Book 2: Chapter 93: Chasm Within the Cave

The ice spider charged through the pa.s.sageway of the cavern violently, b.u.mping into the walls from time to time, and occasionally launched attacks on Lily and s.h.i.+mizu with its limbs when it got jammed by the walls of the cave.

Lily also looked for certain regions while running and turned around to send a crescent beam of crimson sword light when she reached them.

These crescent beams of sword light werent effective towards the spider, but they damaged the walls of the caves or the weaker stalact.i.tes and produced some minor cave falls. Even though these cave falls couldnt stop the spiders pursuit, they slowed down the spider greatly. As such, Lily continued attacking the cave walls in such a manner even though she couldnt see the spider anymore.

Ordinary samurai couldnt perform such a feat, but Lily had abundant spirit power to do this, and she had also stored a huge amount of spirit power within her cursed katana from animas absorbed in the battle before they entered the cave.

The sounds of the spider charging through the collapsed cavern pa.s.sageway finally turned faint a while later.

Lily and s.h.i.+mizu sighed in relief as they thought they had finally managed to escape this calamity, yet they heard the sound of surging water from ahead of them at this moment.

The duo turned around a corner and arrived at a s.p.a.cious cave room that had a radius of 16 meters. Nanako stood here alone while trembling in fear with the Sakura Parasol in hand and behind her laid a chasm that was 60-70 meters wide.

Lily and s.h.i.+mizu were dumbfounded by this scene.

Nanako? Lily sprinted before Nanako and saw that she was actually unscathed but appeared a bit dazed.

Sister Lily

Lily surveyed the surroundings skeptically and only saw precipices while a chasm that even Lily and s.h.i.+mizu couldnt cross laid ahead of her. The chasm was several hundred meters deep and a torrential undercurrent surged through it while the pa.s.sageway of the cavern rested on the other side of the chasm.

Nanako. How come youre here alone? Where are the others? s.h.i.+mizu inquired doubtfully while examining the surroundings.

Nanakos gaze slackened a bit as she answered her, There was a suspension bridge here originally, but they cut it off after crossing over to the other side.

What?! Lily was shocked after hearing this. She then scoured the place and indeed found the vestiges of a suspension bridge but even the wooden logs had been pulled off thoroughly, so they couldnt cross over with the help of a rope or anything else.

Absolutely disgraceful! Why did they cut off the suspension bridge? s.h.i.+mizu inquired irately.

Most of the disciples were hesitant to do so and even opposed the notion, but that Itamoto said that they would all welcome death unless the path of the pursuers was cut off. That they didnt need to do this if Sister Lily and Sister s.h.i.+mizu were able to defeat the pursuers, but they would definitely die if the pursuers caught up with them because you failed to do so.

Nanakos voice contained no hatred in it, They didnt cut off your path of escape on purpose. This is was a rational and forced choice.

Lily and s.h.i.+mizu froze after hearing this. Lily had even saved Itamotos life, but he had sacrificed Lily and s.h.i.+mizus lives to increase the chances of the others surviving through this ordeal.

Why didnt you escape with them then, Nanako? Lily inquired.

Theres no way I would leave you behind and go anywhere else, Sister, Nanako stated calmly without any hesitation, a relieved smile cropping up on her face.

Nanako Lily felt like a speck of dust had entered her eyes at this moment and she hugged Nanako tightly.

The sounds of the ice spider cras.h.i.+ng through the obstructions arrived from behind them at this moment and it seemed like it would catch up with Lily and the others soon.

A dead-end ahead of them and a pursuer from behind. The lives of Lily, s.h.i.+mizu and Nanako had been sacrificed to save those dojo disciples, yet Lily didnt know whether she should detest them for doing this. However, she knew that she would have never made such a choice as there was no guarantee cutting off the bridge would ensure their survival. Although Lily found it hard to determine whether it was right or wrong to sacrifice them, the protectors of the disciples, just for the sake of this tiny bit of hope, she knew it was a cowardly choice.

This chasm is too wide and even I wont be able to leap across it. The stream below is also pretty fast and seeped in miasmic energies, so not only is it dangerous to jump into it, it might even be poisonous, A few beads of sweat seeped out of s.h.i.+mizus forehead.

The cras.h.i.+ng sounds got closer and closer from behind as time pa.s.sed

What do we do? Is there anything we can use to cross past the chasm? Lily hadnt given up even now and examined the surroundings prudently to look for something that could help them, but no matter hard she looked, all she saw was a dead end.

What do we do

Miss Kagami! A voice echoed out from the other end of the chasm at this moment.

Lily raised her head and saw the ponytailed female disciple.

Senior! Lily turned ecstatic for a moment.

The ponytailed disciple donned a guilty face, Forgive me, Miss Kagami. I-I couldnt stop them yet also couldnt stand alongside with you on the side like Nanako to face this deadly ordeal

Lily smiled faintly, It doesnt matter, Senior. This method is indeed the best one to have minimal losses, so it isnt an irrational choice. Its already enough that you have come back to see us regardless of the danger. However, the thing pursuing us isnt something on a level that you can respond to, so leave quickly now, okay? Theres no way for you to help us cross this chasm even if you remain here.

No! Theres a way!

Hah?

Well The ponytailed disciple blushed, P-Please dont stare, okay?

Lily and the others were puzzled by her behavior.

The ponytailed disciple turned around and disrobed herself, revealing the white silk cloth coiled around her bodacious figure.

Senior D-Dont stare.

The ponytailed disciple began to unwind the silk cloth coiled around her body as much as possible. The ponytailed disciple was a girl from a traditional n.o.ble family, so she also used silk cloth as an undergarment. The length of the cloth had come to several dozen meters as she unwounded it layer by layer, but it was insufficient to cover the gap of the chasm.

When the ponytailed disciple unwrapped the entire silk undergarment, a pair of unimaginable knockers that simply couldnt be seen from outside sprung out from within, and this made both Lily and s.h.i.+mizu sigh endlessly.

So you actually had such an impressive pair, Senior

The ponytailed disciple was also a samurai and thus broke free from the embarra.s.sment quickly. She wore her robes simply and threw one end of the silk cloth across the chasm while holding on to the other end and it managed to reach a little over the halfway point of the chasm.

Its long enough! Lily and s.h.i.+mizu arrived at the same conclusion.

Eh? But I cant cover such a distance, Nanako stated worriedly.

Lily smiled, You dont need to jump, Nanako. Just be prepared to open the Sakura Parasol when were at the highest point of ascent.

Huh? H-Highest point? W-What do

Lily rolled up her sleeves and picked up Nanako into her embrace before she could finish speaking.

Hey-hey. Sister Lily, you havent gone crazy, right? Dont tell me youre planning to

Lily Even s.h.i.+mizu also tensed up a little in astonishment.

Go! Nanako! Lily launched Nanako towards the other side of the chasm with all her strength.

Kyah! Nanako screamed in fear.

Open the parasol!

Wham! The Sakura Parasol opened by itself when Nanako reached the highest point of the ascent and slowly glided Nanako over to the other side of the chasm, the scene seeming just like a beautiful painting in an ancient picture scroll.

The rumbling sounds had almost reached Lily and s.h.i.+mizu at the same time when Nanako landed on the ground.

Boom! The final obstruction had been finally broken through and the giant spider charged over towards them.

We dont have enough time! Lets jump together! Lily yelled out.

Saying so, she leaped forward before the ponytailed disciple could even hurl the silk cloth over.

Hey! The ponytailed disciple threw one end of the silk cloth in a rush and from an aerial perspective, the silk cloth looked just like milk that was slowly spilling over into the water.

Lily managed to grab it with much difficulty and turned ahead to see s.h.i.+mizu who was right behind her.

However, s.h.i.+mizu still a bit far from her and Lily couldnt reach her as the ponytailed disciple was tugging back on the silk cloth. In this critical moment, Lily took out her Crescent Moon and stretched its sheath towards s.h.i.+mizu to grab.

Grab it, Sis!

With her exceptional reflexes, s.h.i.+mizu grabbed onto the sheath immediately.

However, the spider spewed out a thread made of glacial spirit power at this moment that coiled around s.h.i.+mizus foot.

Lily felt her hand turn heavy and the silk cloth also stretched because of the huge tension placed on it.

Nanako hugged the ponytailed disciples waist from behind and pulled her back in a rush, but the spider thread seemed to pack an unsurpa.s.sable force, so they were unable to hold on for long!

s.h.i.+mizu unsheathed her blade and sliced at the thread, but the thread was pliable and tough, and she also couldnt muster much strength in these circ.u.mstances, so she couldnt cut through it.

Let me go, Lily! Or else well both be doomed! s.h.i.+mizu yelled anxiously yet her dark pupils actually contained a trace of brilliance in them.

I absolutely wont let you go, Sis! Lily, on the other hand, had a resolute look in her eyes, and held onto the sheath tightly. However, even if Lily was able to contend with the strength of the spider, Nanako and the ponytailed disciple couldnt do so, so she was stuck in a dilemma.

Do I have to make a right choice like those disciples as well and sacrifice Sister s.h.i.+mizus life for our sake?

1

If Lily were the final person left behind, she may perhaps have found the choice rational. However, when such a choice was presented to her, she actually couldnt accept it at any cost!

Sister s.h.i.+mizu, I cannot sacrifice the lives of Nanako and the innocent senior, so I would rather let go of the silk cloth than let go of you! Lily resolved herself to plan for the worst in case there were no other means to escape this situation.

She examined the surroundings then looked at the thin spider thread that wasnt actually pulling with all of the spiders force. She then looked back at the ponytailed disciple and Nanako who had been pulled to the edge of the chasm and her gaze landed on the Sakura Parasol on Nanakos back.

Nanako! Throw the Sakura Parasol over here! Lily shouted.

Nanako followed her instructions and threw the Sakura Parasol over to Lily anxiously. As Lily couldnt receive it with her hands, she used her foot to kick it with all her might and that Sakura Parasol shot over towards the silk thread while rotating energetically and opened up suddenly when it approached the thread.

The edge of the Sakura Parasol actually managed to cut off the thread and circled in the air once before flying back to Nanakos hand by relying on the stream of air produced when it opened up.

The ponytailed disciple pulled with all her strength at this moment and finally managed to pull Lily and s.h.i.+mizu over to the edge of the chasm.

On the other side, the spider stretched its body halfway past the precipice, yet it had no means to cross the chasm.

Lily didnt choose to escape right away after escaping this calamity and revealed a sneer on her face instead. She pointed her Crescent Moon towards the spider and gathered her spirit power before sending a few beams of whoos.h.i.+ng sword light at it.

These crescent sword beams didnt attack that spider and instead attack the precipice under its legs.

Boom! The precipice crumbled under the might of the explosions and the unsuspecting phantom spider fell into the rumbling chasm along with it!

The phantom spider only followed the orders of the summoner and wasnt an actual lifeform, so it had no sense of self-protection. As such, it fell into the river at the bottom of the chasm and was washed away to lands unknown.

Whoosh! The ponytailed disciple and Nanako finally heaved a breath of relief and sat down on their b.u.t.tocks to gasp for breaths in an unladylike manner.

Lets go, s.h.i.+mizu said.

The ponytailed disciple picked up the silk cloth and threw it into the bottomless chasm since she didnt have the time to wear it again.

The group of four turned around and rushed into the pa.s.sageway behind them.2

Silva: Um. care if I just point one thing out? If s.h.i.+mizu really meant what she says, she would let go of the sheath on her own accord. If Lily let go, wouldnt she have let go of her sword? Aoi: True. Well, we know s.h.i.+mizus a narcissistic megalomaniac, so nothing she does is normal.

Silva: And so, one crisis is now averted(?)