Rocks and dust moved slowly within the debris. The extremely thin man stood on the ground, and a pair of wings made of pure Qi flapped ominously. He observed the movement with surprise.
Zane and Gael rose slowly, spitting out a lot of blood and various organ fragments. When they were finally upright, they looked directly at the distant man. The man trembled immediately; the eyes of that gigantic being gleamed in an earthy brown color. There was no fear or pain in them, only a cold and eerie calm.
"The Physical Cultivation saved us by a hair... no, it was the bloodline that instinctively activated and protected us," Gael said without much emotion.
Both focused on what lay ahead; another attack like that, and they would die without a grave. With a quick glance, they spotted Mira sleeping peacefully. Some survivors from the city, alert to the events, decided to take her to a distant house. It was a woman holding her in her arms, and her children, who were the same size as Mira, stood by her side.
Zane and Gael sighed, realizing that everything they had was pushed to the limit. Dense earth laws permeated around them, and a small mist of sand spread throughout the environment. Suddenly, a greenish screen sprouted before them.
[Side Quest Available 01]
[Mastery of the infernal law and creation of the symbol of the God of Evil]
[Reward 01: 10 Upgrade Points]
[Reward 02: Access to the main mission]
[Reward 03: 01 High-level Essential Chest]
Both read quickly as a sense of strangeness settled in. Zane then commented, "Seems like this is related to that infernal law. It's something stolen by the queen bitch for this universe from somewhere else."
"Symbol of the God of Evil... well, we have to survive this first," Gael added, looking ahead attentively.
The atmosphere grew tense, and their gazes met. Suddenly, the air was shattered by a saber strike, and furious winds swept through debris and dirt, startling the distant, fearful onlookers.
Zane raised his heavy axe with difficulty, and a burst of Qi and blood emanated from his body. However, his face remained undisturbed.
The sound of metal colliding with metal echoed throughout the village, causing some people to retreat with bleeding ears. The man held his saber tightly entwined with the shocked gigantic figure. He hoped to deliver a final blow, but the moribund figure, even severely injured, blocked him firmly.
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The metallic thuds continued resonating like thunder on the battlefield. Exchanges of blows unfolded like a war symphony, each strike laden with intense power. Zane's axe cut through the air in broad arcs while the man's saber sliced with surgical precision.
The scene was a violent dance between two frenzied opponents, where each strike and parry added a new layer of ferocity that multiplied fiercely.
However, the ground became increasingly stained red with the spilled blood, mostly from Zane himself, whose condition grew more critical with each passing moment. The man smiled, incredulous, unable to comprehend how that round whale still stood.
Suddenly, a new clash of weapons occurred, and an explosion of earth made the man's vision spin and blood rise in his throat.
Dazed, he took several steps back, feeling extreme pain in his ribs. It was a stake of earth that violently pierced from his blind spot. He realized that the environment was covered by a subtle layer of sand, and a profound sense of awe overcame him. The fine sand around him was being manipulated, distorting his senses. A stealthy strike almost killed the man without him realizing it.
Zane smiled, narrowly avoiding a vital point. His lack of Qi and wounds hindered the precision of the strike. His Mastery of the laws of the earth from the Behemoth lineage was becoming increasingly terrifying as he cultivated; he could already perform feats of this level with ease.
The man spat out a mouthful of blood and advanced without holding back, his dark wings cutting through the air with disconcerting speed. Zane felt an overwhelming pressure on his Qi as a mysterious force threatened to suffocate his essence.
'Could it be an effect of this strange law?' they both thought frantically. They were fighting against something unknown and, at the same time, much stronger than them. However, in moments of greatest danger, they remained calm and rational, dealing with the critical threat before them.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A vast circular area around the confrontation was destroyed. The man didn't cease his attacks, and Zane continued to block, even though it seemed he was on his last breath. At a critical moment, the man sensed a hint of exhaustion in him, making Zane's axe tremble; finally, he found an opening!
His saber lunged like a venomous snake toward Zane's throat. However, a pair of evil eyes gleamed intensely, and a ghostly, magnetic force repelled the attack, diverting it from its deadly course.
It was a glimpse of resistance, a last defense fueled by pure willpower. It was a direct magnetic action from the bloodline but at the cost of all the remaining Qi in Zane and Gael's body.
Zane and the man abruptly pulled away, both injured. However, Zane, even covered in blood, didn't falter. With one final surge, he advanced, his physical cultivation still possessing a last vestige of power, propelling him into a decisive blow.
The thin man, shocked to see his saber cracked, managed to raise it again, and in the final impact, their weapons collided in a new deafening clash.
The man felt his bones cracking and all his organs churning. His entire consciousness threatened to fade away, but he bit his tongue hard, and his mind managed to snap back into focus. In front of him, a completely red figure that looked more like a corpse was still standing firm, maintaining the clash of their weapons.
He looked into those dense brown eyes and felt that those were the last energies of that tireless zombie.
He breathed deeply, relieved for a moment... until he felt his heart pounding frantically. Something was wrong!
The man's body trembled, and his eyes changed color. They were now in a dark shade of brown. 'This...' he looked at his body, specifically at his only open wound on the rib. Although there was only blood there, it wasn't his blood.
'Poison!' Were his last thoughts before his consciousness faded away forever.
Zane and Gael watched closely as the man fell. It was a close call; all their weapons had been used, and the last resort would be to remove the bloody rune from the spatial inventory and detonate everything. However, they would certainly die in the process.
That's when Zane had a strange idea. Previously, the Behemoth bloodline had refused to merge with the former owner of this body. Faced with this dilemma, they decided to take a risk. A single drop of pure bloodline blood was dripped between the exchanges, splashing onto the man.
Poison was the simplest and least direct way to cause death that existed. However, to poison a cultivator, a higher-level cultivation poison was needed. What could a single drop of bloodline do to a cultivator stronger than them?
The answer was obvious, but both Zane and Gael instinctively felt that this drop was not something ordinary. Now, everything was proven: their blood was poisonous to outsiders at a terrifying level. The scene was a sinister confirmation of the peculiarity of their bloodline, revealing a power beyond the conventional.