Dujahrn was filled with utter shock. In reflex, he attempted to form a defensive shell, but much of his powers had been spent on his aurae tendrils, to hold back the other inner advancers from taking advantage of his current weakness. He needed time to stabilize his weakened state!
Unfortunately for Dujahrn, Dahk’s ambush was too vicious, too sudden. The inscriptions on Dahk’s snake spear lit up and that spear twisted and turned like a curving drill that pierced through Dujahrn’s quivering aurae protection shell formed in an emergency.
Dujahrn’s heart was filled with regret and stupefaction. The snake spear drilled agony through his flesh and bones. He rued not taking this group of inner advancers seriously until now. It was already too late to reverse the situation. However, he still could escape and preserve his life!
He leaped into the air, ignoring the rising storm of his internal discordant poison aurae and flew towards the opening in the sky, hot blood flowing and dripping from his chest. That was when he discovered that a vine had curled around his lower leg.
Then, he, like the Blood God Hahr earlier, was yanked directly towards the plant demon’s mouth!
Dahk stood on top of the bed of vines and watched Dujahrn being dragged to his doom, his spear a crimson gleam. He opened his mouth and a resounding victorious war-cry echoed in the cavern!
When they had fallen down into this cavern, he had, at the time, bemoaned his unfortunate circumstance of falling deep into this bed of vines. He thought that the plant demon would devour him. That did not happen. The vines surrounding his body remained completely harmless and seemed to go about its day like a cordial stranger in Green Trout City.
That was when he recalled his training in the Southern Starry Seas, the skills he needed to participate in the hunt. He remained still, and withdrew all presence of himself, The powers of the vines that belong to the rank six plant demon obscured all of his remnant aurae traces despite him not having practiced any aura restraint arts.
His patience was eventually rewarded, when Dujahrn was knocked half-dead to his location!
As for Dujahrn? About to be devoured by the plant demon, his life flashed before his eyes.
He recalled his mortal life as a gardener for a noble house. Does that noble house still exist? Not even he knew.
A son of that house had done nefarious deeds using the garden he tended to-- when it was discovered, Dujahrn was blamed, and his family executed.
He somehow escaped from their clutches and fled to the western wilderness. The Great Sects, of course, did not take him in, ‘untalented’ as he was. And thus, he had no choice but to grapple for scraps and seek any path forward.
He came upon the method of growing poisonous flowers with corpses.
At this point, he recalled his half-mentor half-abuser. That man had mocked Dujahrn, criticizing his idiotic idea of growing differently-aspected poison flowers from chosen aspected bodies, and creating said cocktail poison afterwards.
That man had stated that mixing such a cocktail from poisons grown on other bodies would make it impossible for the user's own body to be safely resistant against said cocktail poison.
Dujahrn had ignored that man’s advice-- after all, that man died from his cocktail flower poison! Dujahrn had chosen a rather obvious method to limit risk to himself-- he would only mix this cocktail poison when in combat, and always use aurae projections to deliver this cocktail, to protect himself.
He recalled another piece of advice that came from this half-mentor-- when creating your own advancer arts, always ensure said art would not be weak against the known origin skills left behind by the echoes of the fallen gods. He had ignored that. After all, he had never bumped into one who wielded an origin ability yet!
Now, Dujahrn understood. His mind finally realized that the man with the bow, that is Xeeseir, must be the carrier of the well-recorded skill, ‘Retrace’. Dujahrn felt a deep sense of unfairness and nonacceptance towards his fate. He had been undone by just a single moment.
At this final point in his life, he also realized another truth. The plant demon was on the inner advancers’ side! Not that they had become the bestest of friends and cooperated with one another intentionally.
No, rather-- the plant demon must be very interested in absorbing the deep pool of aurae within outer advancers’ bodies. Obviously, outer advancers have an incomparable supply of aurae compared to inner advancers.
As such… the plant demon must have chosen to allow that spearman to hide within her bed of vines. The plant demon probably hoped that the spearman would ambush an unaware higher ranked advancer, giving it the chance to then consume this high-ranked advancer. This would supply its aurae reserve, increasing its chances against the impending tribulation!
These would be the last thoughts of Dujahrn. A crunch and slurp later, he was consumed, body and soul, by the jaws of the plant demon!
Ailehr saw Dujahrn’s demise, but had no intention to intervene. She might be the leader of the Harvest Devil Sect, and Dujahrn may be a member. However, Devil sects are not internally united like orthodox sects. Nor are they of the same mind.
Devil sects are more of a… convenient membership society. Dujahrn, for example, had killed his half-mentor half-abuser, who was also a member of the Harvest Devil Sect-- one who worshiped Ailehr.
The struggling Xuere elder facing Ailehr thought that he might have a chance if the she-devil was distracted by Dujahrn’s demise, but Ailehr had instead become even more precise and deliberate despite her ‘colleague’s’ situation.
The icy arts of the Xuere Clan only had the minor effect of slowing Ailehr’s ghostly spirits down a single notch. Soon, an exhausted and feeble Xuere elder was held at the neck by Ailehr. Ailehr opened her mouth, and with a final inhale, a wind carried the rest of the Xuere elder’s energies into Ailehr’s body.
This Xuere elder’s skin grayed, his face filled with wrinkles, then his body crumbled into ash. At the same time, Ailehr seemed to grow more youthful and beautiful! Rein witnessed this afar, and knew that this was a scene that he would never forget in his lifetime.
Ailehr then flew towards the Hairy Corpse Devil, Voxeire. Voxeire was naturally frustrated, having her corpses’ movements repeatedly frozen by the other Xuere elder’s and Lyne’s icy arts.
A single glance at that hole and all could see that by now, the tribulation clouds had fully formed.
Ailehr immediately summoned her ghostly aurae projections and sent them at Lyne and her defending Xuere elder.
The two diverted some of their powers to defend against her ghostly aurae projections. As a result, Voxeire’s corpses freed themselves and Lyne soon found herself in the tight clutches of two corpses’ hairy tendrils! Ailehr’s peak outer advancer powers were simply too much for her to deal with!
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“Take the bitch and leave. Now!” Ailehr’s usual coquettishness and playfulness was nowhere to be seen at this very moment. The tribulation of a metamorphosing demon is nothing to laugh at, after all.
That Xuere elder attempted to free Lyne as he fired icy aurae spike projections at the corpses trapping Lyne. Those two corpses shifted their bodies to block these spikes. Their toughened bodies suffered a few punctures, but their eyes remained open with hairy tendrils wound tight around Lyne.
Lyne herself attempted to freeze these hairy tendrils. Though successful, she was unable to break these hairy tendrils, and remained in the clutches of the corpses. Though capable of immobilizing the tendrils, the icy energies failed to penetrate the internal strands.
Ailehr sent another wave of ghostly projections that blew through and enfeebled the Xuere elder. Ailehr and Voxeire with the two hairy corpses carrying Lyne dashed into the underground ancient ruins through the archway.
The Xuere elder fighting against Lazr, the insect devil, wished to rescue the mistress, but he was surrounded by swarms of poisonous bugs, of different varieties. Unlike the devoured Dujahrn, Lazr has a symbiotic relationship with these poisonous insects.
His body supplied blood to these insects to procreate, and in turn, these poison flying bugs served him in battle endlessly, and would always resolve any poison within him. If Xeeseir attempted to use his origin skill against Lazr, it would have no effect.
Lazr followed Ailehr and Voxeire into the discovered ancient ruins, but left a swarm of sacrificial insects to harass the remaining two Xuere elders.
Rein, Xeeseir, Suey, Jory and Dahk gathered together. They soon discovered that Wilo was in a cross-legged posture beside the archway into the ruins, with a blood sword pierced into her sternum. The blood sword had been corroded green and yellow, and its size continuously miniaturized.
“Stabbed by Blood God Hahrn,” Wilo explained as she opened one eye to acknowledge her teammates. “But I’m resolving the energy of his blood blade. I have a unique art that can corrode his aurae and use it to heal myself.”
Rein and the others simply nodded. Their minds are occupied by much more important matters. They felt desperate to enter the ancient ruins for ageless treasures. Rein, however, also had his mind on stealing part of the tribulation lightning…
As for Lyne? None of them even thought of rescuing the mistress of the Xuere Clan. Xeeseir’s ‘trick’ was seen by all, and those devils now knew of Xeeseir’s origin ability. Without the surprise of Xeeseir’s unique origin ability, defeating an outer advancer is nigh on impossible for this group of internal advancers.
“Go,” Rein said to the others. “I need… something here.”
“Brother…you…?” Xeeseir was baffled. Why would Rein need anything here?
“Do you know what you’re doing?” Suey simply asked. Rein hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded with some confidence. Suey narrowed her eyes.
“Hmph.” Suey was rather miffed that her celest wasn’t willing to divulge exactly what he wished to do here. She had become more or less his ‘slave’ with the ‘Sole Cauldron’ Art! Why is he not dragging her everywhere with him? Those are her current thoughts.
She knew if she begged, he might allow her to follow. But… in the back of her mind, she realized that, perhaps, it was best for her to not know. She wanted Rein to inform her when he wished to. At least, she believed that when that time came, she would feel far more joy!
“We’ll wait inside,” Wilo replied and entered the ancient ruins. The others followed her lead, and Rein was left standing alone with the enormous plant demon’s body and the overhead tribulation clouds.
He tentatively traveled to the bed of vines where Dahk had hidden himself. He found a gap and submerged himself deeper.
At this point, the two remaining Xuere elders finally disposed of the Insect Devil’s sacrificial bugs.
“Fuck!” The two swore repeatedly as they rushed into the ancient ruins to search for their kidnapped mistress.
Within the bed of vines.
“I can be of some help,” Rein hollered into his surroundings filled with verdant tendrils. He wasn’t sure if this plant demon could converse yet, but he knew it was no doubt intelligent.
A hundred heartbeats passed, and finally, the vines around Rein writhed. He discovered that his surroundings had transformed into the interior of a room-sized bulb, and a female, formed from vines, stood before him.
Rein initially thought to hide somewhere and steal lightning, but guessing that the plant demon intentionally allowed Dahk to rest within its vines to ambush Dujahrn, Rein believed that they could reach an agreement of sorts.
“I can be of help. I have a… unique affinity to lightning,” Rein explained. “I can absorb some… perhaps remnant shoots of the tribulation lightning for you.”
“Oh?” the vine-formed woman tilted her head.
“I obviously can’t absorb a tribulation lightning strike, but if you block part of it, I can absorb a few sparks,” Rein hurriedly added.
“‘ow in’e’es’ing,” the vine-formed woman replied. Her soft vegetative body struggled to properly pronounce and accentuate words. “‘oweve, you ah one who burned my valle…and you s’ole my sildren…” A vine reached like a hand to lift Rein’s chin. “You dink you can nego’ia’ae your life?”
“I…I apologize,” Rein genuinely felt guilty at burning down the whole valley. “I’ll return these to you.” He immediately retrieved the many centuries-old herbs and fruits from his spatial pouch. The tribulation lightning is simply too important to him!
The vine-formed woman observed him quizzically as she shifted left and right, up and down, to examine this human who so daringly came before her.
“Eep’em,” the plant demon giggled softly. “I won’be s’aying ‘ere af’er my ‘ribula’ion. I only gew ‘hese ‘erbs to bai’ in… food. All I need is fer you oo promise me. You will plan’ seeds of ‘ose fruits.”
“Very well,” Rein sincerely accepted with the fingers of his two hands hooked in greeting. He obviously did not believe in the plant demon’s words. Perhaps the plant demon only wished to see if he was of any real use against the tribulation. At the very end, the plant demon might take his life.
Their tentative agreement led to the plant demon sucking back the paralysis mist around Rein. Rein had taken the antidote that had the requisite concentration to defend against this paralysis mist if it came from a rank five demon. He had begun feeling a decreased reaction time. Now, his body regained its full functions.
As for Rein, he had already determined his course of action. As long as he could steal the requisite amount of tribulation lightning, he simply needed to wait for the right moment to escape! The plant demon obviously desired to pass its tribulation. It had waited for unexpected events to occur, just to swallow those two outer devils. It probably won’t attempt to take his life until the very end.
As for the tribulation cloud? By now, it had fully formed, delivering an ominous darkness to the zone while rumbling with the punishment of the fallen gods.
Rein knew little of what these tribulation tests exactly consisted of-- he himself would not face such a tribulation unless he was to climb to the peak of the telekinetic realm. What Rein did know was that these tribulations are similar to the natural disasters that these supposed fallen gods delivered to disobeying mortals in an ancient era.
For this plant demon, the first tribulation was of no consequence. The earth rumbled and an earthquake shook the cavern. However, the surrounding structure remained firm and steady despite the power felt in the air! A few stalactites that had formed over the years and not been lost due to the crumbling of the ceiling, fell. But that was the full extent of the earthquake’s power.
Whoever built this ancient ruin and its entrance must be a master of construction! Rein gazed at that vine-shaped female form with raised brows as he wondered as to the identity of the one who might have built these ruins. He also wondered if this plant demon had hidden here specifically to face the expected tribulation.
The air then cracked as a large blade of white lightning zigzagged down! Many vines surged up through the protective paralysis mist to meet the twisting blade of light. Many of the vines were burnt to crisp in a single blink of the eye! However, the power of the lightning soon faded, and much of the plant demon’s vast body remained.
“Good luh’.” The vine-shaped female stood next to Rein within that safe bulb and lightly tapped Rein with a curling vine. “The mos’ dange’ous pah’ is the remnan’ ligh’ing energies.”
Along with that tap came a destructive force that sparked through Rein’s tempered body! It was but the remnant residue of the tribulation lightning, yet his body would have crumbled to nothing if not for his red draconic lightning source sudden awakening!
That red draconic lightning formed a dragon with his veins, and danced through his body to swallow this residue tribulation lightning spark in joy. Rein’s red draconic lightning source gained a slight hue of orange.
Rein sighed a breath of relief and joy while the vine-formed female gazed at him with a wonder. The plant demon certainly did not expect this inner advancer to resolve the residue tribulation lightning that invaded her body.
Rein was, of course, exuberant! The red draconic lightning he used to temper his body had become ineffective. Already, he could feel his draconic lightning improving in power!
The tribulation clouds rumbled again. Of course, it wasn’t over yet. It still had to deliver many more disasters upon the plant demon!