The collision seemed inevitable. Ashley nervously looked toward her teacher.
“Hold onto me,” the girl said, her lips moving slightly.
Eh!
Though she didn’t know the reason, she could hear the urgency in the tone—it wasn’t flirting.
But how should she hold on?
From the front or the back? That was the question.
Hugging from behind would be the classic Titanic pose, but given their respective statuses, that would be far too presumptuous. She would surely be made to pay for it later.
Curling up in her teacher’s arms like a little bird dependent on people would mean voluntarily surrendering the initiative, handing over her body to be at her teacher’s mercy…
Her heart pounded like a fawn in her chest, tempted yet terrified.
But she quickly snapped out of it. Was this really the time to be worrying about that?
So, she settled on a compromise—wrapping her arm around the girl’s waist from the side.
Letisia kicked the metal box with her toes. The box automatically split open along the diagonal, and a cross-shaped opening immediately released a cascade of azure glow. The light had a watery texture as it swirled and surged, carrying specks of fluorescent particles that floated upward.
Ashley was slightly startled. She tilted her head to listen closely and faintly perceived sounds beyond human hearing brushing past her eardrums. The discernible parts resembled ethereal, distant flute melodies, refreshing her mind and spirit.
Then, a salamander-shaped gaseous lifeform burst out of the box amid a violent surge of tides, floating and drifting in the air!
Through a layer of blue membrane as solid as substance, she vaguely saw clusters of white veins inside the salamander and swirling vortexes of flowing light one after another—like a dream, like an illusion.
This blue illusory salamander with its long trailing tail shifted and lightly perched on the girl’s back. Its soft, transparent, flattened head gently pressed against her hair, with branched, forked tendrils growing from its lips—illusory and mysterious. Its long tail coiled toward the loli on the side, wrapping around her waist.
Ashley’s eyes widened in surprise as she recognized it: the S-Rank Relic—”Virtual Spirit Veil”!
“It can phase our bodies through the material world, but we’re still affected by gravity. So, we have to time the activation and deactivation down to the millisecond, or we’ll plunge into the earth’s depths,” the girl explained briefly.
“Eh? Won’t we fall into the earth’s core if we keep it on?” A fear of the planet’s core welled up in Ashley’s heart.
At gravitational acceleration, they’d sink five meters into the ground in one second—basically like being buried alive, no pit needed.
A moment’s lapse, and two or three seconds later it’d be dozens of meters deep. They’d need an excavator for rescue…
“Prepare to fire from the starboard side!” Letisia picked up the walkie-talkie and said steadily and forcefully.
At the command, the Hades Train abruptly changed direction, its body whipping sharply. The loli’s small body jolted into the air, but fortunately, she clung tightly to her teacher’s waist and wasn’t flung off.
The girl stood rooted like a nail on the train roof, her back arching with taut tension, like a cheetah lurking in the grass, ready to pounce and kill at any moment!
The train’s head made a slight directional adjustment. The intricate golden patterns in its terrifying single eye writhed and contracted like living things, causing the pupil to dilate suddenly, revealing edges woven from dark golden folds!
In an instant, a deathly black beam erupted from the abyssal eye, stretching a thousand meters in a flash, piercing heaven and earth!
Did it work?
Ashley tensed up mentally, eyes wide open, but she saw a purple regular hexagonal lens materialize out of thin air in front of the [Nether Queen]!
The black beam sank into it, yet nothing happened on the back side of the lens!
Where had that massive energy torrent gone? Ashley’s heart leaped to her throat.
“Hard to port!” Letisia suddenly shouted into the walkie-talkie!
No sooner had the words left her mouth than another lens appeared in the distance!
Buzz—!
The deathly black beam shot out like a sword unsheathed, slashing across heaven and earth in a single sweep!
The piercing shriek that reverberated through the sky nearly tore her eardrums. Ashley’s scalp went numb, followed by a violent jolt from underfoot!
Though the Hades Train had dodged in time and was only grazed, in the next moment, the [Nether Queen] was upon them!
Its house-sized maw was complex and three-dimensional, like a plump, vibrant rose blooming in layers—then it lunged downward and clamped onto the [Nether King]’s neck!
The earth shattered like mountains collapsing, thunder rumbling!
The two mountain-ridge-like giant millipede beasts writhed and coiled on the ground, gripping each other with their segments, scraping and slicing, sparks flying brilliantly!
At that moment, the girl—who was utterly insignificant compared to the two colossal creatures—vanished from her spot! In the next instant, she was darting across the Hades Train’s roof at high speed, the Blue-Haired Loli hanging from her waist like a little handbag.
The speed was too fast; wind forced Ashley’s eyes shut. Her ears rang with deafening clashes of metal, as if a horde of giants were battling with sword-axes as long as utility poles!
Though the commotion was terrifying, she felt utter peace. She just held onto her teacher’s slender waist, feeling the solid, taut waistline and the round, tense thighs—the vital tension and elastic touch of the muscles flexing with each step.
How fit, how wonderful. Compared to the loli’s soft, squishy body, it felt completely different. Hehe, Teacher is my Stand user~
With both arms around her waist, Ashley fluttered like a carp banner. The [Nether King]’s undulating carapace shell receded in her vision. Her small leather shoes, intermittently visible, harmonized with the girl’s black-stockinged delicate arches—like black-lacquered nails tapping on a piano, striking beautiful notes.
Ashley freed one hand, pointing distantly toward the ground, as if to grasp those slender feet flickering at her fingertips…
Suddenly, the ground extended to its end!
The girl leaped high into the air!
Ashley’s pupils contracted sharply. Below was the [Nether Queen]’s massive, hideous, flower-petal maw like a cement mixer!
In the next instant, she saw their bodies rapidly phasing, instantly sinking into a dark purple mucous membrane, gem-like glistening muscles, and fibrous connective tissues!
In a mere half-second, they rematerialized, and their surroundings opened up like parting clouds to reveal a cubic flesh cavity!
The girl landed and pivoted seamlessly, dashing forward!
Ashley realized they were racing along the millipede’s segmented body. The flesh ahead parted continuously, compressing into solid planes covered in bizarre, twisted patterns, forming a corridor of flesh!
“Record my ability and fill the magazine!” Letisia commanded.
“Got it, dear!”
The girl was amused and exasperated by the form of address, frowning slightly.
“The [Lord of Insects]’s body is filled with tissues infused by extraordinary power. Even with my ability, I can’t stroll through leisurely. Once my power is depleted, it’s your turn to take over!”
“Got it, dear!”
Ashley emptied her magazine and gradually loaded six rounds of “Time Sequence Heterostructure.”
The flesh corridor seemed to stretch infinitely before them. After an unknown time, the view suddenly cleared! A room appeared—not one opened by her ability, but one that had long existed!
What met their eyes were purple veins of varying thicknesses, slick and moist, converging from the four walls toward the center. They connected not to a heart, but to an egg sac formed by clusters of plump, crystalline columnar flesh!
The massive egg sac resembled a baby’s cradle, with a plump, round insect egg nestled inside!
The egg was at least a meter long, its membrane tender and pierceable. Inside, abundant juices filled it, and a snow-purple bicolor living mass pulsed rhythmically, stimulating the eyes.
Puff!
As if sensing danger, it decided to hatch early!
Its head shell arched through the eggshell membrane, its body surging out amid the slick fluids.
Composed of varying shades of purple, snow-green, and lilac, its magnificent semi-elliptical compound eyes; a transparent skull resembling a human cranium; and hook-like sharp mouthparts naturally formed polished surfaces like gemstone facets. One could clearly see the brain-like gyri and sulci inside the shell, the clear spinal fluid, and the nerve fibers intertwining gracefully and extending downward…
Looking further down, the pharynx connected to a slender, snow-white neck!
Ashley’s scalp went numb in an instant. What… what the hell was this thing?!
At that moment, the eggshell membrane tore completely. Like a cold nether moon on a single string, it descended into the world from ominous thick clouds!
Its amethyst shell wound and intertwined like a gown, lightly draping its snow-tender, soft little body.
The insect-shell gown was deeply embedded in its tissues, as if part of the body itself.
This also made it like a transparent window, allowing a direct view of the loli’s organs and skeletal structure inside—utterly alien to humans yet complex and beautiful.
Its legs were slender and graceful, its skin blindingly white, no less than any human woman’s. But below the ankles, they heteromorphized into deep purple crystalline insect legs, extending into high-heeled shapes with sharp, gripping toes.
Along the Bug Lolita’s outer contours, from shoulders to ankles, evenly spaced barbed legs extended—about a foot long, crystalline and translucent, deep purple at the tips, seemingly venomous.
Whether birthed by the [Nether Queen] or the [Nether Queen] itself, the Bug Lolita exuded a captivating, unique aura—ancient and distant yet newborn-fresh, innocently pure yet bewitchingly uncanny.
Crack…
With a light sound, the lower half of the Bug Lolita’s head shell split evenly, revealing a chin as white as soft snow and lips tender and dripping. Its mouthparts extended from the temples downward, framing its little face. A nimble, tender little tongue teased its pearly white teeth.
