Start With Contracting Sprites

Whoosh ~ Whoosh ~

In the sky, an Armored Dragon Hawk flapped its wings and flew with all its might. On its back, a curly-haired man was sprawled on all fours, his hands firmly grabbing onto the Dragon Hawk's neck.

A protective screen protected him from the howling wind blowing against him.

But the curly-haired man known as the Black Spade K still felt that the surrounding wind… it was so strong and full of danger.

"I wonder if Q and the others escaped…"

He didn't care about the other underling, but Red Spade Q… Q's graceful figure surfaced in the curly-haired man's mind, but he shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

The key now was that he also had to shake off the pursuers on his tail. Before he could do that, he didn't have time to consider other things.

But even now, the curly-haired man still couldn't understand. He had fought in place of his underlings, so why… did he lose?

Ever since he looted the first research station, he had cautiously considered all the possible outcomes.

It was no surprise that the arrest team would come chasing after them.

Which was why he had concealed himself and only let Q do the work when they were looting the first research station.

Among the research team that set off from White Cloud City towards the Sky Lake, there was likely to be a master-level Sprite Trainer. That also wasn't surprising.

"Usually, master-level Sprite Trainers only have one extraordinary-level sprite."

"And usually extraordinary-level sprites couldn't pose much of a threat either."

His Golden-Armored Overlord and Q's Fairy Snail were already pretty strong, even for an extraordinary-level sprite.

An ordinary research team such as this one probably couldn't have afforded to hire a truly strong Sprite Trainer anyway.

However, after seeing a Flaming Spiritcrow, an unknown sprite, and a Thunder Roaring…

Black Spade K couldn't figure how an ordinary research team managed to hire someone who had three extraordinary-level sprites?

And what was worse was that none of them were weak at all. In fact, they were all very strong!

Especially that Thunder Roaring!

The fat figure flashing with thunder arcs was still in his mind.

After flying for a while, the curly-haired man could no longer see his pursuers. His mind wandered off into the contract again, and he sensed that his Steel God Soldier had also escaped after being attacked for a while.

The curly-haired man reached out and spread his fingers. In a flash, the Steel God Soldier appeared beside him.

At this point, more than half of the Steel God Soldier's body was charred black, and some parts of its armor had already caved in—that wasn't solidified armor, the armor was the original body, and many of the damage was already mid-level injuries. Black Spade K could sense that the Steel God Soldier was extremely weak right now and needed to be treated as soon as possible…

"Eh?"

White clouds drifted in the sky as the man looked at the vast sea of trees beneath him.

In the sea of trees, he could see people and sprites on the move.

It was the fleeing research team.

The corners of the curly-haired man's mouth curled up immediately. "Even the heavens are helping me!"

...

At this moment, in the forest.

Old Qian and the others had already slowed down and weren't running very fast.

"It doesn't seem like the members of the Poker Bandits are chasing after us, they were probably stopped by Mr. Su Hao."

"We can't be careless. Conceal your traces."

Among the crowd, some wood-element and earth-element sprites who were in relatively better condition started to use spiritual force to clean the footprints behind them. They even went as far as to cover up the cleaned tracks with fallen leaves.

As they cleaned, they continued to advance through the forest.

There was also worry on his face.

"I wonder how Mr. Su Hao is doing."

"Damn it, we weren't able to help at all!"

"We would have only been a burden if we stayed. Mr. Su Hao should have also escape by now, right?"

"He's probably able to escape, right?"

They could only pray as they couldn't do anything more to help.

As long as he could get out safely, everything would be fine.

At this moment, a few meters away from the team.

A palm-sized sprite flapped its butterfly wings and flew slowly. It was undetected, invisible to both human and sprite. No one was able to notice anything even if it had passed their line of vision.

Butterfly, who was carrying a pearl in its arms, maintained a constant speed. When she heard the discussion of others, she grunted.

At this moment, it raised its head and looked at the sky. It saw a figure falling rapidly. After carefully observing and using spiritual perception, it noticed that the figure was the person dumb Su Hao had lost.

Its bright eyes curved into crescents.

...

Bang~!

Strong winds blew and leaves danced.

Old Qian and the others were suddenly alert. They saw an Armored Dragon Hawk descending from the sky and a Steel God Soldier appearing above them.

Powerful extraordinary-level pressure was released, and the faces of everyone instantly turned pale.

With luck, the curly-haired man finally smiled. "Hahaha… Uh?"

He suddenly looked at a certain spot in the team.

The Steel God Soldier had warned him after instinctively sensing danger.

Over there, where his eyes were focused, a palm-sized sprite with three pairs of butterfly wings on its back appeared in the air.

It blinked at him.

"What kind of sprite is that?"

Just as this thought emerged in his mind, suddenly, his whole body fell forward—it was the Armored Dragon Hawk he was sitting on, it had fainted!

"What was that look just now? Was it an illusion?"

"Why is there another terrifying extraordinary-level sprite?!"

The curly-haired man saw that when the sprite appeared, the team whose path he had blocked also had similar looks of surprise on their faces.

It was a sprite that wasn't part of the team!

Then…

A fact that he didn't quite want believe but had to believe surfaced in his mind.

The little sprite in front of him was… another one of that young man's sprite!

How many extraordinary-level sprites did he have!

F*ck!

When the curly-haired man saw this, he didn't hesitate… and immediately chose to escape!

The Steel God Soldier flew over rapidly, grabbed him and flew out!

On both sides of his vision, the scenery passed him by quickly. He passed tree by tree by tree…

The scene in the sea of trees remained the same, even though his Steel God Soldier was flying diagonally upwards!

The trees swaying around were also oddly similar!

"Something is… wrong"

He suddenly noticed that a protective screen had been around him for some time.

Still grabbing onto his flying Steel God Soldier, he was already exhausted. What's worse was that he was also injured, making it even harder to fend off the invisible force harassing him.

With a boom, the Steel God Soldier plunged down.

...

At the edge of the Sky Lake.

Su Hao was stunned when he received the message from Butterfly.

"How can this guy be so stupid?"

Su Hao didn't deliberately let that person escape, but he really didn't intend to chase after him either.

He had only captured the woman and the other underlings.

He had already given up on capturing him, but who would have thought…

Butterfly, who was in charge of ensuring the safety of Old Mr. Qian and the others, had actually… come across a valuable head.

"Well… Since these Poker Bandits are on the wanted list, their members should be able to fetch a good price, right?"

"As expected, as long as I do things steadily, the enemy will come knocking on my door."

"Now… what should i do with these people?"

Steamed or braised… Ah no! Su Hao was conflicted whether he wanted to let the arrest team handle it, or capture it himself to receive the reward.

He glanced down.

Well, the arrest team was still there.

...

At the same time, at the foot of the mountain.

A sprite with fiery red fur that looked like a big dog, carrying two people on its back, was stepping on the rock wall and constantly running up the mountain.

It was a Flaming Divine Hound!

It was extremely fast, leaping across the rock wall like a ball of fire.

The two people sitting on its back held onto its hair. Its long hair and XX dangled up and down continuously, but the two remained a stable posture… It seemed like they were used to riding on the Flaming God Hound.

"Hurry, faster!"

"I didn't expect there'd be someone like the Black Spade K in the Poker Bandits. That guy had once defeated two master-level opponents by himself!"

"It's impossible for a mere arrest team to be Black Spade K's match! I hope we're in time!"

Before long, they arrived at the mountainside.

The Flaming Divine Hound let out a howl. The expression of the woman sitting in the front seat became much more solemn. "There are strong spiritual force waves in front. A battle must have broken out!"

The scene halfway up the mountain gradually came into the vision of the two Union arrest officers.

They saw broken mountain rocks, crisscrossed scratches, and sprites collapsed on the ground. She recognized the extraordinary-level sprite, which belonged to the leader of the arrest team. It looked dispirited as it slumped on the ground.

The situation was similar to what she had expected, but it probably wasn't too late for them to…

Suddenly, they saw a Golden-Armored Overlord that looked even more miserable, its body covered in blade marks, completely unconscious. It was unknown to them whether it was dead or alive.

"That's… Black Spade K's ace card, Golden Armor Overlord?"

"Huh???"

Halfway up the mountain, only sounds of confusion could be heard. One of them was short and the other was longer.