Seeing the strike land, Ying also showed a slight smile.
Although she was indeed greatly surprised to see that the enemy on this level was a woman, it was followed by a sense of relaxation in her body.
Even though she had lost the power of the Gnosis and her elemental energy was mostly depleted, she was still more than capable of dealing with this opponent.
She wondered how the Lady was resurrected. Could it be that the Doctor had also done some dissection on her? But would the proud Lady agree to be experimented on by the Doctor?
Before Ying could figure this out, she saw the Lady's body suddenly explode into a pile of shattered ice after being hit.
"Huh?!"
What kind of trick was this?!
Ying was completely bewildered. Before she could ponder further, she saw the ice shards on the ground instantly condense, reforming into the Lady's image.
The next second, the entire eighth level, which was already covered in a purple mist, was suddenly filled with a surge of cold air.
Within the chilling air, the Lady waved her hand, instantly creating a large amount of ice around herself. As the ice fell, it rapidly expanded, ultimately forming countless copies of the Lady.
"Ho?"
Ying raised an eyebrow and quickly fired several Anemo slashes, shattering a few of the Ladies into ice fragments, only to find that the others could recover as good as new.
A cloning technique?
No, it was more like a combination of cloning and the Ice-Ice Fruit…
"Swish, swish, swish…"
The Lady didn't give Ying any time to think. She instantly conjured a torrent of ice, which surged towards Ying in an instant.
Dense ice needles continuously shot towards Ying, but she dodged or shattered them. Knowing she couldn't continue like this, after cutting through an ice spike, Ying retracted her silver sword and conjured a rock barrier in front of her, hiding behind it.
Confirming that the Lady couldn't break through the barrier immediately, Ying finally breathed a small sigh of relief.
Phew… I didn't expect her to have such a powerful move. If she can revive infinitely, won't I eventually be worn down?
No… impossible. Even Scaramouche didn't have infinite energy after obtaining the Gnosis, and the Doctor couldn't achieve infinite clones. This move of hers must have a weakness, such as the existence of a main body. But the first Lady I saw could also revive…
No, even though she was the first Lady I saw, that doesn't prove she's the main body.
Let me make a bold guess. Is it possible that she prepared this clone in advance, intending to confuse me…
Ugh, thinking too much makes my head hurt. Forget it, this isn't my style.
With that thought, Ying simply closed her eyes, raised her right hand to her chest, and opened it.
The next second, a gentle breeze blew from in front of Ying towards her back. Sensing the general location they were in, Ying clenched her fist with force.
BOOM—!!
Instantly, dozens of bolts of lightning appeared out of thin air, striking all the Lady's clones precisely and shattering them into ice fragments.
Ying immediately leaped out from behind the barrier. Looking around, she indeed saw a Lady in the distance who had not been struck. She immediately clenched her fist again, summoning a bolt of lightning to strike at her.
"Damn it…"
The Lady cursed inwardly, clearly not expecting her move to be broken so quickly. She hurriedly gathered the surrounding ice shards onto herself, encasing herself in a chrysalis to dodge this fatal blow.
Ying frowned slightly, thinking she could have finished off the Lady directly, but she didn't expect her reaction to be so swift.
That last move consumed a considerable portion of her already limited elemental energy…
Without hesitation, Ying conjured a massive desolate star directly above the ice chrysalis. With a forceful grip of her small hand, she made it plummet down, smashing towards the Lady encased in the ice chrysalis.
CRASH—!!
This blow directly shattered the Lady's ice chrysalis, preventing her from activating any skills and sending her directly into the next phase.
Looking at the utterly dishevelled Lady before her, Ying didn't attack immediately but curiously asked her question.
"By the way, how exactly did you revive?"
Revive?
Upon hearing these words, the Lady was stunned for a moment, then said angrily,
"You little brat, how dare you curse me!"
"Wha-?!"
Ying instinctively wanted to explain, but before she could speak, she was interrupted by a whip from the Lady.
"Hey, you…"
*Crack!*
"No…"
*Crack!*
"Ouch—?!"
Ying quickly dodged, but she was still struck on the arm by a whip, causing her to cry out in pain and clutch her wound, gritting her teeth.
Argh! I don't care anymore!
With that thought, Ying suddenly lunged forward, drawing her silver sword and engaging the Lady in combat.
Due to her physical strength, stamina, and elemental energy being all out of sorts, and having almost no experience fighting against a whip, Ying was hit by several more whips before she finally seized an opportunity and cut off the whip in the Lady's hand.
"Damn it…"
Seeing the Lady about to go berserk, Ying, with no other choice, abandoned her intention to question her. After strengthening herself with Geo, she forcefully swung her wrist and threw her sword directly at the Lady.
*Slish—!*
The silver sword easily pierced the Lady's body, drawing a splash of crimson blood.
"Mmph…"
The Lady grunted, looking at the wound on her body in disbelief, and fell to the ground.
Seeing the Lady motionless, Ying quickly approached her, felt for her breath, and only after confirming that she was no longer breathing did she sigh in relief and plop down on the ground.
Glancing at her arm, which was unconsciously trembling, Ying couldn't help but let out a wry smile.
Aside from that puppet, Scaramouche, this was probably the first time she had killed someone while sober, without being consumed by rage. Although the other party had wanted to kill her first, she had to admit, such a thing was truly nauseating…
[1/1]
"Yay~"
Seeing that another lock on the cage had been opened, Paimon and Paimo happily high-fived each other again.
"Hehe~ I knew the host would be fine~"
Looking at the happy pair, the Doctor also turned his gaze towards Ying on the screen, unable to resist a smile.
She still felt uncomfortable after defeating the Lady? What a cute girl…
As he spoke, the Doctor turned his attention to Scaramouche, who was fighting with Lumine but was clearly starting to fall behind.
It could also be seen from this that she must have hated that guy so much that she showed no emotional fluctuation when defeating him…
Hehehe…
I wonder what expressions they will have when they witness the enemies Lumine will face later on?
It's truly something to look forward to…