Death... and me

A Water Dragon made of Water Element came striking down against the enemy's Fire attack. Not only that, but its power was far more frightening thanks to Calina's Yin Energy Support. The enemy was still at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm while Calina was in the Middle Stage. Nevertheless, he was quite unfortunate that Calina was a Water Element user. It was pure common sense that Fire was weaker against Water, so Calina's attack broke through the enemy's attack in a single go.

"What?!"

The guy could only jump back to avoid the Water Dragon Strike from Calina.

Seeing that made Calina smile, though.

*Creee!*

Suddenly, a Flash of Black and White Flames appeared right where the guy was going to land. Obviously, it was Kentucky. He had gone out with Malaka and Calina for missions several times during these years, so the Minokawa already knew how to react to the girl's support.

In his panic, he could only try to defend as fast as possible.

'Fire Tornado!'

Fire Element gathered around him as it spun at high speeds, forming a fire wall in front of Kentucky. Unfortunately for him, the skill was conjured way too fast, so it didn't have time to form completely before Kentucky's blade-like wings cut through his Spiritual Energy defense and his body right after.

"Im-impossible..."

The guy saw his other half standing there as his upper one fell to the ground. A few moments later, everything went dark for him.

On Malaka's side, she used the same attack she used against Roan back then. It wasn't that he didn't see her, but that he refused to believe that a Middle Stage Core Formation Realm would try to block his Limitless Blade.

Malaka's staff gathered Water Element on its own as Malaka did the same. A Spiritual Water Dragon formed around Malaka's staff soon after. The head of the dragon then opened its mouth as it bit the enemy's blade. The Limitless Blade hit one side of the Flowing Dragon's head. What the guy didn't expect was that the Flowing Dragon Skill worked like that. It used the force of his own attack to increase the spinning of the Flowing Dragon Tail. With that, the other side of Malaka's staff came crashing down on the guy's head even faster than the Limitless Blade Skill the enemy used.

*Bang!*

Unlike the guy who used the Fire Dawn attack, this one was using a melee attack. If even Roan couldn't completely avoid this surprise attack back in the Blue Orchid Sect, then let alone this guy. Worse than that, Roan head still mitigated more than half of the attack's power back then. Unfortunately for this guy, his reaction wasn't even close to Roan's.

The staff Rean made for Malaka was obviously an Earth High-Level staff that could gather the Water Element independently. He also used his superior forging method, so it was even better than most Earth Peak-Level weapons. The staff broke through the enemy's Spiritual Energy Barrier as if it was made of glass, hitting his head.

*Plash!*

Just like the previous enemy, this one also lost its head straight away. Blood spread everywhere as the guy's body fell to the ground.

Wamo, Kuan's group, and the other cultivators around them were taken aback by the two girls and the bird's power. Obviously, they hadn't shown their real strength when fighting those previous enemies before.

"Good job!"

Wano and the others felt reinvigorated as they increased the pressure on the enemies. With the two girls and Kentucky free, they immediately gave support to the others around.

Wano's opponent saw that the situation was turning sour, so he immediately attacked Wano with even more strength. However, the moment Wano avoided the enemy's attack, the guy turned around and aimed one of his skills at Calina, who was the closest to him.

"Not good!"

Wano quickly recovered and flashed in the guy's direction. Unfortunately, he was delayed by the previous feint... or so it seemed.

'Those girls and that bird are quite a frightening group.'

The moment Calina was about to be hit by the enemy's attack, Malaka, Kentucky, and Calina herself turned around and retaliated together. At this moment, everyone could tell that Calina had positioned herself in that position as bait for the Core and Soul Fusion Realm enemy.

'Ice Dragon Strike!'

'Flow of the Dragon Staff!'

*Creee!*

Malaka and Kentucky were definitely better when it came to speed. So the two arrived in front of Calina in a second. Right above them, Calina's Ice Dragon Strike, which used a lot of Yin Energy to freeze the Water Dragon Strike, came crashing down together with Kentucky and Malaka's attack.

"Impudent! Do you think that your joint attack can make up for the enormous gap in cultivation? Die!"

Earth and Fire Element gathered around his body as the ground under him turned into a pool of lava. Following that, the lava seemed to gain life as it transformed into a wave that aimed at Calina's group.

'Magma Wave!'

However, Malaka and Calina's voice echoed inside the man's head at that very moment.

'Of course, we don't expect to win. However, holding you down for a second won't be a problem.'

The man got a foreboding feeling. One second? That seemed like nothing. However, at his level, one second was basically an eternity. He totally didn't believe that Calina's group could really hold his attack for even one second.

*Boom!*

Unfortunately for him, he totally underestimated the trio's combination attack. His Magma Wave wasn't just blocked. It even showed signs that it wouldn't breakthrough Calina's group attack at all. Simply put, the two sides entered a momentaneous equilibrium for a second.

Unfortunately, one second was more than enough.

'King's Fire Sword!'

Wano's speed suddenly increased far beyond what he had shown so far, arriving at the enemy's back in a split second. His sword burst forth with Fire and Wind Elements, slashing the enemy's Spiritual Protection in one go.

"Nooooo!"

*Swish!*

One head was then sent flying, but no blood came out. The scourging flames of Wano's sword cauterized the injury instantly. Sure enough, Calina was right. Wano was much stronger than his cultivation showed. Calina exactly betted on this hidden strength.

With the only Core and Soul Fusion Realm cultivator on the enemy's side dying, the rest of them immediately turned around to flee. Their mission was to hold these people down long enough for more reinforcements to arrive. However, that was not worth trading their lives for.

Calina and the others didn't pursue them either. From the very start, their objective was to flee.

"Let's go. We don't have enough time to care about them."

Everyone turned around and began to flee from the place. However...

*Thud...*

At this moment, Calina and Malaka heard the sound of something falling on the ground. When they turned around to look, it turned out to be Wano. It seemed like he had overexerted himself in the previous attack, so he collapsed soon after.

The other cultivators in their group saw that but immediately ignored it. It was unlucky to have their only Core and Soul Fusion Realm dying here, but they didn't want to carry him either. In just a second, the cultivators already ran far away, completely ignoring what was happening to Wano. Well, not everyone did that, though.

"Kentucky!"

Malaka and Calina called the Minokawa out at that moment.

Kentucky nodded as he flashed back, pulled Wano with his beak, and threw him on his back. Following that, Kentucky used his Spiritual Energy to hold Wano so that he wouldn't fall.

After that, Calina and Malaka continued to run away with Kentucky right behind them. Kuana, Laffey, and Cassia sighed in relief and followed them as well. Before long, everyone was gone from this place. The reinforcements did arrive in the end, but it was already too late.

The battle continued like that until all the survivors died, with just a few, like Calina's group managing to escape.

Around ten days later, deep inside the valley.

A few cultivators wearing red robes were sitting around what seemed to be a giant core made of some red material. Under their feet, it was also possible to see a very complex formation that seemed to be linked to that same core.

At some point, a woman dressed in the same red robe entered the place. She looked at the red core floating in the air before turning to one of the cultivators controlling the formation.

"Vueni, how are things going?"

The man who had that name turned to look at the woman and said.

"A few fishes might escape the net, but they will be of little concern in the future, Jana."

That was obviously the woman's name. She nodded at that report before asking.

"What about the seven cities that were caught inside the Protection Formation?"

"We sent one Nascent Soul Realm to each one of them with a bunch of other warriors. It shouldn't be long before we wipe them out."

Jana pondered for a bit before saying.

"Make sure to keep the Natural Formation working. As long as it stands, we should have enough time to establish ourselves. Those idiots outside will notice that someone is controlling the Natural Formation and will think they can break it. Unfortunately for them, it won't be that easy."

Jana then looked at the other cultivators in the room, be it male or female.

"Everyone. We have been trapped for too long already. It's time to show the world that they've made the wrong choice back then."

"Yes!"

*Bzzzz!*

Suddenly, a weird sound came from the Red Core, which called everyone's attention. At the same time, Vueni's complexion turned pale.

"Impossible!"

Jana looked at Vueni.

"What is it?"

In the end, Vueni could only say with a bitter smile.

"Someone made a huge hole in our protection formation."

"You're kidding, right?"