The group suddenly spotted a scarlet area ahead with a density several tis greater than where they were. It seed to be a large wall, emitting a sense of extre danger. However, none of them considered turning back.
Goku had already instructed them to follow, as there was no safe place if they stayed on the second level. Even though he had shown a power that killed all the elders together, that happened due to many different factors. The elders were injured, completely caught off guard, and the stun, despite almost depleting their Qi within their ridians, was still not completely stable. Not to ntion that after killing these five, all the others would be on high alert.
Without hesitation, they crossed the wall as if they had jumped into a sea of freezing water. Everyone felt their minds spin, and Langrum, already extrely injured, almost lost consciousness.
Ruri, the weakest, imdiately began to feel the first symptoms of her body collapsing. However, even before the blood flowed, she experienced a warmth penetrating her ridians.
Alm and Bruno grabbed her, using all the Qi stored in the spatial inventory, derived from dozens of abyss crystals. Although they couldn’t use this Qi in that place, they had kept a little saved as a precaution, thinking about the mont they would leave the prison. Then, in the sa way as last ti, with the help of Yin and Yang tattoos, they transferred directly to her, expanding her ridians in an attempt to keep her alive in that hostile environnt.
However, they realized that it only delayed the process and wouldn’t last long. As for Almin, he abruptly passed out, falling face-first to the ground in the most pathetic way possible.
Langrum struggled to rise, fighting to stand. If it were a few days ago, she would have fainted with these injuries. However, training in the desert had made her more resilient and hardened. Instinctively, she grabbed Almin and lifted him, assuming the role of the carrier she had received before.
"Quick. They know we’ve crossed, and they’ll follow us while we’re still at the beginning of level three," Goku warned, holding Ruri to his bloodied body and taking firm steps forward.
Langrum spat blood and hurriedly followed them. Bruno controlled the body while Alm felt the entire environnt around them. They remained on high alert as they advanced.
Alm and Bruno imdiately felt, as they took their first steps on this level, the presence of death hanging over their heads. It was sothing even more intense than when they entered the prison. In that place, everything could kill them; any infernal beast was a realm or more above them, and this was just the periphery of that place.
Alm didn’t hesitate to use the power of his divine soul to find a safe path. The similarity of the infernal laws to the Yin laws gave Alm a natural advantage in that place. No one could see more than a few ters ahead, but he quickly adapted to the differences and could see almost a kiloter, directing them to a place where there was a large gap between several infernal beasts.
Bruno’s Yang soul was much more damaged than his previous, but now things quickly equalized. Both divine souls were completely depleted, and there was no simple thod to restore them. When Alm entered a critical state, looking like a fla in its final monts, they stopped.
Unlike the first and second levels, which resembled a forest with few trees spaced between them, the third level looked like a dense jungle, where the diversity of plants and trees competed for every ray of light. But there was no light or sun, and the source of competition was the infernal laws, creating an environnt where vegetation grew haphazardly in all directions.
The whale found a large bush with dozens of ters. Langrum followed them disoriented, having strength only to walk shakily. Then, they jumped into the bush, pulling her in. Inside the third level, the infernal beasts still sensed everyone once they were close enough. However, the elders who relied on their visions did not. Alm was an exception since he could see very far, so he avoided getting too close to the beasts for the beasts to sense him and his group. Alm confird that they were temporarily safe and spoke ntally to Langrum.
’We can’t stay still for long; sleep for an hour and recover your body. I’ll keep watch.’
Langrum, almost passing out, simply tossed Almin to the side and let herself fall to the ground, imdiately blacking out.
The whale’s body didn’t need rest. They could regenerate automatically thanks to their physical cultivation. Before Alm’s power reached its limit, he realized that the stronger infernal beasts were isolated in their own areas. They probably divided territories and avoided encroaching on each other’s space.
But the place was vast, and there was an ownerless zone where a dispute between dium-level beasts occurred. Alm chose one of these empty areas to settle, but he knew he couldn’t stay for too long since an infernal beast could appear at any mont.
They sat in silence, watching Ruri, who breathed heavily with closed eyes, clearly in a lot of pain. Even using the sa thod as before, the pressure level there was much higher. She was fragile, and her body wouldn’t endure it for long.
’Her ridians are already at the limit; we can’t input more Qi,’ Bruno comnted, unsure of what to do. ’She can’t use her ntal technique to seal herself and enter the inventory... we have to use sothing to stabilize her body.’
Alm thought about the issue. ’The blood rune is impossible...’ Then he looked at the bone saber on her back. ’The bones of this saber absorb and store a large amount of Yin in them; it was made to better develop the female physical body. We can use this to stimulate the life energy in her blood.’
Bruno nodded worriedly. ’The Yang will beco thinner and unbalanced, possibly causing future problems... well, we have no choice now.’
Quickly, they used the tattoos to extract all the stored Yin from the saber and directed it into her body and then her blood. The whale’s body was still very injured, which made it quite challenging. In almost an hour, Ruri’s face seed to soften in relief, and she fell asleep from exhaustion.
A few minutes later, Langrum woke up. She had recovered just enough to be able to walk and run, while Goku was only slightly better than her. But it wouldn’t change the situation much, even if they were completely well. They didn’t have the strength to fight even the weakest infernal beast in that place.
Bruno then calmly assessed Langrum’s condition. ’She seems perfectly fine ntally.’
When they decided to connect their souls to hers to receive the technique, they were well aware that she would see their true forms. Conscious that their divine souls, even damaged, would cause a trendous shock to her, they planned to quietly draw sothing extra when she connected fully and transferred sothing from her mory.
Langrum, upon exiting the connection, wouldn’t be able to recall perfectly what she saw before; only a cloudy feeling would remain. It was a simple job, but the slightest mistake could completely damage her soul, leaving her mind disturbed.
However, they encountered no issues; after all, slowly damaging the soul in torture was a very efficient thod, and they had plenty of experience in that area. The path to avoid damage wasn’t much different. In the end, Langrum simply did not rember their souls’ form anymore.
Alm agreed. ’Great, wouldn’t want to see that half-monster looking at us strangely and submissively. It would be disgusting.’
They observed Almin, who remained unconscious and seed unlikely to wake up despite no life-threatening risks. In the next mont, Alm and Bruno felt their danger senses stir. This was the only weapon left for them, and they could only be guided by it now.
So, their group quickly got up, with Goku leading them again. This ti, he could only sense a few ters ahead since his soul reached its limit; neither of them could use their divine souls anymore, or they would vanish completely.
Initially, the whale’s body couldn’t endure it, but after evolving their physical cultivation, they had so simple uses for the power of their souls. However, in just a few years since taking over this body, they had already burned through the biggest card they had available, and from this day forward, they would have to be even more careful. If cornered, they would simply die without the ability to counterattack.
After almost another hour, Alm stopped again. He rembered the location of the nearby beasts, and the sense of danger seed more subtle. Standing still was extrely dangerous, but moving was also risky. There was no easy solution, and they had to stay there for a day until the end of the test, but not even two hours had passed yet.
’We’re still at the beginning of the third level; if we continue like this, we’ll survive, and those elders won’t...’
Suddenly, the dense sensation of death above their heads made them freeze.
’How? I’m sure I checked all directions...’ Alm focused entirely on perceiving the surroundings but still had no idea where it was coming from.
Then, Langrum looked up, and her heart beat like a drum, making Alm and Bruno hear and turn to her. Then, they followed her gaze.
Almost nothing could be seen around them due to the dense scarlet mist. But from above, an even denser black shadow than the mist itself stood out. It was directly above their heads, and its wings spanned a dozen ters each.
"Damn it! Flying infernal beasts!" Bruno exclaid in shock.
Then, the air heated up... and everyone’s instincts seed to beg them to flee. The entire sky seed to turn black as a deadly and apocalyptic attack rained down on their heads.
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