By the time those three or four samurai fell to the ground, Lily had already got onto the suspension bridge with her fastest speed.
“What?!” Dijon witnessed this scene half a beat slower since he was engaging in a fierce battle with the Demon Hound. He became dumbfounded momentarily, “Crimson-colored Blade Maiden Spirit Power… looks beautiful and delicate but has enough power to knock down a few High-Tier Samurai. That’s… that’s a Blade Maiden! That woman is a Blade Maiden!!”
Dijon glared at Lily with a scowl. “That woman is a Blade Maiden! She’s the assailant! She’s the one who killed Motoshige and Akira!!” At this moment, everything finally clicked in Dijon’s head.
“Kagami Lily——!!! Don’t think that you can run from me!” Dijon’s Spirit Power intensified and his clothes began to flutter hysterically.
However, Lily had already gotten to the other side of the suspension bridge. She stopped on the other side of the river valley and turned around to look at all the stunned samurai as well as the dying Demon Hound before cutting the suspension bridge.
Looking at the antiquated suspension bridge falling down the river valley, Dijon felt half of his heart had been ripped apart, “T- that ⓢⓛⓤⓣ!”
After cutting off the bridge, Lily’s speed accelerated again as she rushed into the gloomy mountain woods.
“M- Miss Kagami…” Nagahide, Kimura, and Kanzaki looked at Lily’s sudden outbreak with a stupefied expression. She knocked down three or four High-Tier Samurai who were a lot stronger than them and ran away after snatching the tamahagane. It was hard to imagine she was the same Miss Kagami they had admired.1
“Arwoooooooooooo—!!!” Taking advantage of the gaps that opened up from the shock of the sudden occurrence, the Demon Hound suddenly took a leap and jump past Dijon. It landed beside the river valley and took yet another leap towards the other side of the valley, with its full strength this time.
However, it started to fall just a few meters short from reaching the opposite side.
“Craaaaash—!” but it still managed to cling to the cliff with its powerful claws. With a violent push from its rear limbs, it finally managed to climb up the opposite valley. It stood on its four limbs unsteadily, but still, the Demon Hound chased after Lily, leaving a trail of blood behind.
Dijon and his group could only watch at the edge of the valley. Even if he was extremely powerful, he still couldn’t jump across the river valley in one breath.2
He was half doubting earlier, but now he could be certain that Lily was indeed the murderer! Otherwise, why would she run away? For the treasure? Unlikely. Then the only possibility was that she had been worrying about being exposed sooner or later, so she had been acting all along and was waiting for an opportunity to flee!
“Kagami Lilyyyyyyyyyy!!!” Dijon gnashed his teeth in fury and clenched his sword handle so tightly that sounds of cracking bones were produced. Not only did that woman killed his younger brother, she even killed Akira, the vassal who had once colluded with him on many occasions. And that wasn’t even the end of the list, she had snatched the treasure he had spent a great price to obtain, and because of the confusion she caused by her sudden betrayal, even the Demon Hound had taken the opportunity to run away. All those casualties, for nothing!
How could Dijon let it go just like this? He turned his anger towards Nagahide, “And that’s the Miss Kagami you vouched for with your samurai’s honor on the line?”3
“That’s…” Nagahide was also at a loss for words.
Dijon knew now wasn’t the time to reprimand Nagahide, he looked at the towering cliff and said, “Instructor Yagyuu and I will split into two groups. Group one will take the mountain road to pursue and attack. The other group will climb down the river valley to intercept them! The Demon Hound is close to dying, we can’t just let it slip away like this! Our top priority is to catch that Kagami Lily and kill her on the spot! Then we will search for the corpse of the Demon Hound!”
The remaining samurai divided into two groups and immediately give chase according to Dijon’s instruction. As the elites of the Hojo clan, these samurai didn’t panic even in unexpected situations. In fact, they became more motivated than ever and howled in dissonance. One group went uphill, and the other started to climb down the river valley.
Right now, Lily was practically running at top speed all along. With Spirit Armor protecting her body, she didn’t have to worry about the branches or shrubs brushing against her skin. Even at the cost of her clothes becoming torn, she was able to maintain her speed.
After running for a while, she could feel a powerful eldritch energy closing in from behind. Turning her head to look back, she could see the Demon Hound running after her!
“Oh my gosh! Why is it coming after me!” Lily panicked. Was the treasure really so important that it’d abandon the battle to come after her?
But it was a fact that the Demon Hound was chasing after her while ignoring its body condition. Despite its huge body being obstructed by some trees, it was still a lot faster than Lily!
With no other choice, Lily expended all her Spirit Power to break into a frantic run. Many parts of her clothes had already been torn. Her fair skin came out in the open and her breasts were bouncing unrestrained. Even her thigh, which was laid bare in between the slit of her skirt, was dripping wet with sweat.4
Lily kept changing her directions in the mountain woods and circumvent around the trees as much as possible. However, the Demon Hound rammed into the trees like a wild bull and knocked them down. Though its speed decreased slightly, the distance between them was continuing to shrink.
She even tried jumping across a precipitous cliff or a trench, but the Demon Hound jumped even further than her and persistently chased after Lily!
“What should I do? Is that treasure really that important to it? Should I drop the tamahagane?” “No! I don’t wanna!” Lily was unwilling to do that!
This was such a great quality tamahagane, just imagine the kind of Cursed Katana she could forge with this!
Moreover, that Demon Hound was on the verge of dying anyway. What would it need a treasure for? Perhaps it might not even let her go even if she dropped the treasure. Though it could increase her speed a little, she still wouldn’t be faster than the Demon Hound!
Without any notice, two Specter Wolves jumped out from the bushes in front and pounced at Lily.
“Move aside!” Lily waved Seiwa Tamashi and easily achieved a double kill! However, they did manage to slow down Lily some. Soon, she could already feel the hot breath of the Demon Hound coming from her back. Just a casual bite from the great demon could easily surpass a hundred thousand kan of force, that was more than enough to kill her several times over!
How did it turn out like this? She endured it for so long and finally found a chance to escape, would she end up being bitten to death by the Demon Hound?
No! That can’t be happening! Senior sister… It’s all or nothing!
Lily recklessly threw herself under the cliff. She rolled on the steep incline and her clothes were in complete shambles. She pressed against the tamahagane and the mirror to prevent them from falling out. And of course, she didn’t forget to cover her body in Spirit Armor. The only harm she’d received was a dizzy spell from her head spinning.
For how long she had been rolling, nobody could accurately answer that, but she had fallen to the valley floor at least a thousand feet from the top. She might have protected her body with Spirit Armor, but Lily’s whole body still ached on top of the dizziness.
Lily found herself in a cold and gloomy valley filled to the brim with bones. She had fallen on a solid piece of ice-cold slab. When she thought she had finally averted the crisis and was about to push her weary body up…
“Drip… drip…”
Lily felt a warm sticky liquid dripping on her bare thigh.5 A chill involuntarily traveled up her spine. And along with the thick stench of blood, she could feel a hot breath hitting her back.
Turning her head around, she saw it; the Demon Hound’s blood-red eyes staring straight at her with its face in close proximity to her. Its face was full of scars and its fang that was even longer than her arm was giving off a bone-chilling light.
At her back was a thousand feet tall precipice. She fell into a dead-end while looking almost half-naked. And before her was a huge Demon Hound who completely obstructed the narrow valley. She had nowhere to run!
Even so, Lily gathered her courage and intended to fight back, even if her opponent may be a High Ranked demon that’s several tens of times stronger than her!
“Come!” Tightly gripping her Seiwa Tamashi, Lily harnessed the Blade Maiden Spirit Power.
“I advise you not to swing that sword. Otherwise, I will really bite you to death.” The Demon Hound actually opened its bloodstained mouth and spit out human language. It sounded really deep and distant, yet contained a little of the beast’s wild nature.6
