Jie swam around the main temple building, using it to block the creature's line of sight, even though she was certain it could still sense her through the water. Some of the pale creatures on the building leaped through the water at her, but they were slow and she had bigger problems, so she simply swam away and left them behind.

She swam as fast as she could, working her tail furiously as she clawed at the water with her webbed hands and feet. She summoned a lightning platform every time she was able to, using it to rocket her through the water. But, no matter how desperately she swam, it continued to gain on her.

Hopefully, it wants to eat me and doesn't use a martial skill that obliterates me... she thought before holding back a manic laugh at the idea. She never would've guessed she'd be on an alien world hoping a monster wanted to eat her rather than instantly kill her. Life truly took unexpected turns.

Jie glanced behind her as the huge beast smashed through the largest building in the lake, the one she'd done her trial in, and broke the top off it without slowing down as rock and debris rolled over the monster. It opened its mouth and huge tentacles snatched up the pale creatures that'd lunged at Jie.

Jie propelled herself through the water, her gills working furiously as she pushed her body to its absolute limits and forced more qi into her lightning step technique than she'd ever come close to trying, out of sheer desperation. Her meridians screamed in protest, but fear and the will to survive overrode such meaningless sensations as pain.

Jie swam upward while also racing toward where she hoped the shore was. The orange and red lights faded into the darkness below her as she climbed and the water around her turned dark. Soon, she couldn't even see her hands in front of her face as she swam in total darkness. But, she heard the beast behind her, singing its whale-like song that reverberated through the water and rattled her bones as it drew ever closer.

She saw some small glimmer of light above her as she climbed until she saw the ice above. Though, it was thick, and very little light made it through.

The monster behind her called with its song again and Jie's teeth rattled in her jaw. She glanced behind her and saw the silhouette of the monster against the orange lights below. It reached out toward her with its enormous claws. She waited until the last possible moment, then used a lightning step platform to push herself away at an angle.

Its enormous claw snapped shut on her afterimage with such force the water around it pulsed and sent Jie tumbling through the water. She used another lightning step platform to catch herself and rocket herself closer to the ice above.

She swam frantically, throwing glances behind her and evading its strikes as best she could, thankful that it wasn't using a movement technique or it would've caught her ages ago. But, it was upon her now and still getting even closer. Jie doubted she could evade it for long.

The monster opened its mouth and tentacles unfurled. Jie directed a finger of light attack ahead of her and blasted the ice in an explosion of superheated plasma. It blew upward in a geyser of boiling water, steam, and chunks of ice as Jie formed a lightning step platform underneath her and launched off of it.

She shot out of the lake through the hole she'd made and arced through the air, trailing freezing cold water behind her as shards of ice rained down on her from above.

The freezing air whipped her body as she dropped down and landed feet first on the slick ice, already running before she hit the frozen surface. Her feet slipped on the ice and her tail and larger size made running even more awkward, but she ran as fast as she could out of the sheer desperate desire to survive.

The ice behind Jie bulged as cracks raced along the surface, rapidly approaching her. An instant later, the monster broke through in a spray of freezing water and broken fragments of ice bigger than she was. It roared and angled its body toward Jie, its enormous gaping maw opening wide behind Jie as its mouth tentacles snaked through the air around her, a heartbeat away from snatching her up and devouring her.

Spurred on by sheer terror and instinct, Jie formed a lightning step and boosted off it as she poured more qi into the ability than ever before. Her meridians screamed from the effort as she sped through the air. She poured so much energy into the ability that her afterimage became infused with some of it, turning it into a more solid image of her that crackled with blue lightning as she spun through the air, slipping between the grasping tendrils.

Jie just barely evaded the tentacles and landed on a broken section of ice that bobbed in the water like a raft. She kept running and flexed her tail behind her for balance as she leaped from one broken sheet of ice to the next as the monster's tentacles grasped her crackling afterimage.

When they did so, her image exploded in a snarling explosion of dragon lightning qi that arced over the monster's tentacles and lit the dark void of its mouth in a blue flash.

It gave an angry growling song filled with alien clicking noises that made Jie's skin crawl as it sailed in an arc above the lake only to crash into the ice and into the dark waters once more. Its impact shattered the ice all around them as the water surged upward, carrying Jie and the ice she ran upon up with it in a wave as freezing water washed over the already-slick surface and Jie's feet.

Jie very nearly lost her footing, but the claws on her webbed toes latched onto the ice by instinct and she kept her balance as she pressed on, running with all she had. The monster's overpowering aura was unrestrained and thrummed in the air like the shadow of death waiting to claim her.

The lake shore was just ahead, but she kept her spirit sense focused on the creature below the ice as whether the shore was a meter away or a light year, it wouldn't matter if she got caught.

She felt it move ahead of and below her, no doubt getting ready to leap through the ice and devour her. She tried to go around it, but it shifted and blocked her path again. The shore was so close now, but there was no getting around the monster. If she wanted to leave this lake, there was no choice but to hope she could evade it one more time.

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She ran toward it, her body coiled and ready for the one instant that would decide her fate.

The ice ahead of her bulged and broke apart as she and it raced toward one another. In that moment, the shore felt so close she could almost taste it and yet it had never seemed so far away.

The ice exploded as the monster launched itself out of the water once again. It loomed ahead of her like a mountain, filling her vision as its claws grasped for her. Its enormous mouth opened wide as its mouth tentacles unfurled yet again, the slick glistening flesh reaching out toward her.

The creature was too massive to jump over even with a boost and so fast that Jie was certain it'd pluck her out of the air and devour her in an instant.

So, Jie did the only thing she could think of and directed two finger of light attacks at the ice just in front of her then jumped into the hole even as superheated steam washed over her. Her qi armor saved her from the worst of it as she dropped through the steam into the freezing water. A massive claw plunged through the ice and Jie boosted off a lightning step platform just in time to avoid the strike.

The passing claw dragged the water along with it, causing Jie to follow in its wake for a moment before she broke free and kept swimming. The nightmarish monster sailed over her as she swam under its many legs. They thrashed like countless massive pickaxes, puncturing the ice and stabbing the water all around Jie.

For a heart-stopping instant, Jie was certain one of the legs would plunge through the water before she could react and impale her upon it, ending her journey. But the creature's size worked to her advantage and as terrifying as it was, Jie was able to evade the many legs as the monster's bulk passed over her.

She was almost to the shore now and boosted off another lightning step platform through where the monster had just breached as a tremendous crash reverberated through the water behind her. The beast gave a deep, angry song that shook Jie's bones and made her ears ring as she burst through the water and hurtled through the air toward the shore.

Jie landed feet first in the snow with a muffled floomf noise as it buried her up to her knees. But, she dared not slow down and continued running, pushing her way through the freezing snow, all too aware of the monster turning back around and rushing toward her.

The ice behind her cracked and blew apart as the enormous monster scrabbled out of the water, its many legs shredding the ice on the lake shore as it crawled out of the lake.

Jie spared a glance back and saw those soulless eyes staring back at her as it raced through the snow, sheets of ice sliding from its armored bulk as freezing, stinking water dripped like rain from its body.

It smashed a tree apart with a casual wave of one claw, reducing it to a cloud of splinters that peppered the surrounding snow as the monster roared.

Jie swallowed hard and turned her gaze ahead of her as she ran with everything she had. Behind her, she heard the crash and snap of trees breaking like toothpicks as the monster chased after her. She was slower without the stinking water to boost her lightning step ability, but the monster was far slower on land and gradually it finally began to fall behind.

The monster appeared to realize it wouldn't catch Jie and Jie's spirit sense screamed of danger as she felt it cycle a mixture of qi and spiritual energy.

Jie took in lungfuls of freezing air as she pushed her already aching meridians to keep cycling lightning step with all she had.

The monster's energies flowed out of its body and formed into swirling orbs of boiling lava that rotated around it at an angle, arching back behind it as they gained speed only to come back around toward Jie, so fast they blurred into a line of angry red death.

They hurtled through the air like comets so fast that the air around them screamed as they curved toward Jie's position.

Jie dived to the side an instant before the first lava orb struck where she'd been. It exploded in a geyser of steam that lifted Jie off her feet and carried her even further forward as droplets of molten lava splattered her qi armor, detonating against her armor and the surroundings in a cascade of smaller explosions.

Just the droplets drained her qi armor alarmingly fast. Jie used her qi armor to repel the rivulets of lava that clung to her with a thought before they could burn through it entirely and eat into her flesh.

Jie's ears rang from the blast, but she barely noticed as her feet struck snow again and she ran with all she had. The tranquil frozen landscape around her erupted in fountains of steam and bubbling lava as a relentless stream of boiling orbs bombarded the area around Jie. Rocks and trees exploded in a shower of debris all around her as liquid fire and steam turned the world into a hellscape.

Heat radiated from the attacks so strongly that sweat dripped from Jie's face as she ran, boosting off lightning step platforms at angles that took her out of the curving paths of the monster's elemental attacks.

The snow around her rippled and churned from the explosions even as steam clung to the air like superheated fog.

Thankfully, although the monster's attacks were devastating, it had extremely poor accuracy. Jie was certain that was the only reason she wasn't already dead as she evaded the relentless, explosive barrage.

Gradually, she pulled further and further ahead, which only seemed to enrage the monster as it shrank in the distance.

The orbs suddenly sped toward Jie faster than before, perhaps fueled by some new insight the monster had gained, or simply out of spiteful rage.

She dived slightly to the side to evade one, boosted off a lightning step platform to evade the second, and tucked her body into as small a target as she could make it in hope of evading the third... but she failed.

The orb of frothing lava struck her back and exploded against her qi armor. The blast sent her tumbling through the air as her qi armor shattered from the force of the impact. Thankfully, it took the worst of the blow but Jie screamed as molten lava burned through the back of her wet suit and her skin.

The air around her filled with the scent of burning meat as the lava burned through her and she flew through the air, trailing smoke and the electric fragments of her qi armor.

Thrown off balance by the blast and distracted by the agonizing pain that seared her back and tail, Jie failed to land on her feet this time and instead fell face-first into the snow.

The freezing cold of the snow came as a welcome relief to the excruciating pain that radiated all along her back even as she plowed through it. But, Jie knew she couldn't afford to give the monster a chance to gain on her. Not when she was so close to escaping.

She gritted her teeth and rolled with her wild momentum as she coaxed it back under her control enough to spring back to her feet and resume running, the flesh of her back still cooking as she did so.

Jie cycled a new qi armor, and made it react to the foreign energy, blasting away lava and sizzling rock as she withdrew a healing pill from her storage ring and shoved it into her mouth between heavy breaths.

Soothing, healing energies flooded her body as the nightmarish monster behind her roared and smashed its claws against the ground. Jie felt through her spirit sense as it stopped running, and stood in place thrashing and unleashing its frustration on its surroundings as Jie finally left it behind.

Yet, she didn't slow down and kept running until she was absolutely certain she'd left it far behind...