While the giant centipede was curled up around the red lotus flower, Mira and Maria were currently falling from the sky at extreme speeds. Mira had a pair of ice wings on her back and was using as much Qi as she could in them to output more power and speed. Maria was building up Qi in her fists as she waited for them to arrive on top of the centipede.
***
10 minutes prior
"So how do you want to deal with the centipede now that it's weakened? Obviously, Mira will have to be the one to hit it, but I still feel like she doesn't have enough power." Celaine asked to which the 3 of them started to think.
"Could you use that combo attack skill you came up with? Maybe we could spar a bit and build up some power?" Maria suggested, but Mira shook her head.
"That might be feasible, but there are a couple of reasons why it won't work. One, we'll definitely wake it up, and once that happens we can forget about grabbing the flower. Two, we'd need to exchange thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of moves. This will take a long time and you won't be able to last that long either. Also, I don't think it'll work on that guy even if it's a full-power hit." Mira explained and the of them went back to thinking.
"Hmmm… Let's see. Ice, wind, light are the 3 elements we have. We need more power, so what can give us more power without us cultivating a bit more and getting stronger? Skills? Weapon or Elemental Arts? We have the Earth-Shattering Fist, which should be useful against this guy, but it won't be enough. I bought a few pills that can increase my strength for a short while, but I'll be weakened for a few days after that and the effects are negligible against that thing." Mira thought out loud and Maria's eyes brightened after listening to Mira's rambling.
"I got it! What if we attack it from the sky?! Falling should be able to provide us with an extra boost! Plus, I can help Mira get up in the air with my light element!" Maria got all excited just thinking about it.
"Maria, don't be ridiculous! You'd have to fall from an extreme height that might kill you! This is too risky!" Celaine rejected since this idea was too crazy, but Mira stopped her.
"No, this could work. Celaine can create an updraft with her wind element that can help us increase in altitude. I can make some ice wings and Maria can make some light wings along with shooting light beams from her feet. We'll go as high as possible then drop right on top of its head. Not bad." Mira gave a slight nod and created some ice wings. Maria made a bright smile and created some light wings.
"Are you fucking crazy?! You could die without even being able to kill that thing! I won't do it!" Celaine complained, but she just got ignored.
Mira and Maria already had their arms around each other's shoulders and were preparing for lift-off.
"Alright. Celaine, make the updraft. We're ready." Mira ordered and got into position.
'What the hell?! These two are just doing whatever they feel! Hmph! Fine, if you die then don't blame me!' Celaine complained internally but started created an updraft.
Mira and Maria nodded at her, squatted, and launched up into the air causing the ground below them to crack a bit from the overwhelming force.
The two were flapping their wings like crazy as Maria was forced to take on most of the work.
It didn't take them long to reach over 1,000 meters above ground, but they kept going until Mira said stop.
Mira didn't know at which height they'll reach terminal velocity, but she knew that the higher the better. Mira also had a scythe that weighed thousands of kilograms and only weighed more the stronger she got. As soon as she pulls that out, their speed should skyrocket when they start falling.
After a while, they could barely see the ground, but they could vaguely make out the centipede since they kept their eyes on it this entire time. Mira told Maria to stoped and they instantly started dropped towards the centipede's head.
Mira took out her scythe and they instantly broke the sound barrier and it was only going to take the two of them around 10 seconds to reach the centipede. Mira prepared to use the rest of her strength to throw her scythe and give it that extra bit of power while also blunting her fall a bit using the reactionary force.
Right after she throws her scythe, her job is to immediately grab hold of Maria to help blunt her fall as well as making sure she gets off an Earth-Shattering Fist just in case.
Time seemed to slow down for the two of them. They gathered their strength until they were about 1 second away from the centipede.
Mira's muscles bulged and her veins were showing as she grasped her scythe. She then threw it with her immense strength and with her other arm was wrapped around Maria's waist.
As soon as she threw it, it seemed like the two of them stopped falling, but this was just an illusion due to how fast they were falling before. Mira then used her other arm to launch Maria towards the beast, albeit much slower.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*SCREEEEE*
Mira's scythe penetrated all the way into the centipede's head, while Maria's Earth-Shattering Fist followed up breaking through the cracks in its shell from the scythe and demolishing its flesh.
The centipede started to writhe in pain and due to its immense vitality, it was able to live a little longer after having a scythe jammed into its head.
Mira also landed on the centipede's head but was unable to do anything because of the lack of energy. Still, even her landed on the centipede was like the final nail in the coffin and it eventually died.
"Quickly, Celaine! Come! The lotus is about to bloom! We need to leave immediately as soon as it does!" Mira yelled as she used her remaining energy to collect her scythe.
Both of her legs were broken and she could feel some internal injuries, but it wasn't life-threatening. Her arms were also fractured with some torn muscles due to over-using them to throw Maria and her scythe.
She knew that Maria wasn't in any better shape since she could barely stand up and both of her arms were black and blue.
Soon, Celaine came running over and couldn't help but sigh when she saw their conditions. She knew that it'd take at least a few days to regain some of their strength and probably around a week to get back to full strength at the very least.
Celaine stopped paying attention to them and waited for the lotus plant to finish blooming. After another 10 minutes or so, the flaming red lotus flower sent out waves of intense heat and the petals on it started to bloom slowly.
With each petal that bloomed, the heat became more intense. After 8 petals bloomed, the heat around it seemed to roar and continued to release waves of heat.
"Snatch it! Quickly!" Mira ordered Celaine.
Celaine gritted her teeth and made her way towards the flower. Each step was like stepping further into hell and her skin was even getting burnt just by being near it.
Eventually, she made it next to the flower looking like a piece of charcoal but she wasn't able to pick the flower with her bare hands. She had to use a spare knife to cut the stem before storing it in her spatial ring. After cutting it with that knife, her knife melted and became useless.
After storing it, the surrounding temperature dropped and even though they were standing in the desert, it now felt cool. Mira stored the two giant centipede corpses, grabbed the now unconscious Maria, and started walking off to find a spot to hide.
Celaine didn't say anything and just followed. None of their conditions were good, but they had to find someplace to lay low for a while.
Even though this could be counted as a victory, none of them were that excited.
***
The 3 of them were forced to walk for several hours before they could find a place to rest.
The place they found could hardly be described as safe, but it was the best thing around.
Essentially, they just found a large crack in the ground, dropped to the bottom and immediately started to recover.
Maria woke up due to the fall, but didn't say anything. She was too weak right now and her only thoughts were on recovering.
The same goes for Mira and Celaine.
***
Around a week passed and Mira, Maria, and Celaine were now almost at peak condition. Well, Mira healed up in a little under 3 days, Maria took a little over 4 days to heal, while Celaine spent around 5 days to fully recover. Celaine was actually in just as bad of a condition as Mira and Maria due to the overwhelming heat.
This is the difference in Cultivation and bloodline between the 3 of them. Mira and Maria's vitality was immense due to their strong bloodlines, especially Mira's. While they are also stronger and can recover from injuries of this level much faster.
"What should we do with the lotus? I mean, I don't even know what it is or what it can do. Do either of you know?" Celaine finally spoke up.
"Based on what I've learned about flowers, lotus flowers, in particular, is that there are several ways to use it. One, the petals can be ingested raw and will bring different effects based on the nature of the flower. Two, the petals can be used as alchemy ingredients to create pills which may boost the efficiency of the effects. Three, the stamen, or bulb in the middle of the flower, can also be used in the same way but the effects will be much higher than the petals. This flower would be excellent for body tempering hehe." Mira explained and chuckled at the end.
The other 2 didn't want to continue tempering their bodies but they were also thinking the same thing. The only question is, do they save it for later or consume it raw?
"I think we should wait and see. I don't know a recipe for using this type of ingredient and even if I did, I'm not confident I can successfully make it. Eating it raw right now would be a waste. How about we decide how to split it up right now and deal with the rest later?" Maria suggested and the other two nodded their heads.
"How about this. Maria will get the Stamen and 2 petals. While Celaine and I will each get 3 petals. But don't pluck them right now. The effects might diminish since we're still stuck here for a while. Just wait until we get back to figure out what to do with this thing or save it for emergencies." Mira suggested and the other two thought about it before nodding.
Mira and Celaine can't really do much with the flower except for use it as a body tempering source. While Maria has Vulcan, so it's not surprising that she should get the best parts.
After they finished that, the 3 of them went back up to the surface to continue with their journey.
