*Whoosh!*

Two shadows suddenly pounced on the group, pulling Arlo out of his thoughts.

Ella quickly spread her hands out causing a barrier of lightning to surround them.

The two shadows shrieked in pain upon coming in contact with the barrier before they quickly retreated.

Ella dispelled her spell causing the two beasts to appear clearly before the group.

Two ants standing at three meters high appeared before their widened eyes. The thick exoskeleton of the ants forming a protective shell was deep red, and their legs had sharp thorns that made them look threatening and menacing.

However, what surprised the group more was that the energy around them was unusual.

"Ki!" Arlo shouted as he lost his cool. He couldn't be blamed as these were the first Ki cultivators other than himself that he had met.

While his father taught him his Ki cultivation technique, he didn't know if he was also a Ki cultivator. After all, he had never seen his father in action before.

One of the ants suddenly moved fast, kicking up a cloud of dust as it appeared before Arianne in nearly an instant.

Arianne didn't hesitate to draw her blood and form a boot at the leg before she swept it out to meet the ant's leg.

The ant's leg seemed to glow with a red light, and before long both legs came in contact.

There was a brief silence during which Arlo and Ella's eyes widened in horror.

Arianne's leg was pulverized from the overbearing force before the resulting shockwave sent her flying a great distance.

She stumbled several times before she came to a stop. The scent of burnt flesh permeated the area for only an instant before disappearing.

In just a second, her leg had already regenerated. However, the pain still caused her to grimace, and that was shocking as vampires were a race with high pain tolerance.

That was clearly portrayed the first time Arlo fought with Bon. And Arianne was in a far greater league than Bon which came to show how terrifyingly powerful the ants were.

"Arianne!" Ella shouted as she tried to approach her. It was then the remaining ant that had been focusing on her moved.

Its leg flashed before Ella in an instant as it glowed bright red just like its partner. Ella's pupils shrank, and she didn't hesitate to hold back her power. She circulated her bloodline to the fullest causing a purple lightning to dance around her small fist before she punched with all her might.

"Bam!"

Her Purple hair flickered with lightning and her eyes had long lost their droopiness. For a moment, both parties seemed to be at a stalemate. But a moment later, Ella was sent flying as she coughed blood.

However, unlike Arianne, she didn't lose her hand. That was normal, as werewolves boasted superior physical strength compared to vampires.

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The ant merely retreated a few steps before it regained its balance.

After dealing with Arianne and Ella, both ants shifted their heads to the next strongest person sensed by their antennas.

Arlo who was communicating with Old Bro flinched back from both ants.

'Are you serious? You are telling both ants are merely comparable to fourth-star Warriors?'

<< That is right! >>

Arlo's emotions were thrown into chaos. Even though he had yet to break into the first-star stage properly, he had always thought his strength could be compared to a fourth-star stage after all he had a special physique that even Old bro couldn't identify.

Old bro knew what Arlo was thinking so he tried to calm him down, << Don't fret. They are mighty because of their bloodline which allows them to increase their physical strength by at least five times.>>

'Five times?' Contrary to Old Bro's intentions, Arlo became more anxious. 'And it is even at least...'

Before Old Bro could respond, the two ants had already appeared before Arlo and attacked together.

Arlo's eyes narrowed, as his anxiousness disappeared. It was in times like this that he showed the importance of his mental state.

'I can't confront them directly.'

As the two monstrous legs became bigger in his pupils, Arlo unleashed his greatest skill by using the energy he had already gathered at his throat.

"Stop!"

Both ants stopped for a moment, during which Arlo swallowed the blood he almost coughed from the recoil of Ruler's authority and summoned an orb.

*Zing!*

The orb rotated with a piercing sound, as Arlo used Ruler's authority to stop both ants once again. He gritted his teeth as blood leaked from the sides of his mouth and used Ruler's authority once again.

"Absorb!"

The orb absorbed the surrounding Ki while Arlo stopped the ant's movement for another breath. At that moment, his throat was partially destroyed.

Since the ants were within the range of Ruler's authority, Arlo could only command the orb to explode directly.

While all this sounded long, it only happened within ten breaths during which Arianne and Ella just regained their bearings.

*Boooooooom!*

An explosion rocked the cave.

However, unlike before, the ants were sent flying in the opposite direction as Arlo.

"Arlo!"

Arianne ignored Joe who was flung back for the third time from the shockwaves and moved to catch Arlo in her embrace.

Arlo couldn't suppress it any longer and coughed several mouthfuls of blood. He ignored his wounded state and Arianne's cry and instead looked into the cloud of dust that was slowly dissipating.

What he saw caused his eyes to widen in anger.

The shells of the ants were broken in several places and blood leaked out from the cracks. But soon after, the shells healed and the leaking blood stopped. All these happened within five breaths. While it couldn't compare to Arianne's instant regeneration, it was still a fearsome rate of resuscitation.

'Now, I see why Ki cultivators are fearsome!' Just encountering these two ants made Arlo fear the Asura race even more.

Arlo's eyes hardened, 'I can't bear to hold back my powers.'

He stood up with Arianne's help and spoke to seemingly no one.

"Come out, Anita!"

One of the seals on his arm lit up with a blinding blue light before a blue slime appeared on his head.

Arianne was already familiar with such a sight, but the same couldn't be said about Ella.

However, Ella couldn't afford to be distracted for long, as the ants started walking towards them.

Without any hesitation, she unleashed her full strength and began transforming.

Her body grew and her bones lengthened as if they wanted to pierce her body. Her limbs started changing to an animal's and before long a piercing howl resounded within the cave causing the ants to come to a stop.

"Awoooooooo!" Lightning danced around the purple fur of the three-meter-tall wolf.

Simultaneously, a deep animalistic roar sounded out causing the ants to flinch back this time.

"ROOOOOOAR!" Arianne had also transformed into a three-meter-tall monster. The sharp teeth lining the wide mouth on her empty face created a far more threatening sight than the thorns on the ant's legs.

Standing between the two monstrous figures was a golden-haired boy with a deep blue slime resting on his head.

'It is time for round two.' Arlo's eyes narrowed as a dangerous light flashed within them.

.....

Just like Arlo's group, another group had a similar experience, it was just that theirs were far more unfortunate.

Like Arlo and the others, Tina and Miller did not see an aurora sky after entering the secret realm. Instead, what they saw were fist-sized emerald-colored stones that when joined together actually functioned as an illumination that lit up the countless ants around them.

It was a colony of red ants!