Qin Yu lay on top of Luo Shangyu, feeling her own frame rise and fall slowly with Luo Shangyu’s breathing.
“By the way,” Luo Shangyu said, her hands fumbling behind Qin Yu’s neck, “it’s time to take this off.”
Luo Shangyu unfastened the Magic Collar from Qin Yu’s neck.
Magic surged through Qin Yu’s body once again, and a sense of relief washed over her.
“Did you feel a bit weak in your limbs and dizzy this morning?” Luo Shangyu asked.
“Well…” Qin Yu thought back carefully.
She had indeed felt that way earlier.
“That’s because your magic was being suppressed. As a Mage, having your power bound causes physical weakness, especially after intense exercise. You’ll be fine in a few days,” Luo Shangyu said, “Go to sleep. We have to travel this afternoon.”
Watching Qin Yu fall asleep on top of her, Luo Shangyu couldn’t help but worry about their future.
This escape had been sudden, and they hadn’t prepared many supplies.
The border of the Chengji Empire was still several days away, and Luo Shangyu was worried about the difficulties they might face.
The most immediate problem was that they lacked food and only had one set of clothes each.
Looking at their nearly identical sports suits, Luo Shangyu smiled bitterly to herself.
***
A sharp pain in her waist jolted Qin Yu awake.
She opened her groggy eyes to see the blurred scenery rushing past.
Qin Yu fully opened her eyes.
She was sitting on horseback, leaning against Luo Shangyu’s back, tied together by a rope.
“Are you awake?” Luo Shangyu felt Qin Yu move.
“Yeah, I’m awake,” Qin Yu replied with a yawn and asked, “How long have we been traveling?”
“Probably… 1 or 2 hours,” Luo Shangyu estimated, looking at the sun overhead.
Much of the exhaustion from their earlier flight had faded, and sitting behind Luo Shangyu left Qin Yu with nothing to do.
“I remember this area,” Luo Shangyu said, “This is a very desolate part of the Kingdom of Yiyong. I’m afraid we won’t find any towns until we reach the Chengji Empire.”
“…”
Qin Yu’s face fell with disappointment, but she didn’t say anything more.
She felt that what she should do now was conserve her energy rather than wasting it on pointless talk.
Behind them, the meadow where they had rested for lunch was far in the distance.
Ahead lay a vast stretch of hills covered in thick forests.
“I’m afraid we won’t be able to go around the woods,” Luo Shangyu noted.
“Then let’s just go straight through,” Qin Yu replied.
Time was no longer on their side.
Luo Shangyu picked up the pace, hoping to reach the forest early so they could cross it before dark.
However, a sense of danger suddenly washed over her.
Luo Shangyu instinctively turned back and deployed a magic shield.
With a sharp “crack”, an ice spear was intercepted by the shield right behind Qin Yu’s head, shattering into pieces.
Qin Yu whipped her head around and saw three people flying through the air, pursuing them.
“They caught up!” Qin Yu shouted to Luo Shangyu, pulling out her staff and preparing for battle.
Luo Shangyu glanced back.
The three opponents seemed powerful, and a direct confrontation was unwise.
“We’ll retreat for now! We can deal with them once we reach the trees!” Luo Shangyu said.
At the same time, she reinforced the shield she had just cast.
“Will we really make it in time? They’re only a few hundred meters away,” Qin Yu estimated the distance.
“We’re still several kilometers from the forest, aren’t we?”
“We’ll make it!” Luo Shangyu said confidently.
But in the next instant, a thicket of thorns suddenly sprouted from the grass in front of them, blocking their path.
‘Not good!’ Luo Shangyu waved her staff, trying to cut the thorns, but she was a step too late.
The warhorse tripped on the thorns, and both Luo Shangyu and Qin Yu were thrown to the ground, tumbling several times before coming to a stop.
Qin Yu’s head was still spinning, but Luo Shangyu reacted instantly, realizing this was a trap set by their pursuers.
She hastily cast a protective barrier around herself and Qin Yu.
Almost simultaneously, countless attacks rained down on the barrier Luo Shangyu had just set, causing cracks to appear.
“Qin Yu, can you stand up?” Luo Shangyu called out anxiously.
“I can stand…” Qin Yu struggled to her feet.
Aside from some pain, her limbs were intact and nothing was broken.
Fortunately, the sports suits they were wearing had long pants and long sleeves, so she didn’t have much road rash.
“Hurry, we need to retreat to the forest!” Luo Shangyu supported Qin Yu, wanting to mount the warhorse again.
However, the fall had thrown them quite far from the horse.
The warhorse was over 10 meters away, outside the protection of the barrier.
The three Mages had already killed the horse with magic.
“We’ll have to fly.” Luo Shangyu grabbed Qin Yu’s hand and summoned Atmospheric Magic.
The two of them took to the air, speeding toward the forest.
After the delay, the pursuers had caught up and were launching fierce attacks.
The barrier of magic nearly shattered several times under the relentless bombardment, but thanks to the continuous flow of mana from Luo Shangyu, it held firm.
While the barrier protected them from external attacks, it also prevented Luo Shangyu from launching any magic from within, forcing her into a passive defense.
As they flew, Luo Shangyu carefully observed the pursuers, gauging their strength.
By her estimation, they were at the Sixth Rank.
The three sent to capture Luo Shangyu and Qin Yu saw that she had deployed a barrier.
Realizing they couldn’t break it easily with their current power, they decided to gradually wear down her mana reserves with their own combined pool.
Luo Shangyu slowly realized their intent and considered her options.
Just then, she and Qin Yu reached the edge of the forest, and an idea came to her.
Luo Shangyu suddenly pushed her Atmospheric Magic to its limit.
Their speed surged, instantly widening the gap between them and the trio as they plunged into the forest.
Luo Shangyu led Qin Yu onto a high branch of a massive tree, her hand on her chest as she panted heavily.
The sudden burst of speed had been effective, but it had consumed nearly one-fifth of her mana.
“What do we do now?” Qin Yu whispered.
“It’s two against three, so we don’t have the numbers, but we have the geographic advantage,” Luo Shangyu said.
“We’ll use the terrain to take one out first and even the odds.” As she spoke, the three pursuers entered the forest.
They hovered in the air, squinting as they searched for any trace of Qin Yu and Luo Shangyu.
Using the leaves as cover, Luo Shangyu and Qin Yu crawled along the giant branch.
Looking at the massive trees surrounding them, Luo Shangyu suddenly remembered where they were.
Though she couldn’t recall the specific name, she knew this was a vast forest on the border between the Kingdom of Yiyong and the Chengji Empire, famous for its colossal trees.
Luo Shangyu constantly adjusted her angle, looking for the best position to strike the three men.
After changing positions several times, she finally ended up directly above the pursuers.
The three stood in a triangular formation.
The leader was saying something in a low voice that Luo Shangyu couldn’t quite hear.
Luo Shangyu carefully sensed their strength.
This observation was far more precise than it had been during the battle.
She felt the leader was quite powerful ā nearly equal to herself.
Luo Shangyu didn’t dare act rashly, fearing the leader might have a hidden trump card to escape her ambush, so she set her sights on one of the other two.
Luo Shangyu touched her staff to the tree trunk and whispered an incantation.
As she finished, a terrifyingly bright light descended from the sky, piercing through the forest canopy and striking one of the men.
He vanished into a cloud of light smoke.
A-rank Combat Skill ā Light’s Judgment!
This strike immediately alerted the remaining two pursuers, and they pinpointed Qin Yu and Luo Shangyu’s location…