“Screw you, skeleton.”
Lumina had misplaced her trust after all.
She wasn't even shouting curses in a fit of rage right now.
She simply uttered those words in a calm, rational, declarative tone.
No one but Lumina herself could possibly understand the complex storm of emotions churning beneath her seemingly unperturbed exterior.
“Bastard!”
Lucia was not nearly as calm. Perhaps she hadn't been hurt deeply enough.
Grabbing the Golem by its neck, she enveloped it in pitch-black magic and crushed it into a heap of debris.
Lumina snapped out of her daze as well.
Although she had been used to draw attention, life had to go on. She needed to find a way to escape.
In her heart, she had relegated Li Xiuman to the level of a worm.
Apologies, but phrasing it that way was probably a bit of an insult to worms.
Taking advantage of Lucia's fury, Lumina quickly darted away.
“Don't even think about leaving!”
With nowhere else to vent her rage, Lucia sought to unleash it upon Lumina.
She instantly conjured several dark spheres and hurled them at Lumina.
Lumina spun at her absolute limit, her sword flashing as she slashed through several of the dark spheres.
But dark, corroded spots inevitably appeared on the blade of her sword.
“Fuck you, skeleton...”
Facing the remaining dark spheres, Lumina swiftly threw a marble-like magic item.
The bead exploded, releasing a sudden splash of abundant holy light that dissolved the remaining dark spheres.
“A holy relic?”
Lucia frowned, looking at the remaining beads in Lumina's hand.
To think she had hidden them until now before finally throwing them.
At this moment, Lumina was incredibly grateful she had held back from using them earlier; otherwise, she would have been utterly ruined by that skeleton.
“Hey!”
“You're chasing after that skeleton, aren't you?!”
“If you keep wasting your time on me, that skeleton is going to get away!”
Lumina shouted at Lucia, gripping her sword.
Although she still had quite a few holy relics left, it was impossible to expect to defeat this powerful demon before her with them.
Therefore, she had to shift the trouble onto someone else.
Right now, she didn't feel even a shred of guilt about doing so.
“...Killing you first before going after him would work out just fine.”
“Do you really still not understand that guy? If you keep wasting time with me, I bet you will never catch him.”
Lumina hurriedly pressed on.
“...”
In the end, Lucia hurled a few more dark spells, but Lumina blocked them one by one with her holy relics.
Lucia was also growing anxious. If she delayed any further, it would turn out exactly as this little girl said—the shameless skeleton would truly escape.
Having reached this conclusion, Lucia hesitated no longer.
“Consider yourself lucky, little girl.”
Flapping her four wings, Lucia soared into the sky to search for any trace of Li Xiuman.
Then, as if she had detected something, she sped off in the opposite direction of Lumina.
Lumina let out a sigh of relief.
I've finally gotten rid of that demon. I hope you catch that despicable skeleton soon. As for me, I'm out of here.
Come to think of it, when had that skeleton run off? She hadn't even noticed.
Damn him! Damn him!
Forcing herself to focus, Lumina suppressed her frustration and anger as she continued to fight her way toward the edge of the battlefield.
Although she no longer had the support of Li Xiuman's Golem, the surrounding guards and succubi had also accumulated considerable fatigue from the fighting.
Lumina quickly broke through the encirclement of the battlefield and plunged into the depths of the dense forest.
She had no idea how far or how long she ran.
The sky was beginning to turn pale with the break of dawn. She was already far away from the battlefield.
Lumina finally breathed a sigh of relief. Finding a spot in the shadows, she began tending to her injuries.
Just then, the soil beneath her began to churn. Startled, Lumina shivered and hurriedly raised her sword, staring vigilantly at the shifting earth.
And then... she saw Li Xiuman crawling out from underground.
Li Xiuman! From underground! He actually crawled out!
Lumina was utterly dumbfounded. It took her a long moment to snap out of it and collect her thoughts.
“You! You! You!”
“How can you be so shameless?!”
In an instant, she figured it out.
The skeleton's real body had been hiding underground all along, tailing her.
Back on the battlefield, if he had hidden underground, it would have been difficult to break out, as the fighting above could easily have affected the subterranean area.
But by following her, he didn't have to worry about that.
She would take care of the combat on the surface.
He had used the Golem to deceive her, which in turn deceived that demon.
Once that demon named Lucia realized the “Li Xiuman” she had been chasing was actually a Golem in disguise, she would definitely eliminate Lumina as a target of her pursuit.
Then, his real body could boldly continue following her, using her to escape the pursuit.
The demon probably hadn't even realized what happened yet.
At this moment, Lumina actually felt a shred of sympathy for that demon.
“...Phew.”
“Inhale...”
“Exhale...”
Lumina took a few deep breaths to force herself to calm down.
“Tsk, tsk. And here I thought you'd slash at me right away. I misjudged you.”
Li Xiuman praised her before continuing.
“I didn't lie to you. I really have been behind you the whole time.”
“Besides, I did help you take care of some of those pursuers.”
Li Xiuman patted the mud off his body.
Traveling stealthily underground required him to stay in close contact with the dirt to conserve his mana and hide his magical fluctuations.
At the same time, constantly using Earth Magic to clear the path ahead and fill the void behind while keeping pace with Lumina had consumed a significant amount of his mana.
“Well, thank you so much for that.”
Lumina said this with a smile on her face.
It was a fake smile, all right. A totally fake smile.
“So, can we go our separate ways now?”
Lumina continued, still maintaining her fake smile.
“No, no, no.”
“Red Sparrow, even though I used another Golem to distract Lucia...”
“...calculating the time, that Golem should have been caught by now.”
Li Xiuman said, counting on his fingers.
“And?”
Lumina maintained her fake smile.
As a beautiful genius thief, maintaining a smile even in the face of absolute fury was the most basic level of self-control.
Li Xiuman looked at Lumina's fake smile.
If I keep going, this girl... might not even be able to force a fake smile anymore.
“So, although I did some basic cleanup of my tunnel underground...”
“...once Lucia returns and conducts a detailed inspection, she will definitely find it.”
“Which means she will be catching up to us in a bit.”
Lumina's smile froze on her face.
“...Skeleton.”
“Yes?”
“Do we have some kind of blood feud?”
“None that I'm aware of.”
“Then why the fuck do you keep dragging me into your fucking messes?!”
“Open your eyes! There are so many people in this world! Why do you have to cling onto me alone?!”
After her outburst, Lumina leaned against a tree and slid to the ground. Holding her sword in her lap, she wrapped her arms around her knees and fell completely silent.
“Because you were nearby?”
“...You're right. From now on, I will stay far, far away from you.”
“If I ever meet you again, I'm a dog, I'm a pig, I'm a goblin with a donkey's head!”
Seeing Lumina like this, Li Xiuman actually felt a bit embarrassed.
He really hadn't handled this matter very honorably.
But as the saying goes...
“Since you're already in for a penny, you might as well be in for a pound.”
Rate on N.U.
