Prime Originator

Subconsciously, Lilith did not want to think about such a possibility.

If the entire tribe was buried under the endless mass of rat carcasses, it would imply that the Desolate Crow Clan was most likely…

As Lilith arrived at this chain of thought, Aria's sudden pat made her jump slightly in surprise.

"There's no conclusive evidence that Desolate Crow Clan has been wiped, so let us not jump to conclusions," Aria said with a slight smile.

"Yeah, even if the Desolate Crow Clan was buried under here, it does not mean that everyone died here. They could have fled to seek refuge at a higher-ranking tribe," Soft Feather added lazily, laying down on a layer of ice covering over the black carcasses.

"Let us have a look, shall we?" Duna suggested.

But before anyone could agree, she went ahead and cleaved the mountain of carcasses apart with a slight wave of destruction, causing her fingernails to crack at the same time.

"Tch!"

Without any surprises, Duna was unsatisfied with the result—having only made a small fissure, which was no different from a slight crack on the big mountain.

"It's going to take more effort than that if you want to dig through this big mountain," Aria commented with amusement.

Duna gave her a look before she snorted, "If you know, then hurry up and come help."

"If that how you ask someone for help?" Aria responded uncooperatively, causing Duna to give her another glance as sparks seemed to clash between their gazes.

Nevertheless, Aria relented with a shrug after looking at Lilith's dejected look, "Well, alright. Not a big deal anyway."

Shortly after, Aria raised her hand and commanded the ice-lightning swords to form a lotus sword formation and drill into the small fissure created by Duna.

Rumble!

The mountain of carcasses could be felt vibrating from the drilling, causing Soft Feather discomfort as she could not even rest on her sheet of ice in peace.

She raised her raised with displeasure before spouting with a soft sigh, "Let me help."

"And what can I do to help?" Darlene inquired, feeling the need to contribute to the team despite her unfamiliarity with everyone.

As the weakest and most likely also the newest member in the group, it was something she needed to deal with if she wanted to build a harmonious relationship with everyone.

"You? It's fine." Aria shook her head and said, "You don't need to do anything. Just stick close to Soft Feather and watch yourself. The ground will be unstable and cause you to trip if you are not careful—"

Boom!

A pile of carcasses was suddenly blasted into the air some distance away from the group as several dozens—No, hundreds of shadows shot out from underneath.

In the next moment, Soft Feather and the others were entirely surrounded by a group of beastkin warriors, weapons drawn and pointed at them with hostile gazes.

'Transcendents!'

Aria and Duna immediately narrowed their eyes, feeling the strong aura emanated from the several dozen warriors.

Nevertheless, they were only Rank 1 Transcendents while the rest were mainly at the 9-Star Ranked Awakener in strength and below.

Shortly after, a beastkin warrior in black feathery armor stepped forward before barking, "Why are you trying to enter our tribe?! State your intentions clearly or die!"

"Are you threatening me?" Duna's expression immediately glazed with coldness.

Several beastkin warriors were quickly intimidated by Duna's powerful and menacing aura in that single instance. Still, they neither retreated nor cowered as they endured Duna's pressure head-on.

They have been tempered by blood and battle and would not succumb to fear so easily.

"Seems you have chosen death!" the black-feathered beastkin warrior stated with a grave look, having understood that the woman in front of him was powerful despite being unable to gauge her cultivation!

As the black-feathered beastkin warrior raised his hand and ready to give the kill order, Lilith quickly stepped out from behind Duna and shouted, "Wait! Uncle Jorn! It's me, Lilith!"

"Halt!"

The black feathery-armored beastkin warrior called Uncle Jorn immediately stopped his men from attacking with a hand gesture before glancing back at Lilith with surprise.

"Little Princess? You're back!" Jorn spoke before to his men, "Lower your weapons! Her Highness has returned!"

"Welcome back, Your Highness!" The beastkin warriors all greeted shortly after. 

Lilith gave her surrounding clan members a sweeping glance with joy in her eyes, seeing there are survivors. She immediately became hopeful for the rest of the tribe.

"What is the situation of the clan, Uncle Jorn? How are my parents?" Lilith quickly inquired with an expectant gaze.

"They…" Jorn suddenly paused with a frown as he observed the rat tide's movements in the distance before continuing, "Let us talk inside the clan, Little Princess. We need to hide and mask our scent before the berserk rats are attracted."

"You don't need to worry about that. The rat tide is currently preoccupied with something else. Why don't you take a closer look and see what is actually happening?"

Duna stated coolly before adding with a frosty expression, "You did not answer my question. Were you threatening me?"

"I apologize for our disrespect, miss." Jorn quickly apologized before asking respectfully, "How should I address you, miss?"

Although he could not tell Duna's cultivation, he understood that she had to be very powerful to be able to make everyone feel apprehensive with just her aura alone.

"Duna. You may call me Duna."

As Duna introduced herself, Lilith quickly took the initiative to introduce the rest of the group to her Uncle Jorn, who was a close confidante of her father, the clan leader of the Desolate Crow Clan.

Once the introduction was done, Jorn and the beastkin warriors' gazes lingered on Soft Feather in awe as it was rare for them to see such a big and majestic beast in their region.

"I didn't expect to see a member of the Blue Luan race in these parts of the Wildlands. Desolate Crow Clan is honored by your presence, Princess Soft Feather," Jorn said humbly.

After Lilith's introduction, the beastkin warriors were further made aware of Soft Feather's identity as the daughter of a Paragon from the Blue Luan Tribe, a higher-ranking tribe than their Mid-rank tribe, due to Aria's insertion.

"Hmph, it is good that you know."

Soft Feather strutted with her head proudly raised to the high heavens with smugness written all over her face as she enjoyed the reverence and respect of the beastkin warriors of the Desolate Crow Clan.

"Don't feed her ego. These Blue Luans can be prouder than the heavens themselves if you showering them with a little bit of respect and admiration," Duna casually stated, causing Soft Feather's mood to turn foul.

"Hmph, you want to say that again?"

In a short instance, Soft Feather began to bicker with Duna.

Nevertheless, Jorn and the other beastkin warriors did not pay attention to this as their gazes shifted to the rumbling distance, where Leon and Silver fought with the swarming rat tide.

"Such vigor and valiance! I wonder which expect is fighting over? We need to help them! Even Rank 2 Transcendents could be exhausted to death if they were to fight the rat tide!" Jorn spoke with a solemn look.

Aria's eyes immediately flickered.

"Where are you going?" Duna casually asked Aria, seeing that she was about to head off on her ice-lightning sword.

"Since Lilith and Darlene are safe over here, I am going back to help Leon fight off the berserk rats," Aria calmly answered.

However, she was quickly stopped by Duna, "Leon doesn't need your help. Can't you see he is having so much fun over there? Are you sure you want to spoil it?"

"This…" Aria frowned.

At the same time, Jorn opened his mouth and spoke, "Miss Duna, I am afraid I cannot agree. No matter how much fun the person is having, it would not last forever—they would not last forever."

"To throw away one's life for fun is simply not worth it. Moreover, this person appears to be Rank 2 Transcendent. It will be regrettable if we lose such an expert in these lands that currently runs rampant with rat tides."

"You're really stupid, you know that?" Duna quickly insulted before saying, "Does it looked Leon is showing any signs of exhaustion? No, rather than that, he is becoming more and more energetic over time."

Being a ghoul-like being in her present state with regular bloodthirsts, Duna was naturally most sensitive to blood.

Although Leon was not growing stronger in strength, she could definitely sense that his vigor was growing over time—even when she is over a dozen miles away from Leon's location.

"This…" Jorn expressed his doubt.

Being unable to sense what Duna sensed, Jorn turned to the Little Princess, Lilith, for answers. However, Lilith was unable to ascertain Duna's claims as well and turned to Aria.

"She's… probably telling the truth," Aria shrugged nonchalantly on the surface, but in truth, she was slightly unwilling to speak up for Duna in her heart.

Nevertheless, she did not want to look petty.

…

Meanwhile, Leon continued to sweep away waves after waves of black mutant rats without a hint of injury on his body nor a trace of fatigue on his face.

He was inexhaustible.

At the same time, his boiling and vigorous blood drove the squeaking rats crazy!

On the other hand, the Transcendent-level silver wolf sustained numerous injuries as bite marks were seen all over its body.

Upon seeing this, Leon hollered, "Eat this, Silver."

Swoosh~!

A Tier 3 healing pill was tossed over before Silver snatched it with his teeth within a blink of an eye and swallowed it down—whilst being under the barrage of the mutant rats at the same time.

"Hoho, nice reaction."