The entire earth shield that protected everyone crumbled into dust, and Ruri smiled, falling backward exhausted. Before even touching the ground, she felt herself floating and realized she was being held by the whale. Bruno sighed, assessing everyone’s condition. Despite the earlier mistake, they fought well; they arrived prior to Almin deciding to ingest the pills and managed to retrieve the body of the elder Anzo before everything was destroyed.
The whale then turned to the women and spoke calmly. "Retreat and join Loeus in protecting the villagers."
The fifteen women watched with bated breath the golden power around the whale and immediately followed the orders. At the same time, Langrum ran, carrying Almin under her arm. She just gave a glance to the whale and passed by him awkwardly. In the last moment, if the whale hadn’t sent the message and indicated where the core was, she would never have been able to tell it. Each beast race created its core in a different place, and although, perhaps, with the same level of cultivation, she could feel where its core was, it was very difficult to be sure. Being much weaker, it was impossible. The abnormal whale, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly, effortlessly.
When everyone was a bit away, the sea finally opened, and a creature about four meters tall, resembling a triton, emerged slowly.
’He’s really smart and didn’t attack when he sensed us. His instincts are sharp. Since we have the golden power activated, he knew it was pointless to come out and stop them from escaping; it would only give us a chance to hurt him. We completely lost the element of surprise,’ Alm calmly commented mentally.
’He’s in the second level of the Core Formation Realm, and all our Qi has been converted into this golden power. Not running seems crazy. Are you really going to try this with Ruri?’ Bruno remarked, putting Ruri, who stayed with them, on his back. She struggled not to close her eyes and clung tightly to the whale’s neck.
Alm replied lightly, ’The queen managed to put her Qi and activate the rune within Ruri; now that we have a similar power, and our presence is within her, it shouldn’t be something impossible.’
The triton approached slowly, staring firmly at the whale. Then, Bruno accepted this madness. They could only attack with everything once or twice and would never kill him due to the cultivation difference. But if this works, maybe things will change.
He soon asked mentally, gently, to the girl. ’Ruri, I want to use the rune on you to fight together. For that, I’ll have to invade your soul and body. Invading your soul means you’ll be completely exposed and defenseless. If you refuse, we can’t force it because it’ll be dangerous...’
Ruri listened, and her small heart began to beat strongly in response. ’If I can help, go ahead, master. In the future, I want to always fight by your side; this will be just my first time.’
Alm and Bruno nodded and took a deep breath in concentration. The triton was five meters away and stopped. Immediately, their Souls invaded and connected with hers, and all the golden power faded and was directed to their backs, entering Ruri’s body directly. The rune inside her bore their mark, and that power was immediately sucked into the rune, without any interference from them.
The triton looked forward with extreme doubt, then felt a chill down his spine. Ruri, in the next second, detached herself from the whale’s back and floated in the air. Her eyes turned golden, along with a luminous divine aura. The entire world faded away, and the celestial laws seemed to bow before her.
Alm and Bruno felt that and nodded in satisfaction. All their power was placed inside this little girl, and they could sense everything within her. Her heart beat strongly, the sensation of Qi without her skin, even her thoughts seemed to flow to them, merging with their own. They activated their body cultivation to the limit and, without saying a word, advanced, using only the power of their giant body.
The triton finally reacted, stunned, activating all the power of his core to the limit. The amount of Qi and the speed he could move within his core were frightening; the world around him was covered with his Qi, turning into a sea of water laws in a second. In a furious attack, the runes condensed into a wave several meters high. However, the whale didn’t retreat, colliding directly.
BOOM!!!
The earth tremors were felt by all the women running toward the distant base. It seemed like two colossal beasts had collided directly, and the tremor persisted for a few seconds. Suddenly, they turned around, frightened to see a golden slash rising to the skies, covering the world with a golden hue.
A rain of blood extended across the battlefield; the whale retreated several meters, rolling in its own blood, while the triton flew, spewing blood, almost falling back into the sea with a deep cut on his chest.
The whale immediately stood up, and its eyes met with the triton, who also rose quickly. Then, the sinister smile of the whale startled the triton; on the whale’s back, a small human was still floating in divinity with a bone saber in her hands.
’Our power used in the rune multiplied several times, excellent,’ Alm said pleased. ’Ruri alone couldn’t use even 1% of the rune, but now, with our powers, she can even harm those from several realms above. The power of a hero is truly impressive.’
’Unfortunately, she will never be able to use this power alone. But if we fight together, our combat power becomes terrifying. Too bad she’s still many realms below, limiting everything,’ Bruno said excitedly.
The whale then shot out, rushing again towards the triton. The triton, in turn, immediately thought of fleeing, but how could that intention escape their eyes? Ruri, without any exchange of words, made a move, and the seawater radiated a murderous intent. The triton trembled instantly, as any attempt to return to the sea would result in his death.
In a second, the whale was three meters away from him, and the triton didn’t hesitate, as there was no retreat.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Sounds of physical blows clashing against powerful and impenetrable waters echoed. The whale advanced and attacked like a frenzied beast, getting quickly covered in blood. However, the triton couldn’t make Alm and Bruno retreat completely; the complete first-level physical cultivation was so abnormal that their defenses and stamina were almost on par with the triton. At the same time, the triton couldn’t counterattack with everything, as any opening would result in a saber strike.
Ruri focused her power on the saber, waiting for the moment. It wasn’t worth blocking the triton’s water laws and Qi, as she was still too weak and could only do one thing. Her attack could injure him, which was already scary, but it would never kill him if the triton kept his attention on her. The cultivation difference was overwhelming, and the triton sensed that if he only defended, the chance of being defeated was zero.
They continued in a violent exchange of blows, and the water laws punished the whale’s body hundreds of times more than the sea creature. Every so often, the whale could get close as if it felt no pain, and the triton had to increase its focus on defense, pushing the whale away and causing Alm and Bruno more injuries while spreading their blood everywhere; clearly, this frenzied advance wouldn’t last much longer.
Until, when the whale approached again and was violently pushed away, Alm and Bruno stopped and didn’t advance anymore. Instead, they stood up and looked with a dreadful smile. Then, the golden saber descended in a relentless slash.
The triton turned his eyes, still not understanding why she would attack directly. However, trying to move his Qi and body, he felt his vision darken and his skin crack, accompanied by terrible pain. His body didn’t move, and he only realized when the saber was a meter away from him that he had been poisoned. The whale’s blood invaded through the wound in his chest.
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SLASH!!!
With a single decisive strike, the triton was split in half in a shower of blood, and the golden power completely extinguished.
’Our poisonous blood seems even more lethal and sinister than before. Even a beast with relevant cultivation and strong instincts didn’t realize the threat invading its body slowly,’ Bruno commented incredulously as he advanced and caught Ruri, who fell from the air.
In his arms, Ruri looked at the whale with tired eyes, almost closing. Alm and Bruno could still feel everything coming from her, and a strong feeling was transmitted to them. She then smiled faintly and finally faded away, and the whale stood there for a few seconds watching the little girl in his arms. They felt a bit awkward in a nostalgic way; the feelings of this young girl were too intense, and they were too old to feel that kind of thing nowadays, barely able to interpret what she was feeling. But being able to feel it in that shared array wasn’t too bad.
After a few seconds, they reflected on all of this. The heavens seemed to want them to join the others; clearly, their power was much more efficient being used by her for now while she had the queen’s rune. And at the same time, with physical cultivation and the array power coming from other people, he could fight and be even stronger. Now, they were paying the utmost attention to the signs of the Heaven’s Will, but strangely, when thinking about keeping this girl around, they weren’t unhappy about it.