Death... and me

Quite a few cultivators with paper-thin defense were caught off guard with their guards down and received quite serious injuries, mostly burns. Seeing that, Calina and Malaka immediately tried to help a few of them. Although Water Element wasn't as good as Rean's Light Element, it was still the most commonly used element for healing. Naturally, Calina knew a few healing abilities. As for Malaka, Mia made sure to carve a few of those skills inside the happy-go-lucky girl's brain as well.

Kuana, Cassie, and Laffey couldn't help but ask.

"Shouldn't you two be more worried about yourselves?"

Calina shrugged her shoulders as she replied.

"We are. That's why we are healing them. We might need everyone's strength depending on what's happening here."

Malaka agreed with Calina.

"Look around you. Does it seem like we're safe already? Our entire surroundings are covered in this red light. We better have more people to discuss about it."

Kuana's group pondered for a bit and decided to help as well. It's just that none of them was a Water Element Affinity cultivator, so they couldn't do much.

Suddenly, someone began to talk in the skies.

"Oh! There's a lot of ants here as well. This dammed valley has several entrances, so we have cultivators everywhere because of these useless rocks."

Everyone looked above and saw a man floating there. However, he looked quite different from a normal person. His body had several red line patterns that didn't seem to be a tattoo or anything like that. The rest of their skin, however, was very pale, almost like ghosts. That only enhanced the presence of the red lines.

Since he could fly, it was obvious that he was at least in the Core and Soul Fusion Realm. However, the Core and Soul Fusion Realm cultivators in the groups immediately narrowed their eyes. They couldn't feel that person's cultivation at all.

"At least Nascent Soul Realm," said the guy Calina was healing. He then got up, albeit with some difficulty.

"I'm fine, thanks. By the way, you can call me Wamo. Well, better than that, you should think about how to escape this place. I don't think that guy there came with good intentions."

The girls were soon taken aback by those words.

Suddenly, they began to hear sounds of explosions coming from slightly afar. From the looks of it, some battle started somewhere else.

"Oh! They already started. Well, I better finish my job here as well."

Sure enough, the man in the skies began to gather energy, preparing to attack the cultivators below. However, he narrowed his eyes as he looked at a particular location.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Another man then began to float in the air as he stopped in front of the guy.

"I'm an elder of the Yulo Sect, Cimo Gnilore. It was my time to watch over the valley so that things wouldn't go out of control. I can see that you have quite a few friends in the other parts. Who are you guys? How did you create this ridiculously big barrier? What are you planning?"

Some of the cultivators below rejoiced with Cimo's appearance.

"It's Elder Cimo!"

"He's also a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator."

"We're saved!"

The man in the skies ignored the voices below before introducing himself.

"You can call me Troga. As for who I am, what we want, and how we did it, I can't tell you."

It was then that Troga disappeared from his position as he attacked Cimo.

"Impudent!"

Cimo also disappeared as he counterattacked.

*Boom, boom, boom!*

Immediately, the area around the two Nascent Soul experts transformed into a forbidden zone to the other cultivators. 

Calina and the others looked at that and immediately understood. They had to use this chance to escape. As for the injured people, they couldn't worry about them right now.

"Let's go!"

Malaka, Kentucky, and a few other cultivators they helped heal immediately turned around and fled into the forest behind. Calina didn't dare to ask Kentucky to fly since it would only make them a bigger target.

Well, they weren't the only ones. Many other cultivators that could still move also began to flee. 

Suddenly, a ray of light crossed the skies as it moved in Cimo and Troga's battle. Soon after, Troga and the new guy began to fight against Cimo.

"Shameless!"

Troga didn't care.

"Hahaha! It was your bad luck to be in this place today. No, in fact, you're quite lucky. After all, we are only Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. Our Soul Forging Realm members are quite busy at the moment."

Troga's friend narrowed his eyes after hearing that. Just like Troga, he also had the same red lines on his body and the ghost pale skin, but with different patterns.

"Troga, don't speak more than you should."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. This guy won't live for much longer, so who cares? Raro, you're too serious."

Cimo wanted to learn more about these people, but he was at a serious disadvantage. In the end, he could only turn around and flee as well. Troga and Raro immediately followed, much to the cultivators' relief below.

*Boom!*

Suddenly, an explosion came from the place where some of the cultivators had come from. It turns out that Troga and Raro were just two of the enemy's experts. They had much more of them in hiding. Not only that, but they all had those red line patterns on their bodies, whether they were men or women. It's just that the new ones were not in the Nascent Soul Realm, but in the Core and Soul Fusion and Core Formation Realm.

Calina's group was no different as some of those enemies appeared in front of them.

"Take them down!"

Wamo then took the front and ordered the people around.

"Don't dwell on this. Focus on escaping. If they hold you behind, you will eventually be swallowed by their numbers."

Calina and Malaka finally noticed Wamo's cultivation. It turned out that Wamo was in the Core and Soul Fusion Realm. However, it puzzled Calina. Those in the Core and Soul Fusion Realm should have been able to resist that Red Light with ease. How did he get injured by that?

'Forget it. It's not the time to consider such things.'

Wamo brought his sword out and immediately slashed at one of the enemies.

'Ray Cut!'

Fire and Wind Element gathered around Wamo's Sword as a Fire Blade flew in the enemy's direction. The guy didn't even have time to react as he was cleaved in half before burning to a crisp.

Calina and Malaka couldn't help but think.

'As expected of a Core and Soul Fusion Realm cultivator, he's a Dual Element user. However, this guy is quite strong for his Middle Stage cultivation.'

Nonetheless, it was a good thing for Calina's group.

Malaka and Calina quickly refocused their attention on their own enemies after that. Fortunately, their enemies were in the same cultivation as the two girls.

'Glacial Icicles!'

'Flow of the Dragon Staff!'

Calina's enemy was taken aback by that attack. The Glacial Icicles were several times faster than he imagined. Malaka's opponent was even more frightened since Malaka displayed a level of raw strength far above his own with just her staff.

Calina's enemy tried to step back to defend against her attack when all of a sudden, he noticed he stepped into a pond of water.

"Not good!"

It was too late.

'Water Prison!'

The guy didn't even have enough time to escape as his body was enclosed by the water prison. Immediately, he began to release his attacks, trying to break through the skill.

'Water Blades!'

Unfortunately, hundreds of Water Blades began to attack him from all sides. He could only defend against a few at the same time while he used his Spiritual Energy Barrier to fend the rest off. However, he wouldn't last more than a few seconds like that. Immediately, he sent his companion a Spiritual Sense message.

'Help me!'

*Boom!*

However, when he used his Spiritual Sense to look at his companion's state, the latter's head was crushed by Malaka's staff. After so many dangerous life and death situations, Malaka had finally got used to killing. Well, she still hated it, though. But when the time asked for it, she didn't hesitate anymore.

The enemy in the water prison resisted for as long as he could. But in the end, he was cut into several parts by Calina's Water Blades. Once inside the Water Prison, Calina's attacks were really frightening.

It took some time to explain, but all of that happened in just a few seconds.

Wamo looked at that and was also surprised by the two girls' strengths. However, the one that really caught his attention was someone else.

*Creee!*

*Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang...*

Kentucky moved like a flash of Black and White Light. Black and White Flames burned around his body as his wings hardened like blades. According to Elder Reliance, Minokawa Feathers can be as sharp as swords, and Kentucky showed that right now. 

High speed, sharp blades, and high defense. Kentucky was creating its own slaughtering field. Not only that, but he also knew his own strength very well. Kentucky only targeted those at the Middle Stage of the Core Formation Realm or below. Only those ones would be able to be finished fast enough.

"What is this bird?!"

"Send someone to stop it!"

"We are losing our advantage in numbers!"

Finally, two Peak Core Formation Realm cultivators noticed the issue and attacked Kentucky from the sides.

'Limitless Blade!'

'Fire Dawn!'

One physical and one elemental attack appeared in Kentucky's direction. Wamo saw that and tried to stop the two, but he was immediately stopped in his tracks.

'Earth Spears!'

The spears formed extremely fast, almost piercing through him.

"Your opponent is me!"

Wamo narrowed his eyes. Obviously, that was another Core and Soul Fusion Realm cultivator.

'Seems like I won't be able to give support to the bird.'

However, Kentucky didn't need his help to start with. He had never gone too far from Malaka and Calina, so the two girls were immediately able to provide support.

'Water Dragon Strike!'

'Death Water Style, First Form, Flowing Dragon!'