30 Crushed By A Stone Leaf Tortoise?! (2/2)

”It doesn't matter what, just a slight improvement will suffice... Maybe make them fly faster to prevent the tortoise from evading? Or maybe an even stronger blast of white flames?”

The tortoise was also starting to feel its stamina run out. It still attacked Shin Sumi whenever she moved, preventing her from escaping. Although it had calmed down, the beast still planned on fighting to the death this small human girl who had dared to hurt it.

Shin Sumi rolled to the side and resumed running around the tortoise. No matter what rage animated it, the animal couldn't turn easily due to its large body and heavy legs. At the same time she was thinking deeply.

Scenes from her fight in the clearing passed in front of her eyes. Ever since that fateful day she had tried her best to forget the incident. But as the paper talismans had come from one of the three Affairs Pavilion disciples, so would the answer to her problem if ever there was one.

Suddenly her eyes seemed to illuminate!

”That may be the solution! I remember the explosions of white flames clearly!”

Shin Sumi watched in her mind a tree being completely burnt down by a paper talisman provoking a blast with a radius of a few meters.

By comparison, even the talisman that had succeeded in hurting the Stone Leaf Tortoise only affected it in at most a meter squared. So how come the explosions coming from the Affairs Pavilion disciple were so much bigger?

Shin Sumi had looked into paper talismans before, even asking Xiao Yue and Lan Hui what they knew. The kind she had looted on her attacker's corpse were the most common. The only thing that could change the capacity of the blast and the strength of the flames was...

”Yang type Shinsoo... Of course! Flames are by essence of Yang attribute. That must be it!”

The rocky ground trembled under the tortoise's fast steps but Shin Sumi still managed to take out the Copper Bell. The item was useless in a fight, but if Shin Sumi was able to use it on herself then it would be a different matter.

The first two tries failed due to her inability to concentrate enough in order to control her Shinsoo and absorb the bell's powers.

”It is so much easier on stable ground” she muttered, gnashing her teeth.

For the third time she evaded the tortoise, leaping until she was completely behind it. According to her calculations she had barely three breaths of time to absorb the bell before she would be at risk.

One... Two... Three!

Finally Shin Sumi succeeded, just in time to evade the next slam of the pointed horn on the tortoise's shell.

Shin Sumi felt her Shinsoo type immediately change, the white blue darkening until it reached a reddish coloration.

A slap of her hand onto the bag of holding at her waist, a few paper talismans appeared between her fingers.

She threw them one by one, the tortoise facing the other way after its last attack. Before it could even see what she was doing, the talismans connected to the rough patches of rocky skin.

BOOM!

The Stone Leaf Tortoise was taken by surprise by the intensity of the blast. Shin Sumi was right. The Yang type Shinsoo boosted the explosion magic by at least five times!

The tortoise howled even louder than before. But contrary to Shin Sumi's expectations, it did not stop. The tortoise ran into her, not stopping for even a second to lament its wounds.

A malevolent light shone into its eyes, as it to say ”I knew you would do that, now you can only suffer”!

By reflexes alone, Shin Sumi summoned the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword. Holding it vertically, the piece of dull metal could only offer a very slim protection against the ramming power of the beast, but that was the only thing she could do.

Shin Sumi was already thinking that everything was over when the unexpected happened.

Between her fingers, the metal started shining. A fierce light ran along the edge of the blade. It was blinding at first but when Shin Sumi was finally able to discern the weapon through the light, she almost gaped in astonishment.

It all takes some time to describe but it happened instantly, as the tortoise was about to crush her to death.

Shin Sumi thought about how shiny and sharp the sword had looked like before Fen Wudao had handed it to her. Between her fingers, the sword now looked almost exactly like it had then.

Sliiing.

Shin Sumi had braced for impact but it was useless. Unlike the powerful impact she expected, a slight vibration was all she felt. In an instant the sword had deflected the impact of the Stone Leaf Tortoise, pushing the horn to the side.

It fact it didn't simply push the horned shell to the side, as she would soon realize. The pointy bit of the leaf shape had been cut off in an instant!

Even the very top of the tortoise's head was spurting blood a deep cut wound etched in the hard skin.

The tortoise had no idea what had happened, the slicing pain sharper than even the powerful blasts from earlier.

As if a voice inside Shin Sumi's head prompted her to do it, she jumped vertically.

It just felt right in that instant. Following the exact same pattern of movements she had done earlier, Shin Sumi gave a powerful sword strike to the middle of the tortoise's shell from above.

She still hadn't fully realized what had happened to the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword. Until the sword's circular motion cut unhindered through the entire tortoise.

Zhiiiiiiiiing!

With an almost melodic sound, the shell split in half over the entire length of the tortoise, from the already cut off pointy part to the rounded back. Under the shell, the soft pinkish flesh was also sliced open. As were the bones, the organs and then more skin.

When Shin Sumi landed back on the floor, she stood between two gigantic mountains of flesh.

Dark blood poured out of every bit, dyeing everything in brown.

The Stone Leaf Tortoise had died quickly without even realizing it.

Shin Sumi held the sword in her hand, motionless, puzzled by the whole situation. She had been about to die but suddenly the sword had started shining and now...

”I am alive... I... defeated the tortoise?!”

For months now, Shin Sumi had been used to the blunt and rusty appearance of the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword. No matter what she had done, the blade didn't change one bit. Its cutting powers had started returning, but no matter how she viewed it, they should not have been able to cut through a tortoise this hard and big!

Now that the pressure on her shoulders was gone, the spirit beast being dead, Shin Sumi fell to her knees.

All of a sudden, she seemed to remember all of her wounds, from the torn flesh where she had scraped herself on the rocky ground to the pain in her forearm where the bone was probably broken.

Her Shinsoo level was rapidly draining so she popped a red beast core inside her mouth, all the while returning the Yang type powers to the Copper Bell.

The Copper Bell was really draining in terms of powers, especially in a fighting situation, she realized. It was only when the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword stopped shining that she understood the importance of the bell.

The sword in her hand felt lighter and still had the slim and proud appearance as before, but suddenly lost its radiance.

”It is because of the bell! All I needed was Yang attribute all along?!”

A wave of pain and fatigue took over, cutting off all of her ability to think straight for a moment.

”I need to act fast before I lose consciousness. Let's get to work!”

Using beast cores to gain somewhat of a boost, Shin Sumi cut open the belly of the tortoise. Inside was a dazzling green gem.

”Green beast core!! No wonder the tortoise was so strong...”

Shin Sumi was running out of time. She had to get back to the chasm before she completely lost all her energy in order to heal herself. Testing the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword's new prowess, she dismembered the beast quickly, the blade cutting the stone-like flesh like grass.

She finally left when all the pieces were in her bag of holding. One more beast core absorbed later, she was back at the chasm, drained but alive and happy.

Slumping in the pool beneath the waterfall, Shin Sumi finally allowed herself some peace.

Without a prompt, the little nut flashed out of her wrist's leaf imprint and started releasing healing waves mixing with the fresh water.