Chapter 43: Divine Weapon

One slash.

The blade, crackling with golden lightning, gave off an intense hum — like it had just awakened from an eternal slumber, radiating an uncontainable fervor.

The moment its edge touched the butler’s arm, his leisurely composure shattered.

Gazing at the shimmering strands of resonance swirling in the golden light, his face contorted beyond recognition, yet still unmistakably etched with fear.

At last.

Jing Ye was no longer an untouchable tormentor!

“Schhh—”

A spray of dark purple blood shot into the air.

The butler clutched at the gashes on his shoulder and chest in panic.

Had he not dodged in time, that slash would have cleaved him diagonally in two from the shoulder!

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Wu Xiaomi pressed the attack, blade in hand.

The pain from the wounds screamed with intensity.

Both Wu Xiaomi’s cut wrist and the butler’s fresh injuries throbbed with agony.

For the first time in his life, as he stared at Wu Xiaomi’s hand, the butler experienced true empathy for the sensations of pain and fear.

So this… is what it feels like…

How utterly maddening.

“Ssscrrk—”

The sound of fabric tearing mixed with the slicing of flesh.

Another slash carved upward, an X slashed across his chest.

He tried to activate his sequence to heal, but the lightning seared his wounds, charring flesh and burning tissue to ash — there was no healing, not anytime soon.

The pain surpassed a thousand cuts, like tiny blades slicing over a raw burn again and again…

“DIE! DIE DIE DIE GET AWAY!” the butler screamed, thrusting a hand toward Wu Xiaomi’s head, a beam of black light erupting from his palm.

He no longer cared about preserving any so-called work of art — he just wanted to eliminate the threat in front of him.

Instinct guiding her, Wu Xiaomi realized the danger the instant he raised his hand.

She dodged, head snapping to the side.

Closed the distance — third slash!

Bang—

But the beam was unexpectedly wide, and it knocked her blade away with a pulse of black energy from the butler’s hand.

The beam missed Wu Xiaomi and instead blasted through the asylum’s gate, shattering its walls.

But to the butler, it was salvation.

“—Oh no…”

The entire street was swarming with bizarre, distorted faces.

The asylum was surrounded on all sides — hundreds of meters teeming with Mirror Fiends.

The moment they spotted Wu Xiaomi inside the wall, they pounced like starved wolves upon fresh meat.

“Don’t run now…”

“Come, return to the mirror with us.”

Screw it. Whoever wants it can have it.

Even if I’m done for the next second, don’t even dream of stopping me from landing one last blow!

Before the horde reached her, Wu Xiaomi charged forward, blade raised.

The butler ran for his life. Though he was a sequence caster, against Wu Xiaomi empowered by Hunter’s Instinct, he couldn’t even recite a single sequence.

What, stick around to be chopped into pieces?

Slash— slash—

Another X carved into his back.

But under threat of death, the perverted old man ran like lightning— his wounds weren’t deep enough.

Boom. He blasted another hole in the wall ahead.

The Mirror Fiends poured in, and he dove straight into the horde.

Troublesome.

Wu Xiaomi had no choice but to fend off the approaching Mirror Fiends.

“There’s too many! Way too many!” Lulutina shouted.

Her elven blade was sharp enough to hold them off for now.

But no matter how much stamina she had, there was no way to withstand a seemingly endless wave of Mirror Fiends.

“At this rate, we won’t make it to sunrise!”

Exactly.

One slash cut the nearby Mirror Fiends in two, but the space around them quickly filled again.

They could only watch helplessly as the butler got farther and farther away.

Can’t catch him?

As the crowd pressed in, Wu Xiaomi spun and slashed in all directions, turning into a whirlwind of lightning, cutting her way toward Lulutina.

She hoisted Lulutina onto her back and fired her grappling hook, leaping up onto the wall.

The wall stood three meters high — a brief reprieve.

But…

“What the hell is that?!”

Beast-Face Tribe!

A towering Beast-Face creature, eight meters tall, clutching a spiked club.

Its massive head poked out of a display window, hunching forward, trying to squeeze through.

Damn it. Wu Xiaomi really didn’t want to face that thing again. Last time she had Siren’s Dance — this time she couldn’t summon it.

“As time goes on, the monsters escaping Jing Ye are getting stronger…” Wu Xiaomi gasped, making a grim guess.

At this rate, there’s no way they’ll last till dawn.

“Come down, come on down—”

The Mirror Fiends below had begun stacking themselves like human pyramids.

Half the Beast-Face creature’s body had already forced its way out.

Nowhere to run.

The two girls could only try to edge along the wall, stranded on this tiny island.

“I can’t— I’m so tired— I can barely breathe,” Lulutina wavered, nearly tumbling from the top.

Wu Xiaomi grabbed her quickly.

But she herself was no better.

As raiders, their physical strength was still that of ordinary humans — only enhanced while channeling their sequences.

Hunter’s Instinct boosted her speed, but her overall stamina remained unchanged.

And she was already worn thin.

Thud, thud—

Two heavy crashes made the entire wall tremble.

The Beast-Face had landed.

It was fully out!

“Don’t let it see — never mind, it’s seen us.”

Thud, thud, thud, thud—

That massive body charged forward, shaking the earth with every step.

Roarrrr—

A deafening roar, and the Beast-Face dropped its spiked club.

It reached out both hands.

Those massive palms lunged for Wu Xiaomi and Lulutina.

Wu Xiaomi leapt away just in time.

But… Lulutina, who had spent all her strength softening the ground during the jailbreak, could no longer jump!

Her body was snatched up in one swift motion, trapped in the Beast-Face’s massive grip.

“I…”

In her overwhelming terror, Lulutina completely forgot what she was supposed to do.

She looked at Wu Xiaomi, pleading. “Xiaomi-jie… help me… I…”

The Beast-Face didn’t attack further. After grabbing Lulutina, it turned around and began walking.

Heading back toward the display window.

It wanted to stash its prize away — an instinct all Mirror Fiends shared.

“Lulutina!”

Wu Xiaomi’s mind exploded with a sharp buzz.

She fired her grappling hook, latching onto the Beast-Face’s body.

Before she could retract it, the Beast-Face grabbed the line and yanked.

Wu Xiaomi was pulled off the wall and tumbled into the swarm of Mirror Fiends.

Screw it!

She retracted the hook.

The rope reeled in at lightning speed, dragging Wu Xiaomi straight toward the Beast-Face’s hand.

That massive palm had already opened — waiting for her to throw herself in.

Hunter’s Instinct — maximum output.

Her lithe, flexible body pushed to its absolute limits.

“Let her goooo—!”

Midair, she slashed the rope, using momentum to hurl herself forward.

Freed from the tether, she coiled her waist and timed it perfectly.

Upward slash!

The blisteringly hot, razor-sharp blade cleaved through the Beast-Face’s blocking hand with zero resistance.

Wu Xiaomi shot through the gap between the severed halves.

“I’m here!”

Still carried by momentum, Wu Xiaomi came down with a crushing chop.

The fingers gripping Lulutina snapped clean off.

Seizing the chance, she grabbed Lulutina’s clothes, kicked off the Beast-Face’s arm, and tumbled with her onto a shop rooftop.

“Huh?”

Lulutina looked at her completely unharmed body, then at Wu Xiaomi, and finally at the Beast-Face’s severed hand.

What just happened?

Holy crap — that was so cool!

Fresh from the jaws of death, Lulutina shrieked in pure fangirl mode, voice cracking: “From this day on, I only stan Wu Xiaomi! Xiaomi-jie forever!!!”

“Don’t get too excited.”

Wu Xiaomi was so exhausted she couldn’t even straighten her back.

But the Beast-Face’s hand was already healing rapidly, returning to normal in the blink of an eye.

—Regeneration. That troublesome ability remained intact, even after becoming a Mirror Fiend.

The Beast-Face stood, hefting its spiked club.

This time, it was serious.

Crushing them into paste before dragging them into the mirror worked just as well.

“I really can’t do anything now…”

Even lifting a finger was nearly impossible.

Wu Xiaomi collapsed to her knees on the rooftop, powerless to stop the Beast-Face from raising its arm.

Ring ring ring—

What, another call?

That damned woman—can’t she just say everything in one go?

She answered.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the arrogant attendant.

It was Bai Xiaozhi!

[Look up,] Bai Xiaozhi said.

Huh?

Wu Xiaomi looked up.

A flicker of firelight came speeding from the distance.

A fireball?

No…

The fire pierced through the shroud of clouds, revealing its full form in the moonlight.

The flames were just part of it — the furnace.

It was a massive hot air balloon, with a hanging basket below and a fire burning inside.

Framed by the pale giant moon behind it, its silhouette formed a giant exclamation mark across the sky.

From the basket, Bai Xiaozhi waved.

[Sorry. Took me a while to knock Han Nuo out.]