Death… and me

“Ouch! Gah! Argh! Fuck!!!” Then again, Rean wasn’t the only one having a hard time. Kentucky, who thought he would have a relaxed time, had his feather blades burnt into charred bits. “What the hell is this?! My defense is even higher than most Peak Stage Void Tempering Realm demon beasts! How can I get injured so easily?!”

Celis, who was also defending himself together with the other demon beasts, immediately replied, “Stop complaining and use Instant Recovery. There’s no lack of Peak Stage Void Tempering Realm demon beasts trying to join Jhiod every year. Obviously, they made this test so that even they would have a hard time. As for those below that level, it’s up to them to resist, give up, or die here.”

Kentucky wasn’t happy, but he did it anyway. “Hmph! Fine! I’ll admit that my defense is still not on par.”

‘Life Style, Second Form, Instant Recovery!’

Kentucky’s Light Element then burst out as he quickly healed the injuries caused by the bolts of lightning on his body. They might have broken through his feather blades and scales, but that was basically it. None of them could penetrate into Kentucky’s body. As for the electric current over the body, that only barely made Kentucky itch.

If Kentucky was already like that, then the demon beasts in his group fared even worse. Unlike the previous tests, those demon beasts could not help Kentucky and Celis at all. In the end, if they wanted to pass this test, they would have to rely on Kentucky’s healing skill, which wasn’t anything impressive if compared to Rean or Roan. He took a lot longer to heal others, and he had to do it to himself first.

Roan’s side was the most relaxed one of the three groups. After all, Roan was the creator of the Reversive Arcs. As it relied a lot more on Dark Element than Light, Roan was also better suited for it. “That’s good enough. Let’s keep up this pace. Keep sending me Divine Energy so that I can fend off the bolts of lightning.”

Hearing that, Krikei and the others had no reason to refuse. “On it!”

It went without saying that most of the participants were having a hard time. Many were hit by the lightning bolts and were too injured to continue, being forced to crush their badges. Those were already the lucky ones, as quite a lot of participants with lower cultivations died straight away. 

Of course, there were the cultivators, demon beasts, and spirits who had Lightning Elemental Affinities. With that being said, the ones best off were the demon beasts. Usually, demon beasts were more susceptible to lightning. However, if it was a demon beast with Lightning Affinity, like the Thunder Hawk or the Lightning Viper, they had the best of both worlds. A stronger body and the right element. 

They were definitely the type of participants that had the least amount of give-ups or deaths. It was so good that even though Rean and Roan’s group were doing very well, they were still slower than those demon beasts, especially if they had high-level cultivation.

Fanso’s group, however, was in a very sorry state. Even Fanso himself, who was in the Peak Stage of the Void Tempering Realm, would scream in pain when a lightning bolt hit his body. He did keep up a Divine Energy Barrier and used his own defensive skills to fend off or dodge the bolts of lightning. Unfortunately, the bolts of lightning in the Thunderstorm Breakthrough Dimensional Realm couldn’t be avoided. In the end, he could only try to defend. But since his race was weak against that, he couldn’t completely stop the strikes. His lower-level race members were worse off, with some already crushing their badges to flee or dying for not reacting fast enough.

‘Fuck! How can we look for Erla in this kind of place?! If we find her, we’ll have no chance to attack. Harvesting her heart will be even more impossible!’

Fanso and his group only continued the search for thirty minutes or so. By that time, most of them were already out of the Dimensional Realm or had died. “Fuck it! Crush your badges. We will only die if we continue here. Let’s hope this isn’t the last test Erla has to take. Our best chance will be in the next test, the Deep Sea Monster Assault. If we lose everyone here, then Erla would definitely escape for sure. If Elder Tilte asks, I’ll take responsibility.”

The others felt like they had been pardoned as they instantly crushed their badges. This place was nothing more than hell for the Silver Horn Sturgeon race. Fanso, of course, didn’t waste time and did the same thing.

Then again, they couldn’t be blamed. After all, they had been dancing on Rean’s hands ever since they appeared. First of all, coming to the Thunderstorm Breakthrough Dimensional Realm to look for Erla wasn’t a good idea. Erla herself knew that she would be dead by now if not for Rean’s Reversive Arcs.

At some point, Habac, Erla, and Min had to reduce their speed and take out their Divine Stones. Rean’s Reversive Arcs were barely standing up against the flashes of lightning, and he was starting to run out of Divine Energy. If they didn’t provide more Divine Energy, Rean wouldn’t last until the end. 

Rean was also certain about another thing. If it was him alone, he would most likely not be able to pass this test. Sure, he might have gotten lucky and attracted very few lightning bolts as Habac did in the past. However, with the system on his side, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be that lucky.

The first of the three groups to pass was obviously Roan. They reached the end of the Thunderstorm Breakthrough Dimensional Realm with quite some ease. Though, that didn’t mean it was effortless. It’s just that Roan’s advantages played a big role in this test.

Kentucky’s group was next. However, Kentucky didn’t seem to have any more white feathers. He looked more like a crow now as all his blade feathers were completely charred. Celis, on the other hand, seemed to be faring somewhat better.

Last but not least, Rean’s group arrived at the end and passed through the spatial gate.

“We did it!”

Erla, Min, and Habac couldn’t help but jump for joy. They had finally passed all twelve tests in a roll. With that, Erla would finally be safe against the Silver Horn Sturgeon race… or so she thought.

Suddenly, space itself contracted around Erla, preventing her from moving a single muscle. Soon after, the figure of an old man appeared as he delivered a deadly strike!

“If we can’t have it, then no one will!”

That was none other than the elder of the Silver Horn Sturgeon race. It wasn’t Tilte, though, but someone else. Tilte couldn’t be sacrificed. Not that he wouldn’t, but that he had one of the highest cultivation in his race, so the race couldn’t lose him. Nevertheless, the Clendes Sea Heart was too dangerous to their race. If they couldn’t have it, they absolutely couldn’t allow someone else to use it against them. That’s why this elder decided to sacrifice himself. Once he attacked someone in the Jhiod Sect’s building, he knew he would die as a result. But that was fine. As long as Erla died first, their race would be fine. 

*Boom!*