As the dust cleared, Ace and the others were shocked to find that both Zarconix and Wukong had retreated 20 meters from their original positions, meaning that, shockingly, despite the difference in realms, both were equal in terms of power.
"As this king said earlier, upon reaching the impose boundary of comprehension, you'll be able to borrow the imposing force of nature to enhance your strikes," Wukong explained leisurely.
Although he was facing the dragon-scaled bear, everyone was clear he was talking to Ace, and despite Zarconix's boiling fury, Wukong calmly continued.
"The impose boundary is essentially a warrior's way of becoming one with nature, which in turn allows them to start comprehending the infinite profundities of the natural laws, which is what will allow you to break through to become a saint, provided you've reached the peak of the 9th rank that is," Wukong explained as he continuously evaded his opponent's attacks and replying in kind.
His strikes from earlier did next to no actual damage, but now, with him borrowing the imposing force of nature to enhance the power of his strikes, he was able to actually threaten his opponent, albeit only barely.
Even in his current condition, Zarconix's defence was too sturdy. He was able to all but ignore the damage done by each strike and attack with just as much force as ever, but Wukong remained indifferent.
"The odd thing about the impose boundary is that the higher your insights into any of the natural laws, the more force you'll be able to borrow, but that's such a primitive way of fighting for those who've gained insights into any of the laws, which is why you'll never see any actual saint level warriors still using impose," Wukong explained as he jumped back to put some distance between him and his opponent.
Zarconix watched in shock and horror as sparks of electricity began to flicker around his opponent's staff. "You…
That…
Impossible!"
Wukong ignored the bear's fearful ramblings as he continued his explanation. "Saints fight by directly infusing their insights of the profound mysteries of nature into their attacks."
As he said that, Wukong and his staff turned into a bolt of lightning as he chased after the saint-level magical beast whose paws had just left the ground as he attempted to fly away. Unfortunately for Zarconix, their speeds were in two different leagues.
As soon as Wukong disappeared from his original position, the impulsive noise of a thunder clapping sounded from him shattering the sound barrier.
Zarconix had only risen a few meters off the ground when Wukong appeared above his head.
"[Piercing Thunder!]" Wukong roared as his staff sped through the air with unparalleled momentum.
The beast knew there was no dodging this one. All he could do now was raise his hands to cover his face from the strike of his monstrous opponent, but Wukong's attack was too powerful.
All the bones in both his paws shattered on impact, and he released a loud wail as he was sent flying through the air, crashing into the front line of the army of beasts and, more specifically, Sartius, the ninth-rank armoured razorback wyrm.
"This level of comprehension is called 'the profound realm,'" Wukong said proudly as he fell from the sky.
Though his comprehension had long since reached the level of saints, his realm hadn't. As such, he was still incapable of flight.
The moment his foot touched the ground, his body once again transformed into a bolt of lightning as he aimed to quickly put an end to the fight with his next move. Regrettably, the saint-level black dragon had seen enough.
"[Black Dragon's Breath!]" Yasha roared as a scorching black flame jetted out of its mouth.
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Fortunately, Wukong wasn't oblivious to his surroundings and was able to come to a stop just in time to avoid the dragon's attack, which had actually melted his battle-qi despite the lack of direct contact, but Yasha wasn't done yet.
Even though he was going against his word, an act that went against his pride as a dragon, the ability Wukong showed today was too enchanting. He had never seen or even heard of anyone able to defeat a saint whilst still at the eighth rank. He got the feeling that if Wukong were given the time to grow, he'd grow to reach a level even his boss could only look up to, and there were already three humans at that level; they couldn't afford for there to be a fourth!
"Ugh!" Wukong grunted as he was sent flying by Yasha's tail.
Yasha knew his actual movement speed couldn't compare to the warrior ape's, but his attack speed was nothing to scoff at.
"Zarconix, can you still fight?" Yasha asked as he watched the badly injured scaled bear roll off the beasts beneath him to get to his feet.
"I'm fine!" The bear growled, angered by the public humiliation it had suffered.
"Good. Follow me to deal with that mortal ape. I'll kill him; I just need you to keep him from running away," Yasha ordered as he prepared to fly in Wukong's direction. "Sartius, lead the others to destroy the humans. I don't want ANY survivors!"
Sartius, the armoured razorback wyrm, roared in understanding before setting its sights on the human settlement, more specifically at Ace. It knew that when Yasha said "any survivors," he meant the boy.
Ace couldn't help but gulp when he felt the threatening eyes of the wyrm fall on him, but thankfully, he wasn't on his own.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure they don't get near you," Venerin said as he placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him before turning to face the strongest mage amongst his subordinates. "Silum, you stay with Ace and support us from here."
"Yes, milord!" The older man said as he stepped forward.
"Today, two of our own gave their lives to protect our home. And now, despite us winning the competition, the beasts want to go back on their word. Why? Because they fear us. They fear our potential!" Venerin said frostily as he leapt from the walls, calmly leading two of his remaining generals through their soldiers towards the army of beasts. "We will undoubtedly lose many more, but they'll lose twice as many! So follow me and show these stupid beasts the consequences of messing with SILVERLIGHT CITY!"
Venerin roared as he charged towards the wyrm who killed one of his generals.
"FOR SILVERLIGHT!" Luciarde, the hammer-wielding peak sixth-rank warrior who wanted to take Hysode's place in the earlier battle, roared as he followed his leader into battle.
"FOR SILVERLIGHT!" The army echoed as they too, began their fearless charge!
Just as the beasts and the Silverlight Army were about to make contact, Silum, who had been standing calmly besides Ace, made his move. "Earth Tremor!"
As he said that, Ace watched as the ground that the beasts were running on began to tremble intensely.
Other than Silum, there were a total of 10 mages, and as if they had practiced this move, they all launched their most powerful spells as the first lines of beasts began to trip over each other.
Balls of fire, wind blades, arrows of water, and various other elemental attacks lit up the sky before crashing into the middle of the beast waves.
At the same time, Venerin and his two other generals were the first to make contact with the first line of beasts. Whilst Venerin clashed against Sartius, Luciarde, and Kulen – a straight-sword wielding warrior of the sixth rank – began a slaughter.
Though there were several higher-ranked beasts, the majority were between the first and third ranks, with the beasts at the fourth rank and above positioned further back.
With the first few lines stumbling and falling over themselves, thanks to Silum's spell, it made Luciarde and Kulen's job even easier. With absolutely no hesitation, the two sixth-rank warriors slaughtered a path straight through the army of magical beasts. At least two beasts would lose their lives with every wave of their weapons.
As the magical beasts at the front got back to their feet, the rest of the Silverlight Army was already on top of them, and they had absolutely no intentions of giving these cursed beasts who were threatening their homes the chance to reorganize themselves.
Though the initial clash saw the Silverlight army dominate, things didn't continue like that for very long.
When the soldiers were forced to go up against the beasts that weren't hurrying back to their feet, the tide seemed to switch. They weren't like Ace, who could jump ranks to defeat magical beasts. It took two or even three soldiers to take down a beast of the same level, but there were too many beasts to do that.
Luciarde and Kulen desperately wanted to help their subordinates, but they soon found themselves surrounded by stronger beasts that took longer to defeat.
The only positive was that although the dragons could command low and intermediate-rank beasts, they had virtually no command over high-ranked beasts. So, other than Yasha and Zarconix, who were busy with Wukong, and Sartius, who was facing off against Venerin, there were no other beasts above the sixth rank to worry about.
Ace also had to admit that Silum, Leilani – the sixth rank fire mage and final general – and the other mages were each like weapons of mass destruction. Every single spell they cast saw dozens of beasts perish, but unfortunately, the army of beasts was never-ending, and with the battle between Venerin and the Armoured Razorback Wyrm ramping up, Silum was focusing his energy on supporting him.