Chapter 4781

Time, thought Arkham Batman. If he wanted to complete the remaining seals simultaneously, without long-distance communication, how to act at the same time was the hardest problem to solve.

Even if they started from the same place, the distances to the target locations differed, so the time required would differ. If they acted immediately upon arrival, it would still give Shiler time to hunt down others. Once someone fell during that time gap, the chance of completing everything simultaneously would be slim.

That is, they needed to agree on a signal: upon reaching the designated location, they could only act after receiving the signal—this was the safest way. But the biggest problem was the distance; they couldn't communicate, and there were no signal flares, so how exactly should this signal be given?

However, in the instant he saw the lightning, Arkham Batman had an idea. He wasn't sure if Doctor Manhattan had designed it intentionally, but besides causing trouble for the exorcists, the thunderstorm also provided lightning that could serve as a signal for action, since it was visible across the entire map.

As long as they agreed to act simultaneously at the next lightning strike after reaching their targets, they had a good chance of completing the seals at the same time.

Arkham Batman calculated the intervals between the lightning flashes he'd seen—basically no more than twenty minutes. Though the castle was large, if they started from the center, twenty minutes was enough to reach any location, so there was no need to worry about lightning striking before someone arrived.

Now the biggest problem became his teammates. He hadn't yet spoken to Scarlet Spider, and the unreliable teammates might not be just one, but two. Even if both were alive, using them as half a person each was a stretch.

To simultaneously initiate three seals, at least four people were needed, since one person had to hold off Shiler. Arkham Batman, Black Widow, and Scarlet Spider were fine, but choosing between Constantine and Rorschach was like picking between two piles of dung.

Actually, there was another method Arkham Batman had considered. Since he had a skill to accelerate sealing, perhaps he could lead Shiler around while sealing at the same time.

In other words, he'd rather do two jobs himself than entrust this task to either Constantine or Rorschach—neither of them was reliable.

In an instant, Arkham Batman made up his mind. He said: "Don't count on No. 1 and No. 5 anymore; we three have to do it. You're the most mobile—go look around, see if you can find other seal locations, and while you're at it, look for Natasha. Meet under the big tree in the garden's center in half an hour. Be careful—absolutely don't get caught."

Half an hour was basically the limit; letting Shiler wander the castle for half an hour would likely get someone stabbed, but there was no alternative. Blame the two unreliable teammates assigned to them.

Arkham Batman didn't blame fate or others; he circled the castle, was about to return through the side door, when he again encountered Rorschach wearing the ink-stained mask. Rorschach clearly wanted to say something, but might have been muted by the administrator. Arkham Batman had no time to argue with him—Shiler was too dangerous, he had to keep moving. If Rorschach tangled with him, he'd be dead.

Arkham Batman rushed into the castle. Rorschach tried to follow, but suddenly heard a burst of intense music. He turned his head, and amidst the flashing blade light, a fierce scream came through.

Arkham Batman, already inside the castle, paused his steps. Even in the game, even though he disliked this teammate intensely, he wouldn't abandon him. He took a deep breath, swept his cloak aside, and turned back.

Rorschach was clearly unprepared; his assessment of Shiler's strength was completely wrong. He might have just been lucky before, never having faced Shiler head-on—after all, he was No. 5—so he was instantly knocked down.

Arkham Batman had no medical kit, couldn't save Rorschach, so all he could do was lure Shiler away and hope other teammates would come to help him. Spider-Man had been crawling along the walls and should find him soon.

Arkham Batman nearly brushed past Shiler. He knew Shiler made a blade-wiping motion after each slash and couldn't rapidly chain two slashes, so he seized that gap, darted past Shiler's side, and waited for the wipe to end before hitting him with a cloak-induced daze.

But Shiler didn't even look at him, just stood there staring at Rorschach. Arkham Batman's heart sank—uh-oh, Shiler might be guarding the corpse.

This is the trouble when enemies are also player-controlled. If the seals were buffs for Shiler, anyone could see the best move was to complete the remaining three seals quickly—Shiler would surely think of that too.

So now the numbers didn't matter, whether to sacrifice or not didn't matter—only weakening the exorcists' side by reducing their active numbers, making simultaneous three-seal completion impossible, would eventually drag them to death.

Even though guarding Rorschach left four people, four was nearly the limit for executing the plan. If someone risked coming to rescue, and Shiler killed another, completing the plan would become too hard.

Arkham Batman hesitated—neither staying nor leaving felt right. He wanted to warn others coming to help, but didn't want to waste time, and feared lingering too long would give Shiler more points. After a brief hesitation, he turned and left.

He hadn't taken a few steps when Shiler's body suddenly flashed with white light. Arkham Batman almost laughed in frustration—though another seal was gone, no matter who sealed it, couldn't you at least check Shiler's status after the seal? Playing cat and mouse, but no matter the ghost, right?

Arkham Batman retreated quickly, but it was too late. Shiler blinked into position before him.

For a moment, Arkham Batman thought the game had glitched, but actually, Shiler just took a step, and the next second blinked over a hundred yards to his face, raising his hand for a slash.

Arkham Batman reacted just as fast, raising his hand for a cloak daze. After interrupting the attack, he had wanted to use Shiler's blade-wiping moment to dart past him and run into the castle, thus playing the door.

But with a swish, he took another slash.

Arkham Batman couldn't help but curse in his mind: "How is there no time even to wipe the blade?!"

Still, the earlier medkit, though not restoring him to full health, had given him about half a tube of blood. After one slash, he should still have a sliver of health—this next slash absolutely could not land.

Arkham Batman gritted his teeth, took the hit, and sprinted into the castle at top speed. Shiler followed behind, his speed increased by about fifty percent, seeming to have entered a permanent God of the Wild Hunt mode.

Arkham Batman had just reached the gate when Shiler caught up. Fortunately, Black Widow came rushing out, saw Arkham Batman with a ghost behind him, and was startled—without a word, she turned and ran.

Shiler hesitated, perhaps weighing which of them was the softer target, but indeed paused at the gate before continuing after Arkham Batman. Obviously, this mosquito that kept playing the Imperial Step with him was too annoying—he decided to take down Arkham Batman first.

Arkham Batman couldn't confirm whether near-death state could be triggered infinitely, but he certainly didn't want to experience it again, so he charged up the stairs at his fastest speed ever.

During this, he felt his violent heartbeat, adrenaline fully released, everything before him slowed down. He hadn't felt this aroused in a long time.

Arkham Batman licked his slightly dry lips, charged into a room on the second floor, climbed through the window to the balcony. He still planned to use the balcony's attack-advance, retreat-defend property to circle Shiler. He crouched, tense, watching the door—once that black silhouette appeared outside, he'd jump straight to the first floor and loop back.

Who knew—next second, blade light flashed directly behind him. Arkham Batman's soul nearly fled; he rolled in place, and the result was lying dead on the second-floor balcony, now lying dead on the first-floor ground.

Seeing the huge "near-death" characters, Arkham Batman couldn't help but shut his eyes tightly. This teleport skill could actually go through walls! He now really wanted to shout at Doctor Manhattan, then have him look at this dogshit balance he'd made.

But even so, Arkham Batman hadn't given up. Only two seals remained—he didn't believe Shiler wouldn't panic. Shiler guarding his corpse or moving his body might already have given his teammates time for another seal. As long as the devil was finally sealed, his sacrifice would be worth it.

Shiler hesitated slightly, circled Arkham Batman once, then still lifted him up. Arkham Batman knew Black Widow had surely seen him downed, but he felt the female agent could clearly distinguish priorities. Now only two seals remained—if luck was good, they might finish in ten or so minutes; no need to waste time rescuing him. Since simultaneous sealing was impossible, they might as well go with it—press on under pressure.

Shiler lifted Arkham Batman and headed toward the cellar. This time, no one on the road came to save him. Arkham Batman was carried into the cellar, which was filled with blood-red sacrificial offerings—animals, humans, some dead, some dying, one side had a huge pile of corpses. After a brief observation, he noticed what looked like a family of three: father, mother, daughter—likely the Vale family from the story.

Arkham Batman was laid on the ground; he felt Shiler bind his hands, then suspend them from the ceiling by those bindings. But he noticed the wall directly opposite him had five Roman numerals, with No. 1 already lit—meaning Constantine might already have been sacrificed.