The plan wasn’t anything extraordinary. Each of the four groups had spread out to confront the Abyssal from multiple directions, hoping to split both its attention and its power between the different parties.

This ought to be helpful for multiple reasons. For one, the monster was powerful not just in the sheer volume of Essence it could channel and the incredible abilities it had in its arsenal. It also had an incredibly potent intelligence. While not typically smart in the way people tended to think, its ability to focus and think concurrently about too many things at the same time was insane.

Diluting both of those facets of its power was important. That was why spreading out the monster’s attention would help.

Not that this didn’t come with drawbacks. With all of them so separate from each other, it would be hard for them to reinforce their comrades. This was slightly mitigated in that every group had at least two people. If one person fell, the other would hopefully be able to retreat with them to safety.

Rieren recognized that it was flawed, however. The Abyssal could simply decide to focus on any one specific direction and wipe out each group one by one. Meanwhile, they could make good headway all the way to the centre where they could try to destroy its core, but it certainly wouldn’t be easy.

However, if it did focus on any one location, it would go all the better for Rieren’s ultimate intention. The more its power and presence was concentrated, the easier it would be for the meteor shower to eradicate it.

“Have you considered how we’re going to fight a flood?” Rollo asked.

“Well, I’s not supposed to remain a flood for long,” Amalyse said. “Going by past experiences.”

Rieren grimaced. The monster was definitely not going to remain in the form of a dark flood for long. “Let us begin, then.”

She went first. By now, both Amalyse and Rollo had advanced far enough to get their Domains in good shape. However, Rieren’s was still the strongest and most effective at combating something of this kind.

So, she pulled out her Domain. Stormy water burst to life around her, waves rising and crashing outwards. Both Rollo and Amalyse stepped away and behind as her water surged for the dark flood. Even the trace amounts of Divine Aspect infused into the water would ensure that the Abyssal wouldn’t come out of it unharmed.

She wondered what the others elsewhere were doing. Likely using their Domains to good effect as well. Skills and techniques were better aimed at singular targets. This giant flood of darkness was best fought with something just as widespread—Domains.

The chain of events went just as Rieren had known it would. As soon as her Domain’s water came into the contact with the Abyssal’s part-smoky, part-liquid body, the flood started sizzling and evaporating. It wasn’t surprising. Rieren had used Divine-Aspected Essence to kill a Life Stifler before. This was no different.

But with its main body now being destroyed with such ease, the Dreadflood pulled out its primary defences.

Bodies rose out of the flood of liquid black. These included the vast number of Abyssals the Dreadflood had swallowed up. Blightmanes, Shadeborns, Malomen Shifters, and hordes of Armistice Enforcers as well.

The monsters were well and good. Despite them being “eaten” up by the Dreadflood, they would still possess the same dangerous abilities they had when alive. Rieren wasn’t at all surprised to see the Blightmanes shooting across the flood with incredible speed, while the Shifter’s forms changed and the Shadeborns opened their gut-maws wide to swallow their enemies.

“Those are our targets,” Amalyse said, rushing forward. Her powers were activating around her, fire-Aspected Essence wreathing the summoned greatswords in each of her hands. “Rollo, let’s go.”

“I’m already on it,” Rollo said.

He had summoned his Domain. It was bright and intense. A field circular of spears jutting out of the ground materialized around him for about a dozen paces in diameter. Each spear was bright enough that looking at them directly for more than a few heartbeats left their impressions on the back of Rieren’s eyelids.

Rollo and Amalyse did well to control the mobs of monsters heading towards them. Amalyse fought ferociously with her swords and her flames. Fast as the Blightmanes were, she was able to keep up with their incredible pace. Her perception had grown such that none of the monsters were able to sneak up from behind and get an attack on her rear.

Not that they got many opportunities to do so. While Amalyse kept the monsters’ main attention, Rollo threw his spears from a distance to cause little explosions. He especially made sure to catch any monsters that tried to take advantage of Amalyse’s blind spot.

They made a good team, Rieren had to admit. Not surprising, considering how long they had been fighting together. In fact, Amalyse and Rollo had been together longer than Rieren had been with her closest friend in this timeline.

But Rieren’s own job came up in moments.

Monsters weren’t the only things that the Dreadflood had swallowed and regurgitated. There were several unfortunate cultivators who had lost their lives—and their souls—to the devouring monster.

One such cultivator was shambling out of the dark flood like a corpse controlled by marionette strings. A long-haired man, still dressed in torn robes with two axes at his waist.

Rieren pulled out her sword and stepped forward. These undead cultivators would pose a far greater danger than all the monsters the Dreadflood had swallowed. So, as the strongest among the three here, it fell to her to take care of the trouble. While Amalyse and Rollo took care of the weaker Abyssals, Rieren could focus on their former ally.

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With the way the Abyssal tended to possess such beings, it would be difficult to predict just how powerful her foe could be. That was fine with Rieren. She had a good array of skills and techniques to depend on.

The cultivator wasted no time making a beeline straight for her. Apparently, the Dreadflood recognized that she was the main threat among the three.

A Domain materialized around the long-haired man. Crystal growths shot out of the ground for several paces around him. As he rushed at her, they kept pace with his movement, charging out of the ground in marching rows towards Rieren.

It helped that she didn’t have the slightest inkling of who this man was supposed to be. Had this been Amalyse, or even Rollo, she might have had to push back troubling emotions she couldn’t afford to entertain. There was no such barrier against this dirty, unkempt vagabond hurtling at her.

Their Domains clashed ferociously. The crystals tried to burst through her water with impunity. Normally, Rieren’s waves wouldn’t have been strong enough to stop them, but these were corrupted with Abyss-Aspected Essence. As with the dark flood, her water counteracted them. The crystals started dissolving and shattering as soon as they touched her Domain.

That wasn’t stopping the cultivator himself, of course. He rushed at Rieren, more crystals materializing around him.

Rieren tried to get close using Fray Passage while dodging the larger crystals bursting from the ground, but then the cultivator threw all his summoned crystals in a powerful flurry. Her movement skill could only dodge a few before she was forced to resort to Earthfall Blade.

The staccato blast didn’t stop after the first salvo, however. More and more crystals shot at her like an unending supply was being fired at her from an army of cannons.

Considering her A-Grade skill could shatter the crystals easily, she suspected the cultivator wasn’t very high in the Exalted realm, at best. That was barely a realm above her. Not even, in truth. All Rieren required was a tribulation before she’d be in the Exalted realm too. He was certainly not beyond her in terms of strength.

But the Essence fueling his techniques was powered by the unending supply of energy from the Dreadflood. That was the undead cultivator’s main advantage over Rieren. Something she would have to find a way to work around.

Tidal Summons allowed Rieren to launch a powerful wave at her enemy with a kick even while her arms were busy defending herself. This stymied the cultivator just enough for her to launch herself directly at him. He recovered quickly and would have struck Rieren down since she wasn’t fast enough to close the distance after the wave.

But then she used Gale Blade.

The world blurred as she moved far too fast for any normal person to keep track. She flashed across the cultivator’s left-hand side. Her blade sliced into his side, but the dull crack made her heart stutter for a moment. That sound…

Rieren continued with the follow up slashes of Gale Blade. The cultivator had recovered enough to summon more crystals around him. But her attacks revealed that he already had a strong-enough defence—much of his body was made of crystals. Just like the former Ordorian Clanmaster she had fought, who had turned his body into lightning.

But how? The strength of his techniques suggested he wasn’t much stronger than her. The kind of reinforcement that allowed one to turn one’s own body into their main Aspect was only available to those in the Ascendant realm and higher.

Rieren didn’t get to consider for long. As soon as Gale Blade ineffectually finished, the cultivator launched his counterattack.

She knew how to stop him, though. The last blow from Gale Blade had created some space between them. Her enemy sought to keep her busy with another barrage of crystals. While Rieren used Earthfall Blade to deflect away every shot, she stomped on her Domain water. With the help of her pressurized steam, a geyser erupted between them.

This had multiple benefits. Not only was the geyser acting as the defence against the cultivator’s crystal flurry, the steam also hid her presence from her adversary.

But before Rieren could launch her next attack, he burst through the geyser. She was able to react just fast enough to deflect his lance made of a jagged crystal. As her blade collided with the crystal, it cracked, revealing that the glassy material was coating his arm.

Her eyes widened in realization. Those crystals she’d thought made up his body were actually simply covering him like armour.

That also explained how he was able to charge right through the geyser like that. The steam and overheated water should have boiled him alive, but not being alive helped reduce that concern.

Before he could attack her once more, Rieren used Gale Blade once more. Her last use had been too untargeted. This time, she made sure to focus on a single area on the cultivator.

She flashed at her opponent and cut across his midsection, cracking the crystals armouring his waist. At the same moment, the cultivator did his best to counterattack with more crystals. They formed in mid-air and tried to stab into Rieren as she shot past her target. Too slow. She sliced past him, leaving more jagged cuts and cracks across his midsection.

Her rapid motion around him had left him a little disoriented as he tried to keep up, especially since she added some more circulating slashes around him. Perfect for Rieren.

When it came time for the last blow of the skill, Rieren made sure to use Water Dancer Blade to wrap roiling steam around her Receptor sword. Then she thrust as hard as she could at the cultivator, boosting Gale Blade’s final attack with Fray Passage.

The hit was incredibly satisfying. Her sword crushed through the crystal armour and stabbed into his guts. He was thrown off his feet and sent flying backwards to crash to the ground over two dozen paces away, right into the dark flood.

A thunderbolt blasted in from Rieren’s right. She barely managed to raise her arm to protect herself. Rieren’s heart juddered. Where had that come from?

The attack had burned her right arm badly. Rieren had even dropped her sword, though she had caught it with her left hand and quickly faced the direction the blow had come from. Pain spiked up her arm, but she kept her eyes focused on the second cultivator who had risen from the Abyssal’s dark flood.

Dark lightning flickered around him. For a second, she wondered if the main body of the Dreadflood had arrived to kill her. Amalyse had said that it used Merolk’s body to channel tremendous amounts of Essence.

But no. She didn’t recognize the woman who was slowly floating into the air. This was a different cultivator swallowed up by the Abyssal.

A second later, the woman unleashed her storm of attacks.

As with all lighting, the only way Rieren could actually keep up with the ferocious assault was by tracking the motion of her assailant’s limbs. She positioned her left hand just so, matching the movement of her enemy and ensuring her blade caught and deflected all the black-and-gold bolts headed her way.

And then the cultivator launched herself directly at Rieren. She was armed with long, curved knives. Rieren had only a split fraction of a second to decide her counter. Her Mind stat and vast experience with battle let her use her geyser to throw herself up. But not too far. This geyser was a little weak so that Rieren only rose a handful of paces into the air.

While the steam clouded her presence and confused her opponent, Rieren hammered down from above with a vicious swing.

The cultivator was able to raise her knives overhead just in time to prevent Rieren’s sword from cleaving her in two. Nevertheless, the force behind her attack was still enough to make the ground shatter and send Rieren’s second opponent flying as well.

Rieren was about to lunge into a follow up to end her properly, but then a crystal flashed in from her left. It forced her to reroute enough attention to prevent herself from being skewered.

She twisted around to see that the cultivator she had “killed” was already rising back up again.

Great. Now she had to face down two of the undead bastards at the same time.