On the battlefield, a hydra about a dozen meters tall approached. It only had three heads, but one of them didn’t resemble a dragon at all—it looked more like a tiger. It was a hybrid draconic beast, carrying a thin dragon bloodline but also showing traits of a powerful mutant.
The hydra activated its shapeshifting ability, morphing into a humanoid female figure. Her appearance was relatively ordinary, but her eyes radiated absolute seriousness. She quickly approached Nayr to check on his condition.
After confirming everything was fine, she turned to the draconic beasts and signaled for everyone to prepare for an immediate retreat. As the dust settled on the battlefield, the expected grim scene emerged—corpses scattered everywhere.
Without wasting time, everyone began combing through the battlefield, collecting the bodies of their allies but leaving the enemy corpses untouched. However, they soon stumbled upon an unusual sight: the golem and the small dragoness running around, gathering the demons’ bodies without hesitation.
Wasting all that deathly Yin energy? Unthinkable. Alm wasted no time, storing everything in his inventory. After a few minutes, a voice called out to the pair.
"Little sister, thank you for helping. If it weren’t for you, we might’ve faced complete extinction," said the hydra woman as she approached Ruri.
Currently, Ruri had a faint dragon aura subtly flowing around her, matching that of the others. This was all they could perceive because a primordial bloodline was far too conspicuous. Yinou was suppressing this characteristic in Ruri entirely. Moreover, Yinou was also heavily suppressing her divine soul.
With a split soul, Alm and Bruno could avoid detection of their true spiritual level, even by heroes. As for Ruri, now possessing a divine soul, her presence would’ve been immediately noticeable to any immortal cultivator if not for Yinou’s efforts.
"Me? No way. I don’t have the skill to pull this off alone. I was just following my husband’s orders."
Ruri responded while holding onto the golem’s arm tightly, making it clear to everyone the bond between them. This eased their wariness toward him. Even though he lacked a dragon bloodline, the others would have to accept him.
Most of the draconic beasts here were hybrids. Perhaps being a hybrid increased the likelihood of mutations. Naturally, their view of the golem began to shift. Ruri smiled faintly, immediately noticing how simple-minded these beasts were—only slightly smarter than the first mutant beast they had encountered.
"I see. Thank you very much. I would’ve died to that witch if it weren’t for you two," said Nayr as he approached.
At that moment, other leaders and elite disciples also came forward to express their gratitude to the pair.
"You’re all too kind. I ended up being thrown into this place, wandering aimlessly. Hmph, those sinister demons—didn’t even do anything to provoke them, and they started hunting us down, yelling about how they’d torture us," Bruno said calmly with an innocent expression. "Naturally, I didn’t let them off so easily. Then, I saw them attacking people from my wife’s race. Helping her family was like helping myself."
Everyone nodded and sighed. They, too, had been thrown into this place against their will, at different times, leaving behind loved ones, families, and everything they had. They understood all too well the feeling of being helpless. Apparently, this couple was as talented as they were terrifying, which explained why they had been sent here together. It was incredibly fortunate they’d managed to stay together.
"I’m Hibria. Even though I’m weaker, I’ve been gathering everyone of our kind to survive alongside this young man," said the hydra woman politely.
Ruri asked lightly, "Earlier, the demons were clearly losing. I felt like you could’ve done something to stop them from escaping. Why did you just let them go?"
Hibria sighed before replying, "It’s a long story. Why don’t you come to our territory so we can talk in more detail?"
They agreed. After collecting everything they could, they left together.
***
A few hours later, inside a massive mountain serving as the beasts’ base, Hibria and Nayr were ready to answer their questions.
Apparently, this small world contained nearly ten giant continents surrounded by countless islands. The weaker mutants lived on the islands, cultivating and avoiding the continents, where they could be easily killed.
Everyone had been forcibly brought to this place, either individually or in large groups. However, the treatment they received varied depending on the hero who brought them and their talents.
The most common scenario was a hero giving a group of mutants a heroic core. This core could be divided into small crystals that granted temporary supreme power when used. These were the origins of the demons’ crystals, and Alm and Bruno had stolen one from the demoness.
The purpose of this was to prepare the mutants for the entrance test to the "celestial world," held every century. The heroes hoped the mutants who passed the test would prove useful to them in the future, which is why they provided assistance.
However, heroic cores were single-use and expired after a hundred years. If the beasts failed the test and survived by chance, returning to this place, they would no longer have the cores’ support.
Alm, Bruno, and Ruri’s eyes gleamed. This meant that, during the next test, all the clans here with a heroic core would use it, as there was no point in keeping it.
Heroic cores were given to large groups, but the demoness’s scythe and Nayr’s spear had similar origins. They were another type of unique gift from heroes—something incredibly rare, given only when a hero saw immense potential in a single individual.
"I arrived here about half a century ago," Nayr said. "A heroic elf from my universe brought me and gave me this spear as a gift. She said it’s one of a kind across all universes, forged by the God of the Forge himself."
Alm and Bruno let out heavy sighs, processing the information. Now they understood the scythe’s origins. Knowing that dwarf was working on this planet, it wasn’t a surprise. After so much time, he was clearly capable of crafting terrifying items.
However, like heroic cores, all gifted weapons had to be brought to the test.
’Having the chance to ste... claim them and put them to a more worthy purpose,’ Ruri commented mentally.
Alm and Bruno just nodded slightly. It was now clear: Ruri had changed a bit. She was still the same, but her personality had become more stable and sharper—a direct consequence of their actions.
This woman of theirs had always acted boldly, but before, she was a bit more innocent and reserved... in front of others, of course. After they unlocked all her past life memories, though, it seemed like nothing could shake her anymore.
By their side, she felt no fear, as if she had already seen everything life had to offer. She felt confident in herself and certain they would handle anything. Ruri now simply lived intensely, and an old saying came to Alm and Bruno’s minds: *Life truly begins when fear ends.*
Nowadays, Ruri just enjoyed herself and did everything she could to support them. If anything challenging came their way, she was convinced that together, they would overcome it.
With Alm and Bruno lost in thought, Ruri turned to Hibria and asked about the test and their goal.
Hibria revealed that the test was set to take place in six months, which brought some relief to the couple. When asked if they also had a heroic core, she sighed before answering. They didn’t have a full core but had managed to secure a small shard from one through sheer luck.
Hibria was a survivor of the last test. Nearly two centuries ago, when she arrived in this place, she was brought along with a large group of beasts from her universe and given a heroic core.
As the group’s greatest talent, she became its leader, and everyone united into armies to face the test. The foundation of the test was always the same—a race to reach the Celestial World, where group strength was essential. However, the specifics changed each time, making previous test accounts almost useless.
In the end, Hibria failed, and nearly her entire army was wiped out.
By some miracle, she survived and returned. Early in the next generation, she defeated a newly arrived demon clan that didn’t yet know how to use their heroic core. She had tried to steal their core... but she faltered.
Not entirely—she still managed to steal two shards from them, which became her salvation. But she had to use one recently.
She had taken this risky gamble because she hadn’t given up. Despite her failure, she gathered all the draconic beasts that had been brought here again. However, without a heroic core and with time passing as others learned to use theirs, defeat seemed inevitable.
That’s when Nayr appeared, displaying talent far beyond hers and receiving the spear as support.
"Maybe because of the failed attack at the beginning. In this generation, all the mutant demons have united around that bitch. She got the scythe, and with one clan having the heroic core, their odds of passing the test together are enormous," Nayr explained bluntly.
Hibria added, "As I mentioned, I had two shards, but in our last clash with the demons, we were cornered, and I had to use one. The leader of the Corrupt Demon Clan used his to neutralize mine. Now we have only one left, and that’s why I chose not to use it in this battle, letting them escape."
Alm and Bruno nodded. It seemed the heavens had conspired in their favor. They attacked without knowing the situation and, by coincidence, targeted the clan that had already used its trump card. It wasn’t luck—if the demon leader still had his shard, they would have sensed the danger and avoided the attack. It was the demons’ karma that drew their attention and got them looted.
As for the army, Hibria and Nayr were more than pleased to have this couple on their side. About 80% of the draconic beasts were hybrids, with combinations of two or three races. Despite their mutant power and great potential, the fusion of various bloodlines often resulted in relatively lower intellectual levels.
The beast they had faced upon arrival was a perfect example of this. Naïve and with underdeveloped cognitive abilities, these mutants rarely displayed cunning. However, one positive trait of draconic beasts was their unity.
The thin dragon bloodline connected them, generating mutual trust. Once established as a unit, they followed their leaders’ orders without question, especially in battle, where they demonstrated total fearlessness and loyalty.
While their intellectual limitations were evident, their mutant strength and unwavering loyalty made up for it. With even a minimally intelligent leader, they became formidable opponents.
After the explanations, Hibria turned to the "golem" and spoke softly, "You’re married, so you’re one of us now. Your heart is honest and good for helping us in a moment of need, even at great risk."
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She then looked at Ruri and added hesitantly, "We don’t have much to offer and fight just to survive while demons and other groups try to take the little we have. But if you’re willing to join us, we’ll be even stronger together. However... there’s something I must say, and it might sound offensive."
"Please, enlighten me, senior," Ruri replied promptly.
"Though your talent and potential are impressive—with your husband’s unmatched defensive abilities and your mental powers and terrifying swordsmanship—the reason the demons suffered so much was the element of surprise. They were prepared to fight us but didn’t expect someone with such advanced Earth laws or mental power; it’s something new they’ll prepare for next time."
Alm, Bruno, and Ruri smirked faintly. Intelligence clearly wasn’t their strong suit, was it? If even such an exaggerated and questionable performance could fool these people, it was surprising they’d survived this long.
Nayr added, "They’ll learn from their mistakes this time and won’t make the same error. You relied too much on luck. In the future, you shouldn’t fight like this again. That way, I can protect you, and we’ll go further together."
Ruri laughed internally. These mutants had good hearts, but even the smartest among them... lived by the logic of "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." Perhaps their whole army wasn’t necessarily weaker than Nayr, but their lack of intelligence to leverage their power held them back.
’Do they really think Master is too weak to face that bitch? Ridiculous... but Master’s acting skills are impressive,’ Ruri commented through the array, amused.
Bruno spoke lightly, with a grin, "So, you’re saying my only skill is sneaky attacks and exploiting others’ ignorance? Well... I already know that! I wouldn’t dare face that horny demoness directly again."
"No, you’re truly powerful. Young ones shouldn’t be unduly modest," Hibria replied, laughing as she realized the golem wasn’t offended.
"Hahaha..." Ruri burst into laughter, unable to contain herself. Were they really trying to act like wise, experienced elders in front of him?
"Don’t worry. You saved me this time, so I swear to protect you in battle," Nayr declared with disarming innocence.
"Hehe, thank you so much!" Ruri replied, finding it amusing to imagine being protected by someone so naïve.
At that moment, a furious roar echoed in the distance, drastically changing everyone’s expressions. Hibria and Nayr immediately rushed out.