Second Stage Godly Fusion Realm!
Whack laughed as he boasted, "Many prepared cultivators from before had brought numerous powerful equipment that someone at the First Stage Godly Fusion Realm can use. All of them have allowed me to attain combat strength surpassing the Godly Fusion Realm. After that…"
He stared at Yuric as he continued, "I started comprehending the Suppression Laws here. Not gonna lie, I've obtained some advantages thanks to it. I can use my understanding of the Suppression Law to reduce the suppression on my cultivation base. The best part about it is that the Godly Energy I currently have has already reached the God Foundation Realm. If it wasn't for that, how else do you think I've managed to live this long as the boss of a bandit group?"
It seemed like Whack was revealing his secrets to his enemies. In actuality, he was doing this to mentally suppress Yuric. He wanted to affect Yuric's rationality and reduce his will to fight. At present, he already showed his nigh inextinguishable energy, at least through Yuric's efforts alone.
So, as time passed in such a fashion, Whack would look invincible in Yuric's eyes as thoughts of surrender would gradually appear in his mind. It would create a vicious loop whenever he failed to damage the other party, eventually making him lose his will to fight.
"Stop wasting time, Yuric," Tina's voice soon resounded from the first carriage. Followed by it was a tremendous wave of godly energy, causing the demon beasts to cry out. Their collective roar resounded throughout the area and even spanned beyond.
"Zuna!" Whack shouted. "She's too dangerous! Come help me kill this guy first!"
"Fine, whatever." Zuna spat out a sphere of energy on the injured figure of Xula, sending her flying. Soon after, her cultivation base increased to the Second Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm as she crushed the rest of Xula's teammates into pulp before sprinting towards Whack.
"I'll kill you!" Xula roared as she could only watch her teammates die under Zuna's hands. Her face twisted in rage as she saw Zuna turn around and smirk as she ran past.
"Now!" Krune shouted, prompting the Silver-Winged Mouse couple to take action as he used his Mental Energy to wield his shields. His Divine Sense could only extend a meter away from him due to the Suppression Law. With that, he stuck to using Mental Energy for the moment, creating a barrier that shielded him, the Silver-Winged Mouse couple, and Yulian.
Zuna passed by the shield dome Krune had erected, hesitating for a moment whether or not she should take action. Though, it did not take long for her to realize that the opponents inside were dangerous. Also, upon seeing that their intention was only to escape, she didn't take any action to hinder them. Instead, she transmitted a message through her divine sense to Krune, saying, "Today, I didn't pursue you. Remember that if we ever meet in the future."
Saying her piece, she continued running, soon joining hands with Whack as they fought against Yuric. Following a spike in Godly Energy, her cultivation base increased by another stage, reaching the Third Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm.
Her methods seemed to be far more numerous than Whack. The same went for her strength. That was probably why Xula was unable to win against her.
"Damn it all!" Xula kneeled in front of her smashed teammates as she cursed out. She stored their belongings and crushed corpses in her storage ring, intending to give them a proper funeral later.
Her teammates had been stronger than the average cultivator.
Unfortunately, after fighting against the droves of bandits that tried to sneak attack Xula, they were exhausted. And in the end, they were unable to defend against Zuna's powerful attacks.
Xula swung her sword once in a fury, sending a beam of Godly Energy that lacerated tens of bandits in one attack. She was tremendously strong even at her suppressed cultivation. It was just because she was fighting against Zuna that she suffered a loss.
She then arrived beside the shield dome Krune had erected, pausing as she hesitated. At this point, she could not help but look at the strength Zuna displayed, watching her go toe-to-toe with Yuric, who was already at the peak of his strength.
'The strength of his Spiritual Incarnation is suppressed by the Suppression Law of this Immortal Severance Zone.' For a moment, she wished to help him. But upon sensing a faint fluctuation of Godly Energy that made every demon beast roar uncontrollably, she refrained from doing so.
Her face convulsed as she used a strange technique to shield herself from the Godly Energy's influence, cursing to himself, "Wench!"
Sadly, it seemed like her technique was incapable of lasting long against Tina. With that, Xula knocked one of the shields as she said, "Krune, it's me. Allow me to accompany your escape."
"Fine." Followed by a muffled voice, the shields subtly moved, opening enough space for someone of her tall stature to move in. Xula noticed Krune and Yulian standing beside a massive hole. There was no mud beside the hole. Everything was stored in the storage rings of the Silver-Winged Mouses that dug through the ground.
"How deep have you gone?" Krune peered through the hole, seeing that it was dark inside. He was already using his Mental Energy to wield the shields and create a barrier around the area they were in to prevent the Godly Energy of Tina from affecting their minds.
It seemed that Tina had strong control over the minds of demon beasts. Even Krune had no confidence in resisting her if not for his Mental Energy. With that in mind, he didn't wish to strain himself to inspect something that he could learn through simpler means.
"Around 10 meters. Give us a bit more time. We're making enough room to stand here. Once that's done, we can block the entrance and get going," Vardin's voice soon resounded from within.
"They are…Silver-Winged Mouses?" Xula frowned as she could not help but mutter, sensing the demon beast's aura.
"You can leave if you have a problem with their race," Krune replied immediately.
"I don't have a problem. It's just that…" Xula muttered, sighing as she didn't seem to have the energy to continue. "Nevermind, I guess it doesn't matter anyway."
Krune didn't seem to mind her words. It was all because he had a favorable opinion of Xula that he helped her in the first place. Though he had a bad first impression of her, he came to realize that she was someone that was incredibly focused on her work as a mercenary and wished to complete it without fail. On top of that, she was someone that only despised cowards or weak-willed cultivators.
Not to mention, when she accompanied him to question Trivar before, his opinion of her was elevated. He would be lying if he said he trusted her, though. Then again, that wasn't something that could be gained that easily.
Even for the Silver-Winged Mouse couple, he only had the guarantee that they could work together without problems. He also believed that he could show his back to them if it was in a time of need. But to establish a sense of trust in them would take time.
After all, to avoid any betrayals, one must establish trust after careful consideration.
"Alright, you all can jump in." Vardin's voice echoed out after some time. After nodding once, Yulian was the first to jump in, followed by Xula. Krune pondered over something for a moment before creating a field of mist to cover the sight of the bandits as he retracted the shields. He didn't do anything else since he knew Vardin would take care of the coverup process.
They had already detailed everything in their escape plan. Normally, even if he were to create a layer of earth, some traces would still be left behind. But, when Vardin did it, no traces would be left. The Silver-Winged Mouses were experts in this field since they were constantly on the run.
Before jumping into the hole, Krune felt Little Cally appear for an instant before disappearing. He immediately felt a gaze from afar that caused goosebumps to appear on his skin. He felt a sense of urgency as he thought to himself, 'I should escape far away from this place.'
The moment Krune jumped into the hole, he saw a shadow flash by. It was Vardin in his demon beast form. Vardin and Diana had been extremely careful when showing their demon beast forms, layering their bodies with the Radiance Law. This made it so people that perceived them would fail to see their actual appearance. They told Krune that it was a habit of theirs to not reveal their true forms.
Seeing that it didn't affect him, he was okay with it. As for Yulian, his task was only to protect Krune's life, so he didn't interfere with his decisions.
Vardin then appeared at the top of the hole, causing the soil stored in his storage ring to gush out. He layered it on the topsoil with dextrous expertise, quickly covering up the hole. His methods ensured there was practically no difference between it and the surrounding ground.
Vardin continued to fill up the hole, starting from the surface. From the way he filled it, it seemed as if the ground hadn't been dug in the first place. Eventually, he reached a spot ten meters below the ground surface, filling the vertical hole completely as he entered the side tunnel.
Now, there was no hole connecting to the surface anymore. This was also in the case something heavy fell from the hole's entrance. As there was no cavity in its cylindrical column, there was nothing to cave in. All it would show was the damage due to the object's weight, no different from any other place on the ground.
"Now, then. Where should we go?" Krune said with a questioning tone, watching Yulian point in a certain direction as the latter replied, "If we proceed two kilometers in this direction and tunnel straight up, we would appear in a narrow path. From there, I know of a secluded route that would take us out of the Immortal Severance Zone."
"Alright." Vardin nodded in response before joining hands with Diana as they began to dig. They were pretty fast, digging through 10 meters of ground a minute. It was to be noted that they did this while still at the First Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm. It was super-fast.
Above ground, Zuna and Whack looked around in shock as all the demon beasts in the area had turned against them. The numbers on both sides had changed now. The bandits now only had 300 strong remaining on their side, while the merchant caravan now had almost 600. A portion of it was the demon beasts among the bandits that had converted to their side.
Standing atop a carriage, Trivar looked afar, failing to find any signs of the Spirit Awakener Guild's guards tailing them. 'So, the groups tailing Krune met their end?'
The moment he noticed Yulian running away with Krune, Trivar knew something had happened to them. 'Well, I guess there's no use in having Krune here.'
Trivar sighed after that, gazing at the corpses of Razor Claw, one of the four Mercenary Teams he had hired. The Winged Wasps had escaped, and the only one that had survived among the Plotted Heels had also escaped with them. Since Razor Claw had been annihilated, the Ink Sword Mercenary Team was the only one left protecting his caravan.
'I would have killed them sooner or later anyway. I'll just consider it fate that they were able to escape. It's a pity I couldn't use the Spirit Awakener Guild against the Spirit Aberrations, though.' Trivar sighed as he thought to himself. 'Though, if my senses aren't wrong, there should be someone strong or a massive bandit group heading this way after killing those from the Spirit Awakener Guild. I should wrap this up as soon as possible.'
With that, he opened up the gate to his storage ring, letting out hundreds of demon beasts as he ordered, "Eradicate those bandits."
Second Stage Godly Fusion Realm!
Whack laughed as he boasted, "Many prepared cultivators from before had brought numerous powerful equipment that someone at the First Stage Godly Fusion Realm can use. All of them have allowed me to attain combat strength surpassing the Godly Fusion Realm. After that…"
He stared at Yuric as he continued, "I started comprehending the Suppression Laws here. Not gonna lie, I've obtained some advantages thanks to it. I can use my understanding of the Suppression Law to reduce the suppression on my cultivation base. The best part about it is that the Godly Energy I currently have has already reached the God Foundation Realm. If it wasn't for that, how else do you think I've managed to live this long as the boss of a bandit group?"
It seemed like Whack was revealing his secrets to his enemies. In actuality, he was doing this to mentally suppress Yuric. He wanted to affect Yuric's rationality and reduce his will to fight. At present, he already showed his nigh inextinguishable energy, at least through Yuric's efforts alone.
So, as time passed in such a fashion, Whack would look invincible in Yuric's eyes as thoughts of surrender would gradually appear in his mind. It would create a vicious loop whenever he failed to damage the other party, eventually making him lose his will to fight.
"Stop wasting time, Yuric," Tina's voice soon resounded from the first carriage. Followed by it was a tremendous wave of godly energy, causing the demon beasts to cry out. Their collective roar resounded throughout the area and even spanned beyond.
"Zuna!" Whack shouted. "She's too dangerous! Come help me kill this guy first!"
"Fine, whatever." Zuna spat out a sphere of energy on the injured figure of Xula, sending her flying. Soon after, her cultivation base increased to the Second Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm as she crushed the rest of Xula's teammates into pulp before sprinting towards Whack.
"I'll kill you!" Xula roared as she could only watch her teammates die under Zuna's hands. Her face twisted in rage as she saw Zuna turn around and smirk as she ran past.
"Now!" Krune shouted, prompting the Silver-Winged Mouse couple to take action as he used his Mental Energy to wield his shields. His Divine Sense could only extend a meter away from him due to the Suppression Law. With that, he stuck to using Mental Energy for the moment, creating a barrier that shielded him, the Silver-Winged Mouse couple, and Yulian.
Zuna passed by the shield dome Krune had erected, hesitating for a moment whether or not she should take action. Though, it did not take long for her to realize that the opponents inside were dangerous. Also, upon seeing that their intention was only to escape, she didn't take any action to hinder them. Instead, she transmitted a message through her divine sense to Krune, saying, "Today, I didn't pursue you. Remember that if we ever meet in the future."
Saying her piece, she continued running, soon joining hands with Whack as they fought against Yuric. Following a spike in Godly Energy, her cultivation base increased by another stage, reaching the Third Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm.
Her methods seemed to be far more numerous than Whack. The same went for her strength. That was probably why Xula was unable to win against her.
"Damn it all!" Xula kneeled in front of her smashed teammates as she cursed out. She stored their belongings and crushed corpses in her storage ring, intending to give them a proper funeral later.
Her teammates had been stronger than the average cultivator.
Unfortunately, after fighting against the droves of bandits that tried to sneak attack Xula, they were exhausted. And in the end, they were unable to defend against Zuna's powerful attacks.
Xula swung her sword once in a fury, sending a beam of Godly Energy that lacerated tens of bandits in one attack. She was tremendously strong even at her suppressed cultivation. It was just because she was fighting against Zuna that she suffered a loss.
She then arrived beside the shield dome Krune had erected, pausing as she hesitated. At this point, she could not help but look at the strength Zuna displayed, watching her go toe-to-toe with Yuric, who was already at the peak of his strength.
'The strength of his Spiritual Incarnation is suppressed by the Suppression Law of this Immortal Severance Zone.' For a moment, she wished to help him. But upon sensing a faint fluctuation of Godly Energy that made every demon beast roar uncontrollably, she refrained from doing so.
Her face convulsed as she used a strange technique to shield herself from the Godly Energy's influence, cursing to himself, "Wench!"
Sadly, it seemed like her technique was incapable of lasting long against Tina. With that, Xula knocked one of the shields as she said, "Krune, it's me. Allow me to accompany your escape."
"Fine." Followed by a muffled voice, the shields subtly moved, opening enough space for someone of her tall stature to move in. Xula noticed Krune and Yulian standing beside a massive hole. There was no mud beside the hole. Everything was stored in the storage rings of the Silver-Winged Mouses that dug through the ground.
"How deep have you gone?" Krune peered through the hole, seeing that it was dark inside. He was already using his Mental Energy to wield the shields and create a barrier around the area they were in to prevent the Godly Energy of Tina from affecting their minds.
It seemed that Tina had strong control over the minds of demon beasts. Even Krune had no confidence in resisting her if not for his Mental Energy. With that in mind, he didn't wish to strain himself to inspect something that he could learn through simpler means.
"Around 10 meters. Give us a bit more time. We're making enough room to stand here. Once that's done, we can block the entrance and get going," Vardin's voice soon resounded from within.
"They are…Silver-Winged Mouses?" Xula frowned as she could not help but mutter, sensing the demon beast's aura.
"You can leave if you have a problem with their race," Krune replied immediately.
"I don't have a problem. It's just that…" Xula muttered, sighing as she didn't seem to have the energy to continue. "Nevermind, I guess it doesn't matter anyway."
Krune didn't seem to mind her words. It was all because he had a favorable opinion of Xula that he helped her in the first place. Though he had a bad first impression of her, he came to realize that she was someone that was incredibly focused on her work as a mercenary and wished to complete it without fail. On top of that, she was someone that only despised cowards or weak-willed cultivators.
Not to mention, when she accompanied him to question Trivar before, his opinion of her was elevated. He would be lying if he said he trusted her, though. Then again, that wasn't something that could be gained that easily.
Even for the Silver-Winged Mouse couple, he only had the guarantee that they could work together without problems. He also believed that he could show his back to them if it was in a time of need. But to establish a sense of trust in them would take time.
After all, to avoid any betrayals, one must establish trust after careful consideration.
"Alright, you all can jump in." Vardin's voice echoed out after some time. After nodding once, Yulian was the first to jump in, followed by Xula. Krune pondered over something for a moment before creating a field of mist to cover the sight of the bandits as he retracted the shields. He didn't do anything else since he knew Vardin would take care of the coverup process.
They had already detailed everything in their escape plan. Normally, even if he were to create a layer of earth, some traces would still be left behind. But, when Vardin did it, no traces would be left. The Silver-Winged Mouses were experts in this field since they were constantly on the run.
Before jumping into the hole, Krune felt Little Cally appear for an instant before disappearing. He immediately felt a gaze from afar that caused goosebumps to appear on his skin. He felt a sense of urgency as he thought to himself, 'I should escape far away from this place.'
The moment Krune jumped into the hole, he saw a shadow flash by. It was Vardin in his demon beast form. Vardin and Diana had been extremely careful when showing their demon beast forms, layering their bodies with the Radiance Law. This made it so people that perceived them would fail to see their actual appearance. They told Krune that it was a habit of theirs to not reveal their true forms.
Seeing that it didn't affect him, he was okay with it. As for Yulian, his task was only to protect Krune's life, so he didn't interfere with his decisions.
Vardin then appeared at the top of the hole, causing the soil stored in his storage ring to gush out. He layered it on the topsoil with dextrous expertise, quickly covering up the hole. His methods ensured there was practically no difference between it and the surrounding ground.
Vardin continued to fill up the hole, starting from the surface. From the way he filled it, it seemed as if the ground hadn't been dug in the first place. Eventually, he reached a spot ten meters below the ground surface, filling the vertical hole completely as he entered the side tunnel.
Now, there was no hole connecting to the surface anymore. This was also in the case something heavy fell from the hole's entrance. As there was no cavity in its cylindrical column, there was nothing to cave in. All it would show was the damage due to the object's weight, no different from any other place on the ground.
"Now, then. Where should we go?" Krune said with a questioning tone, watching Yulian point in a certain direction as the latter replied, "If we proceed two kilometers in this direction and tunnel straight up, we would appear in a narrow path. From there, I know of a secluded route that would take us out of the Immortal Severance Zone."
"Alright." Vardin nodded in response before joining hands with Diana as they began to dig. They were pretty fast, digging through 10 meters of ground a minute. It was to be noted that they did this while still at the First Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm. It was super-fast.
Above ground, Zuna and Whack looked around in shock as all the demon beasts in the area had turned against them. The numbers on both sides had changed now. The bandits now only had 300 strong remaining on their side, while the merchant caravan now had almost 600. A portion of it was the demon beasts among the bandits that had converted to their side.
Standing atop a carriage, Trivar looked afar, failing to find any signs of the Spirit Awakener Guild's guards tailing them. 'So, the groups tailing Krune met their end?'
The moment he noticed Yulian running away with Krune, Trivar knew something had happened to them. 'Well, I guess there's no use in having Krune here.'
Trivar sighed after that, gazing at the corpses of Razor Claw, one of the four Mercenary Teams he had hired. The Winged Wasps had escaped, and the only one that had survived among the Plotted Heels had also escaped with them. Since Razor Claw had been annihilated, the Ink Sword Mercenary Team was the only one left protecting his caravan.
'I would have killed them sooner or later anyway. I'll just consider it fate that they were able to escape. It's a pity I couldn't use the Spirit Awakener Guild against the Spirit Aberrations, though.' Trivar sighed as he thought to himself. 'Though, if my senses aren't wrong, there should be someone strong or a massive bandit group heading this way after killing those from the Spirit Awakener Guild. I should wrap this up as soon as possible.'
With that, he opened up the gate to his storage ring, letting out hundreds of demon beasts as he ordered, "Eradicate those bandits."
