It wasn't long before even Coppelia, relying on her keen vision, saw it: in the deeper, darker waters below, a massive purple silhouette was charging upward at an astonishing speed. It was another Bathysmal Vishap.
"The one below, is there any attraction coming from it?" Coppelia asked quickly.
"No," Columbina replied.
It seemed they only needed to focus on dealing with the icy-blue one. Coppelia's gaze fell back to the condensed ice orb in her hand, and an idea took shape.
"Rush into the middle of them!" she shouted to Columbina. "I'll use Cryo to freeze that section of water and separate them!"
Columbina nodded. A moonlight far brighter than before surged around her body; the radiance even penetrated the bubble, illuminating a large swath of the surrounding waters. Their speed underwater increased abruptly, and the shape of the bubble wrapping them changed accordingly, stretching from a sphere into a streamlined teardrop shape—sharp at the front and round at the back—to better slice through the water.
They soon closed in on the icy-blue Vishap ahead.
"A little closer, get between it and the one below!" Coppelia kept her eyes fixed on the two massive shadows rapidly approaching from above and below.
However, Columbina did not attempt to overtake the icy-blue Vishap. Instead, she manipulated the bubble into a nimble lateral shift, pressing close to the creature's flank. She reached out her hand, and through the flowing water and the bubble, she pressed virtually against the Vishap's cold spine.
Coppelia was stunned. "You..."
She didn't finish her question. A blazing brilliance suddenly erupted from Columbina's body.
Is she... intending to extract the Moonlight Stone's power directly through the Vishap's body? Coppelia guessed.
At this moment, Columbina seemed to transform into a bright moon beneath the water. The light she emitted illuminated the surrounding tens of meters of water until it was crystal clear, making even the suspended particles visible. Enveloped in this intense light, the icy-blue Vishap's swimming movements became noticeably more desperate, but to no avail.
The light lasted for several seconds, then abruptly extinguished.
Immediately following that, the icy-blue Vishap felt the omnipresent water pressure vanish instantly. Its thick tail swept against rough ground, not flowing water. It turned its head in confusion, its eyes like ice crystals widening.
Overhead was a towering rock dome; in the distance were scattered rubble and glowing plants. Where was even a trace of the underwater world? It had actually returned to that empty underground space above!
Coppelia slowly opened her eyes as the blinding white light faded. Beneath her feet was solid ground.
Teleportation? The thought flashed through her mind. When did Columbina awaken this ability?
However, right now she was more concerned about how much this ability cost to use.
She immediately turned to look at her side, but Columbina was not there. At the same time, the sound of heavy running and panicked low roars came from behind.
Coppelia spun around. She saw that icy-blue Bathysmal Vishap running madly toward the largest deep-water pool, its four claws digging into the earth, sending gravel flying, as if something incredibly terrifying were chasing it.
Not good! It still wants to jump into the water to escape!
almost instinctively, Coppelia reached out to grab Amos's Bow, intending to fire the condensed ice orb she had been clutching all this time as an arrow to seal the pool's opening. But her right hand was empty.
The ice orb was gone? Since when? She hadn't used it at all. Even if it dissipated naturally, it wouldn't happen this fast...
Just as she was anxiously thinking of how to intercept it, she glimpsed something out of the corner of her eye. In the distance, several segments of thick stone pillar wreckage, shattered during the previous battle, were rising rapidly into the air.
She looked in the direction the stone pillars were lifting toward.
Columbina was hovering in mid-air. Moonlight flowed around her, and surrounding her body, over a dozen rock fragments of varying sizes were suspended silently, as if bereft of weight.
The girl, radiating a cold lunar glow all over, swung her right hand forward. A remnant of a stone pillar, as thick as a millstone, shot out with a whistling sound.
Coppelia's gaze followed the pillar. It traced a nearly straight trajectory, smashing precisely toward the entrance of the largest deep-water pool.
Boom! The pillar stabbed obliquely into the junction of the rock wall and the water surface at the pool's edge, kicking up a sky-high splash of water, finally lodging firmly across the mouth of the pool to form a crude physical barrier.
"Holy 'I will have order'..." Coppelia watched this scene, her mouth falling open unconsciously.
But the icy-blue Vishap still didn't give up. It moved around the part of the pillar exposed above the water, attempting to squeeze in through the water surface that hadn't been completely covered yet. Seeing this from the air, Columbina raised her right hand again. This time, she threw the condensed ice orb she had taken from Coppelia's hand.
The ice orb traced an arc, smashing onto the water surface that the stone pillar had failed to fully block.
Crack—! The sound of freezing rang out instantly. Gloomy blue hard ice spread rapidly from the point of impact, and in the blink of an eye, it froze the remaining water surface along with the base of the stone pillar into a solid block, forming a thick mixed barrier of ice and rock that completely sealed off the retreat.
So she took it... Seeing that her "ultimate move," which she had spent so long charging, wasn't wasted after all, the stifling feeling in Coppelia's chest finally dissipated. She switched to watching Columbina's "performance" with great interest.
With its retreat sealed, the icy-blue Vishap finally stopped its frantic run. It turned around, baring its massive maw at Columbina in the air, revealing interlocking sharp teeth and letting out a hiss filled with threat and rage.
Columbina did not respond with any words. She simply controlled another slightly smaller rock beside her and smashed it forcefully onto the empty ground near the Vishap.
The giant rock landed, making a dull, loud thud. The ground trembled slightly, and gravel flew. Her intention was not to kill directly, but to intimidate, to force the opponent to use that move.
The Bathysmal Vishap jumped a step to the side, dodging the flying debris. Provoked, its head jerked back violently, and that familiar gloomy blue light lit up deep within its throat once again. It was going to use its breath attack again.
This was the moment Columbina had been waiting for. Just as the Vishap's massive mouth opened and the pillar of light was on the verge of spewing forth, she vanished into thin air carrying a round stone about half a meter in diameter. In the next instant, she appeared right in front of the Vishap, almost face-to-face with that hideous head.
Then, she shoved both hands forward.
She stuffed that hard stone deep into the Vishap's just-opened maw, driving it straight down its throat.
Gurgle—!
The icy-blue light flickered violently inside the Vishap's throat, then abruptly dissipated like a snuffed candle. The breath attack was interrupted, and more fatally, a massive foreign object was stuck in a vital area.
The Vishap could no longer care about attacking. Its massive body stumbled backward, limbs clawing blindly at the ground. It opened its mouth desperately wide, shaking its head frantically, letting out painful and muffled whimpers as it tried to vomit out that life-threatening stone.
Is this... intended to make it vomit up the contents of its stomach along with the stone? Watching the Vishap twisted in suffocation and pain, Coppelia subconsciously raised a hand to press against her own neck, as if something were stuck there too.
Columbina floated back several meters, waiting quietly, ready to deal with a potential counterattack at any moment. But she had no intention of killing this monster. Usually, watching Coppelia dispatch monsters cleanly and efficiently, she didn't feel anything special. But when it came time for her to end a life with her own hands, an indescribable sense of resistance rose from the bottom of her heart, making her hesitate.
Fortunately, the Bathysmal Vishap's suffering did not last too long. Its abdomen contracted and writhed violently. Finally, it arched its back sharply, its mouth opening to the limit—
Bleugh—!
A filthy torrent mixed with viscous gastric juices, semi-digested matter, and a pungent acidic stench was vomited out in a rush, along with the stone blocking its throat, splashing onto the ground. In the center of this pile of filth, dozens of stones of varying sizes, which could not hide the warm lunar radiance inside them even when covered in grime, lay quietly emitting a faint shimmer.
Columbina held her breath and floated over. She used the power of moonlight to gently lift the massive Vishap's body, ignoring its struggles. She inspected it in mid-air for a moment, and after confirming no extra attraction was coming from inside its body, she controlled her power to "throw" it far away.
Splash! The icy-blue Vishap smashed into another, smaller pool, kicking up a large spray of water. It struggled a few times before sinking to the bottom and vanishing, likely hiding back in its lair to recover.
Only then did Columbina approach the pile of Moonlight Stones wrapped in acidic, foul liquid. Pinching her nose, she hovered above the filth and began to absorb the power contained within from a distance. Pure moonlight separated from the stones, turning into flowing light that merged into her body, while the filth on the ground and the stones themselves quickly lost their luster, turning into ordinary debris.
Truth be told, with her power recovered and her confidence grown, Columbina's actions indeed had a distinct crispness and coolness to them. Coppelia replayed the seamless operation in her mind, genuinely happy for her companion's growth.
"Next time, maybe it will be her turn to protect me..." This thought surfaced naturally in Coppelia's heart. She lowered her head, looking at Amos's Bow which she had held for so long in her hand. The purple bow flowed with a familiar light, reliable and intimate. Yet for some reason, looking at this light, a subtle trace of fear quietly rose from her heart.
"Maybe before long... she won't need me anymore."
The moment this thought appeared, she quickly stored the longbow back into her spatial storage. Then, she strode forward, running toward Columbina who was absorbing the last few Moonlight Stones, as if the rapid movement of her body could interrupt the thoughts spreading uncontrollably in her mind.
____
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