Chapter 353: Carboniferous Period 25
At that moment, Perry Yates noticed that in the places the snail had crawled over, where the ground was covered in slime, the once-green leaves were slowly turning yellow, then brown, then black, before finally vanishing.
’Could this be the Executor’s secret weapon?’
Perry Yates watched with some surprise as the slime corroded the ground, but she paid little mind to the parasitized snail before her.
Just as the snail was less than twenty meters away from them, the ground beneath it suddenly began to sink and collapse.
The next second, the behemoth-like snail vanished right into the ground.
With a SPLAT, a few drops of golden digestive fluid flew out of the hole. Landing on the ground, they instantly corroded a large pit into the earth.
Seeing this, Sage Bishop turned to Perry Yates. "This is one of your Skills, too."
Perry Yates nodded and snapped her fingers. A green, sharp-toothed thing emerged from the hole in the ground.
"This is a Cannibal Flower. Say hello."
Sage Bishop looked at the enormous plant, which bore no resemblance to a flower at all, and shook her head frantically. "No, thanks. No, thanks."
Perry Yates didn’t insist. She reached out and patted the Cannibal Flower’s head, saying softly, "Good boy, go play."
The Cannibal Flower extended its tongue, carefully licked Perry Yates’s fingers, and then retreated back into the hole in the ground.
"It can understand you," Sage Bishop said, her face full of disbelief.
Perry Yates didn’t answer. In truth, all five-star cards, be they item cards or Skill Cards, possessed a degree of sentience.
After dealing with two behemoth-sized insects in a row, the next day passed in relative peace for Perry Yates and Sage Bishop.
「It was now the tenth day of the game.」
Early in the morning, Perry Yates and Sage Bishop were woken by the heat.
They had chosen to rest in a tree the day before, but when they stepped out of their Safe House the next morning, they found themselves engulfed in a sea of fire. Raging flames were everywhere. Even the tree they were in was badly burnt and teetering, ready to collapse at any moment.
Without a second thought, the two immediately sprinted toward the edge of the inferno.
"I feel like something’s wrong... The fire... How did the fire get here... I... I distinctly remember... we were far away from any fires before we went to sleep."
Perry Yates said nothing, only quickening her pace.
Of course, she also knew something was wrong.
Fires were raging throughout the forest, but they had always kept their distance. Even if they had been careless, it was impossible to wake up and find themselves in the middle of an inferno.
That left only one possibility: the Executor.
’Using the Any Door, it would be entirely possible to move their Safe House without them ever knowing.’
Just then, the sound of a massive explosion erupted nearby.
As if sensing something, Perry Yates turned her head. The next second, a golden card materialized in her hand.
Pointed Explosion.
’Not bad. I didn’t expect this kind of reward. I really have to thank the Executor for this one. Such a good person... no, a good Slime.’
’By my count, the Executor has sent me three cards in total. Including the Any Door, that makes four.’
’Now, only the Any Door and Clone cards are still out there, unaccounted for.’
She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but as they were escaping the inferno, she thought she heard the clamor of many footsteps.
After running nonstop for half an hour, Perry Yates and Sage Bishop finally escaped the inferno.
But before they could even catch their breath, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air.
"ZZZING!!!"
An invisible attack slammed into the barrier Perry Yates had deployed. The surface of the azure barrier rippled from the immense force and energy of the impact.
Perry Yates instantly locked onto a direction, drew her Spiritual Ability Gun, aimed, and fired—all in one smooth motion.
Following a pained cry, someone fell to the ground.
A moment later, the sound of clapping rang out—CLAP, CLAP, CLAP—and a man in a black trench coat, black hat, and leather shoes emerged from behind a tree.
The man had long, narrow eyes that tilted up at the corners. His pupils were a pale gray, like gemstones.
Perry Yates warily watched the man, who exuded a dangerous aura. His style of dress was strikingly similar to the person she had previously suspected of being the Executor.
"You’re the Executor."
The man gave a slight, theatrical bow. "My humble self? How could I possibly compare myself to the great Lord Executor? You may call me Ari, my two esteemed Croupiers."
"Enough with the ’Lord’ this and ’esteemed’ that! What the hell are you!?" Sage Bishop demanded, pointing at Ari’s nose.
The man didn’t get angry; a faint, almost nonexistent smile remained on his lips. "Please don’t be angry, Lord White," he said. "I am here today on behalf of my master to extend an invitation to you both. Especially to you, Lady Yates. My master greatly admires your abilities. He believes you two should be friends, not enemies. If you are willing to bury the hatchet, he will call off his pursuit of you."
"You talk a good game," Perry said. "But for all your pretty words, I’m afraid I don’t follow. Who is this ’master’ of yours? And a ’pursuit’? I haven’t noticed anyone pursuing me.
You’re not talking about yesterday’s earthworm and snail, are you?"
Although Perry Yates didn’t say anything more, her look of disgust said it all.
The word "disdain" was practically written on her face.
Yesterday’s earthworm and snail had certainly looked intimidating, but to Perry Yates, they were nothing special. They’d been taken care of before they could even touch the hem of her clothes.
"If your master truly wants to bury the hatchet, tell him to show some sincerity and return my cards."
Hearing Perry Yates’s barbed words, the smiling mask on the man’s face nearly cracked, but he forced himself to maintain it.
"Lady Yates, you may not be aware, but as an Executor, my master has dominion over all cards in the game."
"So? That’s no excuse for him to hoard my cards."
As soon as she finished speaking, Perry Yates shot the man between the eyes without hesitation.
The bullet pierced the man’s forehead, but he didn’t die.
"As I said, the Executor has dominion over every card. By the same token, no Card Ability can harm the Lord Executor. If you agree to pledge your allegiance, the Lord Executor will grant you this same power."
The man’s expression was arrogant, and he failed to notice the two Sunflowers that had silently bloomed behind him.