The opponent's moves were becoming clearer and more distinct in her eyes.
After being forced back another dozen meters and sustaining several more wounds, Uno, who was fighting against the Seventh and Ninth Division soldiers in the distance, seemed to sense that she was injured. His originally vast and surging inner power instantly turned violent, wanting to end his fight quickly and return to her side.
Elara used the sacred blood within her to calm Uno down, forcibly ordering him to focus on the battle and ignore her for now.
Just as Division Fifteen charged at her again, Elara suddenly raised her hand and scattered a dense, fog-like powder.
This powder was one of the life-saving tools Oswyn had prepared for her. Not only was it poisonous, but once it came into contact with air, it quickly vaporized, turning the surroundings into a foggy barrier invisible to the naked eye.
It didn't just obscure vision, but also dulled and weakened the enemy's five senses.
As expected, having just experienced her unexpected counterattack, Division Fifteen had already driven Elara to the brink of death.
But the moment he sensed that the fog wasn't just unnaturally thick but also laced with poison, he immediately pulled back his assault.
He returned to a treetop, took out an antidote pill and swallowed it, while heightening his senses and staying alert to his surroundings.
"Snake-controlling techniques, poison use, hidden weapons, martial arts and internal energy all among the best on the continent.
Your cultivation method is also very unusual... Yet my Blood Robe Pavilion has never heard of a lady like you appearing in the world."
"But, barging into my Blood Robe Pavilion in the middle of the night to rescue a Thousand Faces Sect remnant — if word spreads, no matter which power you come from, you'll definitely be hunted by all the forces on the continent, or even be labeled as part of the Thousand Faces Sect yourself."
"When that happens, you'll truly be the target of many.
So I hope you've thought this through and return the remnant while you still can."
Noticing that the dense fog could not only block vision but even suppress the five senses, Division Fifteen finally opened his mouth.
His voice, low and hoarse from rarely speaking, carried a rhythm that tried to lure Elara into replying and revealing her position.
But how could Elara fall for it?
Everything Division Fifteen had said, she had already thought through long before agreeing to help Emory.
She had even come up with countless solutions for the consequences.
There was no way she'd care about the threats in his words now.
The white fog fell into silence.
Elara didn't move, and neither did Division Fifteen.
As time passed, and all Division Fifteen could hear was his own breathing, he began to suspect that Elara had already fled.
Just then, his brows suddenly twitched.
He looked down sharply at his hands, which had suddenly gone weak.
Shock appeared in his eyes once more.
His internal energy was dropping rapidly!
"What kind of poison is this?!"
Even the rare antidote treasured by Blood Robe Pavilion, known to counter all poisons, was useless!
Elara, still hiding herself within the fog, made no sound.
She simply continued to count the time Division Fifteen had remained inside the poisonous mist.
Of course, poison from the Divine Healer Valley wasn't something other factions could easily neutralize.
Even though Oswyn had already healed her body, he still felt she was "too delicate."
He believed she'd need stronger methods to delay enemies during escape.
So all the life-saving poisons in her medicine pouch had been infused with his medical knowledge.
He even sent a message to Divine Healer Valley, asking his two senior brothers who specialized in poisons to make them personally.
Elara had just been waiting motionlessly in the white mist because she wanted Number Fifteen to inhale enough of the poisonous fog until the toxins took effect.
Unfortunately, just as he noticed that the poison in the mist couldn't be neutralized, Number Fifteen immediately darted out of the mist into a safer area while holding his breath.
But the medicine Oswyn gave Elara was called a top-tier life-saving pill exactly because even a small trace could greatly delay the opponent and buy time.
Even though Number Fifteen only stayed in the mist for a short time and had taken an antidote, which couldn't completely counteract the poison, it still had some effect.
However, his elemental inner energy was still suppressed by the toxic fog.
Especially when he activated his internal energy to quickly escape the mist, the surge of power accelerated his blood circulation, causing the mist poison he had inhaled to spread even faster throughout his body.
Just a quarter of an hour later, Number Fifteen personally felt all aspects of his inner strength being noticeably weakened.
His originally powerful skills were gradually suppressed from full power to ninety percent, then eighty, then seventy percent.
Once it hit seventy percent, it seemed that the poison's suppressive effect reached its limit and could not continue reducing further.
At this point, Number Fifteen had already left the white mist, but he was both shocked and angry at his strength being suddenly reduced by thirty percent.
Still, even with only seventy percent of his strength left, Number Fifteen's power could still rival ranks twenty-three to twenty-five on the Blood Robe Tower's Heaven List. In every way, he was still faster and stronger than Elara.
But that was already enough.
Elara, who had prepared herself while still in the white mist, struck the moment Number Fifteen rushed out and his strength was at its lowest.
She held her dagger and longsword, attacking with even more speed and force than before.
All the injuries on her body and the inner energy she had used up had been quickly restored after taking Oswyn's pill.
The sharp, refined dagger was filled with inner energy, like a weapon possessed by magic, stabbing toward Number Fifteen's left chest like lightning.
Number Fifteen dodged instantly and blocked the attack, still managing to counterattack with his own dagger.
But his speed and strength were clearly not what they were before.
He could no longer exert the same kind of oppressive force on Elara as he had earlier.
As soon as her dagger was blocked, Elara drew her longsword to block his counterattack.
At the same time, she activated the hidden weapon mechanism on her earlobe again, and a swarm of fine silver needles shot toward Number Fifteen's face and body at a speed barely visible to the naked eye.
Number Fifteen had no chance to counterattack and could only swing his dagger to block with full force.
He still had more power than Elara, but without being able to suppress her anymore, her counterattacks and the endless stream of attacks left him overwhelmed and on the defensive.
In addition to the silver needles that shot out from her body now and then, a swarm of venomous snakes and poisonous creatures began to gather around Number Fifteen again.
He had thought Elara only knew how to control snakes, but now seeing all kinds of poisonous creatures surrounding him, his confidence dropped to rock bottom again.
He finally began to understand why this unknown woman dared to break into the Blood Robe Tower at night and take away a prisoner wanted by so many powerful forces on the continent.