his head: "What, there’s not even wipe-knife time anymore?!"

Luckily, although the previous medkit hadn’t healed him back to full, he was at more than half HP. Taking that hit should have left him with a sliver of health; there was no way he could afford to take the next one.

Arkham Batman gritted his teeth, tanked that slash, and sprinted toward the castle at his fastest speed. Shiller followed right behind him, moving about 50% faster than before, looking kind of like he’d permanently entered God of Frenzy Hunt mode.

Arkham Batman had just reached the main gate when Shiller had already caught up. Luckily, at that moment Black Widow came rushing out in a hurry. The moment she saw a Ghost chasing Arkham Batman from behind, she was directly stunned, and without a word she turned around and ran.

Shiller seemed to be weighing which of the two of them was the softer target; he did pause briefly at the gate, but in the end he still went after Arkham Batman. Clearly this mosquito who kept playing human footwork with him was getting way too annoying; he decided to take Arkham Batman out first.

Arkham Batman couldn’t be sure whether the near-death state could trigger Infinity times, but he definitely didn’t want to experience it again, so he charged up the stairs at the fastest speed of his life.

During this, he could feel his own heart pounding violently, adrenaline fully pumped, everything in front of him slowing down. He hadn’t felt this hyped in a long time.

Arkham Batman licked his slightly dry lips, rushed into a room on the second floor, climbed out the window and onto the balcony. He planned to use the balcony’s offensive-and-defensive attribute to kite Shiller. He crouched down, staring nervously at the doorway. The moment that black figure appeared at the door, he would immediately jump down to the first floor and then circle back again.

But the next second, blade light flashed directly behind his back. Arkham Batman’s Soul almost left his body. He rolled on the spot, and the result was going from lying dead on the second-floor balcony to lying dead on the first-floor ground.

Staring at the huge "Near-Death" characters, Arkham Batman couldn’t help but squeeze his eyes shut. This Teleportation Skill could actually pass through walls! Arkham Batman really wanted to shout "Doctor Manhattan" right now and drag him over to look at this bullshit balance he’d made.

And even like this, Arkham Batman still didn’t give up. There were only two seals left; he refused to believe Shiller wasn’t feeling the pressure. The time Shiller spent camping his body here or hauling him around might already be enough for his teammates to pull off another seal. As long as they could seal this Devil in the end, his sacrifice would be worth it.

Shiller hesitated briefly, circled once around Arkham Batman’s body, and finally still hoisted him up. Arkham Batman knew Black Widow had definitely seen him get knocked down, but he figured a female Agent knew how to prioritize. With only two seals left, if they were lucky they could be done in ten-plus minutes; there was no need to waste time saving him. Since the simultaneous seal plan was no longer possible, they could only roll with it and brute-force their way through under pressure.

Shiller slung Arkham Batman over his shoulder and headed for the cellar again. This time, no one tried to save him on the way. Arkham Batman was carried into the cellar. The cellar was full of blood-red offerings—some animal, some human, some dead, some barely breathing. On one side there was a huge pile of corpses. With a quick glance, Arkham Batman noticed what seemed to be a family of three: Dad, Mom, and a daughter. They should be the Vale family from the story plot.

Arkham Batman was laid on the ground. He felt Shiller tie his hands together, then hang his bound hands from the ceiling. But he noticed that on the wall directly opposite him, there were five Rome numerals, with number 1 already lit up, which meant Constantine had probably already been sacrificed.