Tina fell on Miller when they were teleported into the secret realm.

Every trace of anger disappeared from her face when she saw her surroundings. They were both in a huge opening with several winding tunnels connected to it.

What shocked her for a moment wasn't the unknown minerals she saw, nor the unfamiliar location that wasn't listed in the information she received beforehand.

She suddenly felt Miller who was below her tremble greatly. She looked down at him, and after confirming how he swallowed big gulps of saliva as he looked around, she was now sure she wasn't dreaming or anything of such.

She raised her head back up and looked around her to see the massive ants that were cutting into the flesh of several beasts without actually eating them. It was almost as if they were preparing them. The raised thorned limbs of the ants dripping in blood that froze for a moment upon their appearance suddenly descended before the ants all launched at them from all directions.

It was a scary sight that caused Miller to wet his pants. Awoken from the unfamiliar yet familiar smell, Tina didn't hesitate to burst out with her full mana as she stretched her hands at her sides and unleashed her domain.

"Gravity domain..."

With her at the center, the surrounding 30m had its gravity increased causing the launching ants to freeze for a moment. Alas, it was only for a moment, as the ants continued, the nearest being just about ten meters away from them. Judging from its speed, Tina realized it would reach them in at most two seconds. Her small mind went on overdrive and she didn't hesitate to hold back any longer.

"...x 5!"

After breaking into the advanced realm, Tina was able to burst out with her full potential as a supreme talent.

The gravity of thirty meters around her increased by five times, causing the ground to slightly cave in. Simultaneously all the launching ants fell to the ground as their protective shells made creaking sounds.

No matter how they tried, they couldn't move an inch after Tina's domain was activated. However, that didn't stop the far-away ants from throwing their bodies in Tina's direction but upon stepping into her domain, they all experienced the same fate.

This brought about an unusual sight. Tens of massive bodies were crushed a short distance around Tina and Miller and the bodies were still piling up as more ants barged into the domain.

The ants could normally bear the immense weight of their thick exoskeleton due to their formidable strength. But under the influence of gravity increased by five times, they were crushed to the ground.

However, that was all Tina could do. In fact, she could barely hold up any longer and the more ants barged into her domain, the more the sweat pooled on her forehead. But she gritted her teeth and forcefully held on. She didn't bother thinking about how they could escape the situation as she knew that the moment she was distracted and her domain fell, they would both die instantly.

A few sweat drops fell on Miller's face, momentarily waking him up from his fear to see how Tina struggled to keep them alive. Her pale face seemed to be the strong push he needed to realize that they were in a difficult situation and could die at any moment. Suppressing his fear as much as possible, Miller reminded himself of the fact that he was a genius. A genius who even had the strongest Void Emperor as his teacher even if it was temporary. That seemed to do the job, as he was finally able to control his mana smoothly. Silver essence erupted from his body and making use of the safe region Tina was able to activate in her domain for his sake, he disappeared from below her and appeared beside her.

He stretched out his hand in a pulling gesture and immediately after his hand disappeared into space before it reappeared soon after with a bow.

He raised the bow and repeated his previous gesture, this time causing an arrow to appear in his hand. It seemed as if he had a pocket space where he could willingly take stored items.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Miller knocked an arrow before he pulled the string with all his strength and let go. A strange sight soon occurred.

The arrow disappeared into space before appearing before a fallen ant in an instant.

However...

*Clang!*

The sound made from the contact of the arrow with the ant's shell was like that of a stone hitting steel.

Miller tried and tried yet none of his arrows could penetrate the ant's monstrous defenses. Unlike Tina who was a mid-level advanced mage, Miller was still at the peak of the beginner realm. But that in itself was an astonishing feat considering he had barely awoken for a year. The despairing Miller was pulled out of his thoughts when Tina's voice drifted into his ears:

"Run..."

Miller looked at Tina and saw that she couldn't hold out much longer. Unlike Tina, he could escape this situation by teleporting. It was just that he couldn't yet bring a person with him during the process. The fact that he could only teleport less than 50m also didn't help much.

However, Miller refused to abandon Tina. He could still remember his master's words:

"A man that betrays his friend, especially one with a big chest, is no man at all!"

"Idiot..." Tina barely choked out as she persevered. Slowly but surely, her mind became clouded in despair.

"I can only hold out for two minutes more..."

*****

"Lightning rings!"

A sweet and beautiful voice was released from the mouth of a purple wolf standing at 4m high and with purple arcs of electricity streaking through its fur.

Four rings made of lightning suddenly appeared around the two massive ants a few feet from her.

The wolf suddenly moved at breakneck speed for a moment before its body transmuted into lightning that was sucked into one of the rings above the wolves.

Ella emerged from the ring and swiped her claw at one of the ants.

The ant moved quickly and tried to throw a limb at her.

That is right! It tried to. But its movement was cut short by Ella's one word:

"Judgement!"

Thick arcs of lightning fell from the rings above her before dropping instantly on the ants, electrocuting them and freezing their movements.

The smell of burnt flesh permeated the area.

A second later, the limb of one of the frozen ants flew into the air. In front of the transformed Ella, the unbreakable shells of the ants became meaningless.

In her current state, Ella could still not match the ants in pure physical strength but she could now cut them with her sharp claws that were reflecting colorful lights from the shining stones embedded deep within the cave walls.

The limb of the ant regenerated a second later and if it weren't for the cut part filled with thorns on the ground, no one would believe it had just suffered just a grave attack.

The ant tried to attack Ella only for two of its limbs to fly up this time. Ella's purple eyes shone with a fierce light as her claw drew toward the ant's neck to end it.

*Roar!*

A spiritual wave spread out into the surroundings causing Ella to lose consciousness for a second.

Unlike before when she floated a few inches from the ground as her hair made fluttering sounds like countless bats flapping their wings, Arianne directly transformed into tens of bats that arrived before the ants in a second. At the same time, the blood lost from the ant that lost its limb rose from the ground and turned into chains that tightened around the ant's shells.

Creaking sounds resounded for a moment before several cracks appeared around the ant's shells. The ants were none the wiser to what was happening to them, as unlike Ella who regained her thoughts after a second due to the protection of the lightning barrier protecting her mind, they were still under the effect of Arianne's spiritual attack. It was a general knowledge that Ki cultivators were most vulnerable to spiritual attacks. And this moment was proving those facts.

The carapaces broke in several areas allowing the small dark balls, formed before the mouth of the swarm of bats to deal a fatal attack on the ants.

Several black rays covered the area as they pierced into the ant's bodies and instantly ended their lives.

Ella who has had some point transformed back to her human form looked at the bats that were combining:

"Guess I didn't need to act at all!"

"Hehe! I told you I am now stronger than you," said the reverted Arianne.

Ella didn't refute her and merely smiled.

However, a sweet voice suddenly cut into their conversation.

"Not fair! Not fair!"

Ella looked at the slime that was bobbing up and down on Arlo's head and her eyes involuntarily widened.

On the other hand, Arianne hurled herself at Arlo.

"Anita!"

"Hehe..."

Arlo ignored Arianne who took Anita away from his head and Ella who was looking stunned at them and instead looked at the corpses or what was left of the corpses of the ants.

'Guess I was overthinking things.'

None of them noticed Joe who was standing far away from them,' I couldn't help in any way!' His cousin's words kept reverberating in his head.

'...That is right! I am just trash.' the glow in his eyes died down.

Joe didn't notice the snake coiled around his neck studying him with its starry eyes.

While Arlo and Joe were feeling down because of their inferiority toward Ella and Arianne, none of them were aware of the transformation they were soon about to undergo within the secret realm.

They didn't know that they, new but close friends, were soon going to be the center of attention not only for their world but for the whole universe