Chapter 4779: Killing Intent on a Rainy Night (V)

It really was like that; when Arkham Batman ran up the spiral staircase and glanced back, Shiler had just opened the door and entered. This made Batman realize the game's balance was actually quite meticulously designed — the ghost seemed to get stuck on all sorts of things, buying them escape time.

"Playing doors" was a decent tactic, which led Arkham Batman to decide to just kite Shiler around inside the castle. There were many doors and many obstacles here, which should slow his real-world speed considerably.

He sprinted up to the third floor, picked a random room to hide in, didn't linger in the bedroom, but rushed straight to the balcony to start examining the camera. The balcony was a good spot to advance or retreat — if Shiler came in through the room, he'd jump down; if spotted outside, he'd go back inside.

Picking up the camera again, Arkham Batman's view interface showed a new photo — exactly Shiler walking toward the doorway with a knife. And on the photo floated a skill icon and some description:

"Blood-Drinking Blade: Upon first hitting a tracked target, gain 30 Frenzy Hunt points; if this hit happens to trigger 'Frenzy Hunt God' state, cancel the next 'Hunt Mark' skill cooldown, gain 50% movement speed bonus and 20% damage bonus; if hitting the same target as the previous hit again, ignore all target's damage immunity effects and HP, forcing them into a dying state."

Arkham Batman stared at the camera for a long while, then let out a deep sigh. No wonder the loading took so long — Doctor Manhattan must have scrutinized Shiler's abilities in minute detail to code up this whole skill set for him.

Even from just this one skill description, Arkham Batman could tell the ghost's skills should be far richer than a human's — at least Arkham Batman had no Frenzy Hunt energy bar or the like.

As things stood, Shiler should be using "Hunt Mark" to track desired prey, then closing in to slash, accumulating Frenzy Hunt points; once accumulated enough, he could ult, gaining speed and damage boosts after ulting; and once he landed two consecutive slashes, the second slash was guaranteed death.

Just now Shiler must have activated "Blood-Drinking Blade" first, rushed Black Widow and gave her one slash, points happened to be enough, so he popped Frenzy Hunt intending to land two slashes. But those two reacted extremely fast, interrupting him instantly. Had the second slash connected, Black Widow would be dead.

However, the skill description said "dying," proving death shouldn't directly eject from the game — there might still be a chance to save them, which counted as the designer's mercy.

Still, Arkham Batman had some doubts: if the ult was this easily interrupted, the ghost wasn't actually at an advantage — points painstakingly saved, interrupted by one small skill; opening doors and vaulting obstacles was slow too — that was actually rather unfair to the ghost.

Arkham Batman always felt Shiler should have more than just this one skill system; otherwise the elevator lobby wouldn't have needed such a long load time. He still couldn't let his guard down.

Arkham Batman studied the camera a bit more, but after opening it there was a 10-minute countdown — presumably a cooldown; and the skill he'd just used also needed 12 minutes cooldown, much longer than the other two puzzle-solving skills. He still had to be careful, couldn't let Shiler catch him during a Blank Period.

What worried Arkham Batman was that Shiler had already come looking for Black Widow — did that prove No. 1 was already dead? Before he thought dead was dead, but now it seemed even if slain there might be a rescue. Arkham Batman wondered whether to go find where No. 1 was and see if he could be saved.

Just then a figure landed beside him — Scarlet Spider-Man. Arkham Batman hurriedly handed him the photo he'd found and said, "You go check around this window for clues."

Scarlet Spider-Man took a look, raised an eyebrow, and said, "I've seen this window — on the 2nd floor of that east tower. But it's extremely narrow there; if we run into him, there's no way to run."

After a brief hesitation Arkham Batman said, "I'll go with you. I have a puzzle-speed skill, you watch the door, I'll solve. Once he comes, you run."

Scarlet Spider-Man nodded and said, "But I already know I'm not No. 1, I'm No. 2. He shouldn't be in a rush to kill me."

Arkham Batman's heart sank: then No. 1 could only be Rorschach or Constantine. Whichever of them was No. 1 was terrible news, because neither could possibly stall Shiler properly. No wonder Shiler found Natasha so fast.

But then he thought again and felt something was off — Natasha was No. 4; if searching he'd go for Scarlet Spider-Man the No. 2 first — could it have been a coincidence encounter back then?

If so, he couldn't let Spider-Man stand guard for him, or that would more likely draw Shiler over. He told Scarlet Spider-Man, "No. 1 may already be down; you're likely his target now. Can you stall him for a while?"

"No problem, I'll lure him west. You hurry and solve the puzzle." Scarlet Spider-Man nodded.

Arkham Batman quite liked his decisive personality, but still added a warning: "Absolutely don't let him land a second slash on you; if you can't stall, run back — I have a control skill."

Scarlet Spider-Man nodded and left; Arkham Batman headed for the east tower. The place was easy to find since it extended upward from the third floor — he just needed to go all the way to the far left of the third floor, enter the door, and climb the narrow spiral staircase up.

Arkham Batman moved cautiously — not that he was paranoid, matching wits with the air — who knew if Shiler had popped Frenzy Hunt again; that speed just now was terrifying, roughly 100 yards covered in under two seconds, and that knife had about 15 yards reach — practically one step and the blade was in your face. Straight-up supernatural.

Reaching the door, this place actually needed a key. Arkham Batman sighed long: Doctor Manhattan, well done — just don't tell me the key's in another box requiring a math problem.

Fact proved him right — this time not a math problem, but spot-the-difference. Beside the tower door was another door with the same pattern as the tower door, but pushable. Pushed open, inside was a library with three walls of tall bookshelves, and Arkham Batman had to find the difference in each row of shelves, pull the books out, and only then found the key behind one shelf.

Though this puzzle couldn't be sped up, Arkham Batman had that "Key Clue Flies In" skill, which surprisingly worked on books too, so he finished in under two minutes. But the moment he stepped out that door, through the third-floor atrium he saw that black figure just entering through the main gate.

Arkham Batman's breath caught too. He'd been plenty fast, but Spider-Man couldn't even hold five minutes?

Then again, Spider-Man's high mobility meant his head-on combat wouldn't be strong; mostly he had to avoid fights — asking him to stall Shiler head-on was still too much.

But as Shiler walked in, besides the damp scent of rain Arkham Batman caught a thick smell of blood. He didn't overthink it — Shiler's slaughter posture just now was fresh in memory; it would be weird if he didn't get blood on him; smelling of blood was perfectly normal.

Arkham Batman quickly used the key to open the door and go in. Though running now would still be in time, if Shiler had just ulted a wave, his points should be insufficient right now. Without a killing slash, Arkham Batman could find ways to maneuver.

He quickly ran up the narrow spiral staircase to the tower's top floor, and sure enough in the topmost room saw that window with the strange patterns. Even more magical, there was a magic array inside the room.

Arkham Batman sighed — best not make him hunt for some item to place on it; Shiler should be nearly at the tower by now. The time to find an item, he'd already be sashimi.

Fortunately the game balance was decent. The moment Arkham Batman stepped into the magic array, the runes began spinning and combining. It took a certain time, but could undoubtedly complete directly. Arkham Batman breathed easier.

But now he hesitated: his Focus skill gave higher bonus the closer the ghost was — perfect, Shiler was almost here. Activating the skill should finish the seal very fast. After sealing, Shiler should suffer some weakening, at which point escape should be possible.

Arkham Batman planned this, estimating Shiler's stair-climbing time, and activated the skill the instant he heard footsteps. Sure enough the runes spun blindingly fast, and by the time Shiler's figure stood outside the door, they were already leaving afterimages.

When the background music swelled, the seal completed instantly. But completely unlike Arkham Batman's expectation that "Shiler would grow weak," a white light did appear on Shiler, yet he looked entirely unaffected, still pressing closer step by step.

The room was tiny to begin with, nowhere to dodge, and Shiler didn't even need to pinpoint location — just slashed straight at him. Arkham Batman rolled, but sadly it had no forced evasion effect — merely turned a slash that should have hit his chest into one grazing his shoulder. Calling it a slash wasn't quite accurate, more a glancing blow, but his scapula was still gashed open.

Arkham Batman didn't even have time to tend to it; he spun and flung his cape hard. Cape Stun triggered, Shiler stunned for two seconds, Arkham Batman blew past him in an instant, burst out the door and didn't forget to slam it shut, hoping to jam Shiler with the door.

Result: he'd barely taken two steps outside when he heard two "crack" sounds, a cold-glinting blade tip pierced out from inside the door panel, then a loud "boom" — the whole door shattered to pieces.

Arkham Batman drew a sharp breath: Shiler can break doors too???

Wait. Arkham Batman suddenly realized a problem — though the background story said the devil possessed the Valet family's eldest son, it never said Shiler was the eldest son. What if he IS the devil?

By rights, sealing the devil could save the eldest son, but sealing the devil would also harm the devil, and Shiler surely has a skill that grows stronger the more injured he is — wouldn't sealing the devil be equivalent to buffing Shiler?!

The plot misled me! Arkham Batman lamented inwardly.