"A snake... why is there such a huge snake..." On top of the gigantic zombie's body, a serpent—its length unknown but its diameter no less than fifteen meters—was coiled tightly. It opened its mouth wide, slowly swallowing the corpse of the zombie that was even thicker than itself, as if savoring a rare delicacy.
The pressure and aura emanating from it were far stronger than that of the colossal zombie. Even from a great distance, the overwhelming presence shook Chu Lian's own aura; its range was compressed, and faint ripples spread across its surface.
"What terrifying presence... for something so strong to release such power unintentionally—what would it be like to face it head-on? I really want to find out..." Chu Lian did not feel fear at the enemy's strength. Instead, her fighting spirit burned ever brighter.
After all, this creature was her target. No matter how powerful it was, she couldn't back down. If she had to fight, then she would fight with everything she had—perhaps that would grant her a sliver of hope.
Besides, it was eating now—did it really think she was so weak that one attack would be enough to bring her down?
Her left hand extended, and in a flash of white light, the Seven Illusions Bow appeared in her grasp. Holding the bow firmly, she drew the string with her right hand, forming an Unstoppable arrow infused with ninety percent of her spiritual power. The invisible pressure caused the nearby zombie bodies to explode violently.
"Taste this..." she whispered. Releasing the string, the Unstoppable arrow reached the serpent's massive eye in an instant. In that moment, the arrow expanded a hundredfold, and the enormous spiritual power arrow pierced and exploded its left eye with a deafening blast. Boom! The serpent's head shattered, spewing black-green blood like a torrential flood.
"A gluttonous snake, huh?" Seeing her arrow hit so easily, Chu Lian muttered to herself. But inwardly, she did not relax at all.
Because that crushing pressure had not disappeared with the serpent's destroyed head—it had instead grown more violent. If it had previously felt like a river with hidden undercurrents beneath a calm surface, now it was a raging flood bursting forth with unstoppable force.
"What a terrifying creature... to take such damage and still be fine." Lowering the Seven Illusions Bow, she pulled the Void Greatsword from the ground. Narrowing her eyes, she stared at the serpent's corpse.
The body trembled. Then, with a wet crack, the flesh burst open, and from its back emerged another serpent—its scales vibrant and glimmering. It looked identical to the one she had just killed, except slightly smaller.
Though still enormous, its diameter was slightly thinner—around fifteen meters across.
"At least this thing can be killed. Even if each time I destroy it, it only gets smaller, there's still a chance, isn't there?" Chu Lian tightened her grip on the Void Greatsword. Her heartbeat quickened as images of familiar faces flashed through her mind. She took a deep breath, then launched herself forward.
This time, she had to strike first—she couldn't afford to let the serpent take the initiative. If she did, only death awaited her. She refused to fall so easily. She would make it pay dearly for underestimating her.
Hiss... The serpent's tongue flicked out, accompanied by a raspy roar. A gust of bone-chilling wind surged forth, laced with thin threads of black gas. When it touched Chu Lian's aura, a corrosive sizzle rang out.
"Even a single breath carries such power... this thing really is beyond comparison to that last one..." Chu Lian gave a bitter smile. Just what had she done to deserve this? Because of a strange title—Daughter of Fate—she had been drawn into one life-threatening ordeal after another. Now, she stood on the brink of death once again. It was truly maddening.
Even so, she did not retreat. Her steps grew firmer as she charged forward, the aura around her shielding her body from the serpent's poisonous breath.
But as she approached within a hundred meters of the serpent, the aura surrounding her shattered under a sudden, overwhelming force. Her body was violently flung backward, just as before...
Thud... thud... thud... Chu Lian's frail body crashed into the ground like a meteor. If not for a force-dispersing technique from the Divine Spirit Art that she managed to trigger in the nick of time, redirecting most of the impact, she would have been more than just battered—she would have been gravely injured.
Cough... cough... Blood spilled from her lips as she slowly sat up. Her trembling hand reached for the nearby Void Greatsword. Confusion filled her heart. "Why... why... why..."
The enemy was indeed far stronger than her—not by a small margin. Judging from its aura, its lowest attribute was at least eighty, and the highest was likely ninety-nine. If not for being limited by tier, it would undoubtedly have exceeded that.
But that slight difference shouldn't have left her completely helpless under its attack. She wasn't weak. Even if she wasn't its equal, she had more than enough power boosts stacked upon her to put up a fight. There was no reason she should have been so easily overwhelmed.
"My aura shattered in a single hit, and I was blown hundreds of meters away as if it were nothing... how is that even possible?" Ignoring the pain coursing through her body, she propped herself up with the Void Greatsword and looked toward the massive serpent looming in the distance. Its head still rose proudly, watching her. She gave a bitter, helpless smile.
"Can't even get close, huh? I don't believe that..." Gritting her teeth, she leapt forward again, charging straight toward the serpent.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but the serpent almost seemed to admire her courage. Its vertical pupils flickered with faint approval—but also with alertness. This woman was not an opponent it could take lightly.
Teleport.
This time, having already determined the serpent's defensive radius, Chu Lian was ready.
If a frontal charge would only get her knocked back again, then she would simply appear right in front of it.
In the blink of an eye, she vanished—and reappeared above the serpent's head. Her grip tightened around the Void Greatsword as she thrust downward, catching the serpent completely off guard.
Spatial ability—one of the rarest and most mysterious of all powers. Unless born with a space affinity, few could ever grasp it at the Spirit Level.
The serpent had not witnessed Chu Lian's previous battle with the colossal zombie, so it had no idea she possessed such an ability. Had it known, it would have been on guard.
Ironically, it owed its current freedom to her—it was her who had slain the colossal zombie, allowing it to fully regain its independent form. Yet it would soon come to regret that.
Unfortunately, Chu Lian's attack failed once more. Before her blade could strike, her aura shattered again under an unseen assault. This time, the force of the impact was even greater, sending her flying even farther.
Cough... She pushed herself up from the ground, her arm trembling as she spat out another mouthful of blood. The suffocating pressure in her chest finally eased a little.
Before heading into battle, she had promised Inori Yuzuriha that she wouldn't get hurt—but now, before even touching the serpent, she had already been smashed into the ground twice. Both times had left her seriously injured. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of punishment awaited her when she returned.
Shaking her head, she pushed the thought away. It was pointless to think about what Inori might do later—she wasn't even sure she'd survive to have a "later."
"If close combat won't work, then maybe my arrows will. After all, my arrow killed it once already, didn't it?" Chu Lian decided to test the serpent from a distance.
She drew the Seven Illusions Bow once more, gathering energy for three seconds before releasing another Unstoppable arrow toward the serpent.
After her earlier success and two failed melee attempts, she pinned all her hopes on this shot.
But reality was far crueler than hope. The arrow was struck down the moment it entered the serpent's hundred-meter perimeter. The explosion of spiritual power that followed revealed a faint, delicate silhouette within the energy waves.
"Someone's there?" Chu Lian's eyes widened. So that's why she had been knocked back every time. It wasn't just the serpent—someone else was helping it. But who... and where?
"Yes. Strictly speaking, that serpent only exists to protect a certain person." Ayase's voice echoed in Chu Lian's mind. It seemed that after some rest, her condition had stabilized. More importantly, she no longer had to witness that revolting giant zombie—something she was undoubtedly grateful for.
"So that's how it is..." Chu Lian murmured softly, lowering the Seven Illusions Bow. Around her, countless zombies gathered but could not step closer, restrained by her oppressive aura. She stared into the distance, lost in thought.
"Did you notice? The giant zombie's chest is gone—and the flesh inside was bright red," Ayase said. While Chu Lian fought, Ayase had been monitoring and collecting data, her perspective much wider.
"I only saw the serpent devouring it. I didn't pay attention to what happened to its body afterward." Chu Lian shook her head and walked slowly toward a large boulder, sitting down to rest.
Until she could figure out a method to deal with it, there was no point in charging in blindly. For now, she was already keeping a large portion of the zombies—and the strongest enemy—occupied, which eased much of the pressure on Inori and the others.
Besides, by now Kurosaki Satsuki should have awakened from within the black coffin. The life energy stored within it would flow back into the group, helping them last longer.
Of course, Chu Lian also wanted to take this chance to let the girls grow—to see if they could become stronger when she wasn't there to protect them.
She hoped that when she returned, she would find them reborn and resolute. That would mean her efforts, her struggles, hadn't been in vain.
"That person the serpent is protecting... should be within the heart, right?" Sitting against the rock, Chu Lian's mind worked faster than usual. Connecting Ayase's hints, she quickly pieced together the answer.
"Yes," Ayase replied. "When I first encountered it, I scanned the area with my spiritual sight and found something strange inside its heart. When I looked closer, do you know what I saw?"
Chu Lian didn't respond right away, remaining silent. After a while, Ayase's curious voice asked, "Lian'er, what's wrong?"
"If you used spiritual sight, that means you saw all the gory details, didn't you? I know you despise such things—but you still did it, for me..." Chu Lian's tone softened into a tender murmur. "Ayase, your way of caring for others has always been so unique. If I hadn't thought about it just now, I probably never would've realized."
"You figured it out, huh..." Ayase's voice faltered briefly, then turned gentle. "Mountains of corpses and seas of bones—I've never seen such horrors before. Yes, they make me sick, but when I decide to do something, I don't care how unpleasant it is. You're the same, aren't you, Lian'er?"
Chu Lian smiled faintly. "I must've learned that trait from you. Otherwise, how could I be so annoyingly persistent?" Her voice carried quiet amusement. "So tell me—what did you see?"
"A crystal—a red, diamond-shaped crystal. Inside it sleeps a person. But it was so hazy... and the energy it emitted was too powerful, interfering with my scan. I couldn't tell who or what it was." Ayase's tone sounded weary. She still hadn't fully recovered; contacting Chu Lian now was only because she didn't want her to overthink.
"That explains why the giant zombie didn't dare sever its tail," Chu Lian said slowly. "I think the three— the colossal zombie, the serpent, and the person sealed in the crystal—were originally enemies. But due to some special circumstance, the crystal ended up sealed inside the zombie's body. The serpent became linked to it, and the zombie suppressed them both as the dominant host."
"Its tail is actually the serpent itself. The serpent's role is to channel energy that suppresses the being sealed within the crystal. If it were to cut off its tail, the serpent would become independent, and the suppression over the crystal would vanish. The person inside would awaken, attacking it from within while the serpent struck from outside—it wouldn't stand a chance."
"So this creature really is an idiot, huh? What kind of sentient being traps itself in a situation like that?" Chu Lian finally pieced everything together and couldn't help but sigh. For something so grotesque, its luck was the only reason it had evolved so far.
"How interesting... truly fascinating. I underestimated the people of this world. You're far more entertaining than those from mine." A sound of clapping echoed through the air, followed by a young, childlike voice behind her.
Startled, Chu Lian spun around—and froze completely...