Rein was surrounded by clumps of wet soil, roots, pebbles up to rocks as large as his chest, during his descent into this mysterious underground cavern.
Although the Blissful-Endflower was no doubt the greatest threat, Rein’s eyes turned to Beincen instead. He was not able to deal with the Blissful-Endflower anyway, if Nunan’s conjecture of it being a rank six demon was true.
Through the gaps in the soil, he located the falling form of Beincen, and circulated his ‘Frog Leg Release’. He adjusted the power and spun his leg at a chest-sized rock, sending it arcing towards Beincen.
The rock parted the soil and its rough edges created a jagged spiral as it spun at Beincen.
The scion of House Larne barely noticed the approaching rock in time, and he used his blazing edged sword to block the rock drilling towards him in a panic.
Rein grinned. The force of that rock had sent Beincen a few feet towards the direction of the Blissful-Endflower’s open mouth below.
He began kicking many rocks, one after another, with similar aim, and Beincen blocked each as before, his eyes aglow with rising rage. Beincen’s body shifted a few feet with every rock. Soon, Beincen’s landing spot had been shifted directly above the Blissful-Endflower’s wide open jaws!
Rein’s devious plan would, however, be easily thwarted. The scholarly Noahr, relatively close to Beincen, quickly understood Rein’s intentions with his astute mind.
Noahr was only a shell advancer, and as such, unless he had some unique ability, he was unable to fly. Other Larne elders were also only shell advancers-- if House Larne had many outer advancers for elders, they would have long become an advancer clan.
Naohr pushed off another Larne elder and launched himself at Beincen’s position. With an almighty kick, he sent his nephew flying into the sidewall of the cavern.
Beincen venomously kept his eyes on Rein as he slid down the wall, coming to a landing on a ledge above the ground vines of the Blissful-Endflower.
As Suey and Jory had helped put out the flame on that likely fake body of the Blissful-Endflower, they were quite close to Rein.
Rein executed the ‘Frog Leg Release’ mid-air. The skill was not powerful enough for Rein to quite literally step on air, but it was enough to push himself closer to the twins.
He and the twin ladies acknowledged each other's thoughts through a single non-verbal glance. Rein aligned his legs with the soles of the twins’ boots, and they pushed off one another. Rein flew off towards Beincen while the twins were sent to the opposite wall, and their forms skidded down the cavern walls to slow their landing.
As Rein steadied himself sliding down the wall, he had the opportunity to examine this cavern in more detail. There are many faded etchings on the cavern wall itself, of a language that seemed familiar, despite him not being able to comprehend any of the symbols.
His focus quickly returned to solitary Beincen, no longer protected by a wall of House Larne’s dogs. Rein himself even wondered if that scholarly Naohr’s wits had dulled after being relieved of the duty that is whispering constantly into Beincen’s ears.
He imagined that at some point in time, Noahr had been relieved of such duties. Perhaps as a result, Naohr had to obey Beincen’s questionable decisions, and a sharp mind forced to constantly obey a dull one without complaints… Well, it was bound to lose its sharpness eventually.
That was nothing but Rein’s conjecture after Naohr’s choice of action allowed Rein to put himself in a position to face Beincen without the interference of House Larne’s dogs.
Naohr seemed to soon realize this as well.
“Malak. Now is the time to provide your assistance,” Naohr requested the supposed supporter of Supreme Guihnes. The man’s cannon was useful for this situation.
“I think not,” Malak replied with a firm voice. “We are in far more danger than you realize.” He rejected Naohr’s request and instead aimed his cannon at Hahrn, the Blood God being pulled towards the Blissful-Endflower’s jaws. The gigantic plant demon’s lips were lined with an acidic sticky liquid of sweet honey.
“You…” Noahr’s face turned red as he was rejected by this… slave of Supreme Guihnes.
“My master did not order me to follow your commands, or your nephew’s. I am only to provide assistance to you as I see fit.” Malak nonchalantly replied as he took careful aim at Hahrn’s arcing path. “Right now, the man named Rein is of no consequence. If you are of a sharp mind, you should realize that this plant demon might gain full metamorphosis upon consuming the life-force within the Hahrn devil’s blood body.”
Malak’s words awakened Naohr’s slumbering mind, and his originally reddening face now paled. Beincen-- no-- they were all certain to lose their lives if the demon plant gained another rank! It is well-known that demon plants love consuming life-force, and undoubtedly, Hahrn the Blood God, with an undying body, could be the plant demon’s breakthrough catalyst!
“Fuck!” Naohr searched his surroundings, attempting to find the Sun Sword Sect disciples or Larne elders so that they could cooperate and launch help towards Beincen. Though he had been informed of the Blissful-Endflower’s potential increase in threat, he still needed to save Beincen.
At the same time, Malak’s cannon boomed as an inscribed cannonball shot forth. The inscriptions on the cannonball lit up with a fiery blaze as it sped to intercept Hahrn’s path.
The cannonball struck Hahrn and sent him careening into the hard cavern wall, the forceful impact wrestling the devil out of the vine’s grasp.
The cannonball spun in a vortex of gathering flames until an almighty explosion wrecked Hahrn’s chest, sending a million droplets of blood and flesh spurting into his surroundings. It was much more powerful than the cannonball that had struck Rein.
Hahrn slumped to the ground, but his eyes brightened, even thankful for the cannonball. The droplets of blood and flesh quickly regathered into his torso, and he leapt up, revitalized!
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His eyes discovered a tunnel of ancient make, and he immediately dashed towards it as vines shot towards him again!
Meanwhile, Rein had begun battling against Beincen with his Soak Staff, and for a time, they were evenly matched.
Beincen had begun the trading of blows with a high confidence in himself, after having reached mid-shell realm. His body and blade was wrapped in a fiery blaze augmented by his bloodline, supposedly some prehistoric bird with affinity to the sun.
However, he soon realized that Rein’s victories against the Convergence Sect shell advancers were no fluke. He thought that his Sun Sword Art would gradually damage, melt and split Rein’s staff. Yet, this was staff crafted by the otherworld’s Master Yirn, and it held itself together with little-to-no issue.
Beincen also thought that his own movements, augmented by the explosive quick movements of flame release from his fiery shell, would also give him an advantage against Rein. He soon discovered that Rein’s tempered-body had reached an unexpected level, and maintained parity with his movements.
Last of all, he assumed that Rein would soon weaken in the presence of his flame shell. He soon discovered that Rein’s body was very much resilient to heat!
Rein began to put more strength behind every swing, and the benefits of his tempered draconic body showed itself. Beincen’s arm soon began to tremble. Beincen stepped back to dodge a weighty double-handed horizontal swing. Rein spun and followed through with an extended single arm horizontal strike. Beincen’s hand very nearly lost the grip of his sword upon blocking this strike with a clang.
Finally, Naohr managed to place himself into position against another Larne elder by using a rock that had luckily fallen close to him. They pushed off one another, and Naohr arced towards Beincen and Rein’s location.
Rein decisively disengaged and exploded with his ‘Frog Leg Release’ towards the twin ladies’ position, and he fearlessly arced over the ground covered by the writhing vines. The Blissful-Endflower seemed to be occupied by something else entirely, completely ignoring Rein’s airborne form.
Soon enough, the others landed onto the expansive body of the Blissful-Endflower.
Three outer advancers that carried the Xuere Clan’s coat-of-arms on their robes flew down through the hole above. They had revealed themselves to protect Lyne.
“Young scion,” one Xuere protector said, “This has become too dangerous. Let us return.”
“I think not,” a whimsical voice giggled, and these three outer protectors were surrounded by the four devils! Ailehr, the leader of the Harvest Devil Sect! Dujarhn, the Poison Germination Devil, a servant of Ailehr. Voxeire, the Hairy Corpse Devil. And Lazr, the Insect Devil!
Looking skywards, many other heads belonging to lesser devils of the Western Wilderness also stared down at the Blissful-Endflower’s form. As their eyes roamed, they also noticed what Rein had seen. These were some sort of ancient ruins. Their eyes lit up upon seeing the archways into unknown places of this ancient complex. Their minds were drawn in by the possibility of ancient knowledge and treasure!
Many of these lesser devils leaped downwards. None cared about the dangerous Blissful-Endflower-- it was not as if this demon plant could catch them all!
“By the Thousand Sword Sovereign. It is time!” Yidahr clenched his jaws and rolled one half of his nose with ferocity. His hands reached into his spatial pouch, and pulled out a firecracker.
He raised the firecracker to the sky, and with his other hand, pulled the string!
A sizzling noise sounded, followed by a cracking noise. The firecracker ignited and rocketed up the opening to the sky! Many lesser devils attempted to chop down this firecracker, but the firecracker seemed to have a will of its own, dancing past their interceptions like a flitting shadow.
In that clear sky, the firecracker exploded into a humongous Sun Sword sigil, visible within thousands of kilofeet!
As for the Blood God Hahrn, he realized that the Blissful-Endflower must be hellbent on swallowing him, and though he was ferocious against the demon eagle, he had no desire to tangle with the expansive form of the much higher-ranked Blissful-Endflower.
He attempted to escape into his selected archway into these ancient ruins, only to come to a stop as he saw an androgynous figure blocking the doorway! If Rein looked over, he would have repeatedly blinked his eyes at surprise. This androgynous figure was none other than Wilo!
“You are a bounty target,” Wilo said, her expression unknown due to the wooden mask she always wore. “If the Blissful-Endflower kills you, it will still be a contribution to the Halls.”
Hahrn was incredulous. This androgynous figure in a wooden mask before him was but an inner advancer, as far as he could tell.
The boom of another cannon firing echoed in the ancient cavern again, and the Blood God Hahrn turned to see another blazing cannonball arcing towards him. Just like Rein, he side-stepped at the last moment, believing the cannonball would simply fly past him.
And just like against Rein, the cannonball swerved at the last moment, and smashed into Hahrn’s chest!
Hahrn’s mind was filled with pain as he stumbled backwards, but he now understood exactly what that man with the cannon was attempting to do. If the lifeforce in his blood was exhausted, then he would die, and be of no benefit to the Blissful-Endflower!
Hahrn hollered to suppress his agony, and he dashed forward at Wilo. His shattered blood drops streamed after him to rejoin his body. Hahrn believed that the inner advancer before him, unless she had some unique ability, should drop like a fly. Not that he could do anything else with the many vines of the Blissful-Endflower chasing after him.
His blood formed a crimson blade, and he stabbed this blade directly into Wilo’s heart!
Hahrn was filled with doubts at Wilo not even having provided any form of resistance. He moved to pull his blood-formed blade out of Wilo’s chest. That was when he discovered that he couldn’t. His eyes bulged as his crimson blood blade’s color transformed before his eyes, gaining a hue of green, yellow and purple.
He swore as he let go of his blood blade. He had been careless! Devils of the Blood Devil Sect relied on their powerful blood to battle, but they had to be very careful to not allow their blood and flesh to be corroded by other elements. If such a thing happened, they needed to discard the life-force within that corroded blood.
What Hahrn did not understand was why this wooden-masked inner advancer of androgynous form before him remained alive with such a blade lodged in her chest.
Though the Blood Devil Sect’s weakness was known, it was not as if it was easy to corrode said blood. Often, combatants needed to injure and potentially even kill themselves just to corrode a small portion of a Blood Devil’s blood.
Take now, for example. In Hahrn’s eyes, Wilo was a dead woman, her heart pierced just to corrode that small portion of his blood. Normal slashes would not have given another the time to corrode his blood. Only extended contact could lead to such a situation.
Wilo’s method was quite simple. She carried her poisons within her own body, and as such, the entry of the crimson sword, now lodged into her chest, created a bridge. Amazingly, with this no-longer-crimson blood sword still lodged into her chest, she still remained on her feet. She was seemingly unaffected and blocked the archway as before.
This unexpected moment rooted Hahrn, and the man’s mind only awakened after the Blissful-Endflower’s vines had once again wrapped around his body. This time, the Blissful-Endflower did not only pull at the man’s ankles. It had a tight and secure grip around the Blood God’s whole body!
“Fuck,” Malak did not expect Wilo to take such action. He could only lament the foolishness of these inexperienced youngsters, only interested in seeking bounty rewards and contribution points.
He aimed his cannon at Hahrn again, and fired. To his further astonishment, Wilo, with the now greenish-purple sword still in her chest, leapt forth and blocked the cannonball! She was sent careening into the cavern wall, her fate unknown.
This allowed the Blissful-Endflower to pull the struggling Hahrn, a peak-shell devil of the Blood Devil Sect, directly into its mouth with a delighted slurp!