Death... and me

Everyone looked at Gia, making sure to focus all of their attention on her. Just as the name implied, the Tarantula had dark spikes protruding out of all its body. As for its size, no other demon beast here was as big as her. Well, that was just a way of Gia showing her dominance. That's because a demon beast could control the size of their body once they reached Stage Seven.

"As described in the jade slips, you have to destroy at least 10 formations. There are five teams here and 70 to 90 formations covering the southeast area of the Celesgal Volcano Area," Gia explained before continuing, "I don't care what methods you use. As long as you destroy them, it'll count. Almost everyone here is a demon beast, and I'm sure we're all used to fighting against each other. However, you're forbidden from doing so this time. Remember, this is the demon beasts' chance to leave the Demon Beast Continent, so there will be plenty of territory for all of you to choose later. Understood?!"

"Yes!" everyone answered in unison. Well, the majority did that through Spiritual Sense since they were still Stage Five Demon Beasts. Only the three Stage Six beasts, Kentucky, and the humans used their voices.

Gia pointed in the distance before saying, "Good. Now go. I'll make sure that no one above the Stage Six Level intervenes."

Luti quickly returned to his group and departed with two other demon beasts. Those demon beasts were at the Late Stage Five Level, which was comparable to his own cultivation. Of course, they weren't the only ones. Everyone quickly departed, flying in specific directions.

"Let's head out as well!" Kentucky immediately spread his wings and took flight. Roan then examined the directions everyone left before pointing where Kentucky should focus.

Rean then looked at Roan and asked, "Should I use my Light and Spiritual Sense bending skills?"

Roan pondered a bit before replying, "Just make it good enough to protect us against the enemies' Nascent Soul Realm experts. That way, Gia will still be able to watch us with her Spiritual Sense. We shouldn't be the only people in the world who know how to avoid Spiritual Sense, so she won't be that impressed if she sees that it only works on people in the same realm as us."

Rean nodded as the light in the surroundings began to change. Or to be more specific, the light still reached their groups' eyes. However, when it was supposed to reflect back, Rean bent it. Since the reflected light didn't spread out, Kentucky's body seemed to have disappeared completely. Obviously, the same happened with Spiritual Sense. However, unlike the Light bending skill, the Spiritual Sense bending skill bent the Spiritual Sense so that it never touched their bodies.

Gia didn't notice anything different with them since she was still able to see Rean's group clearly. After all, her Spiritual Sense was strong enough to pierce through Rean's ability. Everything was how they planned it to go.

On the Zasfins' side, their own Saint Realm expert, which was equivalent to a Stage Seven Demon Beast, immediately caught the enemies approaching with his Spiritual Sense. Soon, he said, "Send a message to everyone. The demon beasts have arrived. I don't care if they have to die. Just make sure that they keep the formations protected."

A subordinate by the side immediately nodded before disappearing.

As one could expect, the areas where the Zasfins mostly focused on were the ones being attacked by the Stage Six Demon Beasts. Naturally, there were Soul Transformation Realm Zasfins there, ready to take them on. In the end, the Zasfins had four at the Soul Transformation Realm, while the demon beasts had three at Stage Six. That being said, one of them immediately fell at a disadvantage.

"Two vs. one? Hahaha! So what? Come on!" Well, it was still a demon beast, so it didn't retreat. Instead, its attacks became even more ferocious. 

The two Soul Transformation Realm Zasfins understood that they wouldn't be able to stop it like that, so they also began to take it seriously. Their Soul Marks immediately shone on their foreheads as their combat power soared. One of them soon said in response with a snort, "Hmph! A worm who doesn't know how to respect the strongest race of this world."

*Bang, bang, bang...*

*Boom, boom, boom...*

Of course, neither side was alone. They also had their own Stage Five Demon Beasts or Nascent Soul Realm subordinates with them. In just a moment, the battlefield between the top experts of this mission was full of explosions of different colors. 

Rean's group couldn't see it since each formation was several tens of kilometers away from each other. In any case, they could hear the delayed sounds of their clashes. 

"It seems like they've already started," Rean could not help but say.

Roan nodded before focusing ahead. There was a mountain there with several Zasfins moving around. From the looks of it, the mountain was being used as the base for the formation. "Alright, ignore them. The first formation is right in front of us. By now, the enemy was probably warned by their Saint Realm expert that we're moving closer."

Because Rean kept his Spiritual Sense bending skill working only on those at their realm, the Saint Realm expert could obviously see them. Sure enough, they immediately saw five Zasfins taking flight, stopping in midair while looking in their direction.

Rean just faintly smiled in response as he said, "They're looking in our direction, but they can't really tell where we are. Also, unlike the Saint Realm expert giving orders, their Spiritual Senses can't go all the way back to ask about us."

Rean was correct. Although those Zasfins were looking around, they really couldn't see anything. 

Kentucky didn't even stop as he sent out a Spiritual Sense message, saying, 'Alright, let's stick to the plan.' Not long after, he flapped his wings with a lot more strength, increasing his own speed even further. 

Suddenly, one of the Zasfins felt a gale of air hitting his face, but that was about it. He couldn't see anything, so he simply thought it was part of the breeze the mountains had. He then looked at one of his companions and asked through Spiritual Sense, saying, 'Senior Jare said they should be here anytime. Can you see anything? My Spiritual Sense can't catch any presence at all.'

The other four Zasfins shook their heads.

'Nothing here.'

'Me neither.'

'Could it be that Senior Jare mistook the group he was talking to?'

'Ha! What a joke. Senior Jare is a Saint Realm expert. Do you think such a thing is possible? Just focus on your senses and wait for the enemy to come.'

However, it was at this moment that the five of them received a Spiritual Sense message from that exact Senior Jare. 'What the hell are you doing?! The enemy just passed right through you, and you didn't do anything?! Go after them! They are getting closer to the Formation Core!'

"What?!"

The five Zasfins were shocked to hear that. They really didn't see anything with their Spiritual Senses at all! However, there was no way for them to tell it to Jare since they were too far to talk to him through Spiritual Sense.

"Let's go!" 

Without much choice, they all shot in the direction of the Formation Core. However, they had barely moved a few meters when suddenly...

*Boom!*

An explosion of black and white flames rose to the skies where the Formation Core was located. One must remember that Sister Orb was here as well. She might need a long time to analyze and even more to take control over the formation. However, if it was just telling Rean and the others where the core was located, it was astoundingly simple, especially after the Soul Gem System's processing power had increased. Even before passing by those experts, the newly upgraded Sister Orb was able to locate the core and tell the twins where it was.

As for the one who attacked it, obviously, it was Kentucky! Rean and Roan separated from his back when he began his descent. That's because when it came to raw attack power, Kentucky still had the advantage. Even Rean's new sword wouldn't break through Kentucky's beak when clashing head-on. One must remember that Kentucky ate a fortune in terms of Heaven-level ores, so his body was even stronger than some common Heaven-level materials. They didn't know how resistant the Core was either. After putting it all together, it was better to be safe. Rean and Roan stayed in the air while Kentucky crashed against the Formation Core.

*Crack...crack...crack...*

*Shatter!*

The Formation Core was indeed very resistant and even had a small protection formation to give it a bit more defense. However, none of that was able to resist Kentucky's dive for even more than a second. In the end, both the Core and the protection formation shattered, which initiated a chain reaction that destroyed the rest of the formation around the mountain. The low-level Zasfins who were too late to react to this ended up dying because of the explosions. The formation wasn't ready yet, so such a volatile outcome was expected.

Kentucky quickly took flight again, arriving at where Rean and Roan were. This time, however, Rean wasn't using his Light bending skill, so the Zasfins' Nascent Soul experts quickly noticed them standing there. Obviously, they were fuming. After all, they would definitely be punished for failing to protect the formation in such an ugly way.

"Kill!" 

In an instant, they pounced at Rean's group. Unfortunately for them, Rean, Roan, and Kentucky had no intention of staying. The twins held on Kentucky's back before the Minokawa shot into the distance. 

"Hahaha! Until we meet again!" Kentucky shouted as he knew that the Zasfins were quickly falling behind. Sure enough, at the same level, almost no one could beat Kentucky in flight speed.

Rean then looked at Roan and told him, "I won't activate my Spiritual Bending this time."

Roan nodded, understanding what Rean meant. "Good. If we keep using it, that Saint Realm guy will notice our trick and focus on stopping us. Let's change targets."