Because of the appearance of this "Photon Cannon," its tracking, and the ability to regroup and chase after being shattered into star-like fragments, it had become the most aggressive divine gift Elara had encountered so far.
She even suspected that this "Photon Cannon" was actually a "weapon" from that future civilization.
If not for the sudden burst of speed and strength she had gained, along with the doubled enhancement from the Windcloud Boots, there was no way she could have dodged it.
Fortunately, though this underground space was empty, there were many small mounds around the edges.
Elara ran at her limit, with the star-like Photon Cannon behind her relentlessly chasing, and zipped past the mounds close to the walls.
The Photon Cannon behind her was closing in, almost reaching the back of her feet. But Elara didn't seem to notice and kept her eyes locked on a large, abrupt mound nearly two meters tall ahead of her.
At her current speed, if she didn't turn, she would definitely crash hard into that mound.
But as the distance between her and the mound shrank, Elara suddenly sped up even more and charged straight toward it.
The Photon Cannon behind her followed closely, matching her acceleration, rushing straight toward the mound along with her.
When Elara was only five, four, three, two meters from the mound, she suddenly activated her Windcloud Boots to dash upward. At the same time, she kicked the ground hard, using the momentum from her high-speed run and the sudden vertical pull of the Windcloud Boots to leap like a spring-loaded ball.
The arc of her rising leap sent her soaring just barely over the top of the mound, scraping past it without crashing.
The Photon Cannon behind her also tried to turn upward as she did.
But without the vertical pull of the Windcloud Boots to change speed and direction, and being too close to the mound already, the Photon Cannon couldn't gain enough height. It ended up slamming directly into the center of the mound.
Boom!
A huge explosion blasted out just behind Elara.
It was like an entire building had been blown up. The deafening roar made Elara worry that the whole underground space might collapse.
Dirt that had been blasted into dust rained down from the air, covering Elara from head to toe.
She glanced back slightly and saw that the mound had been blasted into a deep crater, its depth impossible to estimate.
The Photon Cannon was finally gone and no longer chasing her.
But even after finally getting rid of the Photon Cannon, Elara didn't feel any relief.
Because just as she turned around, she suddenly found herself staring into a pair of deep violet, vortex-like eyes.
Those cold purple eyes spun like whirlpools that could erode one's mind. The moment Elara's thoughts met those eyes, her mind felt like it was being twisted and swallowed.
Only one final thought echoed in her subconscious:
Crap. This top-ranked person on the Heaven List actually has more than one powerful divine item.
The "Photon Cannon" was a divine blessing of considerable rank, and so were those purple eyes that could invade a person's mind.
Because the purple eyes used a type of control-based power that invaded and devoured consciousness, none of the defensive divine artifacts Elara wore were triggered.
Fortunately, after undergoing mutation and enhancement in the "Core Palace," her mental power had greatly increased.
When Elara was on the verge of falling into those swirling purple eyes, her inner force and mental tendrils activated.
Invisible, soundless strands of inner force and mental energy automatically spread out from her back. The surging spiritual power, like an enraged beast, transformed into sharp spikes and flashed toward the owner of those purple eyes.
In the blink of an eye, the mental spikes pierced through the top-ranked assassin, who had no spiritual defense, like ten thousand arrows to the heart.
The assassin's expression, which had been blank the whole time, suddenly changed dramatically.
The swirling purple glow in his eyes instantly shattered and turned chaotic, as if it had suffered a heavy blow.
The top-ranked assassin spat out a large mouthful of blood.
In this era, only inner force existed, not spiritual force.
With no protection, the top-ranked assassin was pierced all over his body by Elara's mutated mental inner force. His physical injuries weren't serious, but his brain and consciousness suffered a massive blow.
It felt like something invisible had torn through his mind. Even staying conscious took extreme effort, and he had to endure the unbearable pain of having his mind picked apart.
In this state, he could no longer use his purple eyes or the "Photon Cannon" in his hand.
Elara immediately regained consciousness. The mutated spiritual inner force tendrils inside her body flowed slowly like a beast guarding its territory, biting down on anything trying to invade her mind.
Once she came to her senses and saw the top-ranked assassin bleeding and frowning in pain in the distance, Elara raised her hand and rubbed her quickly recovering forehead. In her palm appeared an ordinary-looking long spear.
"My turn now."
With a low murmur, Elara shot toward the top-ranked assassin like an afterimage with the help of her Windcloud Boots.
The assassin truly lived up to being the number one killer of the Blood Garment Tower. Even after his mind suffered a devastating attack, at the moment Elara lunged, he still managed to lift his dagger to block her strike.
But what shocked him was that his prized dagger, crafted with great expense and always carried by his side, was sliced clean through like tofu when it clashed with Elara's plain-looking spear.
His face changed again. He instantly retreated several steps. Enduring the intensifying, almost mind-splitting pain in his head, he gasped heavily and stared at Elara.
"You! Wind divine boots, a divine spear in hand, and that strange invisible power just now! Who exactly are you?! Which first-class power do you come from?!"