Next Life – Chapter 185

“Be stronger next time we meet.”

Auraniess said, then left. Iris and Sophia watched her back with frustration. They clearly hadn’t been serious, and felt they had been let off easy.

“What do we do? She might come back,” Iris asked Sophia. She really didn’t want to, but she’d just realized that Auraniess was not someone she could handle alone. It was a decision made with much reluctance, but Sophia didn’t ignore her and replied.

“Shall we run? As far away as she doesn’t know. It’s intolerable for our final battle to be interrupted by someone like her.”

“I agree.”

They nodded at each other and quickly left the area. After a short break, they crossed three continents.

“Are we safe here?”

Sophia did not agree with Iris’s statement.

“No, let’s put more distance between us and observe. If we start fighting, she might sense us given how strong she is.”

“It’s troublesome, but unavoidable.”

Iris clicked her tongue but accepted Sophia’s reasoning. The notion that stronger individuals possessed superior sensory abilities had already taken root by this time. They further distanced themselves from the location where they encountered Auraniess and hid on a continent. They spoke very little during this time, which was understandable given they were on the verge of killing each other. If not for the unreasonable interruption by the overwhelming presence of Auraniess, they would still be fighting. Or perhaps, they would have already reached a conclusion.

“I’m hungry. I’m going to get something.”

Iris suddenly said, emerging from the cave where they were hiding. Unlike Sophia, who could go for hundreds of years without eating or drinking, Iris needed to eat and drink regularly.

Just as Sophia let her go, thinking it was fine for her to get food, Iris’s scream echoed.

“Im-impossible!”

Sophia, wondering what could surprise the Iris she knew, went outside and found Auraniess standing there.

“Yo. Found you.”

She grinned at Iris and Sophia, who saw her as nothing but a nightmare.

“How did you know where we were?”

“Intuition.”

An utterly unreasonable answer came in response to Iris’s question.

“You’re joking, finding us on a hunch?”

Sophia spat out, clearly displeased.

“Believe it or not, it doesn’t matter. But it’s for your own good if you don’t try to escape from me again.”

Auraniess said with a displeased expression. It was her own form of kindness, but how it was received was a different matter.

“Shut up!”

Iris attacked, forcing Sophia to step in to support her. One-on-one, they would probably be no match for her. And Iris was hungry, which made it worse. Auraniess casually dodged Iris’s straight punch, then casually blocked her low kick before punching her away.

“Hmph.”

Sophia found it hard to even land a hit, yet Auraniess did it so easily. Seeing this forced them to confront the difference in their strength, but they still fought without running. In this fight, she just punched them.

“It seems like just punching you is useless. It’s Wrecking from the start.”

Auraniess explained with great delight, which greatly angered Sophia. However, Auraniess soon looked puzzled and tilted her head.

“You two feel weaker than last time. Are you perhaps exhausted?”

Sophia clicked her tongue, wondering how she knew after just one punch.

“What a drag. I’m going home for today.”

Auraniess pouted and quickly left.

“Wh-what the heck was that woman…?”

Sophia wholeheartedly agreed with Iris’s voice, full of anger.

“It’s as if she just came to warn us that running is futile.”

“She’s a woman who never ceases to be ridiculous.”

Iris said with frustration.

“…You’re not going to back down like this, are you?”

Sophia’s voice was low and filled with a dangerous aura as she asked Iris.

“No. But what should we do? Do you have any ideas?”

Iris asked, and Sophia nodded.

“We have no choice. Let’s formally join forces. First, we’ll deal with Auraniess.”

“…A truce until then? You’re right, if we don’t deal with her, it might be impossible to settle things between us. Fine, let’s team up.”

Iris’s decision was swift. They shook hands and began discussing a plan to deal with Auraniess.

“What if we exploit the fact that she sometimes deliberately takes hits because she underestimates us, and unleash a major technique then?”

“Her intuition is surprisingly sharp. And her evasion ability is superb, so I don’t think that’s very promising. It would be better to think of an attack she can’t avoid even if she knows it’s coming.”

Sophia countered Iris’s suggestion. Iris thought Sophia had a point and muttered,

“An attack she can’t avoid even if she knows it’s coming… My true form’s attacks didn’t work, yours didn’t either. Should we perhaps try a combined technique?”

She said it as a joke, but Sophia pondered it without laughing.

“No, it might actually work. If we hit her with the first strike, even someone like Auraniess might be taken by surprise. The question is whether we can unleash an attack that Auraniess can’t avoid.”

“We’ll have to go for a faster, larger-scale attack.”

“Yes, even Auraniess probably couldn’t dodge an attack that obliterates an entire continent.”

They discussed what kind of technique to use.