Nox's POV:
*Cough**Cough**Cough*
"*huff* I guess I over did it a bit! Haha! *cough**cough*" I laughed as I started coughing up mouthfuls of blood.
I had been playing it cool because I needed to keep them distracted so they wouldn't notice Bluey, but I was already pushing the limits of what my core could handle by doing laps in that liquid darkness.
"*Wheeze* I'm pretty sure my core got jammed after that last stunt!"
Just as he shoved me in his mouth, I forcefully hijacked the control over the dark energy from the surface of his hand to wiggle free. I then left a little present behind before pulling out my experimental replica of the spatial cube I had lost during Walpurgisnacht. I hadn't finished analyzing the original before I lost it, so there were still some flaws that needed to be worked out, but at least I know it works.
"If only it didn't decide to shatter my bones into pieces part way through!" I muttered as I dropped the broken replica on the ground before moving on.
My artificial spriggan core is the equivalent of a greater spirit's. It would be a struggle to resist the attacks of a Lord class let alone a King. It's a lucky break my core didn't immediately shatter just trying to take an inch of energy away from a spirit king going full throttle. If I had tried using my core to teleport instead of that replica, it would have shattered long before I managed to escape.
"At least I won't have to worry about those two anymore! My only complaint is that I didn't get the prize money!" I muttered to myself.
"HEY BOSS! ISN'T THAT HER?" I heard from above me.
"Shit!"
"Nox Manus, right?"
"Who? I'm just a poor girl who got attacked by a magical beast!"
*Chuckling*
"Maybe try taking off that mask before pretending to be someone else!" The guy leading the bounty hunters said as he pointed at my mask.
As my water mask ran on spirit magic, I had pulled out my emergency mask from my new spatial ring after escaping the mouth of the spirit king to replace it.
"*sigh* It's been a long night! So, could we please do this tomorrow!"
"Sure! If you don't mind spending the night with some of us that is!" The leader said, as I could read the gross stuff going through these douchebags' heads from their faces alone.
Wait! Hold on!
"You might hide it, but cultivators like us can tell you have a pretty little face under that mask!"
In the past, I looked too much like a child for anyone to find me sexually attractive. So, that means, unless I just so happened to run into a gang of pedophiles, I'm finally starting to look like an adult.
"OH! HELL YEAH! *Cough*" I shouted, not giving to fucks I just coughed out another mouthful of blood as I raised two middle fingers to the sky in joy.
"Oh? You seem a bit eager fo-!"
*Bang*
Just as the gross leader approached me, I kicked him in the nuts before stabbing my dagger through his eye.
*Pop*
"I'm in a good mood! So, scram! Or your balls are next to go!" I said as I showed them the freshly popped eyeball skewered on my blade.
"GET THAT BITCH!"
*sigh*
"You couldn't have picked a worse time to pick a fight!" I muttered as I watched the group of nascent souls come at me.
*Swoosh*
I dodged the first blade that came swinging at me with minimal movements. Then I tripped the guy, using my aura strengthened leg to get him in position as my meat shield for the spear coming my way. Unfortunately, this dude wasn't nearly as durable as the playboy as the spear went right through the guy's torso and into my shoulder.
*Sizzle*
I jumped back using my aura to stop the bleeding in my shoulder as I watched a fire slash fly past where I stood just a moment ago.
"Fuck!"
It seems friendly fire isn't going to be very effective as I'm just now realizing these guys are all fire element cultivators. That means just like that spear guy trying to treat his friend before he turns into a ghost, most of their qi attacks aren't going to do a lot of damage to each other.
"TAKE THIS YOU BITCH!"
*BOOM*
*SIZZLE*
"Yes! *cough*!"
Just as I was wondering how to escape this mess without having to jerk these jerks off. I was suddenly hit in the face with the solution to all, or, at least this problem. It was a giant fireball thrown by one of those dumbasses. Due to my 3rd stage of aura being the coolest ember around, fire attacks don't have much effect on me either. However, that is not the reason why I'm so happy to take a ball of fire to the face. Right now, it is raining like the Dickins, which means that fireball just created a crap ton of steam, that I'll use as a smokescreen as I make my escape. Even if they use their sixth sense to look for me, with how many of us are fooling around in this fog, it will be hard for them to distinguish who is who. It would be like finding a needle in a steamy haystack.
"DIE!"
Of course, fates a cheating bitch, who loves to rig games like this, which is why I ran into the lucky winner who ambushed me right as I was about to leave the outdoors steam bath. He swung his sword at my head just as I was about to leave the fog, but knowing something like this might happen I was not caught off guard and managed to evade his attack by a hair's breadth. However, …
"Oh crap!"
*Splash*
As part of my ambush prevention measures, I had chosen to run next to a nearby cliff so I could trip, throw or push any attackers who just so happened to jump out at me through the fog, but I ended up slipping on a wet rock while dodging and fell into the river alongside the ass who attacked me.
I then tried to drown the guy in the river while the currents carried us down the stream, but it seems nascent souls take forever to drown. Fortunately, the water made it harder for that ass to use his qi thanks to his element being fire, so I wrestled with him underwater for a bit to keep him from escaping to the surface. However, unless I wanted to become undead, which is honestly getting more tempting by the second, I would have to breathe at some point.
*Wheeze**Cough**Cough*
After almost half an hour underwater, the guy managed to escape my grip after slamming my face into a rock, before crawling up on a riverbank. I soon came crawling through the wet sand after him.
"Ugh! No!" He struggled to kick me away as I grabbed his tired ass by the leg and crawled on top of him.
*Pow*
"Hey, isn't this what you wanted?" I said after mounting him as I began smashing his face in with my bare hands.
*Pow*
"You're the ones who picked this fight!"
*Pow*
"Come on! Isn't this what you do for fun?"
*Pow*
"Why aren't you laughing?"
*Pow*
"Where is that smile from before?"
*Pow*
"*Huff**Puff* Not so fun when you're the one getting played with is it!" I said as I looked down on the bastard I had pummeled into unconsciousness.
His nose had been flattened, and his front teeth had been knocked out. He was bleeding heavily from his swollen face, but he was still breathing which was good. I don't need him turning into an energy ghost on me while I get ready for the rest of those rapy bastards.
*Tear*
I tore open his shirt as I began inscribing enchantments on his barely breathing body using low grade magic stones I found in his pockets. I might have lost them for now, but knowing my luck, it was only a matter of time before they tracked me down. I needed to finish setting my trap before they got here.
*Splish**splash*
"Shit!"
I suddenly, managed to make out the sounds of soggy footsteps making their way towards me. I wasn't expecting them to get here just yet.
"Miss Nox? Is that yo-!"
"Huh?"
Out of the forest stepped not the bounty hunters I was expecting but some old dragonewt I vaguely remember experimenting on a few months ago. He was holding an umbrella as he looked down at me with wide eyes. He looked shocked for some reason.
"I don't have time for your scaly old butt! If you know what's best for you, then you leave and pretend you never saw me!" I said as I began dragging the unconscious man past him.
"Lunaria Chrystalla!"
*Thud*
I dropped the barely breathing sack of flesh to the muddy ground, before I turned to look him in the eyes.
"What did you just say?"