Xiao Lou stared intently at the green vines outside the invincible circle.
Compass's invincibility only lasts for 10 minutes, but if the opponent attacks them with cards, most cards ' skills don't last long, let alone cards with such a wide range and high damage.
Therefore, in theory, the green vines should disappear soon.
After all, Compass's "invincibility" can only be used once a day and lasts for 10 minutes. On the other hand, attack cards don't have such long skill cooldowns, so their duration shouldn't be as long either.
However, with 10 minutes almost up, the green vines still showed no signs of disappearing.
Looking at the sprawling green vines around them, Xiao Lou couldn't help but feel puzzled—was this card's strength excessive? Without the protection of the invincible circle, they would have been bound like dumplings by the vines long ago. So many vines were too difficult to deal with; even if Yu Hanjiang kept slashing, his speed in cutting the vines would gradually be unable to keep up with the speed at which the vines surrounded them.
What should we do to deal with these green vines?
Just as Xiao Lou was racking his brains, Liu Qiao suddenly said, "Strange, what happened to those crows that were frozen? Even their corpses are gone."
The alley was dimly lit, with everyone relying solely on the luminous pearl for illumination. But Liu Qiao had excellent eyesight, and she was facing the exact direction the crows had flown from. She clearly remembered using Elsa's "Icefall" spell to freeze the crows, turning them all into ice sculptures. So, after the ice melted, the crows should have frozen to death.
But what about the body?
Even though those crows were card summons, the only difference between Card World summons and real animals is that summons obey their master's commands. Once a summoned animal is frozen, it cannot be recalled immediately. Moreover, just before the snow melted, she clearly saw ice sculptures in the shape of crows everywhere in the sky. How could they all disappear in an instant?
Liu Qiao was completely baffled. Xiao Lou heard her question, thought carefully for a moment, and suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind. He said, "These things in the alley might all be hallucinations!"
How can there be green vines attacking everyone continuously for such a long time? Don't card skills have a cooldown?
Despite the large number of crows being frozen into ice sculptures, not a single crow feather could be seen on the ground after the ice and snow melted.
All these illogical things can perhaps be explained by illusion.
The dark alleyway was eerie. Liu Qiao looked around and agreed, saying, "I also think it's more likely an illusion. Hunters shouldn't have that many strange attack cards, right?"
Xiao Lou nodded and whispered to Yu Hanjiang, "This person locked us in an alley and used illusions to confuse us, making it impossible for us to distinguish between reality and falsehood. He then looked for an opportunity to strike. He's really insidious."
Yu Hanjiang said, "He wants to use illusions to deplete all of our card skills."
—That's right, that's the key.
When Liu Qiao saw the large flock of crows, she had no choice but to use Elsa's "Icefall" skill; when she saw the dense green vines attacking her teammates, Xiao Lou also used Compass's invincibility circle to dodge.
They have a lot of cards, but life-saving skills are very precious, and they have already wasted two ultimate abilities.
It's very difficult for a Hunter to wipe out six opponents in a 1v6 situation, which is why he uses this method to first deplete their key skills before seizing the opportunity to strike.
What troubled Xiao Lou and his friends the most was that the illusions were too realistic; they couldn't distinguish between reality and illusion, and only realized something was wrong afterward. When they were surrounded by crows and vines, should they have just sat there and waited to die? Or tried ramming their heads against them? Xiao Lou didn't dare gamble with his life.
Every time a hallucination appears, they have to figure out how to deal with it, because what if it's real one time?
If this continues, as their cards are used up, they will remain at a disadvantage.
what to do?
Yu Hanjiang took a deep breath and whispered in Xiao Lou's ear, "If this continues, we'll be in a very passive position."
Xiao Lou understood and immediately and silently activated the Telepathic Connection, establishing a connection with Yu Hanjiang.
Yu Hanjiang's voice quickly echoed in his mind: "He has a domain-type card that can trap selected people in a designated environment, preventing them from leaving for a period of time. He might even be able to hear us talking. He also has some illusion-creating cards that will constantly harass us with various illusions, keeping us busy and depleting our strength. He knows we are not easy to deal with, so he will definitely strike when we are at our weakest to achieve a one-hit kill and wipe out all six of us."
Xiao Lou realized: "You're trying to find an opportunity to deliberately show weakness?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "This person is very cautious. He won't act rashly unless he's absolutely certain he can kill us. We can only pretend to be at a disadvantage and use up most of our card skills to lure him out. Anyway, you still have Historical Figure Summon, which can refresh all the character cards' skills. You don't need to worry too much about using it up in one round."
Xiao Lou thought for a moment and agreed, "Okay, I'll cooperate with you."
The moment the two mentally agreed on their strategy, Compass's invincibility period ended, and the vines disappeared. But immediately afterward, a dense swarm of spider-like creatures attacked them.
Xiao Lou said in a deep voice, "It's the Zerg."
Yu Hanjiang decisively took out the alcohol and splashed it forward. Xiao Lou immediately summoned Bai Juyi to light it, and a raging fire instantly erupted.
It transformed into a wall of fire, blocking the insects' advance, while the insectoids' piercing cries echoed all around.
Long Sen couldn't help but complain, "Is it another hallucination? When will this Hunter ever stop sneaking around like this?!"
Yu Hanjiang said coldly, "I'll play along with him to the end. I want to see how long he can last."
After spiders come snakes, and after swarms of snakes come vampire bats...
He created one illusion after another. Although the illusions could not directly harm people, no one could be sure whether they were illusions or real summoned creatures. Everyone was forced to defend passively, and gradually they became exhausted.
Yu Hanjiang asked in a low voice, "Old Mo, is your beanbag chair here?"
Old Mo brought out a beanbag chair and said, "Everyone's tired, let's take turns sitting here."
Actually, Yu Hanjiang didn't feel tired at all. He just pretended to be exhausted, rubbed his temples, and sat down on the beanbag chair to recharge. The other teammates, on the other hand, were genuinely tired. After all, they had been in a state of high tension for over an hour, constantly being attacked by various strange plants and animals such as crows, vines, spiders, and bats. Any normal person would get tired.
The group took turns sitting on the sofa to recover, but the beanbag chairs could only last so long. Then, some more monsters and demons appeared in the alley and attacked them, leaving everyone feeling exhausted.
Hunter came out and fought them directly, but they weren't afraid at all. However, he hid in the shadows and repeatedly tormented everyone with seemingly real and fake plants and animals, leaving them feeling exhausted and powerless.
After what seemed like the umpteenth wave of attacks, even Liu Qiao was getting impatient and couldn't help but shout, " Hunter, are you a coward? Do you dare to show yourself?"
Old Mo immediately chimed in, "Illusions can't really hurt us. I'm tired of you doing this."
The teammates' anxiety continued to escalate, and they began to use reverse psychology.
Yu Hanjiang's gaze swept around, and he said sharply, "If you want to kill us, you'll have to find a way to get close to us first. What, haven't you thought of anything yet?"
In the empty alley, Yu Hanjiang's voice echoed clearly after hitting the wall, but the other party did not answer— Xiao Lou couldn't help but admire this person's patience and caution.
Suddenly, a female ghost appeared in the alley; it was the same long-haired, white-clad ghost that Yu Hanjiang had just seen. Since this person was also a Hunter, everyone easily mistook her for the master of the domain.
As she approached, Liu Qiao, Long Sen, Qu Wanyue, and Lao Mo quickly retreated, while Yu Hanjiang swiftly grabbed his military knife, rushed forward in a few steps, and decisively chopped down on her head—
To everyone's surprise, the female ghost did not dodge. After her head was cut off, it rolled on the ground until it reached Yu Hanjiang's feet. Then, her face suddenly turned into Liu Qiao's appearance and she grinned at everyone.
Liu Qiao was startled and said coldly, "You're crazy! You think you can scare us with your ghostly tricks? You underestimate us!"
Yu Hanjiang's face was grim, and his hand gripping the military knife trembled slightly as he feigned anger. Xiao Lou walked to his side, gently took his arm, and asked, "Are you alright?"
Yu Hanjiang shook his head helplessly: "It's still an illusion."
Xiao Lou wondered, "How many illusions can he create? Is it just one card, or many illusion cards?"
Yu Hanjiang wearily sheathed his military knife: "I don't know. This Hunter is the strongest we've encountered so far, and he hasn't shown himself yet. Every illusion could be him."
Xiao Lou took a deep breath and whispered in Yu Hanjiang's ear, "I don't have many cards left, and most of my skills are on cooldown. It's very troublesome."
Yu Hanjiang leaned close to his ear and said, "Hold on a little longer, his domain probably doesn't have much time left."
No sooner had he finished speaking than several girls suddenly appeared in the distance.
The girls all looked exactly alike, each carrying a red oil-paper umbrella, dressed in white clothes, black skirts, and red embroidered shoes, and strolled slowly toward them as if taking a leisurely walk.
Xiao Lou quickly pulled out his Compass and started drawing a Ring. Most of his card skills were on cooldown, leaving only Compass available. This statement was actually true, but he wasn't saying it to Yu Hanjiang; he was deliberately saying it to Hunter.
In the blink of an eye, Xiao Lou had drawn more than a dozen Rings.
The girls walked very slowly at first, but suddenly, more than a dozen people teleported in front of them and surrounded them.
One second a girl was 50 meters away, the next she was right next to him, and he could even clearly see the long, thick eyelashes under her eyes.
Everyone was startled.
All the girls had ghostly makeup on their faces, and their complexions were as pale as paper. They had jet-black eyes, neatly trimmed bangs, wore red embroidered shoes, and carried red oil-paper umbrellas…
Surrounded by a dozen ghost girls in the dark, a chill ran down their spines.
Yu Hanjiang said, "Everyone be careful, it could very well be another illusion!"
However, no sooner had he finished speaking than the girls suddenly began attacking them with their oil-paper umbrellas—
One after another, beautiful red oil-paper umbrellas suddenly opened, each rib like a sharp thorn, enough to pierce their hearts in an instant!
The girls were extremely agile, each move aimed at the vital points of the group.
At this moment, most of everyone's card skills were on cooldown. They didn't know if this was an illusion or not. If it wasn't an illusion, wouldn't being stabbed by the sharp umbrella ribs be fatal? Everyone could only try their best to dodge.
Just then, Yu Hanjiang suddenly said, "This time it's not an illusion—I've found you, Hunter."
Xiao Lou turned around and saw that one of the girls in the crowd had a slightly flushed face.
It changed slightly. Compared to the expressionless, grimacing girls around her, the subtle change in that girl's expression was clearly captured by Yu Hanjiang's eyes.
Yu Hanjiang curled his lips into a smile, and like the wind, he instantly flew behind the girl and slashed at the back of her neck with his sword!
The girl dodged quickly, but Yu Hanjiang's knife was faster.
Swift as lightning.
All of this happened in just three seconds. Before she could react, Yu Hanjiang said, "I've found you," and then suddenly attacked her. Although she nimbly dodged the fatal blow, the hand holding the oil-paper umbrella was chopped off by Yu Hanjiang!
A pool of red blood appeared on the ground.
The girl's expression suddenly changed, and she immediately dropped the oil-paper umbrella and disappeared.
As soon as she disappeared, the other girls around her vanished without a trace.
The alleyway also disappeared along with it.
The surrounding walls, the stone slabs beneath their feet, and the inky black sky rapidly peeled away from them like a receding tide. The realm of existence vanished, and the normal world finally came into view.
Moonlight shone on the town, and everyone saw the familiar Zuiyue Lake in the middle of Qingfeng Town.