Chapter 185
Yukina a deep breath, gently lifted Efnir up, hoisted her onto her back, and then quickly ran backward.
Before she had run far, a loud bang came from behind. The roar of the explosion drowned out the noise of the building collapsing. The ground shook violently, and then the entire building suddenly tilted slightly. A large number of shelves, counters, and broken walls slid backward. The sudden shaking made Yukina stumble.
At that moment, Efnir suddenly looked ahead with alertness.
"Enemy at the front!"
The sound of breathing and hoarseness filled her ears. The moment Efnir gave her a warning, Yukina instinctively dodged, stepped onto the sliding wooden cabinet, leaped to the corner of the wall, and crouched down to hide.
Suddenly, a sound of cracking walls came from ahead. The next second after Yukina hid, a large hole was torn open in the wall in front of her, and four figures appeared behind the wall.
"Three people behind and to the side... four people in front..."
Efnir breathed softly, leaning on Yukina's shoulder.
They were surrounded.
Yukina gritted her teeth, pondering a solution.
They must break out of the encirclement as soon as possible, otherwise they will surely die once the other Apostle Squad arrive as reinforcements.
The building was tilting, and the air was filled with the sounds of goods and debris colliding, rubbing, and sliding.
But for Yukina, time seemed to suddenly slow down and become viscous. The noise in the air gradually disappeared, leaving only the footsteps of the two groups of Apostle.
"Stop destroying the building—they're right here, find them! Don't give them any chance to escape!"
"You take charge of this side, I'll go to the middle, and you go check over there."
"They can't escape!"
The Apostle's footsteps drew closer, and Yukina frowned deeply.
If we continue to wait here, it's only a matter of time before the Apostle find us. The only way to break out of this predicament is to fight back.
Yukina took a deep breath, trying to suppress her rapidly beating heart.
At the very least, we must ensure that Efnir survives... If that's the case, perhaps there's a way to make it work.
She looked up at the precariously hanging ventilation ducts above her head, then glanced around at the merchandise shelves that were rapidly disappearing from her sight, and she already had an idea in mind.
Yukina crouched down, moved to the corner of the wall, gently placed Efnir against the wall, and then turned around.
Their eyes met for a moment, and they both saw a glimmer of light deep in each other's eyes.
Yukina clenched her fists tightly, took a deep breath, pursed her lips, and was about to speak when Efnir suddenly reached out and wrapped her arms around Yukina's neck. The gentle force stubbornly pulled Yukina closer, pressing Yukina's lips against Efnir's lips.
"Yukina... this is for you."
The kiss lasted only a single breath before Efnir placed a silver ring into Yukina's hand.
"Naoko...?"
Yukina stared blankly at Efnir, Efnir simply lowered her eyelashes and breathed softly, as if the brief kiss had already taken away all her remaining strength.
"Don't look at me like that... Do you think I don't know what you're thinking?"
"Naoko... you noticed it all..."
Yukina gave a wry smile.
"You can't hide anything from me."
"After all, you're my sister... If it were before, I would never have agreed to you acting recklessly on your own... But... today I suddenly realized that perhaps I'm still stuck in the past, imposing my own ideas on you, which only makes things difficult for you time and time again... So, Yukina, I hope this strength can bring you back safely..."
"My sister...?"
A hint of nostalgia flickered in Yukina's eyes. She reached out to take the ring, but then suddenly grinned, turned her palm over, straightened her fingers, and placed the ring in front of Efnir.
"Put it on me, here."
She pointed to her ring finger.
Efnir glanced at Yukina, lowered her eyelashes, and placed the ring on Yukina's middle finger.
Yukina was taken aback.
"Huh? I... I want this side..."
The middle finger ring was just an engagement ring; what she wanted was a wedding ring, and the two have completely different meanings.
Efnir smiled slyly and gently stroked Yukina's cheek, leaving a trace of blood.
"It's an agreement. After this battle is over, we'll exchange for 'that' you want..."
Efnir withdrew her hand, her gaze flickering slightly as she looked at Yukina and gave a gentle smile.
"You wouldn't want our most precious memories to be written at such an unpleasant moment, would you? So, you must come alive to pick me up. I... will be here waiting for you..."
59. Bait
The building tilted under the Apostle's attack, like a sandcastle soaked by rain, seemingly on the verge of collapse.
The three members of the Apostle Squad, who had been chasing after Yukina, split up in three directions and moved slowly forward, searching for Yukina and Efnir to hide.
One of them started searching from the right side, but the sloping ground and the massive amount of merchandise and shelves that slid down like an avalanche had no effect on her.
Every now and then, she would raise her hand and use a burst of light to lift the shelf, making sure there were no enemies hiding behind it.
She eliminated all possible hiding places, leaving the enemy no chance to escape.
By this time, their encirclement had gradually tightened. She slightly changed her direction and floated forward again. At this moment, her gaze fell on the ventilation duct above her head.
The ventilation ducts are wide enough for a person to pass through.
Without hesitation, she casually lifted it up, and a burst of light blasted the ventilation duct, twisting and breaking it before it crashed to the ground with a deafening roar.
There was no one hiding inside the pipe.
She withdrew her gaze and continued walking. Just then, the pile of goods stuck between two shelves suddenly loosened and slid towards her like a collapsing sand dune. With a slight movement of her eyes, she casually lifted her hand and smashed a large pile of goods into pieces. Then she noticed that thick white smoke suddenly rose from behind the goods, quickly enveloping her figure in billowing smoke as the goods disintegrated and slid.
"This is... a smoke bomb!?"
The enemy has appeared!
The pungent air made her realize this immediately. She quickly jumped up and tried to get away from where she was. However, before she could call for her teammates, a light blue arrow suddenly appeared in her field of vision.
Puff--
She opened her eyes wide and made a dodge maneuver in an instant, but the arrow was far faster than her reaction time. She only had time to avoid the fatal attack aimed straight at her heart; the arrow pierced her abdomen.
A large chunk of his chest cavity was instantly torn away, as if by some enormous beast, leaving a shocking, bloody gash.
Meat and entrails were shredded and torn from her body, the crimson blood mist almost staining the white smoke red. Even though the Enhancement Agent gave them a considerable degree of pain tolerance, the excruciating pain caused in that instant almost robbed her of all her strength.
She screamed as the powerful impact of the arrow threw her off balance, causing her to fall erratically to the ground.
"Target spotted!!"
A second before landing, she roared in a hoarse voice, and at the same time, with the help of the Enhancement Agent to suppress the pain, she mobilized all the power in her body to build a thick defensive barrier. She also condensed a ball of light in her hand to prepare for a counterattack, but the water-colored arrow flashed again and pierced her white light barrier.
Her eyes were bloodshot as she screamed, but no matter how hard she tried to strengthen her defenses, the arrows pierced through her like hot knives cutting into butter.
Her strength suddenly froze, and a bloody hole suddenly exploded in the center of her chest.
The crimson hue spread through the air, and her gaze, filled with shock, helplessness, and hatred, remained fixed on the hazy white mist.
And a low, soft voice. "Without your eyes, you're nothing special..."
"You..."
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
The next instant, the thick fog churned and was stirred by the wind and waves. The water-colored beam of light disappeared at the edge of the field of vision. The protective barrier turned into specks of stardust and dissolved into the air. The Apostle lay on the ground in a daze, his eyes devoid of any life.
On the other side, Yukina, slightly out of breath, emerged from behind the half-collapsed ventilation duct.
Her hand, which had been drawing the bowstring, was already stained red with blood. She stared silently at the Apostle girl's corpse until she was sure the Apostle girl was dead, and then slowly lowered the bow and arrow.
But she had no time to relax. She squatted down next to the ventilation duct, and the dizziness from the exhaustion made her feel increasingly drained of her strength.
"Hold on a little longer..."
Yukina threw out the last two smoke grenades she had taken from Efnir, took a deep breath, and gently closed her eyes under the cover of the thick fog.
The next second, the air fell eerily quiet.
The world suddenly seemed to sink into water, time stood still, and only the faint sound of the wind remained in Yukina's ears. She stripped away a lot of noise, leaving only the crisp sound of boots hitting the ground.
There were also voices.
"It's in this direction. That was definitely Yuko's voice just now, we..."
"The arrow just now couldn't have been mistaken; it was definitely the target."
"Hey, what's that...?"
The commotion quickly alerted all the Apostle inside the building, who rushed towards Yukina's direction. However, Yukina was hidden in the thick fog, and neither Yukina nor the Apostle could see each other clearly.
However, Yukina was able to judge the distance and direction of the other person.
"A smoke grenade...?"
"Captain!! I've found Yuko's body!"
"Damn it! Tell the others to split up and surround her! Don't let her escape again!!"
The Apostle quickly approached Yukina, and all their movements reached Yukina's ears.
"Now they'll all come to me... It's working well."
Yukina raised the corners of her mouth.
That's enough. All Yukina needs to do is tell the Apostle, "I'm in danger. I'm here." That's all.
The enemy only has six people left, and they will all come after her.
That was Yukina's plan—from the beginning, Yukina knew that she absolutely did not have the power to confront so many Apostle head-on at the same time, so she targeted "Yuko," who was acting alone and relatively far away from the others, and then successfully killed her.
Meanwhile, the battle here unsurprisingly attracted the other Apostle.
Then the other party will discover "Yuko's" corpse, and will immediately recall that both Yukina and Efnir possessed the fighting power to easily kill either of them.
Only two Apostle remained in the same group as "Yuko," and without a doubt, the two of them had no chance of winning against Yukina and Efnir head-on.
The Apostle now face only two paths: either wait for reinforcements from the other Apostle, or gather another group of four to surround and pursue Yukina and Efnir.
Clearly, the latter choice is more prudent.
In their eyes, Yukina had been with Efnir until just now, but the truth was that Yukina had already separated from Efnir. Under the cover of the smoke bomb, the other side had no idea what was going on with her.
Now all we can do is gamble on how long it will take for the other side to realize that Efnir is no longer with us.
Furthermore, to increase the success rate of the plan, Yukina prepared a double insurance policy—
Yukina opened her eyes, concealed the longbow, turned around, and dragged a humanoid object out of the ventilation duct.
It was a life-size mannequin on a mobile clothes hanger, wrapped in Efnir's hooded coat. The hood tightly covered the mannequin's head, which had no face or hair. From a distance, it looked exactly like Efnir before her transformation, and even slightly resembled Efnir in her Apostle Form.
--This is the second layer of insurance that Yukina prepared.
If the enemy becomes suspicious of Yukina's actions, the interweaving of information between Plan One and Plan Two could greatly influence the Apostle's judgment.
Yukina pursed her lips, took a deep breath, picked up the Stand doll of Efnir, and before the Apostle could close the encirclement, she quickly broke through the thick smoke and leaped out of the already broken window. The Stairway beneath her feet flashed, rapidly increasing Yukina's height.
At the same time, several Shard of glass fell to the ground behind Yukina, making a crisp cracking sound.
Yukina's movements were very "concealed," as if they had been planned for a long time, but they were still "coincidentally" noticed by an Apostle. She ran to the window following the direction from which the "movement" came and "just happened" to see Yukina's fleeing figure.
"The target escaped! They're all here!!"
She shouted loudly, her voice reaching the other Apostle. At the same time, she was the first to jump out of the window and quickly chased after Yukina.
"You guys come with me quickly! I'll go and hold them off!!"
It would be terrible if Yukina left their sight, so she risked her own life to keep a close watch on Yukina.
The next moment, another Apostle had rushed over because of her voice appeared at the window. Soon, the Apostle quickly passed this information to each other by shouting, and the remaining two Apostle Squad, a total of five people, immediately decided to pursue Yukina.
Because they had been searching for and surrounding the hiding place of Yukina and Efnir, the remaining Apostle were spaced a certain distance apart. They all ran as fast as they could in the direction Yukina had fled, leaving the mall one after another. At this moment, Efnir's figure appeared behind another hidden corner, coldly watching all the Apostle girls that came into view.
She had been watching Yukina the whole time, from the moment she began her ambush until she escaped the building. Now, Yukina's figure had long since disappeared from sight around the corner.