Free Web NovelHow could there be a deer in this world capable of dodging a hunter’s bullet?
But Aislin was no ignorant deer. In that instant she slowed her speed from several times the speed of sound down to near stillness. Even under the protection of divine power, every bone in her body began to wail, and the legs that held her upright screamed in agony.
This was pain Aislin had never felt since birth. Any seasoned adult human would have lost consciousness within two seconds under such torment.
But Aislin endured.
Her silver hair was soaked through with cold sweat, every organ in her body protesting—if you don’t end this fight now, we are going to die!
“Just give me one more minute... no, thirty seconds will be enough.”
Aislin told herself that.
Jiele Xiyin curiously watched Aislin’s strange act, only to find it amusing... you think that will let you escape?
No. I never thought of running away.
The silver deer stood tall, head lifted high, gathering the last of her strength into her antlers. Even though her body was covered with hideous wounds that would not heal, she still stood there proudly, like a warrior welcoming glory.
What was it that made her willing to go this far?
After all, this was humanity’s war...
Rotisha’s eyes kept widening. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, to shout something aloud. But the worsening situation left her throat unable to make a sound. Why? freewёbnoνel.com
Why indeed?
Perhaps... this was their only chance?
“You still have the leisure to be distracted while fighting us?”
The black mask kept the same unhurried look, his voice always calm. “Then let me give you some added difficulty.”
Jiele Xiyin’s bullet finally hit Aislin, blood spraying through the sky.
Her last attack, her grandest strike. In truth, Aislin’s strength had already been spent. The power of the clan’s god was never truly hers, and when she fought those three seventh-tier monsters earlier she had pushed herself to the brink.
Everything she did afterward was just forcing herself onward.
She had never been the enemy’s prime target. If she had not chosen to come help Rotisha against the Demon King at that moment, if she had not chosen to spend her final strength on a counterattack instead of survival...
The web intercepting the magic crystal shells suddenly failed, and thunder, violet lightning, and the fury of the sea all rained down on Jiele Xiyin’s back.
The pain drove Jiele Xiyin into rage. Blood gushed from her chest, a crystalline broken antler lodged there. She had not expected Aislin to rather shatter her own antler than deny her a grievous blow.
This time she was hurt badly—torn to pieces by a young elf!
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”
Jiele Xiyin’s eyes all but wanted to devour Aislin alive, yet she suddenly remembered the prophecy of death spoken by the Wheel of Fate. Unease surged in her chest.
Should she not have come here at all?
“Damn it, if not for wanting to find that rat Demon King early, how would I ever have come to this worthless human place!”
Jiele Xiyin steadied herself in the air again, forcing herself calm. She was utterly certain her foe’s wounds must be worse than hers.
But under the shadow of that prophecy, Jiele Xiyin did not press the advantage. Instead she raced her thoughts, scanning the battlefield for other potential threats.
Yet to her surprise, after Aislin’s final strike there was no further movement. She hovered only by the faintest divine power.
The sheen of her remaining antler dimmed away. After such high-intensity battle, Aislin finally lost every last bit of strength. She wavered, then fell from the sky.
Her power was gone—not just the borrowed strength of the clan’s god, but her own as well.
Jiele Xiyin, cautious at first, now smiled. She sat in the air, looking down as her enemy plummeted like a shot bird.
So that was your last desperate strike?
Jiele Xiyin touched the horrific wound, pulled out the embedded antler, and threw it down after Aislin.
But before it reached halfway, it shattered into silver motes that scattered in midair.
Without divine blessing, Aislin returned to her original form, her wounds so grievous they were unbearable to look at.
Jiele Xiyin’s victorious smile deepened as she watched the elf maiden fall from the heavens.
She could hardly wait to see Aislin’s body slam helplessly into the ice below and turn into a cold corpse.
Sensing the rapid freefall, Aislin vainly tried to lift her hand, to do something—yet her hand gave no response. Overusing her body beyond its limits left it unable to answer any command.
Divine power was always a stopgap, never to be drawn on long. She had not only drawn on it too long, but too heavily.
Aislin knew this, but unless she first defeated the Demon King, there would be no future to consider. So she gambled all hope on that last strike.
Unfortunately, she had failed.
Though she managed to pierce the Demon King’s heart with her antler, her power was already spent. All she had done was pierce it—without enough divine force to melt it away.
She had not killed the Demon King. Instead, she herself would die.
At her ear faintly came Rotisha’s shouting, but Aislin could no longer make it out. All she heard was buzzing, the whole world spinning before her eyes.
She abandoned any attempt at saving herself, wanting only in her last moments to hold onto something she had once cherished, so her death would not feel so bleak. Yet the bone flute and harp that had accompanied her were all destroyed, her sword too.
By instinct, she searched for the Light-Reversing Stone she had brought from her clan, to hear once more the sound of her homeland.
But after a moment she remembered—she had already given that stone to that human child.
Vieya...
I am sorry I cannot fulfill my promise to travel...
They say that when humans fall from great heights, time slows in perception.
Aislin turned her head downward... and in that glance, she saw a miracle, an unbelievable miracle!
A familiar figure burst up through the ice below. Monsters frenzied to pursue that figure, only to be wiped out in a single clash.
That seventh-tier dragon that had tangled her for so long—at the instant it opened its jaws at that figure, it was smashed into the depths by one punch.
“Vie...ya?”
Aislin could hardly believe it. Even the masked ones clinging tight to Rotisha froze. The sudden commotion shocked everyone on the battlefield.
Vieya shot skyward like a reverse-falling meteor, and not a single monster dared approach her.
The plummeting Aislin was caught in an embrace!
“My my, elf-sis, how did you let yourself end up in such a state, so ugly... how are we supposed to party up later like this?”
Vieya looked at the dazed Aislin, set one hand against her chest, and with a gentle smile comforted her.
“Don’t cry... let me lock down your life-breath first. After we finish revenge, I’ll get a proper healer to treat you.”
“I... I wasn’t crying!” Aislin coughed [N O V E L I G H T] violently, staring at this face both familiar and strange. After a long daze she forced out words. “How did you suddenly get so much bigger?”
“That’s a story for later.” Vieya smiled and turned her head. She whistled, and at once a small, translucent water-blue dragon came circling up beside her.
Vieya settled Aislin on the dragon’s back and fixed her securely. Patting the round head, she said, “Take her back to the ship. Guard her.”
The dragon nodded, carrying Aislin away slowly.
“Well then, Demon King Jiele Xiyin, long time no see. I trust you’ve been well.” Vieya gazed toward Jiele Xiyin hovering in the sky, her once-gentle eyes now turning icy cold.
