<h4>Volume 8 - Higanbana: Chapter 33 – Ethereal</h4>


    The Big Dipper Arch-demon loomed before her. Despite the noticeable improvement in her strength and the constant purification of her spirit energy, Lily knew that it was only a quantitative change. Without a qualitative leap, she was still far from being able to challenge a foe as powerful as the Big Dipper Arch-demon.


    Unless the arch-demon was already seriously injured, she could not defeat even the weakest of the big dipper realm, an existence at least ten times stronger than a pinnacle saint.


    Despite Lily’s advancement beyond the pinnacle saint realm, the disparity between her and the big dipper realm remained vast, with no substantial change even as her strength continued to increase.


    Even though Lily had indulged in the pleasure of ughter, she remained alert and focused when confronted with a Big Dipper Arch-demon.


    “Run!”


    <i>Crunch!</i> A demon that had been chopped in half reached out with a big hand and grabbed onto Lily’s leg.


    “What!?” Startled, Lily instinctively shed out, ending the demon’s life.


    A burst of extremely violent aura red up at that moment. The big dipper arch-demon with its blue-ck body and three long luminous horns emanated a dazzling light from its eyes. The joints of its boulder-like fist were adorned with powerful runes that shone brightly.


    “Oh no, this is bad!” eximed Lily as she quickly jumped up. With a swift <i>whoosh</i>, she barely managed to evade the giant fist of the blue-ck big dipper arch-demon. The punch was so powerful that it impacted against the mountain of corpses, sending flesh and blood flying in all directions. Lily’s hair was pping in the wind due to the violent shockwave. Although it was still strong enough to cause damage, Lily wasn’t injured. She found a foothold on the shockwave and used it to jump even further away.


    The big dipper demon was surprised. Despite its massive size, its punching speed was still faster than that of a saint arch-demon, so how could a female samurai in the saint realm dodge its attack? In reality, the speed of its punches wasn’t necessarily faster than a saint realm expert, but its body was sorge that its reach was over a hundred meters, making it appear as if the punches were lightning-fast.


    Dodging without the use of purple lunar force, Lily’s body technique had reached a high enough level to evade attacks from a big dipper realm opponent. The demon attempted to grab her with its other hand, but Lily countered with a swift kick that sent a wave of sakura blossoms towards it. Her mastery of the misty stage body technique allowed for precise and rapid movements in any direction, even when facing the intense gravity of Yomi Hirazaka. Her downward and horizontal movements were faster in this realm than they would be in the mortal world.


    Lily had achieved a state of perception where she perceived her surroundings as a cohesive whole, allowing her to exploit every advantageous and disadvantageous circumstance to her benefit. Her body turned into a blur, slipping through the giant ws before vanishing and reappearing at the waist of the big dipper demon. She hurled a crystalline ribbon, ensnaring the demon’s arm, and swung under to reach the demon’s back.


    Lily’s sword shed down on the mountainous back of the demon with purple lunar force imbued on it, leaving a visible de mark. However, the wound was shallowpared to the size of the demon, and Lily observed the muscles around the de mark quiver before quickly healing. This demon possessed not only the power of the big dipper realm but also the demon god physique, granting it an incredibly strong life force that could sustain even a beheading. Even with Lily’s power, it would be challenging to inflict a significant injury on the demon, even if she exhausted her purple lunar force.


    The demon swung its arm in a reverse motion andunched another punch, but Lily dropped down to dodge it. Its continuous failed attempts to hit her only served to further enrage the demon, who then let out a mountain-shaking roar and beganunching a flurry of w attacks at her. Despite the overwhelming assault, Lily’s evasive maneuvers were incredibly precise and graceful. She floated in the air, surrounded by a crimson glow and sakura petals, evading each attack with godlike grace. Although the demon’s power was immense, it was futile if he couldn’tnd a hit on her.


    Lily managed to dodge a few more attacks before she saw an opportunity to escape. She leaped down into the valley and ran away, but she quickly realized that without the purple lunar force, she couldn’t outrun the demon’s full strides. The demon chased after her, throwing punches and kicks, but its gigantic and cumbersome body made it easy for Lily to evade its blows. Suddenly, eldritch light emerged from above the demon’s horn and rained down on Lily, creating numerous craters, but she managed to dodge them all


    ¹.


    The demon seethed with rage and refused to relent in pursuit of Lily. Despite her inability to escapepletely, the demon remained unable to strike her with a single blow. Suddenly, Lily’s form glowed with a brilliant purple, her speed surging and pulling her away from the demon. However, after covering a few miles, Lily ceased her use of the purple lunar force and was quickly surrounded by another group of demons. Before long, the big dipper arch-demon had caught up to her once again.


    “There’s no end to this!” Lily gasped for breath, her sweat-drenched body trembling with exhaustion. Her physical condition was deteriorating quickly. She gazed down at her own body with despair, “This curse is too vicious!”


    Even if she used the purple lunar force to flee from the big dipper arch-demon, Lily knew that the curse’s fluctuations would inevitably lure the demon back to her. She had to be careful with how she used her limited supply of the purple lunar force since she couldn’t regenerate it in this situation. Lily struggled to evade the big dipper arch-demon while also fighting off the other demons that had been lured in, leaving her with very little leeway.


    As the big dipper arch-demon’s enormous fist mmed towards her, Lily swiftly dodged and soared into the air, narrowly avoiding the devastating blow. The impact of the attack was so powerful that it crushed several saint arch-demons into a pulpy mess. Without wasting any time, Lily quickly flung out her crystalline ribbon and swung behind the demon’s back, gathering anima for her next move.


    “Hmph, you really think you can block my way?” Lily smirked, no longer evading the packed areas of demons but instead running towards them, luring the big dipper arch-demon to punch or stomp, taking out many saint and monarch realmed arch-demons in the process. The remaining arch-demons in the area quickly fled as Lily’s strategy proved too much for them to handle.


    “Running away won’t save you!” Lily shouted as she chased after the fleeing monsters. With her speed surpassing most of her opponents, she made a beeline for the densest groups, leaving the big dipper arch-demon to wreak havoc on the monsters as it chased after her. Despite her prowess in battle, Lily couldn’t help but acknowledge that the big dipper arch-demon was much more efficient at ughtering the other demons.


    Now, Lily no longer needed to exert herself to kill these monsters. She only had to run and dodge, gathering anima as she went. The more demons she passed, the more anima she could collect


    ².


    The big-dipper arch-demon was filled with fury, refusing to stop and feast on the other demons. Lily’s ability to evade its attacks and counterstrike had only fueled its anger.


    Lily eximed in amazement, “Gathering anima has be so much faster with his rampage!” The spiritual energy in her spirit sea shimmered as the glowing halo grew brighter and more gorgeous with each passing moment, fueled by the anima she was collecting


    ³.


    A sudden surge of formidable energy caught Lily off guard from the front. She quickly reacted, utilizing her purple lunar force to halt midair and transform into a crimson phantom to evade the attack. A lizard demon, just a few meters long, emerged, emanating a menacing aura. It was another big dipper arch-demon! This was the first big dipper arch-demon Lily had encountered.


    “This is bad!”


    Between the two big dipper arch-demons, Lily found herself trapped. One was a mountainous demon, towering over her with brute strength and an imposing presence. The other, a small lizard with ck scales and golden eyes, exuded a deadly aura with its countless spikes and sharp teeth.


    Lily hoped that the two demons would engage in a fight with each other, but they were both intelligent and knew better than to underestimate the other. Despite their differences in size, both demons possessed enough power to cause serious harm to each other, so they were cautious in their approach.


    The ck lizard demon dashed towards Lily at lightning speed, creating a whooshing sound.


    “Too fast!” Lily’s face paled as she realized the lizard archdemon was much faster than the hundred-meter-tall giant. Only by activating her purple lunar force was she able to dodge the attack in the nick of time.


    However, as the lizard passed her, the giant arch-demon aimed a boulder-like fist at her from behind. The two demons were working together to take her down, and cold sweat started to bead on Lily’s back. She turned into a phantom and dodged the punch, then rushed towards the chest of the giant demon. Running seemed to be her only option at this point.


    Suddenly, she felt a smelly and scorching winding from behind.


    “Good lord!” she eximed, quickly moving to the side to avoid the crashing lizard arch-demon.


    “This lizard is actually faster than my purple lunar force?” Lily was amazed at how fast the demon was. With her body cursed, she wondered if she could ever escape the lizard demon.


    “What now?” She could barely evade the attacks of the two big dipper arch-demons, but their rough cooperation left gaps that she could take advantage of. However, she knew she would eventually run out of energy!


    “So be it…” Lily’s eyes glimmered with a ruthless determination. The curse continued to pulse, attracting more demons to their location. Knowing she couldn’t escape, Lily only activated her purple lunar force at critical moments to dodge the attacks. Her fluctuating movements confused the two big dipper arch-demons, giving her an advantage.


    She purposely dashed towards arge group of demons, using the chaos to her advantage. The other demons were slower, making it easier for Lily to move and use them as shields. However, the fate of these demons was grim. They were either bitten through, devoured, stomped on, or sent flying by the two big dipper arch-demons.


    Lily was walking a thin line between survival and death. Her movements were precise and graceful, but as she repeatedly dashed into crowds of attacking demons, it was impossible to avoid making mistakes.


    <i>Boom!</i> Lily was sent tumbling to the ground amidst a group of demons as a Throned Monarch demon with a diminutive stature managed to strike her thigh with a meteor hammer. <h4>References</h4>


    Robinxen: These battles are always hard to keep track of and edit, kudos to trantors.


    Silva: savageeee.


    Robinxen: Ah the ssic exp farm.