An Unforeseen Bitter Struggle

Not willing to give Ran Jiuyi any more time to think, Bai He’an’s attack from above had already begun. A dense net of firepower blanketed Ran Jiuyi and the vast area surrounding her.

Even with Ran Jiuyi’s extraordinary speed and footwork, it was impossible to completely evade this airtight barrage. She could only use the armor on her forearms to parry the attacks she couldn’t dodge.

Ran Jiuyi noticed that Bai He’an wasn’t aiming all her firepower directly at her. Nearly half of the munitions were being poured into the perimeter, seemingly intended to restrict her range of movement.

At the same time, several pink beams of light lunged out from the surrounding illusion—Jiang Yunshu’s attack.

Ran Jiuyi knew in her heart that the vast majority of these beams were hallucinations. Just like their last battle, she could crack the illusion as long as she perceived the magic within each beam.

But unlike last time, under Bai He’an’s suppressive fire, Ran Jiuyi didn’t have the luxury of focus required to carefully sense the magic of every beam. She was forced to dodge them all.

This was when the firepower Bai He’an had scattered around the perimeter took effect. In the process of evading Jiang Yunshu’s attacks, Ran Jiuyi collided head-on with the shells already in the air. They slammed into her body, sending small blossoms of blood spraying into the air.

Her movements were slowed by these hits, causing a beam that she should have been able to dodge by a hair’s breadth to strike her in the left abdomen.

Compared to Bai He’an’s attacks, Yi Ziling’s beams possessed far greater destructive power. Even a glancing blow from the edge was enough to leave a substantial burn on Ran Jiuyi’s waist.

According to Ran Jiuyi’s previous investigation, Jiang Yunshu’s illusions were divided into two types. One was the “Mist Illusion,” which only obscured visible light and mana; it consumed little energy and produced no anomalies.

The other was the “Butterfly Realm Illusion,” which could completely hide all information but carried a high mana cost. Within its range, flower petals would drift through the air.

In the Butterfly Realm, Ran Jiuyi had no way to sense Jiang Yunshu’s specific location. She could only rely on the brief fluctuations produced by the illusion when Jiang Yunshu used her magic.

This method was highly effective in a one-on-one fight. During their last encounter, that was exactly how Ran Jiuyi had captured Jiang Yunshu’s movements.

But now, Bai He’an’s barrage completely masked any fluctuations Jiang Yunshu’s illusion might produce. And even if they weren’t masked, Ran Jiuyi had neither the time nor the mental energy to sense them.

Thus, fighting inside the illusion was extremely disadvantageous for Ran Jiuyi. Although she parried and dodged the subsequent attacks, everyone present knew that if things continued like this, her defeat was only a matter of time.

Fortunately, the falling petals marked the boundaries of the illusion. Ran Jiuyi’s speed far exceeded Jiang Yunshu’s; as long as she lunged in one direction, she could quickly escape the zone.

Without hesitation, Ran Jiuyi immediately sprinted toward the nearest exit to the outside world.

However, her intentions were fully captured by Bai He’an, who was looking down from the sky. To leave the illusion, Ran Jiuyi had to move in a straight line, making her trajectory extremely easy to predict.

Bai He’an gathered her dispersed firepower and focused it heavily on Ran Jiuyi’s path. Jiang Yunshu also fired more beams, striving to curb Ran Jiuyi’s momentum.

They both understood that if Ran Jiuyi escaped the illusion, given her speed, it would be nearly impossible to trap her inside again.

Ran Jiuyi understood this as well. Even as more attacks landed on her, leaving her body battered and bruised, her speed did not slacken. She was dead-set on breaking out.

However, Ran Jiuyi seemed to have forgotten: from the start of the battle until now, Yi Ziling had never appeared. What was she doing?

Or perhaps Ran Jiuyi knew, but wanted to see if Yi Ziling would act exactly as she expected.

Under Ran Jiuyi’s desperate sprint, she was on the verge of clearing the illusion.

But at that moment, she suddenly felt her foot step on something soft. Looking down, she saw that the ground had been covered in a layer of milky-white substance at some unknown point.

Just as I thought, Ran Jiuyi noted inwardly. It was Yi Ziling’s Solidifying Gel.

Sensing danger, Ran Jiuyi immediately tried to retreat, but it was too late. Her feet were already firmly fixed in place by the hardened gel.

With Ran Jiuyi’s strength, this small amount of gel could only stall her for a moment—but for the long-ambushing Yi Ziling, a moment was enough.

The gel spread across the ground instantly surged toward Ran Jiuyi. In a mere instant, it encased her entire body and rapidly hardened.

In the blink of an eye, Ran Jiuyi was actually trapped.

But such a restraint couldn’t hold her forever. Before long, more and more cracks began to appear on the gel cocoon.

Yi Ziling hurriedly manipulated more gel to repair the fissures and reinforce the binding.

“Sister An! Yunshu, hurry! Bian’s strength is too high, I might not be able to control her for long!”

“Hold on, I’m almost ready!”

The rotary machine guns on Bai He’an’s arms vanished, replaced by larger-caliber, high-powered autocannons. The floating bits surrounding her began to transform, combining into two massive laser cannons mounted on her shoulders.

“I’m almost there too, just a bit more!”

As more and more mana poured in, the light sphere in front of Jiang Yunshu grew larger and brighter. Turbulent magic converged within it, waiting for the moment of explosion.

Watching the cracks on the gel continue to emerge, Yi Ziling asked again anxiously, “Quickly! Bian is about to break out!”

“No problem on my end!”

“I’m ready too!”

Hearing that her companions had finished their preparations, Yi Ziling immediately dissolved the solid gel covering Ran Jiuyi’s upper body. Ran Jiuyi’s torso appeared, completely defenseless, before Bai He’an and Jiang Yunshu.

“Now!” Bai He’an shouted.

The long-prepared attacks slammed into Ran Jiuyi instantly. With her lower body still trapped in the gel, she had no choice but to take the full force of the assault with her physical body.

But could she withstand it? With her weaponry swapped, Bai He’an’s firepower had jumped a full tier. Even the shockwaves from the autocannons and laser fire turned the ground around Ran Jiuyi into scorched earth.

And that was just the appetizer. The light sphere that followed was the true killing blow. The mana within it was the maximum amount Jiang Yunshu could possibly muster.

In previous battles, Jiang Yunshu had never used it because the sphere’s speed was slow and she worried about causing unnecessary collateral damage.

Now, facing a formidable enemy like Ran Jiuyi, Jiang Yunshu could finally test its power!

In the next instant, a massive pillar of fire erupted from Ran Jiuyi’s location. The resulting shockwave pulverized the massive amounts of solid gel nearby. Beams of magic generated by the explosion splattered in all directions; it was lucky the three girls were far enough away to avoid the splash.

Yi Ziling used her gel to shield them from the flying dust and beams, saying worriedly, “Is Bian okay? This move won’t kill her, will it?”

“Uh…” Jiang Yunshu was also somewhat stunned. She hadn’t expected her attack to have such immense power. “Probably… I mean, Bian is pretty strong… she should be able to keep her life, right?”

Bai He’an, who possessed the strongest sensing abilities of the three, spoke up: “Bian is still alive. Stay alert.”

As the dust from the explosion cleared, Ran Jiuyi’s figure appeared before them, kneeling on one knee.

The girls’ combined attack had been extremely effective. Half of her body was severely burned; charred muscle and bone were exposed to the air, emitting a pungent odor.

The other half of her body wasn’t much better. The attack had literally stripped away most of the skin and flesh on that side, leaving wounds so deep that bone was visible everywhere.

Cough! Cough! Cough!

Ran Jiuyi spat out blood clots mixed with black smoke. It appeared her internal organs had also suffered significant damage.

“Surrender, Bian,” Bai He’an’s voice came from nearby. “You are at the end of your rope. You have no strength left to fight us. Surrender now, and you can still save your life.”

“Yeah! If we keep going, you’ll die! Give up already, I’ll heal you!”

“Indeed, the power of that move was greater than I thought. It wasn’t easy for you to survive. We don’t need to keep fighting. Please, surrender.”

Yi Ziling and Jiang Yunshu chimed in as well. Normally, the “Three Little Ones” could ruthlessly deal with irrational monsters that only knew destruction, but facing Bian—who looked human and might even be Ran Jiuyi—they truly did not want to continue.

Hearing their words, Ran Jiuyi stood up as if nothing had happened. From the fluid grace of her movements, it seemed the injuries that would have killed a normal person a dozen times over had no effect on her at all.

Like an evil spirit, she had crawled back out of hell.

“Very good, very good indeed,” Ran Jiuyi said, clapping her hands. “The tactical arrangement was excellent. Simple and effective, perfectly utilizing each of your abilities.”

Bai He’an ignored the praise. “Surrender quickly, Bian. You won’t last long with those injuries.”

“Surrender? It’s still too early. The battle has only just begun.”

An ominous premonition rose in the hearts of the three girls. Clearly, the Bian before them was riddled with holes—where was this mysterious confidence coming from?

Jiang Yunshu said, “Stop bluffing! You can’t scare us with that!”

“Bluffing?” A hint of a smile appeared on the corner of Ran Jiuyi’s mouth. The once-charming smile had now become a terrifyingly distorted mask of nightmares. “I never do such things… well, that’s not true, I have in the past, but not this time.”

In the next heartbeat, a torrent of mana erupted from Ran Jiuyi’s body. If the mana they could sense from her before was a stream, what they sensed now was a vast ocean.

“There’s one thing I must remind you: before you engage an enemy next time, do your intelligence work properly.”

“Hey! Look!” Jiang Yunshu said in shock. “Her injuries… they’re healing?! And so fast!”

They watched as Ran Jiuyi’s wounds recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye. Countless buds of new flesh sprouted from her gore, frantically repairing her body.

Though the severity of the wounds meant full recovery would take a few minutes, it also meant that after those few minutes, all of the girls’ previous efforts would have been in vain.

“Otherwise, you’ll end up like this—not even knowing that I haven’t used my ability until now.”

Dozens of “Erosion Needles” coalesced around Ran Jiuyi, aiming at the three girls who were still paralyzed by shock.

“I didn’t expect you to be able to wound me to this extent. So, for what comes next, I’ll be a little more serious. Now, let us begin Round Two.”