(Torina had never seen such a prank-like skill before.
“Legs becoming as dexterous as hands.” really is a literal ‘hands’ and ‘feet’ mess, huh?)
It was strange, a prank, and didn’t sound impressive, but… it was incredibly practical in combat.
Her footwork truly achieved the literal meaning of moving like a ghost, especially when she took off her shoes and stepped directly on the ground barefoot.
Her toes, arches, ankles, and heels could exert force with millimeter precision.
For humans, there is always a high wall between the flexibility of feet and hands, but she easily broke through this wall.
Even the legendary Muji♂ ghost step couldn’t reach this level.
Conversely, in terms of stability and explosive power, no matter how much you train your arms, they can’t match the legs and feet.
But now she could easily use her arms to stably support her body, even running on her hands at sprinting speed.
Combining these two, she could perform all sorts of… movements that could only be described as bizarre.
Flipping to dodge punches or sliding to avoid kicks was basic.
Handstand movement or crawling like a spider was easy, and standing or even handstanding on an enemy’s fist, like in martial arts novels, was very smooth.
She had become a slippery eel, dodging Grelou’s frenzied combos with all sorts of bizarre, even mocking, postures, provoking it to become more and more furious.
(Since feet can be as flexible as hands, doesn’t that mean…)
She calculated in her mind while backflipping to dodge Grelou’s swing punch, simultaneously drawing a rune in the air with her left big toe—
“ᚠ!”
Success! Toes could draw runes and cast spells just like fingers!
The rune floated lightly in the air.
After landing, she smoothly drew a second rune “ᚩ” with her sword, bent to dodge a straight punch while drawing “ᚠ” with her left hand, rolled sideways while drawing “ᛏ” with her right foot, and spun like a top while handstanding, continuously drawing “ᚣᚣᛠᛊᛈ” with both feet.
The fluency of drawing runes with her feet was even higher than with her hands! She could even draw powerful runes with her feet while airborne and defensive spell runes with her hands, multitasking in parallel!
Fighting and retreating, entangling and maneuvering, she never interrupted her spellcasting while defending or dodging! ᛈᚱᚹᚻᛝᛝᚺᚱᚢᛃᛒᛃᛒᛁᚹᚨ… She completed a total of 32 runes in succession, and they danced joyfully in the air, with only the last one remaining!
(Must ensure a hit—take a gamble!!)
Torina stopped dodging, this time directly facing Grelou head-on—
And the enraged Grelou poured all its strength into its right fist, horse stance—punch!
The punch hit Torina squarely in the torso, causing the entire underground cavern’s air to vibrate, an invisible shockwave kicking up dust everywhere, and Torina’s body bent like a shrimp.
The punch’s force was enough to shatter every bone, rupture every blood vessel, and turn every piece of flesh into mush.
But, Torina’s body remained intact.
Her “health bar” was instantly emptied by the punch, and even with rune fabric mitigating the damage, her health bar dropped by seventy percent, blood spurting from her mouth and nose.
But she didn’t die.
The remaining thirty percent of her health bar was enough to provide sufficient mobility.
“Stay like this, don’t move.”
She clung to its pillar-like arm like an octopus, ice spreading from its arm to its entire upper body in an instant.
Realizing something was wrong, it tried to break free from the ice, but it was too late—
“ᛟ—Fafnir’s Touch!!!!”
Her left pinky toe completed the final rune.
In the next second, a massive, tree trunk-thick lightning bolt struck Grelou’s back.
The underground cavern was illuminated brightly, countless electric currents snaking around like silver serpents, the instant high temperature withering all surrounding fungi and moss, and the massive impact left a shocking crater on the ground.
The ice shattered under the lightning, and Torina stepped back, panting heavily.
“Not harming the caster” was the greatest advantage of rune magic.
And Grelou… wasn’t dead yet.
The creature’s body twitched slightly, its hands reaching forward as if to embrace, its eyes flickering with murderous intent, seemingly still wanting to fight, but the strongest lightning strike had already paralyzed its muscles, and that was enough.
“Goodbye.”
Torina walked behind it and plunged her sword deep into the old wound until it could go no further.
It wobbled, then collapsed with a thud, its health bar hitting zero.
…
…
…
…
…
Half an hour later—
The four-person team, under the protection of a small Holy Light barrier, slowly traversed the forest.
Leading the way was Laxis.
By the time she returned after treating the wounded, Torina had already taken down the boss.
Laxis carried Wenren Ji Xue on her shoulder.
Fortunately, the rescue was timely, and the injuries were not serious, but she remained unconscious.
Torina walked in the middle.
Laxis had also given her a slow healing buff, but her spirit was still exhausted.
At the back was Milora.
Though she was also heavily injured, her body was fortunately tough, and after some treatment, she could manage to walk on her own.
The atmosphere was very heavy along the way.
All four remained silent, with none of the lightheartedness that usually followed a boss victory, walking all the way to the forest’s edge.
Anyone could sense—Torina was angry.
Milora was in turmoil, wanting to say something but unable to, following silently like a cat that had caused trouble.
But the system had a lot to say.
[Milora, why are you silent? You don’t feel guilty, do you?]
“…………”
[Wake up, have you forgotten the facts you heard? That woman doesn’t care about you at all, she’s been lying to you, you’re just her toy, and she definitely came this time for the lord, not to save anyone.]
“…………”
[The most crucial thing now is the lord’s loot, the key we need! Since she’s the one who killed it, the key is most likely on her! We must find a way to snatch it!]
“…………”
[Now she’s exhausted, and Laxis needs to focus on maintaining the barrier, it’s the perfect opportunity for you to act!]
“…………”
[Stop sulking, act quickly—]
“Hey, Milora.”
Torina suddenly spoke.
Milora flinched, quickly looking up, but she found that Torina, who had been so close to her just days ago, didn’t even turn to look at her.
“You almost got yourself and your friends killed.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Why did you do something so reckless?”
“…Because… because…”
“Because you don’t trust me?”
“I…”
“Why are you so nervous? If you hate me so much, why fear my anger?”
“No, I…”
“Or did your ‘friend’ suggest you kill me to take the item?”
“!?”
At these words, even Laxis, walking ahead, stopped and turned back to look at them in surprise.
Torina also slowly turned, coldly staring at Milora, gazing through her face at something hidden deeper.
“Do you know the common methods of audio processing?”
She suddenly mentioned an unrelated term, and Milora, puzzled, let out an “Ah?” while she continued:
“Just tweaking a few parameters can distort sound, and some editing can fabricate any conversation.
Have you ever considered that what you heard is just what someone wants you to hear?”
“Eh… eh?”
“You think I’m untrustworthy, but is your ‘friend’ trustworthy? Ask yourself, do you really think your friend is a good person?”
“I, I… but…”
“I thought that after spending so many days together, you would at least have some basic trust in me, at least come to me for confirmation when in doubt and pain.
It seems I was overthinking, how boring.”
She slowly took something out of her waist pouch and waved it at Milora.
It was a key.
An ancient, mottled key emitting a strange aura.
[That’s it!!!!]
The system immediately got excited—
“Guess you want this, right? Not giving it.”
Crack!!!!
Torina raised her sword and shattered the key into pieces.
[…Huh?]
The system was stunned, as if it had crashed.
Milora also stared blankly at the fragments on the ground, a certain radiance dissipating from them, never to be restored.
The key to her first step on the path to becoming a strong person was destroyed just like that.
“This… you…?”
“This key is my loot, how I dispose of it is my freedom, right?”
“…………”
Torina looked down at Milora expressionlessly.
Of course, she could forcibly remove the ring housing the system from her hand, but what would be the point? First, the ancient civilization’s ring couldn’t be destroyed by her current self, and second, if Milora still didn’t trust her and opposed her, then with Protagonist’s luck, Milora could very well grow into a formidable force even without the system, and would eventually come back to crush her.
It was only a matter of time.
Ultimately, this doesn’t depend on Torina or the system; it only depends on Milora herself.
Torina then posed a soul-searching question: “Speaking of which, if you were a character in a book, would you want to be a fleshed-out character or just a tool for immersion?”
“…………”
“Or, do you want to make decisions based on your own will in the future, or continue to be manipulated by ‘friends’?”
“………………”
“If you’re going to turn against me sooner or later, should I lower my moral standards a bit and kill you now? Can you give me a straight answer?”
“……………………”
Milora just stood there dumbfounded.
Seeing this, Torina rolled her eyes, shrugged, and said in a nonchalant tone, “Milora Sistema, from now on, you’re kicked out.
Bye-bye.”
