As they approached the next target, it became immediately clear that something was different.
The differences lay not just in the fact that this outpost was larger and more fortified with multiple layers of defenses.
The main difference was the population of its denizens. The air crackled with the presence of numerous powerful cultivators. Unrestrained, their auras were a palpable force in the early morning’s dawn.
Lassim signaled the team to halt, his expression darkening as he surveyed the outpost.
"So, wasn’t this supposed to be just another outpost according to the map?" he asked. "It looks more like a command center. They’re definitely doing more than just coordinating logistics or staging a defensive point from here."
Aerin frowned, his sharp eyes scanning the area as the wheels of his mind turned, processing the changes. He was formulating what their next action should be.
Kaelin cursed under his breath. "Do you think the same strategy from before would work, Mr. Team Leader? Or if we rush in like before, we’ll be overwhelmed?"
Lara nodded, her voice tense. "We should probably retreat and get updated orders for our targets. This is different from what the map says should be here."
Lassim considered their words, knowing they were right.
But before he could give the order to fall back, the outpost’s defenses suddenly activated.
A powerful barrier sprang to life, surrounding the entire base in a dome of golden energy.
At the same time, several figures emerged from the shadows, their auras blazing with power.
"Ambush!" Aerin shouted, his voice cutting through the night. "They reacted quicker than expected!"
Three powerful figures, all of them at the Spirit Transcendent stage, clearly at level five with their 5 ringed halos above their heads, shot towards them from the outpost.
Their auras radiated with the intense heat and brightness of day-elemental energy, and their expressions were cold. They had been waiting for Lassim’s team to arrive.
The lead figure, his eyes narrowing as he assessed Lassim’s team, spoke with a sneer. "This is it? Four Spirit Ascension stage weaklings? I expected more."
Another of the trio, a woman with golden flames flickering around her fists, glanced around before shouting, "Lassim, where’s your hidden helper that was able to wipe out the others so quickly? Surely, you didn’t think to come here alone without them?"
Lassim’s heart pounded in his chest as he quickly assessed the situation. They were outmatched, both in numbers and in raw power. Even though he was confident in his own strength, he knew he couldn’t take on all three by himself.
"Fall back!" Lassim ordered, his voice sharp. "I’ll hold them off—go now!"
Kaelin, Lara, and Aerin hesitated, exchanging quick, worried glances.
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"We can’t just leave him," Kaelin whispered urgently, his voice almost drowned by the crackling spiritual pressure energy in the air from the Transcendents. "We should—"
"No," Aerin cut him off, his tone firm. "He’s buying us time. Let’s leave quickly so as not to distract Lassim too much. We’ll regroup and discuss if we can get out of this alive"
The third of the trio, a broad-shouldered man, growled, "Enough talk. Let’s kill three and capture one. We’ll squeeze out all of the information and earn some extra sun drops. Let’s just get it over with."
With a reluctant nod towards Lassim’s back that was now facing the oncoming trio, the others turned and began to retreat, flying back toward the cover of the trees with their fastest movement techniques.
The three Spirit Transcendent cultivators from the Endless Sun Sect didn’t waste any more time. With a synchronized burst of energy, they charged towards Lassim with such a ludicrous speed that he thought they were almost teleporting. Their intent to kill reeked into their spiritual pressure.
They unleashed a joint attack where they lifted their hands in tandem to create a barrage of day-elemental beams of searing light and flames that scorched the air as they hurtled toward Lassim. The heat was intense, leaving scorch marks across his skin as the attacks bore down on him.
But Lassim wasn’t about to be taken down so easily. He activated his [Grand Aegis] technique, summoning the massive ice dragon soul fragment that had saved him so many times before. The dragon’s form materialized around him, its icy scales glowing with a soft, azure light as it roared to life.
The attacks from the Endless Sun Sect trio struck the ice barrier hastily created by the dragon. Luckily, the barrier held firm as it guided the mana with the active assistance of Marinelle’s efforts to absorb all of the water mana in the air, mix it with Lassim’s divine mana, and reinforce the barrier.
The intense heat melted the ice in places, but their efforts were enough to shield Lassim from the worst of it.
But Lassim wasn’t about to be taken down so easily.
With calm, he activated [Lifestream], his skin knitting together and the burns lessening as the water mana coursed across his skin to the wounded areas, refreshing his body and sharpening his focus.
In a fluid motion, he summoned his halberd directly into his hands as he charged the blade. It began shimmering with concentrated and pressurized water-attributed energy.
One cultivator dropped his hands from the tandem attack and equipped a flaming spear to lead a charge, his weapon burning brighter as he aimed a piercing strike at Lassim chest.
At the same time, the woman summoned blazing scimitars and unleashed a flurry of fiery yellow beams in the form of slashes, similar to Lassim’s water blades, with each one sending arcs of flames behind the bright yellow as they traveled through the air.
Last, but definitely not least, the warhammer-wielding and impatient brute prepared a devastating overhead smash.
Lassim didn’t hesitate.
With a swift movement, he raised his halberd and added his lightning mana into it, turning the building pressurized water into the completed form of [Hydroburst] with the liquid plasma vibrating with barely contained energy.
As the first wave of attacks from the trio converged on him, Lassim swung his halberd in a powerful arc.
The blade, now a conduit of volatile plasma ready to explode, cleaved through the air with a deafening roar. The moment it made contact with the flaming spear, the plasma erupted in a massive explosion, the shockwave rippling outwards with devastating force.
The impact blasted the spear-wielding cultivator backward, his weapon creaked and he felt it nearly shattered in his hands as the explosive force engulfed him. If it had cracked, he would’ve immediately died as losing your connection to your elemental spirit would have you dead at the same time.
The air was filled with the smell of scorched earth and burnt flesh as the liquid plasma surged forward, leaving trails of intense burns and flashes of lightning in its wake.
The woman with the scimitars was caught off guard by the sheer power of the explosion. She barely managed to raise her weapons in an X shape for defense, but the shockwave from the blast sent her tumbling through the air, her scimitars glowing red-hot as they struggled to withstand the shockwave.
The warhammer-wielder, though bracing himself with his weapon, found himself staggered by the force of the explosion too. The ground beneath him cracked and splintered, and the rain from the gathering storm did little to cool the molten patches of earth left in the blast’s wake.
Above them, the constellation began to glow ominously as a thunderstorm erupted in full force above Lassim. The storm that constantly followed him when he rotated his mana was more violent than ever before with Lassim at his new stage. He didn’t have time to condense or control it as he was fighting for his and his team’s lives.
Thick, dark clouds churned violently, unleashing torrents of rain that mixed with the residual water mana in the air, amplifying the chaotic energy. From within Lassim’s inner world, Zaphy began to take control of the rampant lightning dragons floating through the storm.
Positioned beside her royal dragon koi sister, Mari, Zaphy directed thick bolts of lightning that struck the places where the Endless Sun Sect cultivators had been knocked to, further disrupting their recovery.
As the trio struggled to regain their footing amidst the storm and the aftershock of the plasma left behind from his [Hydroburst], Lassim pressed his advantage.
He lunged forward, his halberd a blur as he struck at the nearest cultivator, the one with the warhammer. The force of his attack, enhanced by yet another [Hydroburst], sent the enemy reeling, forced to try and defend rather than counterattack.
The battlefield was a chaotic symphony of clashing elements—day versus water and lightning—each side vying for dominance as Lassim tried to buy time.
Lassim’s halberd moved with his best attempts at precision while maintaining extreme power, each strike aimed to overwhelm his opponents. Despite their formidable strength and experience, the sun cultivators were starting to be pushed to their limits by Lassim’s relentless assault.
"Move, damn it!" Lassim shouted over the roar of the storm, his voice echoed and amplified by the thunder mysteriously, cutting through the chaos as he glanced back at his team that had stood still with brief hesitation as the battle had erupted before they could make a move.
His constellation blazed with the azure light and starlight above him, giving him an empowering and terrifying presence. It was like his every move was filled with some sort of divine authority as he floated there in the moment of respite.
Kaelin, Lara, and Aerin didn’t need to be told twice after witnessing the raw power on display. They flew as fast as they could, pushing themselves to their limits as they raced through the trees.
However, before she retreated, Lara created a pair of tower and sphere-shaped lightning runes, which flew towards Lassim and adhered to his back. As the defense specialist, this was her final contribution to the battle, and she knew it would bolster his defenses.