Bab 23: Meeting

Lux sped up, and thanks to that, it only took him a couple of minutes to reach Xia's location.

"There are three winged snakes now?" he muttered under his breath. It seemed that even more were soon to join the party.

When Lux used his senses to check the path ahead, he observed another two auras making their way towards Xia's position.

'I wonder how much she can resist them? Or maybe she can even take them down...' Smiling, Lux patiently waited for Xia to be in dire need of help before acting.

Anyway, he was here; so nothing could happen to her.

Back to the fight.

Xia was struggling a bit, facing the now three winged snakes. It wasn't that she couldn't win one versus one, but it was hard to face off against three venomous opponents.

She had to pay attention to their mouths. As soon as Xia saw them opening their mouths, she dodged. This was because they released some kind of corrosive venom capable of turning big blocks of stone into nothingness.

'They should have a weakness I can take advantage of. And if they don't...it's going to be a contest of raw power.'

A few minutes passed since the battle started, and one thing managed to catch Lux's eye.

'Xia... She's improving as the fight continues, and not only that, she even managed to separate the snakes' attacking methods into pieces, then acts accordingly as the situation calls for it. Genius.'

If Xia had heard Lux's thoughts, she would have been deeply honored for her entire life. Coming from someone like him, it was the best praise one could get.

'But it's a pity, though... Two things are limiting her from achieving her maximum potential.' Shaking his head a bit, Lux thought it was the moment to step forward because as he thought of those matters, the other two winged snakes joined the fray, pressuring Xia into a dangerous position with her back against the cave wall.

'These lowly lizards, they're pushing their luck.' Suddenly, Xia's eyes glowed with a dark light; even her sword was coated in a membrane of darkness.

"Shadow Veil." As Xia pronounced those words, she disappeared from the winged snakes' vision.

A few moments later, from behind the snakes' shadows, a hand holding a sword could be seen slashing at one of them.

"Hisss!" Letting out a painful hiss, the snake that was cut by Xia turned back, only to see half of its body convulsing in pain.

No one except Lux managed to see what happened.

'I see, so she used something similar to Shadow's Shadow Realm to transfer her body inside the snake's shadow.'

'Interesting, she's more capable than I thought. But if that's all, the fight won't end yet.'

It was just as Lux said; the fight was still up in the air. After Xia managed to take down one snake, the others were more cautious, constantly checking their surroundings.

Due to their heightened senses, whenever Xia appeared from their shadows, they would gang up on her, not giving the young woman a single chance to act.

'What are you going to do now, Xia?' Lux was intently looking at the fight before him; he was really curious why Xia didn't retreat yet.

The only reason he could think of was that she still had a trump card up her sleeve, but what was it?

Not letting his expectations down, Xia exited her own version of the 'Shadow Realm.'

She had a serious face as she looked at the winged snakes closing the distance toward her.

"Shadow Spikes," black tendrils composed of shadows left the ground and tried to impale the four humongous snakes.

Unfortunately, two of them used their wings to protect themselves, and the other two managed to barely avoid getting a hole through their bodies.

But Xia didn't care about those two; she focused on those two snakes who used their wings to block her attack, thus limiting their vision.

"Shadow Veil," Once again using Shadow Veil, Xia swiftly appeared behind the two snakes before brandishing her sword at them.

"Hiss!"

Stunned, the other two winged snakes that were left quickly turned around to see their own kind sliced in two.

Before one of them could react, it heard its companion beside it also hissing in pain. Without thinking too much, it quickly spat a ball of green, corrosive venom towards Xia.

'No!' The young woman was caught off guard, not expecting the other snake to react so fast and counterattack her.

Even if the attack wouldn't kill her, it would be enough to disfigure her face. Even then, she could probably completely heal it after a while, but which woman wanted to be disfigured, even for a second?

Splash! Right as Xia prepared to confront her fate, a round shield made of light stopped the ball of green venom. It couldn't even be said 'blocked' because the transparent shield was very thick; the ball of poison was stopped inside.

A second later, it was released toward the winged snake who spat it before, stunning it.

"Hiss!" Feeling its own scales and body slowly melting, the snake couldn't understand what happened.

Clap Clap!

A series of applause was suddenly heard from beside the snake. A blond young man with emerald eyes appeared out of nowhere.

The winged snake, furious about its hideous wounds, opened its giant mouth, capable of fitting a few men inside, and tried to swallow the young man.

"Shh." Softly shushing the snake, Lux pointed his finger at it, before a ray of light left for the snake's still-opened mouth.

A fraction of a second later, a one-meter hole could be seen inside the snake's mouth.

The giant behemoth simply fell to one side, without any breath left inside it.

Xia stood rooted to her spot even as Lux approached her.

Giving her a hand to stand up, he smiled as he said, "That was a pretty good fight. You've surely grown stronger, little Xia."

Seeing his kind smile, Xia blushed a bit before brushing his hand away to stand up on her own.

"What are you doing here, Lux? How did you find me?" Xia curiously asked, even wondering if he intentionally came here to protect her.

As if he could read her thoughts, Lux responded, "I didn't come here for you; it was just a coincidence. I'm part of the Alfause Academy for now, keeping an eye on my sister."

Suddenly, Xia nodded as if being enlightened. 'That should be true; this siscon couldn't possibly leave his sister alone.'

"I see... But still, what are you doing here?"

"Oh! When I was walking, the cave entrance happened to catch my eye, so I entered. Then I felt a powerful aura inside and decided to play for a bit."

Wearing a smile the entire time made Xia shudder; if Lux called something as 'powerful,' then it was too dangerous for her to venture inside the cave.

It would be better if she turned back and exited, "Do you want to come with me?"

Hearing that question from Lux, Xia, who had already decided to exit the cave, directly answered, "Yes..."