"As expected, the source of the enemy is hidden within the statue."
At the center of the Ovathrax statue was the entrance to the Sonoro Sphere. Jiyan and Noah stood at the entrance:
"The battle with the Threnodian is ahead. Noah, are you ready?"
"There's no retreat possible."
Noah said as much.
The two walked side by side toward the entrance of the Sonoro Sphere. For some reason, Jiyan suddenly felt that Noah's gaze toward him was a bit strange.
Because... Noah had decided to pull on Jiyan's banner!
With the Threnodian ahead, just to be safe, Noah still decided to temporarily pull for the Jiyan character. He might not necessarily use him, but it was mainly for psychological comfort.
Ignoring Jiyan's puzzled look, Noah quickly opened the [Convene] interface.
He glanced at the 50 Radiant Tides at the top of the interface and the 13,800 Astrites, which calculated to about 136 pulls.
Almost enough for a hard pity!
Jiyan, oh Jiyan, you wouldn't let me get an off-banner, right!
Pull—
On the 10th pull, Taoqi +1.
On the 30th pull, Danjin +3.
On the 50th pull, Fantasia Variation +1, Dauntless Evernight +1.
[Lacking 10 Radiant Tides. Confirm to spend 1600 Astrites to purchase?]
Noah's face darkened as he clicked confirm. On the 60th pull, Resplendent Segments +1.
[Lacking 10 Radiant Tides. Confirm to spend 1600 Astrites to purchase?]
On the 70th pull, Overture +2.
Soft pity hit—he really ate the full soft pity. Jiyan, how could you do this to me.
With a pained expression, Noah once again converted 1600 Astrites into Radiant Tides and made the eightieth pull—
Gold appeared!
"This flower is for you. Be happy, okay!"
Thanks, but I'm not happy.
Looking at Verina's healing smile on the panel, Noah closed it with a dark expression.
Off-banner. He ate the full soft pity and still got an off-banner.
Kuro must be targeting regulars.
Capitalism, you win.
Using the remaining 9800 Astrites to go for hard pity Jiyan wasn't worth it. Better to consider it later when he had more resources.
"Noah, what's wrong? Your face doesn't look good. Are you nervous?"
Hearing Jiyan's concerned question beside him, Noah twitched the corner of his mouth. He couldn't really blame Jiyan, so he could only shake his head helplessly.
"It's nothing."
Stepping into the Sonoro Sphere, the surrounding environment suddenly became eerie.
In the pitch-black, dim space, scattered Tacetites and withered branches were everywhere. In the distance, clusters of black vines intertwined, forming a decayed and crude throne.
Behind the throne was a massive black-purple full moon. Jiyan merely glanced at it and felt a wave of dizziness, as if endless whispers were playing in his mind.
"Here, there's actually another 'moon' hidden... What exactly is this..."
"That 'moon' is the Threnodian, Ovathrax."
While adding Verina to his team and swapping out Rover for Yuanwu, Noah explained to Jiyan:
"The Threnodian Ovathrax has not fully revived yet. This is our best chance to attack it, though it certainly won't just wait for death."
Sure enough.
As Noah's words fell, another sharp, short frequency rang out, just like before.
The invisible frequency was drawn in, gathering at the center of the Sonoro Sphere. In an instant, a figure with massive purple wings on its back emerged.
Overlord-class Echo, Crownless.
The Crownless turned back, revealing its signature ferocious grin, but upon seeing Noah, it instinctively shuddered.
"Sometimes I really want to just sleep like a certain yellow-haired guy, wake up, and find everything resolved."
Seeing the Crownless, Noah finally let out a long sigh of relief. He reached out and gripped the air, and Ages of Harvest appeared in his hand:
"But this time, let someone else have the chance to lie down and win!"
Before his words finished, he had already shattered the ground beneath him, leaving only an afterimage as he charged at full speed toward the Crownless.
Without a word, Noah quickly stacked four layers of Jolt at maximum speed. Dragon horns grew on his head, and the Sentinel's phantom coiled into existence.
"Sacred light!!"
A solid beam of white light erupted with terrifying energy.
An enemy already defeated once would only fall faster the second time—this was the basic discipline of a professional liver.
When the white light dissipated, Noah's expression suddenly darkened.
Having taken a four-layer Jolt-enhanced Sacred light! head-on, the Crownless had not fully vanished. Instead, it could still bare its teeth and let out an ugly laugh.
This... how was it possible?
Back when his panel stats were lower, using the 'Rover' character, he had easily dealt with the Crownless in the Cloud Ridge Valley.
Now not only were his panel stats higher, but he was using a one-constellation Jinhsi whose strength far surpassed Rover's, and he had stacked four layers of Jolt—nearly doubling the power of Sacred light!.
With all these layered buffs, if the one still standing after taking this move were a Calamity-class Dreamless, he could understand it—but it was the Crownless!
"On the Threnodian's territory, it seems to have been strengthened."
Jiyan raised his dragon spear, stomped hard with both feet, and smashed down like a meteor as he flipped. The spear shadow carried a long azure dragon silhouette, striking heavily on the Crownless's shoulder.
Boom!
The Crownless was sent flying, crashing into a black rock and creating spiderweb-like cracks.
It seemed to regain consciousness only then, rising from the ground. With a flap of its wings, it shot like lightning toward Jiyan.
The cold spear in its hand traced a beautiful arc mid-air as it flipped, the spear tip carrying powerful momentum as it struck toward Jiyan.
"What?"
Jiyan's pupils contracted sharply.
What the Crownless was using was clearly his own move!
He didn't dare slack off. He blocked the Crownless's cold spear head-on. After a crisp clash of weapons, he borrowed the momentum to flip his spear into an azure arc, sending the Crownless flying once more.
"This Crownless is strange. Noah, let's work together and finish it quickly!"
"Got it!"
Noah nodded, gripping Ages of Harvest tightly.
For some reason, a sense of unease enveloped his heart, as if from the moment they stepped into the Sonoro Sphere, they had entered a carefully prepared trap.
Suppressing the unease in his heart, Noah shook his head fiercely and attacked alongside Jiyan, continuously suppressing the Crownless.
"Verdant Summit!"
"Ages of Harvest!"
Quickly stacking four layers of Jolt again, dragon horns grew on Noah's head once more. Jiyan tacitly retreated, exposing the wide-open Crownless.
The Sentinel's phantom coiled into existence again.
"Sacred light!!"
Boom!
With a massive roar, the Crownless was finally dispersed. The shattered frequencies were absorbed and reorganized by that black-purple "moon."
Also absorbed were portions of the frequencies from Jiyan and Noah!
Three streams of frequency converged toward the "moon." The "moon" seemed to receive immense nourishment, exuding an extremely satisfied, malevolent pleasure.
Noah had no time to be shocked that frequencies from his own body had been absorbed. He saw large cracks appearing across the surface of the "moon."
Finally, the cracks completely covered the surface. The outer shell of the "moon" fell away, revealing a massive black-purple eyeball.
Violent whispers echoed throughout the Sonoro sphere.
Gulp.
Noah swallowed hard, gripping in his pocket the concealment bracelet he had carried since defeating Scar.
At this moment, he finally realized he had made a mistake—
With the foresight of a professional liver, he had saved the Sentinel inside the Disruptor turret, directed Mortefi to fire, and smoothly reached the Norfall Barrens.
Noah had thought everything would develop as in the storyline—that he would quickly deal with the Crownless and Dreamless inside the Sonoro sphere and repel the Threnodian.
But—
The plot of this world had already derailed from the very beginning. It was not the Wuthering Waves he knew.
The experience he prided himself on had led him straight into a danger the enemy had long prepared.
And the price of this mistake might have to be paid with his life.
Not far away—two black-purple figures slowly emerged from the eyeball hanging in the sky.
One was Jiyan.
One was Noah.
They had been duplicated by the Threnodian.