Chapter 311: World Line Is Collapsing

An instant.

The sound of wind suddenly rang out.

A sharp silver sword cut through the air, directly turning into a deadly slash within the flowing wind.

"Hm?"

Her wine-red right eye widened slightly; the girl seemed a touch surprised.

The next moment, sword light suddenly slashed across the position she was in, and at the same time several streaks of spell spirit light erupted at close range — from fireballs to lightning, pouring out in succession!

From the rumbling explosion sounds to the crackling of electricity penetrating the air.

The huge commotion reverberated inside the hollow cracks; after multiple reflections off the cave walls it became extremely eerie, like ghosts wailing and wolves howling.

Accompanied by a burst of chaotic noise.

Various rubble and clods of earth fell rustling down, and the stratum in this area trembled slightly.

—Although it was only "slightly".

Having swiftly completed an explosive surprise attack, Miss Ciri did not hesitate to teleport backward, choosing a teleport point as far away as possible within her field of vision.

The next moment, her figure appeared at that coordinate.

After doing all this, Miss Ciri finally let out a gentle breath, allowing her tensed body to relax a little.

She of course understood that in the current geological environment, taking action and making a commotion was a relatively dangerous matter.

No one could say for sure whether this place might suffer a secondary collapse or something.

But some things are unavoidable; compared to worrying about these uncertainties, she cared more about completely eliminating the enemy in the darkness, not letting a pair of eyes keep staring at her.

So from the moment she just now perceived certain anomalies, she decisively formulated a simple response plan.

First pretend to leave, then circle around unexpectedly and counterattack…

Judging from the current situation, this simple plan was still fairly successful, directly taking the opponent away in one combo.

"Heh, careless of me…"

A coquettish laugh rang out, and faint footsteps came from the darkness.

Miss Ciri's heartstrings, just relaxed, tightened again, and she widened her eyes — because in her dark vision she saw that slender figure.

A gorgeous dress of crimson and black, adorned with lace, one long and one short pigtails falling naturally, her left eye a golden dial.

Completely different from that spoiled young lady state just now, like a magnificently blooming rose — yet one can confirm it is absolutely the same person?

—What is this situation?

—Not only did she not die, she doesn't even seem to be injured much?

Miss Ciri instantly looked startled and uncertain, gently tightening her grip on the silver sword held in reverse grip, her finger joints subconsciously exerting force.

She was very certain she had definitely struck the target just now; the sensation transmitted from the blade told her so as well.

Plus those close-range spells that erupted, not very loud, shouldn't have caused a cave-in — they should have yielded some battle results, right?

But looking at it now, it seems not to be the case.

Then —

Is this a kind of immortality in a certain sense, or ultra-high-speed self-healing regeneration?

Miss Ciri subconsciously made certain associations, and decisively gripped the longsword, her mind spinning rapidly, pondering how to counter an enemy with such a troublesome characteristic.

It seems at a time like this… sealing-type spells always produce very good effects.

And at this moment —

"No need to be so tense, this miss; I am not your enemy…"

Elegant and gorgeous, the girl in the crimson-black dress spoke with a smile.

Her words and deeds were impeccable, like a composed young lady of a noble house.

"Or rather, one might say the facts are exactly the opposite; I might even be your ally, who knows…"

"..."

"..."

"I don't believe there's any possibility of cooperation between me and you." Miss Ciri did not relax her vigilance, still staring fixedly at the girl opposite.

"Hah, just a minute ago I actually thought the same way too…"

The girl opposite said with a smile, even bowing gracefully —

"First let me introduce myself, to show sincerity… I am Kurumi Tokisaki; as for race, I suppose I count as a Spirit."

"... Spirit?"

Ciri instantly raised an eyebrow; she didn't have a good impression of this race name.

One could even say she had a degree of PTSD — Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder — toward it.

But rationality still prevailed; she took a deep breath, knowing the girl before her should have nothing to do with that group of Wild Hunt in her memory.

"Alright, Spirit… I seem to have run into a fellow like you before; is she your companion?"

She thought carefully, probing with this question.

That girl from not long ago seemed the same too; could she also belong to the "Spirit" of this world's concept?

"How regrettable; you may indeed have encountered another Spirit, but I have no companions."

Kurumi Tokisaki shook her head, speaking of regret while her expression remained a blooming smile.

It was very obvious this girl didn't care about companions or not.

In this respect, her words just now were quite frank — that perhaps before this she really hadn't planned to ally with Miss Ciri, and might even have had ill intentions.

Only later did she temporarily change her mind.

Even after being directly counterattacked by Miss Ciri, Kurumi Tokisaki still believed both sides could join forces.

Because she believed the other party needed her help, and likewise, from the other party she… saw what she herself needed.

"Let's not talk about that. Let's talk about our cooperation instead, discuss those things we're both interested in..."

Kurumi Tokisaki spoke with a smile, simultaneously extending a hand to point at the ground not far away, at that broken sword slanting inserted into the stratum.

Ciri's gaze shifted slightly.

She had naturally noticed that broken sword long ago, but before she could completely confirm the girl opposite's intention and stance, she also had no way to just go over and study it on her own.

That was one of the two swords Geralt carried on his back...

Yet it was neither the steel sword nor the silver sword used in his capacity as a Witcher, but rather an archaic style she was very unfamiliar with.

"First, let me declare one thing: to prevent unnecessary misunderstandings, this is something I just picked up..."

Kurumi Tokisaki spoke, and carefully observed the subtle changes in the opposite party's gaze and expression.

"Judging by the look of it, you should understand it better than I do, right?"

Kurumi Tokisaki cared about this very much, extremely much.

This concern was by no means a whim, but stemmed from deep within her heart, a yearning and pursuit for power.

From within the broken sword, she could sense that from within those cracks, some kind of extremely pure, and abnormally powerful "Spiritual Power" was slowly flowing.

Like the most dazzling stars in the deep night sky, emitting an unbearable radiance.

It was as if within this shattered sword body, there also existed an independent advanced power source, possessing very powerful energy intensity.

This was undoubtedly exactly what she needed...

If a single broken sword could provide such vast "Spiritual Power", then the distance between her and her own goal seemed to have suddenly become very close.

However, the problem lay in Kurumi Tokisaki being unable to easily utilize this power.

Even as a broken sword, it seemed to have a built-in "Identity Verification" mechanism... just like those high-tech methods humans use, confirming identity through fingerprints, iris scans, DNA matching.

Only holders who pass verification can control those high-precision tech products.

Those who fail verification will be refused service by the system without the slightest hesitation.

In fact, if this strange sword hadn't been broken, Kurumi Tokisaki even suspected it might have some kind of automatic countermeasure system—

Capable of autonomously purging any intruders attempting "illegal seizure of permissions"...

And not merely simply refusing to respond.

Of course, this was merely her personal speculation, lacking conclusive evidence. And setting that aside, what she needed most right now was to find a possible breakthrough.

If this were a technological product from Earth, relying on her extraordinary initiative and intelligence-gathering ability, she might still be able to find a way to crack it.

After all, even those top-tier technologies of DEM Industries still in the laboratory stage, Kurumi Tokisaki could still try to achieve breakthroughs through some means and pathways.

Because her initiative was super strong, and she also had extremely powerful intelligence-gathering ability, it could be said "wherever there are DEM facilities, her avatars exist".

But now, the situation clearly did not apply to Earth standards—

Kurumi Tokisaki was very certain that things like "Thought Key Pattern", "Six Paths Wheel", "Heavenly Register", absolutely fell outside the scope of what a normal technology system could encompass...

Although individual terms vaguely evoked concepts of certain ancient cultures, in the end they were but fleeting glimpses, difficult to touch the essence.

In that brief yet abnormally intuitive "Connection" state, this Spirit vaguely sensed that what she connected to behind her was a system and order vast to the extreme.

As if transcending the entire star, all things without exception were within the net.

Therefore—

She would be moved to attempt to find a suitable entry point from that woman opposite.

"..."

"..."

"What I know is also very limited..."

After a moment of silence, Miss Ciri deliberated and said: "But I can tell you, there should originally be two such swords, the other one might still be intact..."

She calculated for a bit, feeling that perhaps she could engage in limited cooperation first.

This commotion was stirred up so big, and who knows how much more trouble would follow; perhaps she couldn't manage on her own, and finding Geralt's whereabouts was even more difficult.

Since the Spirit opposite cared so much about this strange longsword weapon, she might as well use it to attract the other party, first have them help her find the other sword's whereabouts...

Perhaps incidentally she'd find her Foster Father too?

Miss Ciri thought like this.

"Oh, there might be another intact one..."

Kurumi Tokisaki blinked, giggling: "That's really good news, but that's not what I want..."

"If you want to cooperate, at least show some sincerity. Even if you know very little, at least speak out the parts you do know... how about it?"

The other party didn't take the bait.

Miss Ciri's expression was indifferent, but in her heart she sighed. Clearly this Spirit seemed to care a lot about this weapon, but... it didn't seem that simple.

Of course it wasn't that simple.

She hadn't touched the longsword, and hadn't experienced Kurumi Tokisaki being rejected by the longsword's power, so she wouldn't understand.

But Kurumi Tokisaki herself knew clearly: this thing possessed huge power, yet required the user to have some "Conferred Rank" qualification, to have some "Divine Position" to control it.

This was the key.

As for the weapon's integrity or breakage, that was temporarily not the focus instead.

Even possibly the other intact weapon would be more dangerous, unable to even approach it.

——————

——————

Simultaneously.

Aboard the Air Battleship "Fraxinus".

"J-just like that, we're setting out?" Shido Itsuka pulled at the corner of his mouth, feeling he had no sense of security. He waved his arms, trying to get those Professional Personnel to notice this point.

At least give me some Equipment, hey!

Or at least give some weapons?

I'm just an ordinary person with nothing, yet you expect my flesh to run the poison circle — isn't that being too hard on myself?

"Just set off like this, after all you don't need to explore those cracks, the initial plan is just to wander around the outskirts first and try to run into that Spirit from before……"

Kotori Itsuka waved her hand, urging her own brother to go up and deliver with an impatient look——

"So no need for anything else, carrying overly professional equipment would instead easily arouse vigilance, thanks to AST, that Spirit is very sensitive to Tactical Manifestation Devices…… as for safety issues, you don't need to worry about that……"

"……"

"……"

"This sibling relationship is truly realistic……"

At the channel entrance not far away, Xia Zhi commented on this scene with interest, casually picking up the coffee cup from the side and taking a sip.

Then he turned his head, giving a thumbs up to the silver-haired, blue-eyed woman with prominent dark circles beside him:

"Miss Reine's skill is really not bad, do you often brew coffee?"

"You flatter me……"

Reine Murasame lowered her head, saying humbly, her hands hanging at her sides unconsciously clenching into fists slightly.

But she forcibly suppressed her emotions, not showing them……

Because everyone else on this air battleship also did not show them, but instead strangely acquiesced to the reasonableness of this scene.

(Chapter End)