After Sam Li mentioned that Soldier 11 was in trouble, Belle initially thought he might have misjudged it—until the next second, when Fairy's message came through.
There was no time to think.
Belle quickly said, "Sam Li, a Notoriety Ethereal has appeared where Soldier 11 is! We have to hurry and help them!"
Nicole, Billy, Anby, and Nekomata hadn't yet recovered their strength.
The only one able to fight was Soldier 11. Facing a fully formed Notoriety Ethereal alone would be far too difficult.
If they arrived too late,
Soldier 11 and the others would be in serious danger.
"Just like when we came, you carry Eous, and I'll guide the way."
Belle knew Sam Li was fast.
It had only taken a few minutes to get there the first time, and now they could make it back just as quickly. She knew Soldier 11 would struggle to hold out that long, but this was already the best they could manage.
After hearing Belle's words,
Sam Li didn't immediately move. Instead, he turned and looked toward the Abandoned Skyscraper.
The straight-line distance was only a few kilometers—
Sam Li had plenty of ways to get there.
After a brief moment of thought,
Sam Li raised his hand and pointed forward.
In the name of the Geo Archon, he commanded the Geo elements of the earth to gather and form a Rock Ridge.
"Shake the heavens and earth—"
the ground beneath Sam Li's feet began to tremble, as if something was about to burst forth.
Belle jumped in shock. "Sam Li, what are you doing? If we don't hurry, how are we supposed to save Soldier 11 and Nicole?"
Sam Li said calmly, "Don't worry. I have a faster method."
As he finished speaking,
he withdrew his right hand.
The earth shook violently, and a golden, square rock pillar about a meter wide and several meters tall suddenly burst from the ground,
appearing right in front of Eous.
Belle gasped in shock.
If Eous's mechanical components weren't damaged, he would have jumped up in fright.
"Where did it come from?"
Belle stared wide-eyed at the pillar.
She saw golden patterns and ancient markings, the surface pristine despite bursting from underground, clearly made of something incredibly durable.
Belle turned to Sam Li, stunned. "Did you make this? What are you planning?"
Sam Li stepped forward and stood before the Rock Ridge. "It's simple. We're going to ride it over."
Belle blinked in confusion. "What? Ride it over???"
No matter how she racked her brain,
she couldn't figure out how a rock pillar could help them cross several kilometers.
To her, Sam Li was a complete mystery.
Before Belle could make sense of anything,
Sam Li had already stepped forward, grabbed the massive Rock Ridge with both hands, and lifted it.
Belle was speechless: "????"
Seeing Sam Li's strange action,
she still couldn't guess what he was planning.
Sam Li weighed the Rock Ridge in his hands.
As expected of condensed Geo—it was several times heavier than the train from earlier.
Sam Li held the Rock Ridge with one hand while bracing its bottom with the other, then with a sudden force—
hurled it toward the Abandoned Skyscraper.
Belle gaped in disbelief: "!!!!"
The stone pillar just… flew out like that?!
Before she could react,
Sam Li grabbed Eous from the ground and leapt high into the air, landing precisely on the flying Rock Ridge.
Through Eous's vision,
Belle looked down from midair, seeing a far wider view of the earth.
she finally understood what Sam Li intended.
could someone explain to her how this was even possible?
No, no—more like a flying pillar.
It was just like the legendary sword-riding scenes in ancient fantasy films, except now it had become real, completely shattering Belle's understanding of the world.
her mind was filled with one thought:
Was Sam Li even human?
How could a mere mortal accomplish such a feat?
And it wasn't just Belle—
at the video store on Sixth Street,
Wise had been monitoring the screen, helping Belle with various tasks.
the screen flickered.
In the blink of an eye, the scene changed from ruins to endless sky.
It happened so abruptly.
Wise panicked and called out, "Belle, can you hear me? What's going on? Why did the image change so fast?"
Belle's voice came through the communicator: "Brother, I don't know either. I'm flying… really fast…"
Wise immediately asked, "What's happening? Fairy, locate Belle's exact position!"
Fairy's voice chimed in, "Detecting... Detection successful. Detected that Owner No. 1 is moving at high speed, comparable to an airplane. We can call her Flying Belle."
Wise didn't have time to joke with Fairy.
He stared seriously at the screen, his eyes full of confusion.
What the hell was going on?
What exactly had Sam Li done to his sister?
As Sam Li and Belle rode the Rock Ridge across several kilometers toward the Abandoned Skyscraper,
a fierce battle raged on the plaza in front of the building.
Soldier 11 used her agile movements to close in on the Notoriety Ethereal and slashed with a flaming blade at just the right moment.
The flames burned the Ethereal's arm,
but the damage was minimal.
The Notoriety Ethereal didn't even care about the wound.
It swept its massive arm forward, sending Soldier 11 flying more than ten meters away.
The huge impact threw Soldier 11 off balance,
and after staggering back a few steps, she fell to the ground.
The flames on her blade extinguished.
an exhausted Soldier 11 couldn't hope to match the Notoriety Ethereal.
She quickly tried to change strategies,
hoping to bait the Ethereal into attacking first, then block and counterattack to inflict heavy damage.
but the fully formed Notoriety Ethereal was much smarter than the half-finished one they had faced before.
Seeing Soldier 11 retreating,
the Ethereal suddenly shifted its target and charged toward Nicole, Billy, and the others.
Soldier 11's heart sank.
She had no choice but to dash forward, engaging the Notoriety Ethereal in close combat, forcibly dragging its attention back.
"I'll hold it off! You guys run—get as far away as you can!"