Death Notice

“Apostle 70053, you have entered Devil’s Horn Arena 07. Battleground terrain is being randomly generated. The duel will start after the 30-second countdown…”

At this moment, Qin Lun stood at one corner of the square arena, hundreds of square meters in size, encased in an oval shield. The grounds were perfectly square, paved with smooth, bluish-gray stones. Looking out, it resembled a neat Go board. An orange-yellow energy dome enveloped the entire space, sealing it off.

Opposite Qin Lun stood another Apostle. The two faced each other diagonally across the arena, their eyes glinting with unnamed intentions. Inside the arena, the masks and hooded cloaks used to disguise their appearances had vanished. However, since Shattered Starry Sky could alter physical appearances, Apostles rarely paid much attention to an opponent’s looks.

Qin Lun’s opponent possessed strikingly handsome features and a charming, confident air, contrasting sharply with the ordinary-looking Qin Lun’s Serial Killer aspect, making him seem more like a movie star. He held an oddly-shaped short staff, suggesting he was likely a magic-based profession.

But seeing that staff, fashioned like two entwined snakes with twin serpent heads, Qin Lun felt something stir within him.

While Qin Lun studied his opponent, the other Apostle, Odo, was also scrutinizing Qin Lun. As Odo’s gaze swept over the pair of black and white pistols holstered at his opponent’s waist, a thread of joy wound its way through his thoughts.

The rules of this Devil’s Horn internal selection match leaned towards the format of the Domination War. Apostles’ Storage Spaces and Team Warehouses were locked out; ordinary healing items couldn’t be used. The equipment each carried now surely represented their primary weapons.

Ranged fighters were natural enemies of Mages, but Odo was no ordinary Mage. Quite the opposite, compared to some tough, brawny warrior with explosive power, he much preferred battling a gunman.

“LUCK!” Odo lowered his head, a faint smile touching his lips. He stroked his staff, deliberately avoiding his opponent’s line of sight to prevent raising premature alarm.

Running into me is your bad luck! Odo felt huge excitement. He was a Novice Apostle belonging to “Sky Float”. “Sky Float” was one of the five major subsidiary teams under the “Apostle Monument”, supporting the Wind Elemental Race of the City, aligned with the Chaos Neutral faction. Their City Points ranking was similar to “Lost”, hovering around seventh or eighth place. Odo was a promising Novice Apostle that “Sky Float” heavily invested in. The Sky Float newcomer team had poured significant resources into him. Odo possessed remarkably powerful innate mental talents; his Mental Will was naturally several times that of ordinary people.

Before entering Shattered Starry Sky, Odo had suffered from chronic headaches for years, his body and mind out of sync, leading people to label him insane. When he entered Shattered Starry Sky, however, that powerful Mental Will became his Apostle asset.

Even during his Probationary Apostle period, his Mental Will rivaled that of a Novice Mage, and his base Mana Value was multiple times higher than other probationers.

The Sky Float newcomer Leader had recognized his talent and recruited him, showering him with resources. Odo lived up to their expectations, achieving a Class Change to become a Professional Apostle after only six Quest Worlds.

Originally, Odo didn’t need to join this Metropolis Domination War. The Sky Float newcomer Leader had advised him that although his combat class was powerful, it was most vulnerable during the novice stage. Because his gear, skills, and physical enhancements leaned heavily towards Mental Will and Mana, his Health Points and Protection were extremely low. If an enemy got close, his life would be in danger.

However, a constant stream of easy successes had made Odo proud. He didn’t believe other Apostles at his level could threaten his life. Moreover, Odo understood deeply that his spellcaster class required far more real combat experience for him to truly grow. Thus, he persistently persuaded the Sky Float newcomer Leader to secure an internal invitation letter for him.

As Odo and Qin Lun sized each other up, the arena’s terrain was also rapidly shifting. Large sections of the smooth bluish-gray stones lifted from the ground, transforming into countless square stone pillars of varying heights. Some were barely a meter tall, like short square stumps. Others soared high, at least ten meters upwards. Immediately, the entire square-meter arena became a forest of stone pillars.

A slight frown touched Qin Lun’s brow. This terrain was clearly disadvantageous, blocking his firing angles and hindering his ability to close in quickly. Odo, however, was overjoyed. This environment seemed tailor-made for him. He was a Mage, yes, but not an ordinary Magician; he was a Summoner!

As the countdown ended, the oval shield protecting Qin Lun dissolved into a shower of light particles, vanishing completely. The instant the shield vanished, Qin Lun sprang forward, sprinting straight towards his opponent. There were many ways to combat a spellcaster, but none as effective as close-quarters combat.

Dual-wielding Burial of Light and Darkness, Qin Lun did not immediately summon Cerberus. The terrain here was too cramped. Cerberus was incredibly fast but lacked finesse; maneuvering on this landscape would be difficult, and it would likely just become an easy target.

“Rustle… rustle…” When Qin Lun had passed half the arena, a series of soft, scratching sounds came from the opposite direction, rapidly spreading outwards, making him involuntarily slightly frown.

“So I wasn’t wrong about that staff; he really is a Summoner!” Qin Lun closed his eyes. When he reopened them, twelve tiny pinpricks of light glowed around his jet-black irises, while three pointer-like silhouettes appeared at the pupils’ center, shifting slightly as if using the light dots as markings.

Qin Lun turned his head expressionlessly to scan his surroundings. His clock-like pupils seemed to see through the massive stone pillars, observing distant scenery. Within his mind, a three-dimensional projection of the arena materialized, centered on himself.

This projection rendered the arena’s environment in stark black and white. The stone pillars became semi-transparent, outlined like a sketch. Against this monochrome sketchbook, multiple discordant orange-red globes of light were converging towards him from all directions.

“One, two… fourteen, fifteen… over twenty!” A flicker of genuine surprise crossed Qin Lun’s face. “A Novice Summoner? Just how high are his Mental Will and Mana Value?”

Back when he first entered Shattered Starry Sky, Qin Lun himself had considered becoming a summoner who could also provide ranged attacks. Although he later switched due to Joey’s objections, he still knew a lot about the profession.

He personally had a fifth-order summon – an Inferno Hound – and knew well that being a Summoner wasn’t easy. The Inferno Hound required a Stamina Points pool of 385 points. Recruiting any additional summon would require pre-deducting that amount of capacity.

Back then, his Death Notice hadn’t displayed the “Mental Will” stat line, so it couldn’t show the other critical requirement for summons. In reality, although his Stamina Points had now exceeded 810 points, his mere 30 points of Mental Will meant he still couldn’t bond with another Inferno Hound.

In some people’s fantasies, they imagine getting a queen bug, laying loads of eggs, then sweeping across the world commanding an insect horde – dominating any daycare or retirement home. That kind of thing was absolutely impossible in the world of Apostles. If the world of law became a nonsensical comedy, would it still be the world of law?

Yet, the Summoner Apostle before him was, to a considerable degree, challenging this understanding. As a Novice Apostle, he had summoned over twenty creatures. Even if the life aura of these summons was far weaker than an Inferno Hound’s, probably not exceeding third-order status, twenty-plus summons was still… twenty-plus!

If this supposed protagonist of fate ever ascended to High-Rank Apostle status, even if he didn’t reach world-sweeping power, fielding a hundred third or fourth-order summons would be enough to field a small summoning legion. Seeing him, other High-Rank Apostles would likely want to steer clear.

“Scrabble! Scratch!” While Qin Lun was still surprised, several of the vanguard summons rounding the pillars emerged before him.

They were creatures about the size of small dogs, resembling pangolins. They had narrow, long bodies covered in black scales, thick short limbs, conical heads, and long, flat tails. Their backs were significantly arched.

“Hssss…” On spotting Qin Lun, these creatures instantly reared up onto their hind legs, mouths gaping to release viper-like hisses. Their opened jaws revealed rows of jagged, sharp teeth that no actual pangolin would possess.

Looks like a tough fight! The faintest hint of a smile touched Qin Lun’s face. With a flick of his wrists, Bang! Bang! Twin flashes, one white and one black, shot from the barrels of Burial of Light and Darkness.

“Thump! Thump!” Two of the nearest scaly beasts crumpled instantly, bursts of dark green blood spurting from holes in their conical heads. Witnessing their fallen companions, the remaining beasts were enraged. They hissed and leaped towards Qin Lun, tiny black eyes radiating savage cruelty.

“The scales aren’t as tough as they look… If that’s the case, dealing with twenty-plus of these summons might not be too hard,” Qin Lun felt slightly reassured. He began steadily retreating, the barrels of Burial of Light and Darkness constantly flashing black and white as they knocked down the entire leading group.

“Hnn?” Midway through his backing retreat, Qin Lun suddenly grunted, his brow furrowing slightly. During the shooting, some blood from one of the scaly beasts had splashed onto his arm. The moment it touched his skin, an unbearable sharp pain erupted.

“Ssszzzzt!” Where the blood landed on Qin Lun’s left forearm, skin and flesh melted like cream, leaving a horrifyingly deep hole. As this happened, he caught a glimpse in his peripheral vision: wisps of pale smoke were rising from the bluish-gray stone floor touched by the creatures’ blood elsewhere.

Their bodily fluids are highly corrosive! “Hmph!” A cold glint flashed in Qin Lun’s eye. He holstered Angel’s Praise with his right hand. The Dagger of Sin slid from his sleeve into his grasp. One swift slash later, the decaying flesh from his left forearm hit the ground.

The rotted flesh sizzled like lamb skewers in hot oil even after landing, countless blood bubbles erupting chaotically across its surface before rapidly liquefying into a bloody puddle. Qin Lun’s left forearm was grievously wounded; the gaping hole exposed bone, the surface of which appeared scorched black, emitting a powerful stench of decay.

“Heh, you’re no match for me. Surrender and save my little pets some effort!” The hidden Summoner seemed to have noticed Qin Lun’s plight, his voice carrying a faintly mocking tone.

Simultaneously, the scaly beasts Qin Lun thought he had killed minutes earlier began shakily rising to their feet. The wounds in their heads were slowly closing. Fixing their tiny black eyes piercingly on Qin Lun, they unleashed enraged hisses.