"Heavenly God Mantis Art. Turbulent Spikes." Feng Mengli raised both hands and flicked his fingers in rapid succession like a gun. Transparently compressed wind spikes shot towards the Broodmother Queen Ant with great force.
Hit after the other, the extremely tough carapace started to crack under the destructive force. Cobwebs of cracks quickly formed on the ant's body from the endless barrage of powerful wind shots.
*Sk...ROOAARRRR!*
After the Broodmother Queen Ant let out a deafening roar, its body started exhibiting a mysterious change. A yellow liquid substance different from acid emerged from the cracks. Steam quickly followed the life-like liquid and covering most of the ant queen from Feng Mengli's sight.
*Thud. Thud*
The Broodmother Queen Ant started approaching Feng Mengli menacingly. The cobwebs of cracks shone bright yellow, similar to its now glowing eyes. The cuts began to heal quickly, while certain parts remained damaged with yellowish steam rising from each shining crevice.
The temperature around mysteriously them became warmer. But Feng Mengli didn't mind such an environmental change immediately. The ant queen mainly became covered with an additional layer of yellow armor. It looked harder to kill.
"This devouring Qi feeling is overpowering. Disciples, leave this area lest you want to faint." Feng Mengli warned, urging the two disciples to make some distance.
The two young disciples quickly left the area with their bodies uncontrollably shaking. Even if they were used fighting against normal creatures, this mysterious Broodmother Queen Ant was in a category of its own.
With the disciples out of the way, Feng Mengli could now use his secret Deviant Arts skills. Only a few trusted people knew Feng Mengli had created these skills to become stronger.
Deviant Arts skills are self-thought arts, and the sect doesn't teach them. Feng Mengli created them after reading a book or two about magic from Hawkeye's book collection.
It was taboo for cultivators to learn magic as it was also dangerous to their body at the same time. However, the prodigy Feng Mengli with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, still tried.
Feng Mengli later created original destructive explosive art by combining cultivation and magic arts together. A controlled explosion is effective, his motto... excuse later became to continue testing.
Feng Mengli knew that not many non-cultivators knew about their taboo as it was a secretive cultivator principle. He decided to display these arts in front of Ester and Lupa to show his strength after the unconscious Vincent triggered his thirst for knowledge.
Feng Mengli wanted to improve the chances for Vincent to search for him after recovering. The clever old man had many questions to ask, so he didn't mind showing his application of cultivation and mana manipulation.
Hours passed, and the loud sounds of the terrifying fight finally concluded with a victor.
Feng Mengli returned to his disciples. He was sweating and his clean clothes stained in a yellow substance. However, as exhausted as he looked, not a single scratch appeared on his skin. Only about a dozen cuts appeared on his long clothes.
"The Seers Of Rebirth are indeed a force to be reckoned with. Exactly how can they transform something like a normal ant queen with their Asura research into an abomination? Let's send a message to Hawkeye and leave for our sect. I need to inform the sect's masters about the alliance. We might need it." Feng Mengli said with a grim face.
The fight against the Broodmother Queen Ant left a deep impression on him. The monstrous ant persisted like a mad bull, regenerated at unimaginable speed, and the strange yellow substance made the carapace unusually tough.
Feng Mengli had to use all his fighting experience to kill the seemingly unkillable ant queen. He believed it was more like killing an armored undead than killing an ant.
Fortunately, after Feng Mengli met Vincent, a person that could one day answer his questions about Dominic Smith's journal, a burden suddenly lifted from his heart, and he managed to awaken a new combat art.
Feng Mengli had to resort to mixing cultivation and magic to keep his place as the strongest and rack achievements to become and stay the patriarch of the sect.
Unlike him, others could awaken a new or upgraded sect art after reaching enlightenment from prolonged training. Now, Feng Mengli could too. His combat prowess increased to new heights.
Feng Mengli called it "Heavenly God Mantis Art. Serrated Scythe." It could cut at immense wind pressure. A sect art more potent than the ones a few sect masters possessed but kept its teaching to a few disciples under their care.
However, the stalemate was still the same, even after Feng Mengli acquired the power to cut the ant's tough limbs.
The Broodmother Queen Ant simply lost its limbs faster than it could regenerate new ones. But the ant queen had many limbs to fight with, so this proved a problem to his sharp and explosive combat arts.
With a stroke of luck, the previous enlightenment blessed Feng Mengli again. He could feel his body surging with power, and a mysterious instinct revealed a new way to use a protective combat art offensively.
Feng Mengli called it "Heavenly God Mantis Art. Wing Crush." It was the first non-sharp art of the Heavenly God Mantis sect he and other masters knew. With its deadly sharp combat arts, the sect seemed to have the slogan, slash a path to destiny.
After that, Feng Mengli managed to suppress and crush the Broodmother Queen Ant to a pulp. He could attack its head with ease and end the fight once and for all.
Feng Mengli and his two disciples later left the bloody and gory mess behind. The Lusterfall Kingdom had a lot of work to clean this place.
*Present - Lusterfall City South Gate*
Vincent, Ester, Lupa, Kazumi, and Tula arrived a couple of meters away from the gate. Ten stationed soldiers armed to the teeth and a vice captain wearing a black cape entered their sight.
The ten soldiers were following the black-caped vice captain. The vice captain stopped, and the ten quickly formed a line standing in front of their vice captain. It seemed he was commanding them after going for a patrol.
"Code Yellow!" Immediately shouted the black-caped vice captain after a soldier informed him of the four approaching people.
The ten soldiers followed the code danger level militant response. They raised their shields to a defensive position and withdrew their swords. It appeared the soldiers weren't going to provide a warm welcome.
"Stop! Who goes there?" The vice captain shouted.
Vincent and the girls stopped. Because they knew about the possibility of interrogation and prepared beforehand, the four of them didn't show a hint of hostility.
The vice captain raised his arm and made a sign with his sword. Shortly, a couple of archers appeared from the sides of the wall and the tower windows. Vincent and the others could understand the soldiers were strangely overly cautious.
The vice captain then assertively examined every nook and cranny of the man covered in bandages under his clothes, a beastman not wearing a slave collar, and two human women, of which one of them seemed familiar. It was as if they arrived at a suspicious time, and caution was needed.
"The time to flee from Laurel Village has ended, and every person that wants to enter needs to be thoroughly checked. The city is on high alert for any smugglers, invaders, and spies. Show me your identities and reasons to enter! We will arrest you if you act suspicious and killed if hostile." The black-caped vice captain of Lusterfall City spoke with authority and a threatening voice.
[I understand his reasoning, but isn't this too much? What a well-protected city this is. No wonder Ester didn't want to live here.]
-I hope things go in our favor. I don't want to run away after reaching this place and find another location to stay.-
As Vincent and Kazumi telepathically communicated their thoughts, the vice captain figured Tula's familiar face after a soldier behind him commented about her.
When the vice captain noticed Tula wore ordinary clothes, a deep frown creased on his forehead. Tula didn't display any respect for a commanding officer and held nor wore equipment as if she wanted to hide and not get found.
"So, a deserter has returned for her punishment. Soldiers, come and take this deserter away!" The vice captain commanded. He was greedily happy to capture Tula and try to get an achievement for his excellent job.
Tula became frightened when multiple glares suddenly locked on her. She hid behind Ester and closed her eyes. To Tula, the approaching adults were scary.
Tula still thought of herself as a ten-year-old girl with a weak adult body since her memories have yet to return. Body strength is different than mental strength, so such glares terrified her.
[This bastard! He is trying to arrest Tula!]
Kazumi became angry about this development. Vincent, Ester, and Lupa felt the same.
Lupa frowned and lightly growled while Ester whispered a few reassuring words to the frightened Tula. Tula calmed a little bit, but the situation was still frightening her.
Vincent stepped in front of the vice captain and said with a calm poker face hiding his anger, "Aren't you a little too hostile? We somehow survived from fighting the ants, but many others that were with us weren't lucky. Is this the reception you give to people that came from hell?"
"The Broodmother Queen Ant has been killed a few days ago. All the soldiers have returned, and only a special clean-up force can exit and leave as they please. Step aside. I will take care of you after I deal with this deserter." The vice captain was still intent on reprimanding Tula for wearing civilian clothes as if she tried to hide her identity or because she didn't return when all the other soldiers had returned.
Vincent stood courageously in front of the vice captain without giving him or the other soldiers to pass by him. But when a soldier still approached and was about to go past Vincent to take Tula away, Vincent raised his hand and pushed the soldier back.
"You dare raise your hands against the city defense soldiers!" Shouted the vice captain in anger. However, he didn't try to attack Vincent. Instead, the vice captain kept using his words. The possibility to act upon self-defense was apparent.
"Open your clogged ears and listen! We encountered a Demonic Beast and vice captain Kass had to sacrifice his life for us to live. Three soldiers following him died as well."
"Tula was attacked by the Demonic Beast. Tula was flung in the sky and hit her head so hard when landing that she lost her memories instead of her life. How can a Tula be a deserter if she has no memories of becoming a soldier in the first place?"