Chapter 9: Shrunk?
Boom!
A thunderous explosion echoed across the battlefield, thick smoke mixed with sparks spreading through the crowd. Dirt and debris flew as a slender figure darted through the haze.
"What a grudge this is."
The silver-haired girl clenched her teeth, deeply regretting her earlier decision to provoke a certain someone.
Clang!
A massive, pale-blue blade arc, about five meters in diameter, came flying. Wherever it passed, orcs and dwarves fell like wheat before a scythe.
The silver-haired girl quickly threw herself to the ground as the sharp blade arc swept just overhead, severing a few strands of her silver hair.
"Phantom Body."
The light and shadow around the silver-haired girl twisted as she split into three phantom clones, making four figures in total, including her original body.
Bang, bang, bang...
A dense barrage of energy bullets swept in, so concentrated they almost formed a continuous chain.
The bullets passed through the three phantom clones without resistance. The silver-haired girl, face twisted in despair, continued fleeing deeper into the tribal camp.
Whoosh~
A piercing sound of tearing air came. The girl's silver hair was whipped back by the force, her amber eyes contracting sharply. An image flashed in her mind—a combined effect of her ability and equipment.
The scene in her mind was: a blade slashing toward her neck. First, her flowing silver hair would be severed, then the blade would cut through her skin, muscles, and bones, until her head was completely cleaved off.
The silver-haired girl shuddered. At that moment, Su Xiao, holding the Dragon-Slaying Flash, had already appeared beside her. He had closed the distance using Shave.
The Realm Severing Thread shot out, coiling toward the silver-haired girl. As Su Xiao tightened the thread, the long blade in his right hand slashed down.
"Dreamweaver."
The silver-haired girl pointed a slender finger toward the sky, striking the same pose as before. This time, Su Xiao ignored it and swung his blade directly.
Swish~
The Dragon-Slaying Flash cut through the air, a trace of blood staining its edge.
A red line appeared on the silver-haired girl's pale neck, but her body had turned semi-transparent.
"That was close."
The silver-haired girl gasped in relief. If she had activated her ability even half a second later, her head would have been severed.
"Just as I thought, you're a freak—a freak who loves chopping off heads."
Now, the silver-haired girl was very close to Su Xiao, no more than two meters away. She lightly touched the Dragon-Slaying Flash with her hand. The blade's surface was encased in a layer of silver crystal, rendering it unable to cut.
The Realm Severing Thread coiled toward the silver-haired girl, but since her body was semi-transparent, it couldn't hit her. The thread simply passed through her form.
This ability of the silver-haired girl was similar to Uchiha Obito from the Naruto world. Obito used spatial abilities, while she shuttled between illusion and reality.
As the Realm Severing Thread left her body, she lunged at Su Xiao.
"Dreamweaver: Lost Woods."
The silver-haired girl's eyes met Su Xiao's. Her amber irises emitted a gentle glow. She embraced him as tenderly as a lover, her body now solid again. The girl wasn't trying to escape—she knew the duration of 'Dreamweaver: Lost Woods' was too short to get far.
"Get lost between illusion and reality..."
The girl wore a smug expression, believing she had successfully turned the tables.
Was that really the case?
Bang!
"Oof!"
Su Xiao drove his knee into the silver-haired girl's abdomen. She spat out a mouthful of bile, her body curling as she flew backward.
In her imagination, Su Xiao should have been lost in a world of illusion, mentally paralyzed. However, with the Mind Blade, Su Xiao was immune to mental-type skills.
As the silver-haired girl flew backward, Su Xiao quickly stepped forward. His hand, wrapped in a metal gauntlet, grabbed her throat. He considered using the Slaughter Blade to slit her throat, but retrieving a weapon from his storage space took time. By the time the Slaughter Blade appeared in his hand, the girl would have already flown out of range.
Su Xiao tightened his grip. A crystal layer spread across the girl's neck. With a crack, the crystal shattered. Tears welled up in her eyes. The cold sensation of metal against her skin told her she was about to die.
"I... don't want..."
At this critical moment of life and death, the silver-haired girl, ignoring the cost, reached for a crystal pendant on her neck.
Bang!
A bullet, seemingly from nowhere, struck Su Xiao's arm. The moment it touched his skin, it shattered, releasing a cloud of gray-purple dust.
Crack, crack, crack~
The gray-purple dust quickly formed a layer of coral, encasing Su Xiao. He was frozen in place, still holding the silver-haired girl by the throat, her feet dangling off the ground.
[Prompt: You are being enveloped by an unknown energy. Endurance attribute check in progress...]
[Due to the high priority of the opponent's skill, the check fails. You will suffer the full control effect.]
[Due to the Hunter's high resistance, this control effect is reduced by 80%.]
[You are affected by a 0.4-second immobilization effect.]
Crack, crack.
The coral layer on Su Xiao's body rapidly broke apart. The silver-haired girl, who had just escaped death, was terrified by this sight. She knew who had fired that bullet—it was her teammate. She was well aware of his control ability. Anyone hit by that bullet would be immobilized for at least 2 to 5 seconds.
Seeing her teammate's support arriving, the silver-haired girl released her grip on the crystal pendant. This item was too precious; she couldn't use it unless absolutely necessary.
Smash!
The coral layer on Su Xiao's arm shattered. His hand gradually regained its strength.
"Dreamweaver: Time Lord."
The silver-haired girl finally had a chance to unleash her life-saving ultimate. Everything within three meters of her began to slow down. The coral fragments that had shattered from Su Xiao floated in midair, falling to the ground at an extremely slow pace.
After using this move, the silver-haired girl's body rapidly shrank, regressing to a childlike form. This was the side effect of 'Dreamweaver: Time Lord'—age regression. This regression was irreversible and could only be restored by returning to the Apocalypse Paradise. This was the price of slowing time, even if only within a three-meter radius.
In an instant, the silver-haired girl turned into a little girl of about seven or eight years old. Fortunately, her physical abilities didn't decrease. Because her body had shrunk, her neck had also become thinner, barely allowing her to slip free from Su Xiao's left hand.
Time flow returned to normal. The coral layer on Su Xiao's body shattered into pieces. His left hand clenched, but grasped nothing.
Su Xiao was momentarily stunned, then realized this might be the enemy's escape skill. He scanned the surroundings but couldn't find the girl's figure.
A somewhat familiar white dress caught his eye. Inside the dress was a little girl. Because her body was too small for the dress, its hem dragged on the ground.
"Shrunk?"
The enemy's ability was unusual, but Su Xiao didn't dwell on it. He had faced all kinds of enemies—spatial, temporal, bloodline-based. The fact that his opponent had shrunk was something he quickly accepted.
Su Xiao slapped the back of the Dragon-Slaying Flash. The silver crystal encasing the blade shattered.
The improved version of Shave was on cooldown, so Su Xiao could only pursue on foot. Though on foot, his speed was still much faster than the silver-haired girl's frantic sprint on her short little legs.
A kilometer away, within the tribal army, two men and one woman were mixed among the orcs. The woman had her eyes closed, her hands resting on the shoulders of the two men. She was the team's perception-type specialist, capable of transmitting sensory images to her teammates' minds.
One of the men held a sniper rifle, while the other was unarmed, with a magic array tattooed on each palm.