Rynn's flying beast was very clearly of the Water Type. What Ryker didn’t expect was that Queen would have such an oppression over such creatures. If that was the case…

Rynn was essentially finished.

If he recalled correctly, all of her beasts were of the Water Type. Every single last one of them.

ROAR!

Queen seemed to be excited by her newly found powers, so much so that she roared again.

Ryker’s expression changed and he hurriedly put a hand over her little mouth. However, the damage was done.

“Those are our allies, Queen,” Ryker said with a bit of a headache.

First there was Fire Phoenix, now he had this firecracker to worry about. At least it made sense for Fire Phoenix. Fire Type Spirit Beasts were known for their equally fiery personalities. So what was Queen’s excuse?

The little Cyprus Seakind rubbed her head into his palm as though she didn’t realize she was being scolded at all. However, despite this, she understood the assignment and roared again.

At that moment, half the Water Type Beasts on the battlefield lost control of themselves and the other half even got a great boost to their strength as though they had been blessed by the Dao of Water.

Ryker’s lip twitched. Was this the power of a 9th Circle Beast?

On the one hand, he was shocked, but on the other, he had a feeling that raising Queen was going to be more difficult than the others. She could understand him clearly, but she didn’t seem to care very much about his dissatisfaction with her actions and that was completely unlike normal infant beasts.

Ryker looked down below as Rynn and Nariel finally crashed.

BANG!

“Ryker, I want to fight.”

A gruff voice echoed in Ryker’s ears, taking him aback. His head turned only to find the fiery red eyes of Fire Phoenix looking right at him.

“Oh boy…” Ryker muttered.

“Me too, me too!” Earth Phoenix spoke as well. He couldn’t look at Ryker since he was standing on his head, but he still tried, even looking a little silly while doing so.

Wind Phoenix didn’t say anything, but he looked toward Ryker as well.

Fire Phoenix blinked with expectation and Ryker could only chuckle.

“Fine, fine. Kill them all.”

Ryker didn’t need to specify who he meant. He only spoke perfunctorily… The true brunt of his command came from his soul.

He leapt down, zipping toward Rynn and Nariel while Phoenix unleashed a roar that toppled the skies, surging toward the rest of Nariel’s group.

Despite the fact they were facing off against so many geniuses alone, Ryker didn’t even blink an eye. If any one of them could scratch a scale on Phoenix’s body, he would have to give the latter a proper scolding.

As though provoked by Ryker’s thoughts, Phoenix suddenly unleashed all three of their Lineal Talents at once.

Inductive Touch.

Tempest Lord.

Earth Reborn.

BOOM!

Fire Phoenix drew a claw of fiery red through the air. It looked as though three scythes of crimson suddenly cut through the air, super heating it and splitting the flying ship into four pieces.

The skies above Phoenix churned as Tempest Lord seemed to grasp onto the power.

Wind Phoenix roared and a cyclone of green wind tore through the damage leaving the four pieces in countless thousands.

Earth Phoenix’s crown glowed and a blazing bronze light lit in his eyes.

In that moment, a gravitational field descended from above, crashing with such force that everything was flattened before it even began to descend to the ground.

BOOM!

The ship, over 500 meters from tip to tip, was destroyed in no more than a few seconds.

More than half of Nariel’s guard died with it, being the few that simply didn’t have flying beasts. However, even those that did survive felt themselves shaking.

Suddenly, they realized the terror of flying creatures. They had no choice but to fight in the air, but not all of their beasts could fly. Meaning, they had to fight against such a powerful beast with one hand tied behind their back.

Even if they descended to the ground, why did Phoenix have to follow them? They could just crush them from above, raining down attacks they wouldn’t have any answer to.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The power of Phoenix shook the hearts of all those on the battlefield. Was this truly a First Ascended Beast? Wasn’t this power that only a God Beast could possibly have?

Leopold had yet to summon even a single one of his beasts, but some people still felt like they were hallucinating.

How was any of this possible?

…

Ryker landed on the ground.

A normal fall wouldn’t be able to harm a Mythic beast like Rynn’s. Unfortunately… it wasn’t a normal fall.

They were basically in the exosphere before, so high up that they stood above the clouds and were nearly in the depths of space.

Even a God would have to be wary of such a fall, let alone a Mythic. Ironically, if not for her beast breaking her fall and barely managing to control some of its flight at the last moment, they would all be minced meat.

However, in their current situation… they were basically finished.

Ryker walked forward with Queen glaring at the blue bird beast from his shoulder.

Without regard for it, he stepped onto the back of the mangled beast, lifting Rynn up by her neck.

He looked into her somewhat unfocused eyes. The pain she was experiencing right now was so great that it was hard even to focus, let alone realize that it was Ryker holding her up.

Ryker shook his head and tossed her to the side. He didn’t particularly care about this woman. As far as he was concerned, the worst outcome for her was to watch him rise.

Chains casually fell from the skies, binding her. Her injuries were already bad enough that she wouldn’t be able to do a single thing. But Ryker was nothing if not cautious.

Let alone her, even her half-dead beast became chained.

Ryker took a step and picked up the mangled Nariel.

PA.

A vicious slap shook him awake. Even in the end, he had ended up the least injured. It seemed that Rynn took her duty quite seriously.

“I guess you do get something back in exchange for not tasting such a beauty.”

Nariel stirred away and these were the first words he heard. His rage bubbled up and he made a move to act, but Ryker scoffed.

This scoff seemed to carry a mysterious power holding the sealing power of the Dao of Sealing. Nariel immediately realized that he couldn’t even summon Spirit Energy, let alone activate his hidden Spiritual Patterns.

“Oh my, looks like someone can’t perform when it really counts. No wonder you’ve never tasted Rynn.”

“Mm, mm mm!” Nariel struggled, but Ryker had too firm a hold on him.

“Is that anger?” Ryker blinked almost in surprise. “Are you wondering if the carpet matches the drapes.”

Ryker looked over to Rynn. “Oh, you didn’t know, did you. Her hair’s black rn, but she’s actually red down below. She dyes her hair, you know.”

Nariel’s eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets. Of course he knew Rynn’s original hair color, he had grown up with her. But Ryker shouldn’t have known that. At first, he thought that Ryker was just trying to get into his head. But these words coupled with Rynn’s odd earlier reaction.

“I’ll kill you!” Nariel scratched and clawed, trying to rip Ryker to shreds.

All things considered, even if they were weaker than average, Spiritual Pattern Masters weren’t necessarily weak. Nariel was still a 6th Circle Talent. What made him especially special was the fact he also had a Resplendent Soul, only one step down from Ryker’s Pure Soul.

Unfortunately, that was also worthless in Ryker’s eyes.

“There’s no need to be so mad. I haven’t even gotten to tell you about what she sounds like in bed yet.”

By this point, Rynn had already regained some clarity, but she couldn’t even move beneath Ryker’s chains. Plus, it was a clarity she didn’t want… because that forced her to suffer a great deal of the pain her unconsciousness had spared her from.

“AAAHHHHHH!”

A scream came from the side as one of Nariel’s guards plummeted out of the skies, crashing into the ground and becoming little more than a pulp of flesh.

“Oops, looks like someone didn’t like my words very much.”

Ryker chuckled and then shook his head. Looking up, he realized that what he was waiting for wasn’t coming any time soon. It seemed that he had already gained more of an advantage than he thought.

Phoenix was shredding apart the remaining stragglers, his grandfather was pinning down the God’s projection with great ease, and the remainder of the Treasure Guard was being massacred by the Valorian Clan army Corps.

He was well ahead of schedule and that left him with time to do something he didn’t think he would be able to. It seemed he had underestimated Phoenix’s strength still.

Holding onto Nariel, he pointed at the large tree.

“What is that thing?” Ryker asked with a smile.

All he got in return was a vicious glare.

“Oh? You don’t want your balls anymore?” Ryker asked, his smile not fading.

Nariel shivered. Threatening to kill him was one thing, but castration… he couldn’t accept that.

“It’s the Eldertree!” he said hurriedly.

“And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s a powerful wood natured Spirit—.”

PCHU!

A blade suddenly cut into Nariel’s inner thigh, causing him to scream out in horror.

“Tsk, tsk.” Ryker shook his head. “Don’t lie to me. My patience isn’t very long.”

Nariel shivered. He had no idea how Ryker could even tell such a thing.

“Try again.”

“It’s a Healing Type—.”

PCHU!

“AAGHH! I’M NOT LYING.”

“Omitting truth is also considered a lie. Don’t try me.”

“FUCK! I don’t know! I’ve only heard snippets!”

Suddenly, there was a great pressure that came from the skies, so powerful it could have only come from one Realm of Being.

A God.

Leopold’s entire attention was focused on the bronze-skinned man, but the battle was well in hand. He had never expected for him to suddenly target someone down below.

The problem was that Ryker wasn’t the target. At worst, Ryker would be bedridden for a few months with a soul injury. The real target was Nariel, but that had been precisely what dulled Leopold’s senses.

‘Not good.’

Leopold’s expression changed. As large as the gap in Spirit Energy was between Gods and others, the gap in soul strength was even wider than that. It could be said that while the Ascension Realm was the Realm of Spirit Energy and increasing its density, then the God Realm was the Realm of increasing the Soul’s capacity.

However, that was when Ryker held a hand up and a mysterious energy pulsed from him.

[Soul Ripple].

BANG!

The soul attack shattered on impact as Temporal Weave churned within Ryker’s veins.

Others might feel that the largest gap between them and Gods were their souls, but for Ryker… he could have the soul strength of a God whenever he needed it now. After the ailments of his Temporal Weave Spiritual Resonance faded, the change to his soul strength was simply shocking.

He looked up into the skies and sneered.

“Watch yourself, overgrown ape. You’ve got my gramps to worry about. Now, where were we. Continue.”

Ryker looked at Nariel and the latter gulped. Just now, he had felt the scent of death. They were really going to kill him. Would it even be worth it?

“Hey, hey. This is interesting. Are the Mystery Master Alliance and Spiritual Pattern Alliance really so close? One of the former just tried to kill a genius of the latter and you’re actually worried that your people won’t protect you? Interesting, interesting…

“So I’m guessing this tree is related to the both of you?”

PUCHI!

Ryker cut off one of Nariel’s balls.

Nariel’s screams echoed once again, but once more, Ryker’s smile didn’t fade.

“I’ll speak! I’ll speak! It was given to us by those on the other side! No one understands it other than knowing that it’s always been here! The only thing I know is that it’s been in a deep slumber and it moves from owner to owner! No one wants that thing because the trade-off is too high even for those that understand the Laws of the World! It fucking takes up 36 Circles for God’s sake!”

Ryker’s pupils constricted.