Chapter 27: The Maiden’s Gambit

Damn it!

A sense of foreboding washed over Qin Jinxuan.

A gigantic steel hand slammed down. The maiden had no time to think, rolling forward on the spot, slipping out from beneath the Ghostblade X-7’s legs, barely evading the strike.

She quickly rose, retreating a few steps, her gaze fixed on the enemy, observing its next move.

‘This situation had become rather troublesome.’

Reality had already shown her that if she didn’t strike the enemy’s weak point, she couldn’t even breach its defenses.

Yet, attacking its head—its vulnerability—was beyond her reach through conventional means.

Now she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

As her thoughts raced, the massive blade descended once more.

Qin Jinxuan lightly tapped her toes, taking a small sidestep, gracefully dodging the attack.

Her movements were noticeably more fluid than before.

Perhaps, even she herself hadn’t realized it yet—

Her combat intuition was rapidly sharpening.

She was now capable of observing the shifting situation, taking action, and simultaneously formulating countermeasures with a calm mind.

Faced with the hulking metal behemoth before her, Qin Jinxuan had provisionally conceived two potential solutions to break the stalemate:

The first was to emulate Lidoa: leap up, plunge her sword into its ‘brain,’ and bring the battle to a perfect close.

The problem, however, lay in her own uncertainty about whether she could execute such a complex attack in a single fluid motion.

Should she jump too low or too high, or even misplace her thrust, the enemy would, in all likelihood, grant her no second chance.

The second option involved exploring a possibility: perhaps her Etheric Energy could also enable long-range attacks.

If she could indeed unleash ‘sword qi’ like the legendary sword immortals in novels, then she would simply slice off the robot’s head with it.

With this thought, Qin Jinxuan quickly made up her mind to wager on the second plan first.

The reason was simple: this approach carried no significant risk; even if it failed, she would merely confirm her inability to perform ranged attacks.

‘But… how was she supposed to unleash sword qi?’

She glanced at the pale blue ice sword clutched in her hand, utterly clueless.

Swish!

Another cold glint cleaved heavily towards the maiden, yet she was already prepared, sliding to the right to effortlessly evade the assault.

In the very instant of her dodge, Cheng Lan’s katana, hanging at his waist, inadvertently entered her field of vision.

Huh?

A flash of inspiration struck Qin Jinxuan!

‘Could it be that her ice sword also required an infusion of Etheric Energy to unleash a ranged attack?’

To think was to act!

Qin Jinxuan immediately focused her mind, channeling her Etheric Energy into the ice sword.

Before long, wisps of frigid air began to emanate from the blade, coalescing into tiny ice crystals in the surrounding air.

The maiden’s eyes lit up; it actually worked!

‘Then, more power!’

Without hesitation, she promptly channeled even more Etheric Energy into the ice sword.

As the energy flowed incessantly, the pale blue blade grew increasingly translucent and clear.

Then, a dazzling blue light flashed, and the previously light blue ice sword instantly transformed into a deep indigo.

A thick layer of solid ice crystallized around its slender body, swirling with frigid mist, as countless tiny ice crystals continuously burst forth from its edge.

Meanwhile, Cheng Lan’s eyes widened in disbelief as he watched Qin Jinxuan produce what appeared to be an enhanced ice sword.

‘Unbelievable!’

‘No, how did she figure out that her Etheric Energy could be used for ranged attacks?’

‘He had never told her that…’

Cheng Lan scratched his head in bewilderment.

He had assumed Qin Jinxuan would resolve the battle in a simple, brutal fashion—by impaling the robot’s head with a single sword thrust—as that had been her fighting style in her previous life.

‘There was no problem that couldn’t be solved with a single sword strike.’

‘If there was, another strike would silence the one who raised it.’

Who would have thought that this life’s Qin Jinxuan seemed to have learned how to ‘kite’ (TL Note: A gaming term referring to maintaining distance from an enemy while attacking, often by slowing them down or speeding oneself up.)?

A peculiar regret stirred in Cheng Lan’s heart—had he known this, he would have simply taken care of the robot himself earlier.

Now, not only had Qin Jinxuan’s combat intuition been honed, but her Etheric Energy abilities had also been developed alongside it.

This girl’s growth rate seemed to be far exceeding his expectations.

‘Alas, what’s done is done.’

‘Since things have come to this, he might as well enjoy the show.’

Observing the transformation of the ice sword in her hand, a flicker of surprise first crossed Qin Jinxuan’s eyes, swiftly followed by a surge of delight, culminating in a confident smile gracing her face.

‘Hmph hmph~’

‘She hadn’t been wrong after all!’

She had a strong premonition that her next strike would unleash the fabled ‘sword qi.’

‘Cheng Lan was truly exasperating; wouldn’t it have been better to just tell her directly that her Etheric Energy could be used for ranged attacks, instead of being so cryptic?’

However, a new conundrum now plagued her.

‘How was she supposed to unleash this sword qi?’

‘The sword qi in novels and anime seemed to be conjured by slashing, but all she knew how to do was thrust.’

Qin Jinxuan pondered as she hopped back a few steps, once again evading the attack.

‘Never mind! She would simply follow her intuition here!’

Her gaze sharpened, her wrist flicked, and the ice sword was abruptly swung upwards—

Swoosh!

The solid ice clinging to the sword instantly transformed into a crescent of pale blue sword qi, shooting towards Ghostblade X-7.

Where the sword qi passed, it seemed to freeze the very air, leaving a shimmering trail of frost on the ground.

Just as the sword qi was about to strike the robot—

Pop!

The sword qi suddenly exploded, dissolving into scattered ice crystals and vanishing.

‘……’

Qin Jinxuan stared blankly at the frost trail on the ground, which extended for only about two meters, a twitch playing at the corner of her lips.

‘Why was her sword qi’s range so incredibly short, too!!!’

“Hahahahahahahahaha!”

From afar, Cheng Lan witnessed the scene, laughing so hard that he swayed precariously, almost losing his footing.

Hearing Cheng Lan’s undisguised mockery, the maiden’s fair cheeks flushed a vivid crimson, even her earlobes tinged with pink.

‘Was…was it really that funny!!!’

‘She muttered indignantly to herself, tightening her grip on the ice sword before glaring fiercely at the robot before her.’

‘This is all because of you!’

In a fit of pique, Qin Jinxuan once again channeled Etheric Energy into her ice sword, and biting frost crystallized anew upon its edge.

The Etheric Energy within her was only enough to sustain this final burst of sword qi; she had to decide the outcome in a single move.

Simultaneously, Ghostblade X-7 positioned its long blade by its side, its mechanical joints emitting a low hum as it entered a charging state.

It, too, was preparing for a full-power strike.

Boom!

Both girl and machine charged towards each other simultaneously, their heavy steps creating dull thuds on the steel ground.

Qin Jinxuan had been evading for too long; in this final confrontation, she refused to retreat any further!

As the colossal mechanical shadow loomed ever closer before her, she inexplicably recalled the spider she had killed with her own hands earlier.

“In this world, do not spare any creature that holds hostility towards you.

Otherwise, you will die a miserable death.”

Cheng Lan’s words echoed in her ears once more.

Since her opponent sought to kill her, she had to kill it first.

Qin Jinxuan seemed to enter the same state she had been in when she killed the spider that day; every muscle, every thought in her body, moved with a singular purpose: to slay the enemy!

The gleaming great blade descended directly towards her, but Qin Jinxuan did not dodge.

Instead, she countered with an upward slash—

The pale blue sword qi barely grazed the colossal blade, cleaving straight towards the camera-like head.

Pop!

The sword qi struck the head with precision, exploding into a dissipating mist of cold.

But…

Ghostblade X-7’s head remained perfectly intact, its infrared light still blinking.

‘It’s over…’

Staring at the massive blade mere inches away, the maiden instinctively wanted to close her eyes and embrace her fate.

But in the next second, she suddenly felt as though the colossal blade’s speed had slowed… Was it an illusion born from an adrenaline surge?

‘No! It wasn’t an illusion!’

A thin layer of frost had crystallized on Ghostblade X-7’s surface, and it, too, seemed to have frozen stiff, its movements becoming incredibly sluggish.

‘This, perhaps… was the effect of that earlier sword qi!’

Qin Jinxuan immediately took a deep breath, pointing her sword tip directly at the infrared sensor on Ghostblade X-7’s head.

She leaped forward, immediately followed by a brilliant azure gleam slicing through the air.

The ice sword firmly impaled itself into the ‘camera.’

Accompanied by a grating electrical hum, the blinking red light slowly extinguished.