Start With Contracting Sprites

"Careful!"

Zhu Mingda cried.

However, Reverie Butterfly was already prepared. It opened its mouth and spewed out a Granule Machine Gun. Countless light green granules were spat out like torrents, directly attacking the Killer Mantis that flew over.

Clang, clang, clang, clang—

Killer Mantis waved its blade-like arms and turned into a shadow, colliding with the countless granule grains that were comparable to bullets, creating sparks in the air.

This Killer Mantis took all the bullets!

However, the momentum brought by Granule Machine Gun forced it to pause its advancement for a while.

At this moment…

A bat the size of a round table, flew over from a high altitude. It had countless red stripes on its black wings and its mouth was wide open, revealing its red fangs.

Bursting Flame Bat!

The final evolved form of the Burning Flame Bat!

Back when the school bus was attacked, Su Hao had encountered a Rank 1 Flame Bat in the evolved form!

Scalding hot flames burst out of the Bursting Flame Bat's mouth, turning into a huge fire ball that was bright and dazzling, encompassing terrifying energy.

The huge fire ball rolled over.

"Leaf Blade Flying Daggers!"

Even though Zhu Mingda was shocked, his reaction wasn't slowed down.

Under his command, the leaves on both sides of the Leaf Blade Warrior's arms lit up.

It raised its hand and threw out leaves as sharp as blades, slicing through the air before successfully hitting the huge fire ball rolling towards them.

One, two, five, six, eight Leaf Blade flying sabers containing Wood-element spiritual force flew over and finally pierced through the fire ball.

The huge fireball exploded in mid-air.

Waves of shock rolled over along with the heat waves, reflecting Zhu Mingda's ugly face.

"Damn it, those are two elite-level sprites!"

Before he finished speaking, the Bursting Flame Bat threw out another huge fire ball towards the two of them.

With a tremble, Reverie Butterfly, which was currently battling the Killer Mantis left behind an afterimage as it flew backward. At the same time, it continued to throw out four Energy Balls.

One of the Energy Balls missed the target and landed up against the mountain wall, while the other three were hit accurately, colliding with the huge fireball that was relatively slower in flying.

The flames that erupted at close range melted the snow as strong shock waves gave rise to translucent shields to protect the two students.

This was passive Sprite Commandeering: Protection.

Against the heat wave, Su Hao commanded, "Hurricane!"

"Gurgle…"

Reverie Butterfly blew up wild winds, sweeping countless snowflakes up into the sky and turning the surroundings white and misty.

Under Zhu Mingda's command, the Leaf Blade Warrior also charged forward in an attempt to hold back onto one of the sprites.

Under the cover of the snowstorm.

Once the Bursting Flame Bat received its command, it blew up a hot wind to blow away the snowstorm blocking their vision.

With their goggles on, the two Sprite Hunters looked around, but they couldn't see any traces of Su Hao and Little Fire Crow anymore.

"Chase!"

Leaving the Flame Burst Bat to deal with Reverie Butterfly and Leaf Blade Warrior, Killer Mantis rushed forward along the rock wall.

...

Su Hao pulled Zhu Mingda along and advanced against the blizzard.

"Follow me closely!"

"Oh, okay."

His serious face and steady voice made the flustered Zhu Mingda obey instinctively.

But he was still a little confused. "Why are we breaking into the Storm Belt? I think we should move along the small mountain road…"

"I don't want you to think so."

"No matter how fast we run, can we outrun sprites?"

Zhu Mingda understood.

They indeed couldn't outrun the sprites.

In comparison, although the Storm Belt was dangerous, its visibility was only a few meters, so it was very easy to hide.

But...

"We can't hide in the Storm Belt for long."

As they spoke,

A wind blade whooshed over from the side, hitting the light shield around Zhu Mingda's body, creating faint ripples.

"Just pass through, follow closely!"

"P-pass…?"

He saw that Su Hao had already lifted his feet and walked forward so he hurriedly followed after him.

But strangely, they didn't walk in a straight line across the Storm Belt, rather… it was left at times, sometimes right, and even occasionally staying at where they were for a while.

As he stayed where he was, Zhu Mingda noticed several wind blades suddenly appearing not far in front of him, whooshing past.

He broke out in a cold sweat.

"Y-y-y-you can predict wind blades?"

It was as if he had seen a ghost.

His face was filled with disbelief.

Are you a human or a sprite?

Su Hao bent over and lowered his height, advancing against the storm. He wasn't nervous at all, and even had time to chat with Zhu Mingda.

"There's a pattern to the storm in the Valley of Sighs. Haven't you noticed anything after staying here for so long?"

Noticed?

Zhu Mingda noticed that there was no way he could continue chatting with this person in front of him!

However, even he himself didn't realize that his nervousness had faded a lot unknowingly.

...

On the other side…

The Killer Mantis, which was chasing after them, had long returned. It made a "kacha ~ kacha ~" sound.

The Sprite Trainer of Killer Mantis had a gloomy expression.

"I didn't find them. I don't know what methods they used, but they actually escaped!"

The other person looked around and said, "Maybe he escaped into the Storm Belt…"

However, the Storm Belt had a very wide range, and it was also snowing heavily. It was too difficult to find the two of them.

"We don't have much time left…"

"Yes, if the Sprite Trainers are still alive, they may call their sprites back any time."

"Let's kill it. Anyways, it can still be researched after it dies. It's better than escaping."

"Gurgle ~ Gurgle!"

Reverie Butterfly was fuming mad.

They were about to underestimate this butterfly!

It saw the Killer Mantis and the Leaf Blade Warrior face off against each other. After three slashes, the Leaf Blade Warrior was defeated and injured.

The Killer Mantis directly left the Leaf Blade Warrior behind, and attacked it from both sides together with the Bursting Flame Bat.

Reverie Butterfly's little face was solemn.

Its Energy Ball and their Fire Ball collided, exploding at a low altitude.

Then…

It dodged the Killer Mantis's slash, turned around and flew into the Storm Belt.

Bursting Flame Bat: "???"

Killer Mantis: "???"

...

A few minutes later…

Su Hao and Zhu Mingda passed through the Storm Belt. From afar, they saw a rest house on their side.

The two of them hurriedly ran over.

After running a few steps, Zhu Mingda's expression changed. "My Leaf Blade Warrior is seriously injured!"

When sprites and Sprite Trainers were not far apart, through the contract, they could vaguely sense each other's state.

He panicked at once.

"Summon."

"Yes, yes, summon it quickly!"

He spread his fingers and activated his soul power, but due to anxiety, panic, and other reasons, he failed at Sprite Commandeering at his first try.

It wasn't until the second try when two pointer-like marks appeared around its palm as his Leaf Blade Warrior fell out.

It looked extremely miserable right now.

Its two arms were almost broken, and there was a deep cut on its chest. Zhu Mingda hugged it with heartache.

"You… Quickly call your sprites back!"

"Wait, don't panic. I'll go get reinforcements first."

His contractual perception was still rather vague.

However, on the interface, in the sprite column, there were no negative status effects on Reverie Butterfly.

This meant that the problem wasn't serious yet.

"Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult for that little rascal to deal with any elite level, but this is the Valley of Sighs!"

It was already very, very familiar with the Valley of Sighs.

It was like home here.

And he had even comprehended the profound meaning of Imperial Wind.

Putting everything aside, Su Hao believed that Reverie Butterfly would be able to deal with Killer Mantis and Bursting Flame Bat.

He believed in it!

Su Hao quickly ran to the lounge and pushed open the door.

There were no other resting people inside, only the middle-aged man stationed here reading the newspaper.

Su Hao opened his mouth and simply said, "Someone attacked us with two elite-level sprites!"

The middle-aged man leaped to his feet and slammed down the alarm device installed by the wall. The Valley of Sighs could barely get a signal at the entrance management center, but the alarm device in the resting room was enough to inform the management of the situation at the Valley of Sighs.

"Let's go, where are they!"

The middle-aged man hurriedly followed Su Hao with his sprite.

On the way, he saw the scarred Leaf Blade Warrior, and his expression became even darker.

"At that position."

Su Hao used his contract to sense and guide the way.

He passed through the Storm Belt again.

It only took twenty to thirty seconds under the protection of the middle-aged man's sprite.

After rushing out of the Storm Belt, everything in front of him suddenly became clear.

The angry guard looked forward and suddenly, he was stunned.