Stray

Chapter 85: Cooperate

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There is a lot of open space behind the Dihailan Hotel. With no clouds or smoke covering it, the stars in the sky are exceptionally clear.

Nemo had seen what the position of "Commander of the Knights of Judgment" meant. Adrian Cross did lose all his strength, but he immediately found a way to deal with it - Adrian drew a not-so-complicated magic circle on the scroll, and then adorned it with all kinds of magic circles. rune.

"Write a new spell directly? Not bad." An picked up a piece of paper and drew it accordingly. A tiny black sphere floated out of the magic circle and floated aimlessly with the air. "…but what is this?"

"Their problem is not strength." Adrian said without looking up, and crossed out two more spell characters. "Those two lacked on-the-spot reaction and cooperation."

"And how many balls are you going to give them to play with?" Ann stretched out her finger and tried to poke the black ball, which was not much bigger than a grain of wheat - it almost melted into the darkness, and it took her a long time to locate it. But just as she stretched her fingertips over, the small ball disappeared in a swish, appearing more than ten centimeters away. "Ah, I see. But it's not going to bother Nemo."

"It can only be eliminated by a stable output of magic power for more than ten seconds. Once the magic power fluctuates, it will immediately break away - the surface magic power is effective, which Mr. Wright can't do." The knight commander made the final adjustment and handed the parchment scroll to install. "This thing is not powerful, it's not a problem if you make thousands."

"I probably know what you think." The female warrior raised her eyebrows at the parchments and flipped them casually. "I'm fine, but to be honest, I don't think this is too difficult... Huh?" She lowered her head and stared at the last one.

"...you're so mean-spirited," she murmured.

"I've been very lenient with them." Adrian stared at the two people who were a little overwhelmed in front of him, "At least I didn't add attack elements, if they were my subordinates..."

The former knight commander raised the corner of his mouth in a rare way, and Nemo suddenly felt a chill on his back.

"Are you ready?" An finished drawing the magic circle in the air, and the black spheres like flying insects rushed out from the center of the magic circle, and even looked like jetted black sewage.

"No." Nemo said dryly, no one seemed to intend to explain all this, whether it was the knight commander or the female warrior. Oliver beside him didn't answer, their leader was looking intently at the creation of the brand-new magic circle—the black spheres came around them and spread rapidly around the two of them. They danced silently in the night like mad swarms of flies.

"Let's start then." Ann happily ignored Nemo's answer, her tone lighthearted. "You two won't get out without clearing up all the spell bugs—oh yeah, no illumination. Nemo, you can't brute force it either."

"Destruction what-"

The last circle completed by An answered his questions. The moment the magic circle was completed, all light disappeared.

It's not just the light that's gone. The rustling of the night wind on the leaves, the chirping of insects in the grass, and the vague voices of people in the distance. All sounds disappeared. The air also stopped flowing and solidified on the skin. They seemed to be locked into a pitch-black coffin, buried deep in the ground, and cut cleanly and neatly from the outside world.

Nemo was in a trance for a few seconds, and something icy was gushing out of his bones. He didn't like the sight, very much. Like stepping on the edge of a cliff with one foot, he fell into the original memory - pitch black, cold, and silent.

A warm hand rested on his shoulder. Nemo regained his senses in an instant, suppressing the unpleasantness and discomfort that had surged up.

"I probably understand." Oliver was close at hand, but Nemo couldn't see him - to be precise, he could feel the other party's state very clearly now. From Oliver's heartbeat, breathing to the smallest movements of his body, Nemo could "perceive" clearly, but he just couldn't see each other.

The magic circle designed by Adrian is perfect, and there is not even a trace of light left here. And those spell worms flying around perfectly blended into the darkness. Nemo could hear their faint murmurs near and far until the other sounds died away—the little spells contained too little mana and flew too fast, and the sound was almost the only clue.

And here it is conservatively estimated that there are thousands of incantation worms.

"More than ten seconds of magic power output." Oliver said in a low voice, the originally small volume was even a bit harsh in this environment. "It's impossible for me to see them, and magic hedging doesn't require any physical action. I think Mr. Cross means... Nemo, you have to hold them down and let me destroy them as soon as possible."

"I think so," Nemo tried to answer. He also couldn't see his body - which made him not sure if his vocal cords could still work properly, and the unpleasantness that had been suppressed in his heart surged up again. "But their power is too weak, I can only... try it first."

If the Spellworms are strong enough, it is good to say that in this environment, it is no less difficult to catch them decisively than to catch a barely visible dust in the air. Nemo had just focused his consciousness, and before he had time to act, the pile of spell bugs suddenly dispersed.

It seems that too much magic can't be used before confirming their location. Then there was only one way left, and he had to listen.

Nemo's breathing quickened, and the darkness that clung to him made him more and more annoyed. He was a little distracted, couldn't concentrate, and listening wasn't going well enough—other voices were disturbing him.

Oliver's breathing was slow, but his heartbeat was fast. The powerful heartbeat was like the beat of a war drum in this emptiness, and Nemo couldn't help but listen to it. The breathing and heartbeat of the two were mixed together, leaving no relatively quiet gap.

Nemo calmed down, tried a few times, and succeeded in immobilizing a spell bug by luck. And less than three seconds after Oliver began to input magic power according to the instructions, it flew away again and disappeared into the darkness.

Magic output is unstable.

This is only one, and there are thousands more waiting in the darkness.

Are they too confident in their own power? Nemo stood there a little dazed. It now seems that the practical difficulty of the plan is not at the same level as the theoretical one, and they only have about a day left, and no one knows when Godwin Lopez will choose to do it.

Can they really do it

no. Nemo shook his head, intending to shake this negative thought out of his mind completely. He took a deep breath, trying to control his heartbeat. He succeeded in the first few seconds, but unfortunately this success was also not long-lasting - their heartbeats had just matched for half a minute, and Nemo had just turned his attention to the spell bug, and his heart resumed its original beating speed.

The thick darkness added to the anxiety in his heart.

Nemo's breathing involuntarily became faster and heavier, and after realizing this, he simply stopped breathing. But that didn't make things much better. In the darkness, the passage of time becomes unpredictable - the ghost knows how long it will take them to kill the first Spellworm.

too slow.

Every time they encountered a desperate situation before, they were able to save themselves from danger in the end. This was the first time, Nemo mused—the first time he had faced his own immaturity and powerlessness so directly. In the face of Nadine, they only have one chance. After all, unlike the fluttering incantation worm, a life is too heavy.

"Nimo." Oliver, who had just put down his sword, suddenly opened his mouth.

"Yeah." Nemo replied as calmly as possible, "I'm here."

"You don't look like you're using a spell to locate."

"Yes, I'm listening... they make noises."

"I'm sorry." Their commander's voice sounded a little tight. "…Am I disturbing you? Is there anything I can do?"

"No." Nemo was distracted, and couldn't help but began to breathe habitually again. He tried to suppress the depression and discomfort in his voice. "Never mind, Ollie, we still have time—it's just the beginning."

Can't mess around. I am a superior demon, Nemo repeated harshly to himself, a real superior demon. There shouldn't be anything like claustrophobia in the superior demon.

"..." Oliver was silent for a while, and clear footsteps sounded. He got closer, then held his breath, as if listening for something.

"You're not feeling well?" Oliver asked tentatively after a moment of silence. "Is it the reason for those potions?"

"No, no. I'm fine. Let's continue," Nemo replied quickly. "Don't talk about me... Your heart is beating a little faster, aren't you too nervous? Don't be nervous, we'll—"

"Can I hold your hand?" Oliver interrupted, "if you don't mind."

"If that makes you better." Nemo held out his hands decisively.

Oliver fumbled for a moment, brushing his fingertips against the back of his hands, then grabbed his hands succinctly.

"I'm really nervous." Oliver held his hand gently, his voice soft. "I'm afraid I can't do this, I'm afraid I'll see Nadine killed by Godwin... I'm afraid I'll let you down."

Nemo could feel a cautious tug—Oliver tugged his hands against his forehead.

"I'm as nervous as you are...even though I don't know what you're resisting."

Well, Oliver found out. Nemo sighed inwardly, but did not wring his hands away. Yes, the other's palms were dry and warm, which only meant one thing - his own hands were wet and cold.

He didn't hide his boredom and discomfort.

"It's a bit humiliating to say... Nemo, you probably don't know it yet. I've sworn a bunch of oaths to other people, but I understand how far apart I am from you." Oliver continued, his voice soft, even with a smile meaning. "While trying to catch up with you, I can only promise one thing - no matter how bad things get, I'll always greet you with a smile. At least not with the wailing that I did the first time around."

"You must remember what happened at that time? You can laugh if you want to, I won't be angry."

he said very gently.

Nemo tried to tug at the corners of his mouth, but he failed to laugh. To be honest, he didn't find Oliver funny at all. In that cry, he no longer even dared to look at the weak human child, for fear that the other party would escape completely because of fear. And now, the grown-up Oliver Ramon is standing in front of him.

Oliver's heartbeat was still fast and regular, and there was no sign of easing.

That's right. Nemo let out a slow breath.

The darkness wasn't as empty as he thought, it was indeed a bit harsher than he remembered, but from a certain angle, it was better than he remembered - at least this time his lights didn't leave him too far.

His breathing eased. The lungs are no longer held and squeezed by cold claws, and naturally there is no need to deliberately suppress breathing. Nemo was finally able to easily tune his breathing rate to the other's.

Then there is the heartbeat.

This time he didn't try to adjust his heartbeat. Of course, maybe he adjusted and things just got a lot easier. Nemo wasn't quite sure—he only knew one thing, his heart no longer beat as smoothly and regularly as it had at first, and was not controlled by his subjective will.

The sound gap gradually became consistent, and quiet moments began to appear one by one. The abyss magic emitting a dim light quickly burst out, like thunder and lightning smashing from the ground to the sky. The trajectory of the spell was frozen in the air, like dead branches of a bush that suddenly sprung up, each twig with a buzzing spell worm strung on the end.

"We do have time," Oliver said, inserting the Sword of Rest into the ground. With a little bluish white light filament wrapped around the spell worms, ten seconds later, they quietly turned into fly ashes. "It's really just beginning."

Perhaps it was because he was too deeply influenced by the stories in the book. Nemo thought, carefully analyzing his feelings, waiting for a clear sign. It's like he can grow labels and instruction manuals on his own after a long time in his relationship. Yes, he does still have a lot of questions - but now that he is clear about his identity, he suddenly feels a little relieved.

That one-of-a-kind light—if that dedication, trust, and warmth must be given a name, "like" is a good word.

Things might not be as complicated as he thought, Nemo thought. If he really simulates everything in humans perfectly, then this abnormal heartbeat frequency is enough to prove it.

It is equally rapid and regular. There is no need for special adjustment, as long as a little correction is needed, it will become closer and closer to the opponent's.

Spellworms are decreasing. From dozens at a time to hundreds at a time, the interval is getting shorter and shorter, and the speed is getting faster and faster. The sense of unity fighting hand in hand was so reassuring that he even had to forget the oppression brought about by the impenetrable darkness.

Until the last spell worm turned into fly ash, the darkness instantly dissipated - but it was no longer the starry sky that greeted them, but the setting sun that had just sunk to the ground.

,Wonderful!

(m.. = )