Waiting by the Stump

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If someone had told Lu Su before he entered this unknown secret realm that a Jade Grade could create a Color Quality card, he never would have believed it.

Because up to now, he had neither seen anyone possess a color card before reaching Jade Grade nor created one himself.

Of all Lu Su’s cards, only the Holy Blade Belt, which could advance to Hall of Fame Grade, and Spider-girl came close to Color Quality.

But they were only close. Their information still listed them as red.

Thinking of this, he could not help sighing inwardly. But replicating this next time will probably be difficult.

This time, he had invested two whole Color Quality materials into the card creation.

Unless another kindhearted person like Guran delivered materials right to his door—and they would also have to be someone who had fallen from Hall of Fame Grade.

Moreover, Lu Su felt that part of the reason Altria had attained Color Quality was because he had also invested a Chain Card during her advancement.

So strictly speaking, the King of Knights he now possessed was actually a card fused from two cards.

After quite a while, Lu Su finally calmed himself and continued examining Altria’s detailed information.

"She has Wind King Barrier too, so Xue won’t need to use the modified version."

"But this can only fool primitives like Diarmuid. Here, it probably won’t deceive anyone."

For Altria, Wind King Barrier now mainly served to clear out fodder without unleashing Excalibur. Its ability to conceal the Sword Body was barely worth mentioning.

But the real highlight came afterward.

"Thirteen Restraints."

At this point, Lu Su did not even know what words to use to describe his feelings.

He naturally knew that both Rhongomyniad and Holy Sword Excalibur possessed Thirteen Restraints, so he had deliberately written it into the card during creation.

But he had never expected Altria to truly generate this ability.

After all, the original Excalibur with Full Restraint Release was the Holy Sword that saved the planet.

Lu Su muttered skeptically, "It should be a nerfed version… right?"

Then another headache came to him. "The problem is that fully releasing the restraints is difficult too. Although under the Knights of the Round Table’s rule of minority obeying majority, seven votes are enough for complete release."

Still, having such a powerful skill as a trump card put Lu Su much more at ease.

If he went back to the time when he had been hostile with Greyk, he would definitely give the other man an eye-opening lesson in what a surprise was.

As for the rest, Lily’s two original Traits had turned into similarly effective but differently named Traits after advancement. Their effects had presumably improved.

After finishing Altria’s card information, Lu Su let out a long breath.

The only materials he had left were Bloody Overlord (Red) and Battle Maniac (Red). Everything else had been converted into immediate combat power.

"Time to find someone and ask for directions again."

Lu Su muttered to himself, regretting that he had not asked Guran where the secret realm’s exit was.

But before asking for directions, he had to restore the Spiritual Power consumed during card creation.

At the secret realm’s exit, Lyon gazed at the enormous Space Rift in the distance and casually asked David beside him, "Still no news of Lu Su these past two days?"

David gave a slight shake of his head.

The Brown-haired Man was helpless for a moment.

He had been waiting at this secret realm exit for Lu Su for many days, yet the other man seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth. He had not appeared again since that day.

This made him wonder whether Lu Su had died in some obscure corner, or whether he had some other means of leaving the secret realm.

But when he thought of Lu Su’s terrifying strength, Lyon felt that if he himself had not died yet, how could Lu Su possibly be dead?

With that thought, he could not help sighing. "We’ll wait another two days. If we still don’t run into him, we’ll have to try breaking out ourselves."

As he spoke, his expression darkened.

Lyon had no confidence that the two of them could break through the Fallen Cult’s blockade.

For some unknown reason, the Fallen Cult had gone mad lately, digging through the secret realm as though they meant to turn over every inch of ground. If he kept waiting, he would soon have nowhere left to hide.

By now, Lyon had roughly guessed that the Fallen Cult was searching for something, though he did not know the details.

After all, before entering, he had only known that this secret realm contained a Field Material he needed.

Just then, the secret realm exit in the distance suddenly erupted into commotion.

Boom!

A violent explosion rang out, and the gusting winds made the dense woods all around them tremble and rustle.

Such a massive disturbance naturally caught Lyon’s attention.

After seeing the situation at the secret realm exit, the Brown-haired Man’s face lit up with delight. "We’ve finally waited long enough. Let’s go."

With that, he led David charging toward the secret realm exit.

The one causing such a huge commotion was naturally Lu Su.

A few days earlier, after recovering his Spiritual Power, he had captured a slightly stronger Demon and forced it to tell him the location of the secret realm exit.

Then he had hurried there without stopping.

The reason it took him several days to reach his destination was entirely because he had encountered several groups of Fallen Cult members along the way.

In order to conceal his tracks and avoid discovery, he could only hide and detour all the way.

Moreover, Lu Su noticed that compared to the first time they had met, when the Fallen Cult still had time to meddle in his affairs with Lyon, their actions over the past few days could practically be described as frenzied.

Several times, he had nearly been discovered.

Lu Su had some guesses about this. He roughly knew what the Fallen Cult had sealed off this secret realm to search for.

It should be the sphere in Guran’s abdomen.

Of course, they most likely did not know the exact details either. Otherwise, they would not have merely dispatched Jade Grade Card Masters to blockade the secret realm.

But because of that, the Fallen Cult’s defensive force stationed at the secret realm exit was not particularly strong. Most of them had been sent out to search for the item.

Lu Su watched a Thunder Spear strike dead center in the distance and could not help applauding.

Perhaps because he had fired it so many times, Ulquiorra’s control over Thunder Spear had improved greatly compared to the first time he used it.

At the very least, if he shot at Ichigo now, he probably would not miss.

Getting dodged did not count.

But compared to Ulquiorra, Lu Su’s attention was currently focused more on Altria.

"King of Perfection can even buff Ulquiorra after Second Stage Resurrection?"

Although the improvement was extremely slight, Ulquiorra in Second Stage Resurrection could already barely be considered Diamond Grade.

"And isn’t Altria’s strength a little outrageous?"

Watching the girl in Blue Skirt Armor charge into the Fallen Cult’s formation like a war goddess, Lu Su could not help clicking his tongue inwardly.

Unfortunately, the situation did not remain so smooth.

Although no Diamond Grade Card Master was overseeing the Fallen Cult’s operation this time, they had still assigned a rather talented young man from within the cult to supervise the battle.

And as the stern-faced Red-haired Man appeared on the field, the Fallen Cult gradually stabilized its footing.

Seeing this, Lu Su could not help sighing inwardly. I knew it wouldn’t be this easy.

Still, the Red-haired Man looked somewhat familiar to him.

A moment later, he recalled that he seemed to have seen the man behind Chris in Australia last time.

Lu Su’s heart sank. Comparing him with the sort of people from the Spirit Summoning Society who could follow Jin Ping to Australia, he felt that someone whom Chris of the Inverted Cross kept at his side would not be weak.

Just as he was thinking this, four strikingly beautiful women appeared on the battlefield.

As the four women emerged, swathes of trees burst from the earth, forcing aside the soil.

The Fallen Cult Card Masters who had been injured by Ulquiorra and Altria’s attacks also began recovering rapidly after healing streams of water wrapped around them.

Lu Su’s expression turned grave.

Although he did not recognize the origins of the Red-haired Man’s four cards, the four women wore extremely similar clothing. They were likely from the same series, which meant they undoubtedly possessed a Bond.

Moreover, from his perception, these four cards were not weak.

"I just don’t know what their exact effects are."

On the battlefield, Altria looked at the vast woods that had suddenly appeared before her and lightly furrowed her delicate brows. Then she tightened her grip on the Holy Sword.

The next moment, a raging gale swept away everything before her.

Watching Gale Force plow a path before her, Altria took a deep breath, then stomped the ground and charged forward.

Yet in the blink of an eye, the path she had carved out was swallowed by churning soil as great swathes of trees grew back.

Altria silently pondered, Should I Liberate Excalibur?

Thanks to Lu Su not being some kidney-deficient man, she did not need to worry about losing her combat ability after firing one blast.

Just as she was thinking, a sickly green Spirit Spear descended from the sky and landed in the woods.

Boom!

The raging storm sent the girl’s golden hair flying.

"Is it there?"

Altria immediately realized that Ulquiorra was guiding her.

Although she was trapped within the woods, Ulquiorra was not.

Without further hesitation, she immediately headed in the direction where the Spirit Spear had fallen.

But Lu Su, standing outside the forest, could clearly sense even more things that were wrong. "It can block perception?"

Under his Spiritual Power scan, the vast forest at the secret realm exit was like a hedgehog. The moment his Spiritual Power brushed over it, he felt a faint stinging sensation.

And even if he forced the scan through, he could not obtain any information.

More importantly, he did not know whether it was an illusion, but after Ulquiorra’s Thunder Spear destroyed part of the forest, the trees that grew back seemed even more robust.

"A Bond effect?"

Just as Lu Su was puzzled, a voice suddenly sounded beside his ear, making him grip the Flame Sword in his hand.

"You should first have your cards withdraw from there, sir."

It was Lyon.

Lu Su turned around and saw the Brown-haired Man looking at him with a smile, while David stood beside him with an expressionless face.