Chapter 27 – Escape (2)

The rope was secured to a hook embedded in the rock, placed by Anya exactly halfway up the climb. Spanning over 200 meters, it was more than enough to reach the ground. Though thin, the rope was made of a material combining metals and extremely resistant synthetic components.

After anchoring the hook and leaving the rope's end for Mahara to toss to Sonia, Anya resumed her swift climbing to secure the next hook and tie the following rope.

Meanwhile, Mahara waited until reaching the point where the rope was anchored to throw it down. Sonia, who had sprinted back from her original position, had to rush again to grab the rope and start climbing at an impressive speed.

Hisssss

Meanwhile, emerging from the smoke caused by the bomb, the snake appeared slightly disoriented but noticed its prey escaping. It buried itself in the sand, leaving only its horns visible, and darted toward the rope.

Moving at incredible speed, it covered hundreds of meters in mere seconds. However, by then, Sonia had already reached halfway up the climb.

Emerging from the sand, the snake looked up to see its preys—two already at the top of the canyon wall, and one still climbing. From above, the one still climbing dropped a small device, which landed right in front of the serpent.

"Hehehe… A little gift, darling," Sonia exclaimed loudly, quickly resuming her climb up the canyon wall using other rope after releasing the bomb.

There was no time for the snake to escape, even though it seemed to anticipate what was about to happen…

Boommmm

The second explosion was just as powerful as the first. Sand, rocks, and dust cascaded down the canyon walls due to the blast's force, and the fireball reached nearly 20 meters high. The heat was so intense that it once again melted the sand surrounding the explosion.

On the wall, Sonia had to grip the rope tightly to avoid falling as the shockwave shook her and nearly threw her off balance.

"No need to miss us, you filthy beast. Hahaha!" Laughing, Sonia recovered from the explosion and quickly finished climbing to the top of the wall.

Upon reaching the summit, Anya was stowing the black sphere in her bag. Mahara was adjusting Hendrina on her back and tightening the knots on the rope securing her.

"Give me the Command Thread, Sonia," Anya said as she pulled a vial of medicine and a large syringe from the pouch at her waist.

"Here. But it's not fully charged yet. This damn thing drains my Aura like a bottomless pit. It's probably only halfway full," Sonia said as she handed over the metallic thread she had been infusing with her Aura.

"It doesn't matter. Take this and inject the serum directly into Hendrina's neck," Anya instructed, taking the Command Thread while handing Sonia the vial and syringe.

"What?" Perplexed, Sonia hesitated, either unwilling or unable to grasp Anya's command. She stared at the syringe, its long, robust needle made of Nulitium, in disbelief.

"We don't have time, Sonia. MOVE!" Anya shouted, losing her patience.

At the same time, Anya began infusing the Command Thread with her Aura. Unlike Sonia, she was entirely focused on the task, nearly doubling the rate at which the thread filled, though it would still take time to charge fully.

"Hurry, Sonia… Just find the vein and inject it—it's basic anatomy," Mahara urged, snapping Sonia out of her trance and pointing to Hendrina on her back.

KyyyAAAAAA

Windor, circling above, cried out a warning, alerting them that the serpent hadn't given up the chase.

"Damn it, damn it… Damn it all… AAHHHHH!"

Hissssss Tssss-tsss-tssss

Anxiety, fear, and doubt flooded Sonia's mind for several agonizing seconds, filling her with sadness and memories of past tragedies. But the snake's loud, menacing hisses and the terrifying rattle of its tail spurred her into action.

"AAAHHH… SCREW IT!"

In desperation, Sonia lit her last bomb, sprinted to the canyon's edge, and peered down to see the snake scaling the wall almost as fast as they had climbed.

From there, she aimed and hurled the bomb just before it detonated.

Boommmmm

The explosion echoed even more powerfully than the previous ones, reverberating across the canyon walls and being heard for miles.

Sonia rushed back to Mahara, grabbed the syringe, and drew the entire vial's contents—a thick, transparent liquid.

She located one of Hendrina's main neck veins and prepared to insert the needle but froze.

"DON'T HESITATE," Mahara commanded, noticing Sonia's paralysis.

Sonia closed her eyes and, in a sudden moment of calm, pierced the vein and injected the liquid steadily and evenly.

"Huff… Pant Pant… I did it," Sonia said, collapsing to her knees with a faint smile on her face.

Back at the Crimmont Palace, Edgar was doing his training by carefully massaging his training partner's delicate, snow-white back. Abigail, who was receiving the massage, had a happy smile on her face and was resting on the pillow.

Sitting comfortably on her back, Edgar was fully focused on manipulating his aura so that it would infiltrate Abigail's skin. But unlike when he was doing this with Inessa, now not even a small portion was penetrating Abigail's passive aura defense.

The expression on his face was tense, even though he put in a huge effort to manipulate his aura and spread it over Abigail's skin, Edgar was continually frustrated with the completely null results. But he did not give up and continued to try for almost an entire hour…

It got to the point where he was covered in sweat and looked so hot that he was exhaling a bit of smoke from his clothes. His round face and his black hair with red streaks scattered randomly were also dripping with sweat.

His blue eyes - which were also black with red dots as well as his hair - were no longer open. He closed his eyes to concentrate even more, which clearly did not work.

"There's no point in rushing, if you want to improve your Consors skills, you need to be gentle and patient." Abigail said.

Even though he knew that many would only dream of touching the skin of a Dragon Lady, Edgar did not seem to be enjoying such a situation. On the contrary, the effort he was showing as he delicately massaged Abigail's back seemed very similar to someone lifting weights.

Every movement of his arms caused a large amount of sweat to form on his face and body.

"I already know that… Hufff" Edgar replied, as he paused to wipe the sweat from his face with the towel that was on the back of the sofa, which was also already soaked.

Of the abundant amount of sweat on his face, a large part fell in the form of drops directly onto Abigail's skin. What has been happening every time he makes broad movements to massage her shoulders and neck.

Given the time, it would be logical to think that the woman's skin would be as soaked in sweat as the boy's face. But as soon as they touched her skin, the drops quickly dried or were absorbed, releasing an almost imperceptible water vapor.

This phenomenon was enough to anyone notice the scorching temperature that the woman was emitting.

"You know and you keep making the same mistakes. Heh Even though you are much older mentally, you still act according to your child's body-Nngghh."

Being interrupted by a strange touch from Edgar, Abigail felt a wave of intense aura invade her body abruptly, forcing her to cover her mouth with her hand to suppress the moan of pleasure.

"Now... What were you saying? I didn't listen..." Edgar, who had activated his aura core's special ability, managed to infiltrate a wave of aura exactly into one of Abigail's main Aura points.

Abigail propped herself up on her elbows and glared resentfully at Edgar. She immediately realized what he had done and tried to retort.

"Humph... I said you act like... MmnnNH... You Little..." But she was interrupted again when another wave of aura hit her aura point, causing a new moan of pleasure...

"You talk too much... Lie down and let me finish the training..." Edgar said, before gently pushing Abigail back into the massage position.

"No tricks, boy... Humphh."

"I should be the one saying this, after all, the temperature here is high. You could lower it a little, since you want to help me so much."

"Don't blame me for your discomfort, the temperature is perfect. Think of it as a part of the training that will grant you additional benefits."