While this was all happening, Yin and Lisandra were currently clearing a dungeon with the party when their body suddenly froze and started to spasm from pain.
Struggling for breath, Yin collapsed on the ground while grasping at her heart.
“C-crap! Mum’s in danger!” Yin cried out as she coughed up some blood.
Lisandra could not respond at this moment as she was too preoccupied with trying not to pass out from the pain.
Hearing that Shiro was in danger, the party paused in shock.
Lyrica, who had been down in the dumps, felt a knife pierce her heart after hearing Yin’s cry.
Widening her eyes, she quickly sent out a wave of sword energy to clear out the room of enemies before dashing over to Yin’s side.
“What’s happened?!” She asked desperately.
“It’s mum! Her life’s in danger!” Yin replied as she grabbed onto Lyrica. Her blood smeared against Lyrica’s clothes as Silvia tried to relieve Yin’s pain through healing but that didn’t do anything.
“What do you mean her life is in danger? How do you know!?” Madison also panicked as this was exactly what she was scared of. Shiro going off on her own and dying while all they could do was sit by and watch.
“Contract. I have one with mum. If she dies, I die.” Yin squeezed out while trying to stop her body from spasming due to the pain.
As silence descended onto the party, they could only hope that everything was going to be ok while Aarim tried her best to think of any new spells that could help with the situation. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind.
Clutching her fist, Lyrica stood up and dashed further into the dungeon.
“What are you doing?” Aarim called out in surprise.
“What do you think! I’m gonna kill every f*cking thing here and go to Shiro at a higher level! If that Nan bastard is high level but can’t protect her, what’s the goddamn point of leaving her to go with him! I’d rather protect her myself!” Lyrica shouted back in anger.
Hearing this, Madison also stood up as she knew Lyrica was right. Sure, she complained about Shiro leaving them behind to do everything herself but they could be doing more to catch up to her. If 100% of their efforts wasn’t enough to catch up to Shiro, then they’ll try twice as hard. If that doesn’t suffice, they’ll go above and beyond. Shiro has the life of an entire race weighing down her shoulders, it would be cruel to ask her to wait for them.
‘If she levels up fast, then we’ll do everything we can to level up faster. Instead of complaining, I should be urging the party on. I’m the main tank, I should improve my defences so that the party can challenge those much much higher level than us.’ Madison thought to herself as she too charged after Lyrica.
Seeing the two girls so fired up in their own way, both Aarim and Silvia smiled lightly.
“You go after them and help them out. I’ll stay behind and look after Yin and Lisandra. I’ll try to develop a spell that might be able to help us assist Shiro in the meantime.” Aarim called out to Silvia as she nodded her head.
“Ok. What about you?” Silvia nodded before turning to Chen Yu.
“I’m going to send an emergency notice to the branch sect in China. Hopefully, they’re able to give Shiro some assistance.” Chen Yu replied seriously while looking around for the way that they came in from.
“Alright, good luck.” Silvia nodded before dashing further into the dungeon.
###
“Where are we?” Nan Tian furrowed his brows as he saw that both Keiko and Keomi were in the same dimension as him.
“I don’t know but it seems like my teleportation is being hindered. I can’t get us out of here.” Keiko replied with a frown.
“Shiro’s out there fighting a gorgon so we need to figure a way out quickly.” Keomi reminded quickly.
Looking around the area, they saw that they were in a rift similar to what Shiro had access to but this one felt much more dangerous. As if they were being stared down by countless beasts that hunger for their flesh.
“Hm, the queen has some powerful companions.” A voice rang out as they quickly turned towards the source.
Seeing Estrella sitting idly on a chair while looking towards the three of them, they instantly put up their guard.
“Who are you?” Nan Tian asked.
“Estrella. Spirit Guardian of Realms. Former member of the royal spirit council.” Estrella introduced herself with a simple smile.
“If you’re a member of the spirit council, you should know that Shiro is the new queen of the spirit race. If you kill her now, you’ll be extinguishing the spirit race’s hope.” Nan Tian warned since he could deduce that she was the cause of the gorgon being transported to their location along with separating them from Shiro.
“I do know that she’s the new queen and that killing her is detrimental. However, this is a test. To see if she is worthy or not. Being the spirit queen is more than what appears on the surface. It’s one of the only race queens that can evolve into an empress. For her to become an empress at this level, it meant that she had talent but that’s not enough. She must be able to fight those a whole class above her as that is the scale of danger that she’ll be facing.
“I cannot allow someone that can’t accomplish this to have one of the most powerful classes in the world. If she dies then I might as well wait for a new queen.” Estrella leaned back.
“From what I know, time is running out and the spirit race hasn’t had a queen in so long. What makes you think that you can find another queen in that time?” Keiko asked with a frown.
“I don’t. However, rather than instilling false hope into the race, I’d much rather them fight with their heart and soul for survival. Plus, the greater the hope, the more crushing the despair when it turns out to be fake. The spirit race has already experienced it once with the previous queen. I don’t need history to repeat itself.” Estrella shook her head.
“Shiro isn’t one to instil false h-” Keomi tried to protest but her sentence was cut short when Estrella snapped her fingers.
“Talk is cheap. Let’s watch her actions to determine if she’s worthy or not. And also, don’t think I can’t sense you trying to break through my realm. Just know that if you do, I’ll take it as an attack towards me and retaliate.” She warned as Nan Tian clicked his tongue.
Swiping her hands, a portal opened up near her as they could see the battle play out.
“Oh? The queen is rather peculiar in her magic.” Estrella raised her eyebrows when she saw Shiro craft a pair of mini guns from her nanobots.
Watching Shiro display her Nanomancer skills one by one, the three couldn’t help but widen their eyes in surprise. Especially Nan Tian since this was something he never thought was possible. It also meant that she was currently one of the most wanted people in the world due to her tech.
‘Damn is there anyone around, if word gets out, Shiro’s life would be in danger.’ Nan Tian panicked as he scanned the area around Shiro within the portal. Thankfully, it seemed like she was prepared as an illusion barrier could be seen around them.
However, their worries only grew when they saw Shiro almost kill herself in order to cancel out the petrification.
“Hou~ Drastic choices to guarantee survival. I like that.” Estrella smiled as she was rather impressed by what she was seeing so far. Even if she had weakened the gorgon severely to the point where her level had decreased and most of her skills were sealed, it was still a tall order for Shiro to fight against it.
Unfortunately, her smile faded when she saw Shiro destroy her body through the stacking of berserk skills.
Berserk skills were known as the final trump card for a reason. They severely harmed your body for a moment of power to guarantee your survival. While you could stack a few berserk skills together should you have the resources, doing so was advised against as the backlash would stack on top of each other. The best case scenario was that you could get a few hits in before self- destructing.
As for the worst case scenario, you die before doing anything and that was what she believed she was witnessing as of this moment.
Shaking her head, she was about to dismiss the portal when she saw Shiro stab her own chest with her hand.
“What is she doing…” Estrella muttered before widening her eyes in disbelief.
