Behind Pan Tian and Xue, Ithilix raced for the portal with Chen Huo hot on her heels.
Chen Huo cycled a familiar martial skill as his entire body transformed into golden fire. He shot toward Ithilix and closed the gap between them in an instant as he slashed at her with his blade. Ithilix whirled on him and barely parried the slash in time with the shaft of her spear.
She cycled a martial skill of her own and a dense cloud of green poisonous qi swallowed them both. Flashes of golden light lit it from within as the sound of clashing blades rang out.
Elder Kanev reshaped the enormous chunk of red stone he'd torn free of the statue into three massive stone spears. The spears oriented in the air to point their tips toward Jie's friends as spiritual energy reinforced the stone.
Jie hit him in the back of the head with a finger of light attack as she rushed toward him, but he hardly seemed to notice. But as her attack landed, she regained some of her speed and power which helped her close the distance despite the howling blizzard that slowed her movements.
Another finger of light, more powerful this time, solicited a grunt from Elder Kanev but he maintained his focus.
The resulting boost to Jie's speed and power allowed her to close on him. She formed a dragonfist over her foot and kicked him in the back of the knee. His leg buckled slightly as he snarled, and the red spears shuddered in the air.
He growled at her as he swung his hammer with one hand. Jie tried to evade but his freezing martial skill slowed her too much and the hammer struck her on the side of her head with a dull crackling protest from the amulet's protective barrier.
Once again, she felt nothing, but the force of the blow sent her spinning through the air. While whirling in the air, Jie cycled a twin full-powered finger of light attack at Elder Kanev. Her attack surged toward him in a pair of thick bolts of dazzling blue lightning. He blocked one bolt with the flat of his hammer, though the dragon lightning qi arced over the surface and into his arm, while the other hit him in the stomach.
He hissed between clenched teeth despite the protective layer of frost covering his skin. The stone spears faltered in the air, their tips swaying off-target for a moment before orienting back.
Ithilix poison stepped out of her deadly cloud in a puff of green smoke, appearing right in front of the swirling red portal. Behind her, Chen Huo stumbled out of the cloud of poisonous fog, coughing violently.
He collapsed to his knees as he cycled an unfamiliar martial skill. Bolts of golden fire formed in the air above Chen Huo and shot toward Ithilix like a series of fiery arrow volleys all heading straight toward her as she ran for the portal.
Ithilix tried to evade but there were simply too many bolts. One burned a hole through her side. Another went through her right shoulder. Two went through her left leg. Each of them left a smoking hole in her flesh as she staggered forward and caught herself on her spear before she collapsed. Countless other bolts sizzled through the air around her. Many of them hit the portal itself and disappeared into the swirling red energy.
Jie formed a lightning step platform and boosted back toward Elder Kanev as she cycled a dragonfist around each of her hands and pushed lightning step to the limit. Her meridians screamed from the effort of pushing so much energy into her skills as she rocketed toward Elder Kanev like a human lightning bolt.
Jie purposefully fell short and landed on the ground with a roll as Elder Kanev's blind one-handed swing sailed over her head. Jie then sprang up and made her qi armor react to the floor under her as she shot upward and slammed both her dragonfists into the underside of his jaw. Elder Kanev's head snapped back in a massive, thunderous discharge of dragon lightning qi that arced over his entire head.
One of his spears dropped out of the air and crashed into the bridge leading to the portal room. It crushed a section of the stone bridge beneath it as it landed in the lake with a heavy splash of blood.
The second spear sailed off target and smashed into the floor of the portal room, just barely missing Pan Tian, Xue, and Chen Ai.
The third spear flew toward the archway of the portal itself as Ithilix hobbled the last few inches and fell forward into the swirling red energy. She vanished just as the final spear impacted the archway above her and shattered it in an explosion of stone, dust, and swirls of chaotic red energy as the portal destabilized.
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Elder Kanev backhanded Jie. The blow echoed dully on the barrier protecting her and sent her flying backward to land with an awkward thud on the frozen stone floor. She slid across the slick surface and scrabbled for purchase before finally coming to a stop near the edge of the island.
For a moment, nobody said anything. The sounds of battle ceased as all eyes were on the portal, wondering if Ithilix had made it through in time as the portal's energies violently writhed like a flickering flame... then went out.
Elder Kanev's face twisted with rage and hatred. His beard and face were scorched by Jie's attacks. The layer of ice covering his skin was missing in places and lines of wicked purple and red bruises covered his head in a pattern akin to leafless tree branches.
Jie took in ragged, panting breaths. Her whole body ached from countless cuts, the chill of Elder Kanev's attacks, and the strain of channeling so much power. But, Ithilix had made it...
Any moment now, the elders would come rushing through the closest portal to save them. That was... if Ithilix had delivered the message...
And the closest portal was still a good distance away...
***
"We've won," Jie said between panting breaths, "just give this up and maybe the elders will take it easier on you."
"Won?" Elder Kanev asked as he shook his head as though in disbelief. His entire body trembled with rage and veins pulsed in his neck and forehead.
"Do you honestly think I'll just roll over and submit like a whipped dog? No... it'll take the elders quite some time to reach us. All you've won is a more painful death before I make my escape, you wretched bitch," Elder Kanev spat.
He extended his free hand toward Jie and his aura flared with power as the cavern rumbled.
The ice beneath Jie's feet cracked and burst apart as the rock under it bulged. Elder Kanev pulled and the rock beneath Jie surged toward him like a wave, pulling her along with it.
Jie jumped off the wave of rock and Elder Kanev shot himself toward her using a pillar of rock beneath his feet that sent shards of ice spraying in every direction behind him.
Jie formed a lightning step platform and leapt off it. But the freezing aura pulsing from Elder Kanev made her movements far too slow.
Elder Kanev formed another pillar of stone and stepped off it, changing his angle of approach with ease as his hammer surged with frost qi.
He reached her in the blink of an eye and swung his hammer down toward her.
On instinct, Jie crossed her arms over her head as he drove his hammer down. The hammer smashed against the barrier covering her without pain and drove her hard into the floor as a pulse of frost qi washed over her, trapping her in a prison of ice.
Before Jie could even begin to think of a way to break free, Elder Kanev's large rough hand pushed through the ice around her and grabbed her by her head. The golden barrier around Jie crackled softly against his grip as he pulled her up and held her suspended in the air in front of him.
"Your barrier won't hold out forever. Soon, I'll get my hands on you. Then, we'll have some fun," Elder Kanev growled.
Jie snarled and hit the arm he held her with using a dragonfist over each of her fists. Lightning crackled over his icy skin and Jie's speed and power surged.
Elder Kanev hissed as though an insect had stung him and released her head. Then, he smashed her in the chest with his hammer as she fell. The blow sent her tumbling through the air.
Jie caught herself on a lightning step platform as her mind raced. Elder Kanev was right, the barrier around her wouldn't last forever. And if he calmed down for even a moment, he'd realize her friends were completely exposed. Even now, she sensed Xue and Pan Tian battling against the Chen family.
Chen Huo's movements felt sluggish while Chen Yi and Chen Lisha seemed preoccupied. Most of the attacks she sensed out of the Chen family were from Chen Ai. But though her spirit sense told her that her friends were doing well, that would all change if Elder Kanev intervened.
She wondered if she could somehow lure him away or perhaps grab her friends and make a run for the exit.
But it'd been hard enough to keep pace with him while he'd been distracted and complacent. Maybe if she could gain the distance required to get out of the effect of his freezing, slowing aura...
Elder Kanev raised his hand and a wall of rock formed at Jie's right side and slammed into her. Her protective barrier absorbed the blow but the wall pushed her along with it, cracking ice and leaving a trail of warped stone in its wake.
Jie scrambled to get her bearings and turned in the direction the wall moved, readying herself to leap away. But, before she could, Elder Kanev appeared in front of her and slammed his glowing hammer into her stomach. A wave of frost washed over her again and sent her crashing through the wall of rock behind her.
She fell hard on the floor and rolled across it as shards of rock and ice rained down around her. The barrier made it painless, but it was disorienting. She rose back to her feet but before she could orient herself, the rock beneath her feet shifted as though someone behind her had pulled it out from under her like a rug.
Jie fell face-first toward the floor. A pillar of rock burst out of the ground before she could reach it and smashed her in the face. It kept going, whipping her head back with enough force to make her body somersault backward.
If not for the barrier, Jie was sure it would've decapitated her.