Chapter 112: Severed

Nightingale found that she had guessed correctly.

Most hybrid species couldn't directly pinpoint her location, and even fewer could scale the walls to intercept her. The flying species "diving" down from mid-air were quite imposing, but they seemed like arrows that had lost their aim. As long as she kept moving, they could hardly pose a sufficient threat to her.

The only ones who could "see" her were the demonic beasts holding scythe-like forelimbs – they twisted their sturdy bodies, and the numerous secondary limbs on their abdomens pierced into the rocks like nails, allowing them to move freely on the rock walls. Under the monsters' command, they gathered towards the top of the cave, blocking her path to the magic-sensing eye.

These enemies were undoubtedly the first obstacle she had to overcome.

The wide dome became Nightingale's personal battlefield. It had been a long time since she had felt this kind of solitary struggle.

She used to walk alone in the night, seeking revenge on those wicked nobles, until Wendy found the whereabouts of the Co-Aid Association, which allowed her to escape that life.

But this time, it was completely different from her feelings in Silvercity.

Although she was alone, she felt no weariness or hatred. She was not forced or threatened; instead, she voluntarily stepped into this dangerous competition.

The belief in protecting her companions made her heart burn like a flame.

Moreover, Nightingale didn't feel alone. She was wearing the protective suit specially made by Soraya, carrying the explosives produced by Agatha in her backpack, and the gun at her waist was personally designed by Roland – with the inscription, "To Veronica."

All of this made her feel that she was with everyone.

As her thoughts churned, the distance between the two sides continued to shorten. The enemies had gradually completed their encirclement, pressing towards her with their scythes.

Sixteen in total.

Nightingale drew her sniper rifle, released the safety, and when the beast rushing in front was only a few steps away from her, she stepped out of the mist and pulled the trigger at the same time.

The opponent pounced out fiercely at that moment.

Its powerful tail and secondary limbs gave it an extremely terrifying burst of speed. This strike was like a predator pouncing on its prey, completed almost in the blink of an eye.

It was more like it collided with the bullet than the bullet shot towards it.

Even if it was hit, the remaining force could seriously injure Nightingale.

But the latter was prepared.

The moment the bullet left the chamber, she re-entered the mist and stepped on a rapidly retreating outline – the outline of the earth.

The timing was perfect.

To outsiders, it seemed like she suddenly darted back several meters, but in reality, the earth was carrying her backwards.

"Bang!"

The bullet went straight into the scythe beast's sharp head, blowing away its carapace and brain matter like a blooming flower. The magical brilliance dissipated at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the invisible body also twitched, revealing its original form. The lifeless beast fell into the underground lake like a stone, but in her eyes, it was quickly ascending, as if being sucked into the turbulent lake surface.

Nightingale used the ever-changing lines of the mist in this way, engaging in pursuit and killing with the enemy in the dome. Although the demonic beasts were swift, gravity still posed a considerable burden on them, especially when she deliberately lured her opponents to traverse back and forth over the battlefield, the rock layer riddled with holes obviously could no longer provide enough friction, which forced them to slow down, inserting their secondary limbs deeper.

However, this tactic was not without flaws. Since she had to leave the mist when shooting, exposing herself for a short time, the evil beasts surrounding her became more and more numerous, and the threat of the flying species' attacks also greatly increased – those deformed monsters with wings no longer blindly launched "dives," but hovered closer to the dome, waiting for an opportunity. Once she fired a shot, they would swarm towards the surrounding possible evasion directions, forcing her to pass through again or use the contour lines to avoid the enemy's large-scale attacks.

The battle lasted for less than a quarter of an hour, and Nightingale already had several scars on her body.

After all, it wasn't always possible to find an ideal space to dodge – the changes in the contour lines did not depend on the will of the ability user, and the mist world was equally dangerous for her. Therefore, high-intensity battles were a heavy burden on both physical and mental strength.

The most serious injury was on her ribs.

The frontal and rear attacks of two flying species left her with nowhere to hide for a while. The sharp claws tore her coat, slashing from her flank all the way to her waist. Fortunately, Soraya's coated protective suit withstood this fatal blow, preventing her from being dissected on the spot, but the force still penetrated the coating, causing her pain that made her almost unable to breathe. It took a long time to recover.

The fact that the frenzied hybrid species didn't tear each other apart, but instead cooperated to launch fierce and rapid attacks, clearly meant that they were commanded by the multi-eyed demon, which further strengthened Nightingale's determination to eliminate it. Although she didn't know why it was hiding in this snow mountain instead of going to cause trouble for Neverwinter, once the evil beasts had a unified commander, it would definitely be a great threat to His Majesty Roland in the future.

After all ten bullets were used up, there were still four scythe beasts left – besides the one killed by a close-range shot, two others lost their footing and fell during the melee. Judging from the swirling water flow on the lake surface, there was basically no possibility of climbing out.

Under the crazy siege of the evil beasts, Nightingale had neither the time to change the magazine nor the intention to do so. She inserted her sniper rifle back into her waist, and taking advantage of a wave of hybrid species swarming towards her, she flashed and jumped behind an invisible beast, reaching out and pulling it into the mist world.

When the scene in her vision became black and white in an instant, the other party was obviously a little stunned.

Magic power spread from Nightingale's fingertips, dragging a series of enemies colliding with it into the mist, as the number of evil beasts increased, her magic consumption instantly exceeded the critical value, and began to decrease rapidly. At this moment, one of the countless lines that made up the dome curled up and flew towards her.

This was the moment she had been waiting for – the more creatures pulled into the mist, the faster the magic consumption would increase exponentially, and the more unstable the mist world would become. Those twisted lines could not only help her leap several meters, but also become terrifying weapons.

The white line swept across, and the enemies' bodies froze in place.

It seemed like they had disappeared briefly out of thin air, and a "white space" instantly appeared in the dome. But when they reappeared, the scene had become particularly strange – only the lower bodies of the evil beasts remained in the positions before they disappeared, while the upper bodies had been transferred to a place several meters away, as if a sharp long knife had neatly cut them in half and transported the severed bodies into mid-air.

This scene lasted for only a blink of an eye, and then more than a dozen severed bodies fell like hail, creating sections of water columns in the lake.