Mystical Journey

Swoosh!

A specially made bullet swept by Nine-Tailed Fox’s ear. In that course of direction, the bullet seemed to slow down, gently brushing her hair before firing off.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh!!

And then in a blink of an eye, it resumed to its hastening speed. A few ricocheting bullets leaped past her without touching her body, clothes or even the ribbon on her hair.

“Shoot me!” Nine-Tailed Fox suddenly gave a dazzling smile and yelled at the sibling duo.

Ah!!!

Yuria and his sister jumped in surprise. They couldn’t help but pulled their gun’s trigger.

Bang bang bang!!

Ah!!!! There was no safety catch!!

With pale faces, the sibling duo was visibly shaken by the enormous counterforce. But how could the gun shoot just like that? There was no safety catch whatsoever…

The bullet ricocheted everywhere. This time it rebounded here and there without any pattern, increasing its possibility of danger.

Even Garen who was standing on the side grew solemn.

“She’s really at it recklessly… This sort of specially built gun is big trouble using it on people.”

Kong Xinxue couldn’t be bothered with her pride. She hid tightly behind Garen.

Pat.

Suddenly, Nine-Tailed Fox snapped her fingers. Her lips curled into a peculiar smile.

“Open.”

Buzz!

The wall behind her trembled violently, a large magnetic force appeared out of nowhere.

Clang!

A bullet was sucked into it.

But more ricocheting bullets were still drawing a winding trajectory and all heading towards the direction of Nine-Tailed Fox.

“Nine-Tailed!”

The white ribbons around Nine-Tailed Fox shot out in all directions. With swooshing sounds, nine, white ribbons spread out like a fox’s nine tails, fluttering and waving swiftly. The instantaneous display embodied a peacock fanning its tail.

Reacting promptly, Nine-Tailed Fox stepped forward and dashed towards the flying bullets.

“Watch carefully!”

In a white flash, she bent down slightly and landed on a surface not far away. The white ribbons behind her were retrieved.

Everything went completely silent and all that was left was her down on one knee.

“Where are… the bullets?” Yuria hugged his sister, still frightened. Hearing the silence, he regained his composure slightly and looked at Nine-Tailed Fox. He could not bear to watch earlier. The image of such a beautiful, young lady being blown in the head was something he would never want to come by. It was simply too cruel.

He just closed his eyes.

Swoosh. Nine-Tailed Fox stood up with a gentle smile on her face.

Extending her arm, there were nine bullets of various sizes in her palm. Some bullets were crushed to a few pieces but she caught them all.

“Did you watch carefully?” Nine-Tailed Fox’s turned her palm down, letting the bullets to fall freely onto the ground.

“…!”

Yuria swallowed his saliva. He was totally oblivious of what happened earlier.

Yurijie lifted her hidden head from his embrace. She was puzzled by the silence. Although she was baffled, she felt relieved. She was not clear what had happened.

Only Garen who stood beside watched the entire process. He applause.

The clapping was crisp, loud and clear in the space.

“What a skillful ribbon art… more so on your dodging skill,” he complimented. “Such a dodging level of ability really surpassed that of human…”

Nine-Tailed Fox’s evading speed was far beyond any regular being. She must have used some special tactic to enhance it just like him. This sort of ability that did not belong to mortals would require a heavy price to pay.

Garen himself has the Soul Ring Power while Nine-Tailed Fox should possess something similar. She was a thousand-year-old demon after all and who could tell for sure for those who transmigrated and experienced various worlds.

With the flow of time, a few hours clocked in quickly.

Nine-Tailed Fox had already drawn out more than ten guns and fired them nonstop. Shell casings were scattered on the ground.

The sibling duo had many bullets scraped past them. Sweat drenched their frightened bodies. Their faces were pale white to the point of dehydration.

“How is it?” Nine-Tailed Fox maintained her composure without breaking a sweat. She treaded lightly around them. She was playing with a white ribbon in her hand, like a child playing with a toy. One could not tell she was the same person who dodged multiple bullets.

“Just how do we… dodge…?” Yuria carefully observed Nine-Tailed Fox’s figure, “I… I really have no clue!” Sweat dripped from his forehead into his eyes. He wiped it away quickly opened his eyes. Nine-Tailed Fox’s face was in close proximity, so close that the distance between their noses was only a finger’s width.

He was startled and quivered.

Swoosh!

Nine-Tailed Fox leaped back a few meters, as agile as a deer.

“Looks like there’s no realization. Let’s continue then. Ah Xue, please help to collect some bullet cartridge. It’s piled up at the passage just outside the door.”

“Alright!… Alright!” Kong Xinxue ran out to the opened passageway. Not only was there a strong smell of gunpowder, her life was at risk. It was not the place to be. She couldn’t wait to get out of there and now was the chance.

Garen carried his blade and walked to the side of the wall, laying against it to rest. Seeing Nine-Tailed Fox’s figure, her dodging postures was on play-back in his mind.

“Such a strange, evading ability. It is not at the level of humans. She definitely depended on some sort of special ability to enhance it. That maneuvering speed is faster than mine. My instant attack is quicker than hers but dodging and maneuver are unlike hers.”

He compared between them and felt that he and Nine-Tailed Fox has their own pros.

In the next session, Nine-Tailed Fox held a gun and fired at Yuria without holding back. She aimed at dangerous areas such as Yuria’s clothes and hair each time.

This frightened Yuria to the point that he dared not move at all.

A day of training quickly came to an end. Bullet casings and bullet fragments scattered around, densely covering the entire ground.

The night was near and the secret room was getting dark. Sunlight was fading from the bullet-proof window on the top, sinking the secret room into darkness.

The first day of bullets-dodging training ended officially. Yuria felt he came up empty-handed except that his heart was about to fall off.

Yurijie was a nerve-wreck. She collapsed on her bed as soon as she reached the central resting bed in the base. She didn’t even think of showering before she hit the sack.

The base has a specific showering area but it was hogged by Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue. Garen lay in bed, his sharp ears could clearly hear the two ladies fooling around.

Bam bam bam.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Garen didn’t need to guess who it was. “The door’s not locked.”

Hesitating for a bit, the door opened with a creak.

Yuria walked in. His body reeked of scents of ointment and medicine. A band-aid was stuck on his nose. That was evidence of a bullet scraping the bridge of his nose during the day.

“Brother Saber.”

“Sit,” Garen did not get up. He continued lying in bed. There was only one chair in the room for Yuria to sit down.

“I’m here to seek your advice on the matter that happened during the day,” Yuria was direct.

“Day?” Garen replied non-committally. “Didn’t you train the whole day? Still not gaining anything?”

“You can tell,” Yuria gave a bitter smile. “I really learned nothing! I have tried to use all my power to trace the trajectory but it was no use… If it weren’t for sister Nine-Tailed Fox avoiding the vital organs, I don’t know how many times I would have died.”

He sat down in the chair and took a deep breath. A sense of sorrow surrounded him.

Garen didn’t even bother to lift a finger.

“Whether you gain anything or not, won’t you know once you put it to test?”

“Put to test?” Yuria was stunned. He did not know how to try it out.

Clang!

A silvery chill slashed towards his neck, striking a streak of arc in the dark room.

Chills went down his spine as Yuria didn’t think twice to throw himself backward. He saw the blade hacked no more than one centimeter from his forehead, severing a fringe of his hair in half.

“Not bad, young man.” Garen sheathed his blade and returned to lie in bed.

Yuria was in a daze. He sprawled down on the ground in an attempt to evade the stab. Now, even the cold ground could not hide his pleasant surprise.

“I… dodged? Did you hold back, Brother Saber!?” He immediately reacted to it and got up shouting.

“No,” Garen yawned. “It was the same as when I tackled you. This is my normal attacking speed.”

“…” Yuria’s expression was strange. Surprise, joy, pain, struggle, everything was on display in his face. “… Really?”

“Yes.”

Garen closed his eyes and replied listlessly.

Yuria stood there flabbergasted for a moment before decisively giving a bow salute to Garen. He turned and left in a hurry. The energy released by him was entirely different now.

If what Garen said was true and he did not hold back, that means he started from struggling to block against Garen’s strike to evading his ambush. This level of improvement was quite evident.

Hearing Yuria running out in joy, Garen who was lying in bed, opened his eyes.

“The fruition that I worked so long to achieve… was caught up by this young fellow in a few days… isn’t he the main character?” He had a complicated expression in his eyes.

It would be uncomfortable for anyone whose many years of fruition be caught up in a few days. This was envy, an envy that saw his years of work and sacrifice not to be worthwhile.

******

The training was the same on the second day. The difference was that Yuria went on site alone while Yurijie stayed on the sidelines. Only Yuria could tackle such high difficulty level of evading training so Yurijie who possessed no special powers was off the hook.

Nine-Tailed Fox changed her tactic.

The two metal walls top and bottom interchanged to release large magnetic force.

Wham!!

Countless bullet casings on the ground fired up into the air in extreme speed.

Yuria stood in the center.

“Winds of Four Directions!!” He yelled. Four white blade lights appeared around his sword. He cast away a large number of shell casings amongst clanging sounds.

But many bullet fragments still penetrated the defense net and hit him.