Chapter 645: Rumi Runs Through

Rumi crouched on the upper ledge of the drainage flue, her lynx ears tilting as she monitored the second station.

Rumi compared the position of the station plate with the ledge below, measuring a landing the captain would not expect her to use.

Mountain wind whistled through the abandoned maintenance galleries along the gorge, carrying the faint metallic scent of active tracing circuits.

Her four amber Wings fluttered behind her back like translucent ribbons, ready to channel the spatial pathways of Many Roads.

Down in the fortified control chamber stood an enemy garrison captain, wielding an eight-foot glaive with spiked counterweights.

The captain did not pace the room aimlessly, for his gaze was locked onto the landing plate Rumi marked yesterday.

’He is not watching the doorway or the ventilation shaft,’ Rumi observed, a cunning smile curving her lips.

’He figured out that spatial travel requires an anchor, and he is waiting to impale me the second I step through!’

She tapped her chin thoughtfully with a curved claw, weighing her tactical options against the captain’s defensive posture.

She studied the captain’s armored greaves, noting how his weight leaned eagerly toward his right side in anticipation.

An ordinary spatial specialist would have tried to force the landing, hoping to deflect the polearm with raw barrier strength.

Rumi was a divine lynx who spent her life hunting in the wild northern crags before ever touching celestial magic.

’Spatial roads are just paths... and a real hunter never forgets how to use her own four paws.’

She eased the narrow service grille open with one claw, holding its hinge before it could strike the chamber wall.

The flue ran above the captain’s blind side, giving her a plain stone route to the center of the ceiling.

’He watches where a portal ends, so I need to move before I show him one.’

Rumi counted the distance from the grille to the console and checked where his glaive point would lodge if he lunged.

She nudged a pebble beneath the grille so the panel stayed open while she crossed the overhead passage.

She flicked her wrist, activating the first pathway of Many Roads toward the watched landing plate on the right.

A distinct ripple of ruby light distorted the air above the plate, mimicking the arrival signature of an incoming traveler.

The garrison captain lunged with explosive speed, driving his heavy glaive into the center of the distortion with a roar.

"Die, beastkin rat!" the captain bellowed, channeling a burst of emerald suppression mana into the steel point.

The strike met only empty air, for Rumi did not step through the spatial portal at all.

The glaive point struck the marked plate hard enough to bend its rim, pinning the officer’s own weapon in the stone.

’Now he has to pull it free before he can cover the other side.’

Rumi waited until his right shoulder followed the shaft, committing his balance toward the empty landing.

While the captain was fully committed to his forward thrust, Rumi dropped from the ceiling on the opposite flank.

She covered the twenty feet of ordinary flagstones in three blinding bounds, moving with silent, predatory grace.

Her twin curved daggers hissed from their leather sheaths, flashing in the bright midday light pouring through the embrasure.

The captain realized his mistake too late, attempting to wrench his embedded polearm backward to protect his neck.

Rumi sprang into the air, planting her feet directly onto the shaft of his wedged glaive with featherlight poise.

The captain bent his knees and heaved against the shaft, trying to throw her toward the watched landing plate.

"Get down!"

"Gladly."

Rumi pushed off before he lifted the point, carrying his upward force into her airborne turn.

She used his own weapon as a springboard, flipping over his helmeted head while delivering a vicious spinning kick to his temple.

The armored officer stumbled sideways with a stunned cry, his grip slipping from the polearm haft.

Before he could regain his footing, Rumi swept her right dagger upward, severing the leather buckle of his cuirass.

She drove her left elbow into his solar plexus, knocking the remaining breath from his lungs in a sharp gasp.

The captain collapsed onto his back, and the cold edge of Rumi’s crescent dagger came to rest against his throat.

"You studied the landing plate," she purred softly, her lynx tail flicking with playful arrogance.

"Next time, you should study what a lynx can do with ordinary running ground!"

The captain stared in sheer disbelief, realizing that an agile cat girl outplayed his entire military doctrine in seconds.

The defeated officer raised his trembling hands in surrender, letting his sidearm drop onto the flags with a dull clatter.

Rumi disarmed him completely, binding his wrists behind his back with reinforced utility cord before pushing him into a corner.

Rumi kept one dagger pointed toward the prisoner’s hands while she searched the console for a mechanism he could still reach.

A red shutdown grip protruded beneath the bench, close enough for him to kick from the corner where she first put him.

"Not there. On your feet."

She hauled him away from the controls and tied his cord to a fixed railing across the chamber.

The captain gave the grip one last frustrated look, telling her exactly what he planned if she turned her back.

She stepped up to the central control console, locating the recessed tracing socket beneath a protective brass cover.

She inserted the master key and turned the mechanism ninety degrees, watching the diagnostic runes flare into brilliant life.

The allied maintenance crew hurried into the station chamber with tool rolls in hand, breathing heavily from their rapid ascent up the cliffside trail.

Daylight streamed through the reinforced embrasures, illuminating the glowing brass socket where the tracing key sat safely engaged.

"Second tracing station secured and active, Lady Rumi!" the lead engineer announced with a joyful salute.

"We have full connection to the central redoubt... the circuit is two-thirds complete!"

The mechanics set up their grounding rods, soldering the secondary junction lines with practiced efficiency.

The junction lamp blinked when an impact shook the station’s control room, and a junior engineer reached for the cutoff.

"Wait. Is that our line failing or the other station telling us it still holds?"

"The first trace is steady," the lead engineer answered, touching the paired signal needles. "The tremor belongs to the bridge."

Rumi watched the needles settle together for two steady beats before releasing her grip on the socket cover.

"Then keep a hand on that feed. I am sending the third team its warning."

He assigned two mechanics to the return connection while she collected the horn from its hook.

The lead engineer unlocked the transport crates, setting down spare copper relays and fine calibration needles onto the bench.

Rumi picked up the station’s brass signal horn, blowing three distinct chimes toward the northern ridge.

"Nari, listen up!" she called through their twin mental link, her voice buzzing with triumphant excitement.

"Their station captains are watching the spatial landing plates... make them commit their weapons before you take the floor! Find the ordinary path he forgot while guarding the plate."

"Understood, sister," Nari’s confident voice answered in her mind. "I will show the third captain how No Exit really bites!"

A few minutes later, Hajin arrived at the station junction with Juna, having secured the lower approach roads.

Juna looked out across the central viaduct arches, her sharp wolf ears picking up the rumbling thunder of the main storm.

"The choral beast is shifting its mass toward the eastern pillars," the wolf warrior observed with a low growl in her throat.

"It knows we are closing the net around its physical anchor," Hajin answered, his hand resting on his sword hilt.

Seeing the station fully operational and Rumi standing triumphantly beside the console, the summoner broke into a broad smile.

"Flawless execution, Rumi," Hajin praised, stepping into the chamber with genuine pride in his split-colored eyes.

"You took this station completely on your own, using both your mind and your claws."

Rumi beamed with radiant delight, and as Nari vaulted through the doorway to join them, both sisters bounded forward together.

Rumi showed her sister the secured station plate while Nari bumped her shoulder against Hajin’s arm in triumph.

"We told you we would lock down the viaduct for you, summoner!" the elder twin purred, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder.

"Now it is my turn to take the final station!" Nari declared with fierce excitement, her tail swishing happily.

"Just make sure you save some of the glory for the rest of us," Hajin chuckled, patting their heads affectionately.

High above the secured station, the celestial broadcast interface was flooded with an avalanche of admiring messages.

[ Seoul_Tactician: "Rumi’s tactical feint was pure genius! Using the spatial distortion as a decoy and closing on foot!" ]

[ StarlightScholar: "’Spatial roads are just paths, and a real hunter never forgets how to use her own four paws!’ Iconic!" ]

[ IronVanguard: "The second tracing station is locked down! The network is two-thirds complete!" ]

[ HearthKeeper: "The twins curling around Hajin’s arms while purring... my soul has been completely healed!" ]

[ ShadowMage44: "Nari is closing on the third tracing station. Keep the other two lit!" ]

Rumi rested her chin on Hajin’s arm, feeling the steady beat of his heart as the midday breeze rustled her fur.

"Count the remaining station before anyone celebrates."

Two stations were secured, the enemy’s tricks were exposed, and the final lock on the Incarnation was about to snap shut.