"Help me get my stuff back."
With a wave of Chronicle's hand, the perceptive scout transformed into a tar-like sticky black shadow, stealthily infiltrating the sand cage.
It swiftly snatched the small flags from three bound card masters, a total of seven, and handed them all to him.
"Another seven flags in hand."
Chronicle carefully stowed the small flags into his bag and glanced at his watch: "Four minutes left, let's make a final push. Eighteen flags still aren't quite secure."
He roughly calculated the remaining mental energy in his sea of consciousness and felt it was sufficient.
Then, under the guidance of the falcon, he charged straight towards the card masters closest to him.
Those who initially harbored the idea of "snatching a victory" were getting impatient at this last moment, commanding their legions to launch surprise attacks and snatch flags, igniting "flares of war" everywhere.
Seeing this, Chronicle immediately became "Old Six," taking advantage of the speed of the Year Beast and the Yan Cloud Cavalry to roam the desert.
Despite his overwhelming strength, he avoided direct confrontations with the card spirits of these people.
Instead, adhering to the principle of "capture the king first," he took advantage of his vehicle's speed, mental reserves, and physical strength to directly ambush the card masters.
The poor young card masters often didn't even have time to react before they were knocked out with a club, pressed into the sand, and then had their card spirit feedback blocked by mental force.
Blinded and seeing stars, they had no idea how they lost or to whom.
At this time, Chronicle commanded the Yan Cloud Cavalry, employing various tactics.
Sometimes he led the troops in mounted archery, releasing "crow swarms" to turn those horrifyingly grotesque and hideously ugly ghost legion card spirits into porcupines;
Sometimes he activated the skill "Long River Sunset," immobilizing those evil spirits, then commanded the fierce cavalry to charge with swords drawn, reaping heads;
Sometimes he ignited "Lone Smoke of the Desert," switching between reality and illusion for surprise attacks, leading a rapid charge to fiercely knock out the robust pig-headed butchers;
Sometimes he activated the "Desert Sea" series of skills, "Sand Waves," "Ghost Soldiers," "Sand Pits," "Sand Hands Pulling Feet," chaining small combos one after another.
Then he would finish with "Surging Sands of the Sea," leaving no trace behind.
Occasionally, he would use his mental power to change his voice, whispering a few words into the ears of the groaning, indignant, yet silent card masters:
"I'm really sorry, brother/sister, I wouldn't do this if it weren't absolutely necessary."
"But who made Land of Peach's First High School bring in 'Chronicle' as a reinforcement, determined to compete with us for the 'Nine Provinces Hundred Schools' spot."
"In order to secure the match point, I have to inconvenience my fellow countrymen a bit."
"Don't blame me, blame Land of Peach's First High School and Chronicle."
He always had a strong sense of contract.
Since he had accepted benefits from the Yan Tower, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
This set of rhetoric was actually using the card masters' unwillingness to lose and their rebellious nature to smear the people of Qing Mountain High School.
In the end, instead of "blaming First High School and Chronicle" as he said, these beaten individuals would proactively offer intelligence and gifts, seeking help from this "culprit" to "take revenge."
As for whether these people would see through this not-so-complex scheme…
As a "natural-born bad seed," Chronicle was self-taught in the art of mischief.
He specifically targeted those who, upon observation, were quick-tempered, cared about face, and weren't "that" smart to deceive.
This way, they couldn't figure it out themselves, and out of pride, wouldn't discuss it with others, obediently lying in the ditch he had dug for them.
Even if these young "hotheads" suddenly realized the truth, his rhetoric contained other "traps" that would only make them suspect First High School.
"The poor Taoist cannot die; if someone must die, let it be my fellow Taoist."
Chronicle smiled.
What he had said was not all the arrangements he had made.
He didn't know if there really was a talent for "doing bad things," but in just four minutes, he had everything under control.
"So what if they find out? They can't beat me anyway."
Chronicle held the bunch of small flags in his hand.
Of course, he wasn't doing all this just for fun or to help First High School.
The rewards promised by Yan Tower weren't enough to tempt this insatiable fellow.
What really motivated him was his own happiness and interests:
As a civilian card master and an outsider, he had almost no way to gather information in the provincial city, and it wasn't worth bothering Uncle Dong over such trivial matters. The situation with Ba Tian and Cha Cha was also limited.
In terms of intelligence, he was completely in the dark.
Yet the opposition had already gathered some understanding of him before the match, even if it was just superficial, enough to make some targeted preparations.
As the old saying goes, "Know thyself, know thy enemy, a hundred battles will not be in peril."
Although he was confident in his own strength, such a slightly out-of-control situation displeased him:
A match that could have been easily crushed became complicated due to the opponent's preparedness, and even if he won in the end, it was less fun.
It was frustrating and not enjoyable.
Therefore, it was necessary to increase "allies" through various means, obtain "enemy" intelligence, and conduct specialized "sniping."
And for a match, the most reliable "allies" are the players who have already been eliminated.
There are no conflicts of interest, and with a "common enemy," why wouldn't they work together?
"Eh, why do such bad ideas pop into my head?"
Chronicle slapped his forehead, his face serious as he furrowed his brows:
People are influenced by their environment. Having spent too much time in the netherworld, this fine young man was also getting a bit corrupted. He needed to find a way out.
"Reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles" is exactly what this means.
"Buzz!!!"
Just as Chronicle was lost in thought, a lazy voice suddenly echoed in his mind through mental transmission:
"The match is about to end, hurry up and pack your things, don't reveal any more flaws."
The speaker was none other than the referee, Wang Yan.
Chronicle, being such a meticulous person, naturally did not forget that the master of this desert was watching everything at all times.
Of course, he had made arrangements for that as well.
Covering all bases, impregnable, that's what villains are like.
After he collected the Year Beast and Ghost Soldiers, rows of card information immediately entered his mind.
The description was of the small flags he had worked hard to obtain:
[Qing Mountain Manufactured Reinforcement Tiger Stripe Flag]
Quality: Green
Category: Demon/Ghost/Monster
Card Type: Equipment (Legion Accessory)
Skills:
[Assembly]: Consumes a certain amount of mental energy to forcibly gather scattered units on the battlefield. The specific consumption depends on the status and distance of each unit.
[Reinforcement]: Consumes a small amount of mental energy to bind the flag with an individual unit of a legion. Once bound, materials can be supplemented to [Clone] the unit (up to ten).
Entries:
[War Ferocity]: Since ancient times, war has been perilous. Units bound to this flag are more likely to deliver a "fatal blow."
Description: With numerous soldiers and horses, the flags fly high.
Combination: When there are more than twenty units in our camp's legion bound to the [Qing Mountain Manufactured Reinforcement Tiger Stripe Flag], the effect [Tiger March] can be activated.
[Tiger March]: The army moves like a tiger. During combat, depending on the intensity of the Killing Aura and the style of the legion, different strengths and types of [Army Soul Tiger Shadows] are generated to assist in battle.
And it can consume a certain amount of mental energy to unleash the skill [Tiger Roar], causing a slight decrease in the enemy's combat state and a low probability of forcing them to leave the field.
Advancement: None yet