Meanwhile, Kate continued her escape. After realising that she had caught onto their formation, the waves of enemies spilt into smaller squads, making it much harder for Kate to break out of their encirclement. Occasionally, she was forced to fight off her opponents, and while she didn't receive any injuries as a result, the delay allowed more of them to get closer to her location.
Slowly but surely, she could sense that she was being worn down. She had started considering standing her ground and crushing all opposition, but it was still too early to back herself into a corner. Nonetheless, being chased without a solid plan for a counterattack didn't sit right with her.
"Damn it! Shui, hurry up already! If I had just a few more hands to work with..."
As she aired her grievances, Kate noticed another squad closing in on her location. With a click of her tongue, she prepared to intercept, but suddenly a barrage of lightning struck the area where she sensed the squad.
"It appeared that you could use a hand, so I made a move. I hope I wasn't being too nosy."
"!"
Despite having been on high alert, Kate only detected the interloper after they had cast a spell. They approached from her left with a paper fan artifact in hand and not a stain on their clothes. This was their first time meeting each other in person, and she had hardly seen him since entering the manor, but Shui had pointed him out while they were waiting to enter the Spirit Nest.
"You're Pon of the Xin clan. Normally I would say thanks, but you've come at a suspiciously convenient time."
"Your suspicions are understandable. I'll be honest, I was keeping an eye on you to ensure that you didn't suffer from any underhanded tricks planned by Mater's faction."
"What? But everyone was randomly teleported, and I didn't sense anyone following me."
Kate's sensitivity to nature energy could even surpass Shui's so it wasn't farfetched to say that there were few within the entire city that could hide from her perception and stay on her trail for such an extended duration. However, Pon had indeed managed to sneak up on her, so she couldn't completely deny the possibility. Her fatigue and the fact that she was spreading her spiritual sense to find the enemy squads played a role in her failing to notice him, but she didn't see that as an excuse.
"For a person, it might be difficult, but aren't you forgetting another creature that could carry out the task?"
"!"
As soon as she picked up on Pon's clue, Kate pulled back her spiritual sense and immediately scanned her vicinity. There might not be a person who could follow her, but there was another creature that could do so and was being used to broadcast the events inside the Spirit Nest.
Kate still didn't find anything weird, but Pon reassured her.
"There's no need to worry. They must have pulled some strings to ensure that this wouldn't be broadcast. Conversely, that made it easy to narrow down where you were."
"What you say makes sense, but I can't feel comfortable knowing that both of you can take advantage of the spirits to serve your own interests."
She didn't fully trust Pon yet, but his warning was worth believing. Perhaps she had held too much faith in the elders to believe that the spirits sent inside the sanctuary would be used against her, but she could certainly see the people supporting Mater using a scam like this to put her at a disadvantage.
"A fair complaint. I won't ask you to believe me. Just tolerate my presence while my people help you deal with these nuisances."
Kate found it hard to read Pon's motives, but at the very least he didn't seem to mean her harm at the moment.
"Hmph, do what you want."
Without another look at him, Kate continued in the direction she was headed in, and Pon silently followed. She was on a detour, but her planned route would eventually take her to the elemental lakes, where her group of friends planned to meet. It was highly likely that there was a trap waiting for her, but if she didn't do anything, then the rest of her group, except for Shui who should be heading towards her, might wander into that trap instead. Pon picked up on her concerns and offered some advice.
"As you've likely discerned, there's a trap waiting for you at the elemental lakes. I'm not certain if it's because they couldn't get surveillance off the location or for another reason, but instead of the cannon fodder chasing us, you'll have to face a group of five core disciples using a powerful formation to boost their powers. And that's only if your friends can hold off the other core disciples waiting to attack once you appear."
"Sounds like they put a lot of effort into this, but it doesn't seem like something that fox would plan."
"You mean junior brother Tark? Yes, he would have been even more underhanded and cunning about this, but he still hasn't regained the trust of the faction, so someone else is trying to fill his shoes."
"I see. I still don't trust you, but if your information is true, then I can consider that alliance you brought up to Shui."
"That would be-"
Suddenly, something moving at an unbelievably fast speed smashed into the space between Kate and Pon. Both suffered no injuries thanks to their barriers, but they dared not slacken their guard because of the certainty that they would have died if that object hit them directly.
"Damn it! I told you that was too fast!"
"You just lack control. If you had controlled the speed properly, we could have reached here much sooner and without all those detours."
"I could have avoided those detours if I was moving at my own pace."
"Naive! What if something happened to your precious person in that time?"
"Precious person? Why do I feel like you have some sort of misunderstanding?"
There were two voices coming from the crater formed by the impact of whatever had crashed. One was of an unfamiliar little girl, but the other voice brought relief to Kate.
"Shui!"
Shui walked out of the crater with the red spirit sitting on his shoulder, both surprisingly without damage or dirt on their bodies. The red spirit didn't exude a very powerful presence, but neither Kate nor Pon treated it lightly. They weren't as knowledgeable as Shui, but they could still tell that this was no ordinary spirit creature.
"I noticed your signal, Kate, so I came as fast as I could. Are you alright?"
"Yes, thanks for coming."
"I'm just glad that you're okay. So, why is Pon here?"
"He said he's been tailing me so that he could lend a hand."
Shui didn't miss the suspicion in Kate's tone, but it didn't seem like Pon was a threat in this case. Shui now had a good idea about Pon's motive for aiding Kate, so he was less wary around him, but that wouldn't affect his reaction time if Pon chose to make a poor move.