Coppelia darted back to her original spot with a single stride, grabbing Amos's Bow which leaned against the rock. Simultaneously, her left hand delved into the large pocket of her robes, fishing out the ancient storage bronze mirror.
She extended the mirror toward the Moon Spirit beside her, intending to have it store her inside so they could leave immediately.
But a sharp, piercing whistle of breaking wind interrupted her movement.
A crimson energy missile shot out from a dark side tunnel, tracing a scorching trajectory before striking the rock wall less than half a meter beside her.
"Boom!"
The blast wave, mixed with flying rock fragments, swept outward. Coppelia was pushed back several steps by the force, her back slamming against the uneven stone wall, but she quickly used the bow to prop herself up and steady her form.
Amidst the permeating dust, she shouted to the Moon Spirit: "Run!"
Hearing her voice, the Moon Spirit transformed into a streak of white light, shooting toward another narrow fork in the path. Coppelia, clutching the bow in her left hand and the bronze mirror tightly in her right, sprinted after it.
But she had barely taken a few steps when, in the shadows of the side tunnel, the white-haired Ikhtiyar appeared out of thin air like a phantom. Standing just a few meters away, her red pupils locked onto Coppelia.
Coppelia's mind raced in an instant. She stopped abruptly and shook the bronze mirror in her right hand.
The tent canvas, poles, several iron pots, and porcelain bowls... all the miscellaneous items stored in the mirror materialized out of nowhere. They flew out in a chaotic clutter, filling the narrow passage and blocking the path between her and Ikhtiyar.
Ikhtiyar gripped her longsword in her right hand, raising her arm. The tip of the sword traced several simple, rapid arcs in the air. With a series of clinking and clattering sounds, the iron pots were knocked away, the porcelain bowls shattered, and the canvas sliced open. The obstacles were—cleared.
And in that blink of an eye, Coppelia's figure had already vanished from the tunnel.
On the ground, Kelvin was thoroughly jarred awake by the explosion and tremors. He found himself stripped down to his undergarments, his hands and feet bound by vines, and his body cut in multiple places by flying gravel, oozing warm blood. Enduring the pain, he tried to curl up his body.
At this moment, seeing Ikhtiyar, he shouted with a hoarse voice as if grasping at a lifeline: "Lord Sword!"
Ikhtiyar's gaze swept over him but did not linger for a second. The tip of her foot tapped lightly on the ground, and her entire person seemed to lose its weight. Sliding forward in a posture almost hugging the ground, she vanished into the fork where Coppelia had escaped, moving so fast she left only a lingering afterimage.
Kelvin stared blankly at the passage that had returned to darkness, the last bit of color fading from his face. He gritted his teeth and began to struggle violently against his bound wrists, rubbing the rough vines repeatedly against the edge of a rock.
...
Coppelia had already run a distance through the maze-like underground tunnels. As she sprinted, she spoke urgently to the Moon Spirit leading the way ahead: "Just like before, store me inside—"
Before she could finish, the hand extending the bronze mirror froze in mid-air.
From the corner of her eye, she glimpsed the figure of that white-haired woman at the tunnel bend behind her. Like a maggot in the bone, she had appeared again and was closing the distance at a terrifying speed!
Alarm bells rang violently in Coppelia's mind. Given the speed the opponent was displaying, she absolutely could not shake her off.
The Moon Spirit might fly faster, but if she let it use the bronze mirror to store her now, she feared the woman would snatch the mirror away before the Moon Spirit could even hold it steady!
Coppelia spun around abruptly. Instead of fleeing, she aimed the bronze mirror in her hand at the onrushing Ikhtiyar, the mirror's surface flashing faintly.
She wanted to store the opponent inside!
But Ikhtiyar's speed was a notch faster. She exerted force underfoot, stomping a shallow pit into the hard rock floor. Her entire body leaped forward like an arrow leaving the string. At the same moment she soared, Coppelia aimed for the heavy main rock wall beside Ikhtiyar.
The bowstring vibrated.
"Boom—!"
A solid arrow of light sank into the rock wall. Immediately after, a dull explosion sounded from within.
The rock structure was destroyed in an instant. Large sections of the rock layer cracked and collapsed, with rubble and dust pouring down, instantly sealing the narrow passage and swallowing Ikhtiyar's figure.
An opportunity! Coppelia turned and fled, no longer looking back. The Moon Spirit led the way ahead.
They turned left and wound right as the passage gradually widened, finally rushing out of a cave opening and entering an unusually vast underground space. Beneath their feet was a solid rock platform, and less than thirty meters ahead lay a broken abyss. The darkness was bottomless, with only cold rising air currents brushing against her cheeks.
A loud crash came from behind again. It was the sound of rocks being violently broken open. The opponent had caught up.
Coppelia's thoughts spun like lightning. It was impossible to shake off that monster on a normal path. She possessed a mechanical body; perhaps a fall from a high altitude would still offer a sliver of a chance for survival. Now, she could only gamble that the opponent wouldn't dare, or wouldn't have time, to jump off the cliff after her.
Without the slightest hesitation, she sprinted toward the edge of the cliff.
The sensitive bionic skin on her face suddenly perceived an abnormal rise in the air temperature.
Almost at the same instant, a scorching hand reached out from behind. Five fingers violently clenched her flying brown hair and yanked backward viciously!
Severe stinging pain radiated from her scalp. Coppelia's forward-charging body abruptly lost its balance. Her upper body leaned back involuntarily, but her feet were still rushing forward due to inertia, putting her instantly in a posture on the verge of falling backward.
The Moon Spirit leading the way noticed the anomaly and stopped abruptly, turning around.
It saw that the pursuing white-haired woman had now undergone a terrifying change.
Strands of crimson light darted through her hair, and her pupils resembled two clusters of burning flames. Around her shoulders and arms, black-red energy danced like ghost fire, radiating astonishing waves of heat.
Coppelia endured the tearing sensation from her scalp. Engaging her core muscles, she used the force of the pull to spin backward violently. Her right hand, at some unknown point, had already notched onto the bowstring again. The moment her turn was complete, the tip of the light arrow was practically pressing against Ikhtiyar's face.
The bowstring was released.
At such close range, Ikhtiyar only had time to jerk her head sharply to the side.
The arrow of light grazed past her cheek and shot into the rock wall behind, blasting open a massive crater several meters wide. Crushed stones splattered down like rain.
Seizing the moment of her dodge, Coppelia struggled with all her might, tearing her own hair free, and turned once more to face the cliff.
But a massive pulling force came from her left hand.
The sword in Ikhtiyar's right hand had disappeared at some point. That hand, burning with black-red flames, had firmly grabbed the body of Amos's Bow!
Seeing this, Coppelia showed no attachment. She immediately released the hand holding the bow.
The bow fell into the opponent's hands. Without looking back, she lowered her head and made a final sprint toward the cliff edge, now only a dozen meters away.
As long as she could reach it—
But the skin on her face once again transmitted that abnormal sensation of stifling heat.
In this moment, under her despairing gaze, the Moon Spirit that had been leading the way flew back from her side without hesitation.
It did not attack, nor did it shine brightly. It simply flew straight toward Ikhtiyar, whose body burned with dangerous flames. Then, it extended its two soft braids and tightly hugged her face, plastering its entire round body against her, blocking her vision.
Ikhtiyar's movements stagnated for a moment.
Coppelia seized this gap, which likely lasted only half a breath. She crossed the final few steps, her feet leaving the edge of the rock platform as she leaped into the bottomless darkness of the abyss ahead.
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