“What should I do?” Iana kept dodging the barrage of arrows in midair, the whooshing sound of arrows tearing through the space echoed in her ears.
“There’s still two hundred meters to go.”
As Iana continued flying toward the gate, the Earthen Soldier’s General—the one who had knocked Veronica unconscious—swung his massive sword toward Iana and her two companions.
“No honor in this. Don’t you know it’s dishonorable to gang up on me like this? Dare to fight me one-on-one? I guarantee I’ll have you all lost and confused.” Iana condemned the actions of these humanoid clay sculptures.
But Iana’s words were ultimately in vain.
It was already a miracle that these mud statues could speak; how could she expect them to understand her?
Even if these clay sculptures did understand, why would they want to duel her one-on-one?
As the saying goes, why risk a solo fight when you can gang up?
Iana had already been dodging arrows, and now this gigantic mud general decided to join the fray—it was as if they didn’t even see her as human.
With no other choice, Iana prepared to fight desperately.
Although Ian had exhausted his Blood Power, Iana’s was still at full capacity.
However, since she hadn’t trained much yet, the amount of Blood Power inside her was still limited.
“As long as I can hold on a little longer.” Iana concentrated all her Blood Power into the soul contained within her clothes, chains of light flowing in and out of her body, wrapping around the clay general.
This time, she didn’t fully immobilize the general—only binding its limbs to slow down its movements.
Seizing the moment, Iana flapped her wings fiercely and sped toward the gate.
“One hundred meters.”
“Fifty meters.”
“Thirty meters.”
“Last ten meters.”
Just as Iana was about to reach the gate, a sharp pain stabbed through her right wing.
“Not good, I’ve been hit.”
Without looking back at the injured wing, she focused solely on reaching the gate.
But her body was no longer supporting her flight.
She struggled to flap her right wing, losing balance and rapidly descending.
“At least I have to save Lillian and Veronica.”
Iana clenched her perfectly white teeth, summoning her last strength to throw Veronica, who was in her right arm, toward the gate.
Just as she prepared to do the same with Lillian, she suddenly felt her arms weaken, powerless to act.
There was nothing she could do.
After the exhausting series of events, Iana’s stamina had reached its limit.
All she could do was minimize the harm to Lillian.
Holding Lillian’s body close, Iana felt the softness of her skin through the skirt—like hugging a pillow.
The golden twin tails carried a refreshing scent of violet flowers.
Iana wrapped her arms around Lillian, lifting her up, willingly becoming a cushion to absorb most of the fall’s impact.
Although Lillian’s chest was small, Iana still felt the softness close to her and blushed slightly.
‘At this point, why bother caring? Besides, Lillian and I have even bathed together before. I’ve been honest with her.’ Iana shook her head, pushing away the uncomfortable image from her mind.
Though she understood the principle of propriety between men and women, the situation was critical, and she had no time to care.
Besides, if Lillian didn’t want to be held, she could get up and refuse her embrace—if she had the ability.
“Boom.”
Iana’s back hit the ground first.
Since she hadn’t flown very high and thanks to the Dragonkind’s formidable physique, her body wasn’t seriously injured.
But the greatest danger was never from the fall itself—it was the countless humanoid clay sculptures everywhere.
“Damn it.”
Iana hugged Lillian tightly as the mud sculptures closed in, their numbers overwhelming her frailty.
“Kill… filth.” The clay sculptures, wielding various weapons made of mud, charged fiercely at Iana and Lillian.
‘Maybe this Holy Trial ends here.’ Iana sighed inwardly.
Although no one really died during the Holy Trial, she only had half the points given by Sophia so far.
Fifty-three points—this number was clearly insufficient to keep their team in second place.
“Looks like Yiserin and the others will have to earn the points.” Iana didn’t look at the grotesque mud sculptures but focused on Lillian’s face.
“After all, Lillian still looks better.”
Iana roughly estimated the points Lillian had earned.
If nothing unusual happened, Lillian would likely be eliminated with zero points.
This was not a good sign.
It meant Yiserin and her two companions would have to face off against teams of five.
Even if each of them was strong, this would be extremely difficult.
Just making it to the next round with three people was already a great achievement; winning second place was simply a pipe dream.
Just as Iana gave up struggling and prepared to meet death by the mud sculptures, a white light flickered on Lillian’s body.
In the blink of an eye, Iana found herself holding Lillian in a mysterious space.
“Ah, so little Iana likes little Lillian this much?”
“You won’t let go, huh? Don’t worry, as Lillian’s master, I certainly won’t interfere with your love.”
“On the contrary, I’ll fully support it.” Elia’s familiar voice sounded in Iana’s ear.
“Elia.” Iana was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized she was supposed to be Ian and shouldn’t know Elia.
“Where is this? Who are you?”
“Don’t pretend in front of me. How could I not know your identity?”
“You’re right, Ian.”
“But I prefer to call you Iana. I didn’t want to expose you last time, and now you’re still pretending with me.”
“Believe it or not, I could even tell you what color underwear you’re wearing.”
Elia’s teasing tone made it seem as if she was about to reveal Iana’s underwear color any second.
“W-wait, I admit it already.” Iana felt as if she were standing naked before Elia.
The last time she had this feeling was with Dean Isabella.
Iana knew Elia wasn’t a bad person—at least, she wouldn’t harm her.
Besides, Elia had given her a Soulstone that had helped her turn the tide multiple times.
Iana was certain that without the Soulstone Elia gave her, she would have died countless times over.