*Huff*Huff*

Running through the rocky valley with her dainty little feet, Effie came to a stop in front of a small crack that separated the two sides of the valley. The crack was at least six meters wide, far too large for any normal person to just casually jump over.

Her back was cacked with sweat with a green tinge to it. The poison had seeped deep into her bloodstream and if not for her strong bloodline, she would have passed out long ago.

She held the paper talisman in her hand and followed it in almost a straight line. It had been over three hours since she had been separated from her brother and time was running out.

She leaned against the rock wall to catch her breath while turning around to peer behind her bitterly.

Her pupils shone with a layer of white light that looked like lenses. But this light greatly increased her power of sight allowing her to see two four-limbed figures crawling vertically on the rock walls.

Their speed was much faster than hers and if she stayed there, they would catch up in less than a minute.

Tears formed in her eyes as she the shadows inch closer and closer by the second. Their very presence was proof that her brother and clan members were not able to stop them.

She wasn't that strong physically to begin with and with the addition of the poison, her already weak constitution was starting to act up. There was barely any strength left in her legs, just keeping her eyes open was taking a toll on her now.

But still, she did not give up. No one would blame her if she did, having escaped from the roach hunters for so long was already an admirable feat in its own right.

Effie turned back around and looked at the massive crack in the earth in front of her and raised her bloodied hand once again.

"Thure Hasite Rubeb Wofgh!" she spoke slowly in a foreign language, one that even Hao Xuan would not be able to understand.

Tiny specks of yellow light appeared out of thin air and attached to Effie's legs. In just a couple of seconds, they had covered her entire bottom half like an extra layer of garments, from her waist to her toes.

Effie felt her body become as light as a feather but her face quickly drained of color and she held on to a protruding rock to steady herself. Using that spell in her current state had almost backfired.

She took a few deep breaths and looked behind her one last time. The shadows were close enough that she could see them clearly.

Effie lightly tapped against the ground and like a balloon in a storm, her body floated up and forward, crossing the six-meter wide crack and landing on the other side. The lights around her legs slightly dimmed. She tapped the ground again, as gently as she could and jumped another dozen or so meters.

Within a minute she had widened the gap between the roach hunters and herself by a large margin. She jumped over and over again, completely bypassing the treacherous terrain beneath.

The layer of yellow light was reduced to a paper-thin width. One more use and it would be gone.

Effie landed on a piece of pitch-black rock. Everything else around her was on fire. The lava flowed out of the side of the mountain in a single stream, covering everything within 50 meters. Only this piece of thick rock was untouched by it.

Effie knelt down once again, catching her breath now that she had a chance to. The spell really was going to break after one use so she had to choose carefully. She looked around but other than the rock she was standing on, the nearest safe place was 17 meters away.

By now she was thoroughly drenched in sweat. Her robe was stick to her body, colored in different shades of green and red.

She coughed out a mouthful of black blood. The heat was becoming too much. She was injured both inside and out and was on the verge of passing out. But doing so here would mean certain death.

By sheer willpower, she lifted her foot once again ready to take the last step when the rock she was standing on moved.

"Eh? What is hap-"

Caught off guard, Effie accidentally stepped down with much greater force than originally intended and flew straight up into the air. She went straight up for over 10 meters when the layer of light popped like a bubble.

It wasn't very loud but her heart shook like it had never before. If the fall didn't kill her the roaches would after finding her eventually. Still in the air, her body turned around as it started the free-fall back and down her pupils constricted to the size of needles.

The "rock" she was standing on started moving and turned around, showing a long cylindrical mouth filled with rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth. It belonged to a creature that looked like a lamprey, only hundreds of times larger.

When its mouth opened all the way, Effie saw lava flowing down its throat. Apparently it was drinking it like water.

She bit her teeth and urgently muttered a few words in the foreign language again. Motes of light started gathering around her hands but dispersed with a gust of wind, leaving her in the same helpless state as before.

She saw giant maw get closer and closer until she was inside it. Her vision went dark.

The create closed its mouth and with a gulping sound, swallowed her whole. It turned around and dove into the flowing lava, disappearing with a giant ripple.

The paper talisman Effie was holding fell slowly on the lava and started burning up. The arrow on it blinking rapidly until it became stable.

"Get the fuck out here!"

A loud roar erupted from the air as a shadow dove headfirst lava, sending waves upon waves flaying outward. The lava parted and showed the lamprey trying to dig into the mountainside.

Shocked, it turned and roared.

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