Snap.
Shiya’s breathing grew shallow.
The female worker who had been sobbing in her arms moments ago now had foundation powder flaking off her face.
Her features, covered in ugly corpse spots, twisted as she bared her fangs and bit hard at Shiya’s neck.
Danger erupted without warning.
Little Leonora behind her stepped forward and yanked the slow-witted girl behind her.
The Crimson Gauntlet roared, erupting scorching steam.
Its immense power drove the bone blade in the young lady’s hand, sweeping out a cold, moonlike arc.
Black blood sprayed straight to the ceiling.
The female workers who had lunged forward were brutally cut in half at the waist.
The girl casually flicked the bloodstained blade.
A sharp sound of something splitting the air came from above.
A chill gleam flashed.
An axe came flying—one breath away from weaving a blood lotus atop her head.
The girl’s phoenix eyes flew wide.
With a tap of her blade tip against the axe’s surface, she used the momentum to roll her small body backward, dodging the dozen-plus weapons that followed.
With a lift of her wrist, a surging torrent of flame swept through the entire room, clearing every enemy around.
Shrill screams echoed around her.
She slung the magic-conductive shotgun onto her back, grabbed Shiya’s hand, and charged toward the window.
More and more workers drawn by the commotion gathered.
There was no way for them to break through the front door.
“Cover your face!” the young lady cried, raising her gauntlet-clad little fist.
As if sensing her intent, Shiya ignored the girl’s struggle, pulled her into her arms instead, and slammed sideways into the window glass.
In that instant, the glass shattered.
Countless shards cut and pierced into the maiden’s skin.
She fell to the ground with a muffled groan, but the first thing she did was check on Little Leonora in her arms.
Thank goodness—the young lady was unharmed.
“You idiot! Why do you have to cause trouble at a critical moment like this?”
The young lady’s voice trembled, the rims of her eyes reddening.
But now wasn’t the time to settle scores with this girl.
The pursuers were already closing in.
She immediately helped the maiden up from the ground and gazed into the distance at the vast, boundless blood pool.
“Can you swim?” Little Leonora asked.
Shiya opened her mouth, then hung her head in defeat.
“I’m sorry, young lady.”
“Hurry and run. I’ll hold them off.”
No sooner had the words left her lips than Shiya felt arms hook around her from behind, under her armpits.
Then, with stubborn force, she was carried along and plunged into the blood pool.
The icy cold seeped through her soaked clothes, spreading across every inch of her skin.
Bloody water flooded into her lungs.
Shiya opened her mouth, releasing a string of bubbles as she struggled instinctively in the water.
But soon, a pair of small arms circled her back.
A palm clasped the maiden’s wrist, guiding her bit by bit, teaching her how to steady herself and move slowly underwater.
The two pressed tightly together, entwined with each other.
Snow-white and maple-red strands of hair drifted upward as they slowly sank into the abyss amidst the boundless blood water.
After her brief panic, Shiya gradually adapted and turned the tables, spinning to wrap her arms around the young lady’s soft waist.
With a light kick of her lustrous toes, she carried her upward.
Having nearly drowned once before, Shiya could clearly feel that this blood pool’s buoyancy was far greater than ordinary seawater.
She slowly opened her eyes.
Her vision was perfectly clear.
The impurities and burning sensation she had expected never came.
Instead, a faint medicinal fragrance reached her nose.
Shiya and Little Leonora exchanged a glance, both sensing the surprise in each other’s eyes.
But as heavy splashes sounded one after another, they had no more time to ponder the pool’s strange nature.
The young lady deftly slipped out of Shiya’s embrace.
Cheeks puffed to preserve her limited oxygen, she drew her blade and thrust it straight at the first enemy swimming over.
But this worker was prepared.
Relying on the thick, rotting flesh of her arm, the moment the bone blade stabbed in, her other hand pressed down on the blade.
Little Leonora tried to pull the blade free but failed.
She immediately abandoned it and retreated, narrowly dodging three workers who lunged at her.
Facing such peril, Little Leonora merely swept a cold glance over them and drew the shotgun from her back.
One of the enemies grinned, thinking the little girl was scared out of her wits, not realizing that fire could never ignite in blood water.
A wave of extreme cold pierced through the layers of blood water.
White mist formed by ice crystals, like a savage beast swiping its claws, stripped away all life around them.
Soon, three blocks of ice sank at a visible speed into the pool’s boundless depths.
During the earlier escape from Flower God Village, Little Ilya had suffered enough from magic-conductive guns being unable to handle underwater combat.
So this girl, whose talent subtly surpassed her brother’s, always found ways to overcome this flaw when designing every magic-conductive weapon.
But the situation didn’t improve because of it.
Endless enemies shoved one another, surging continuously toward Little Leonora.
The most conspicuous among them were the ones she had cut in half earlier, now standing before her brazenly with bellies stitched together by leather thread.
They seemed to rely on some undying trait, certain that Little Leonora couldn’t withstand their relentless attacks.
Even Ilya’s formidable magic-conductive firearms couldn’t hold up against a human wave of such numbers.
The magic-conductive shotgun’s reloading gradually fell behind the pace.
Little Leonora could only use the gun stock to smash the head of the enemy who had taken her blade, then pull the bone blade free and engage in close combat.
As each struggle drained her stamina, the girl’s body began to tremble slightly.
Her chest was tight, and the intense suffocation gradually turned her face purple.
Shiya took in the entire scene, gritting her silver teeth.
She immediately left the young lady’s protective range.
Little Leonora whipped her head around.
Seeing the girl who had actually abandoned her, she froze for a moment, then her light-red eyes turned fierce.
She swung the bone blade with all her might, cleaving straight through the legs of the enemies still trying to chase the maiden.
Kicking her calves continuously in the water, Shiya moved like a mermaid, stretching her form as she burst through the surface.
Eyes closed, head tilted back, blood droplets sliding down her cheeks, she casually tossed her blood-soaked snow-white hair behind her and gulped down fresh air.
Then, without even glancing at the Longevity Factory workers eyeing her hungrily, she jerked her chin and plunged back into the pool.
Little Leonora, already at her limit, her eyelids trembling, seized the fleeting opening to load a magic-conductive shell.
The gun snapped open and shut with a crisp, pleasant click.
The biting cold that burst out froze the enemies into ice sculptures that sank to the bottom.
As if sensing something, the young lady looked up and met a pair of bright, light-golden eyes.
Then her cheeks were cupped by the maiden, who kissed her without hesitation, gently prying open her pearl-white teeth with the tip of her tongue.
The young lady’s youthful phoenix eyes widened slightly, and a deep blush quickly spread across her face.
Soon, she realized the maiden’s intention.
Oxygen mixed with the faint fragrance of elegant orchids was carried by the maiden’s tongue and passed into her lungs.
Little Leonora instinctively took a deep breath, her tongue unconsciously twining around the maiden’s.