Free Web NovelChapter 213: Seventh
Lucas wasn’t certain if this tropical land was part of another continent, or just a very large island somewhere in one of the vast oceans of Servist, but what he did know was that there were no signs of human activity anywhere nearby.
That didn’t mean humans didn’t live somewhere close, but for the moment, it seemed this place was a virgin paradise.
Paradise was actually an apt description, as the World Qi here was significantly denser than in Redwood Town. In fact, according to Christina, the World Qi here was at least twice as dense as it was even in Rockwell City, the place in the Rockwell Kingdom with the highest average World Qi density.
Such a treasured land would be coveted even by powerful masters in the Spirit Elite Realm as cultivating here would be far more efficient. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
In other words, this was a veritable holy land for Wild Beasts to live and grow in. However, despite covering a fair bit of ground as they chased after numerous Spatial Tears, their group only encountered a few living creatures, and the ones they did run into were all in the First and Second Order.
Up until now, neither Lucas nor Christina paid much attention to this point as they were too busy trying to escape back to Redwood Town, but even if they had thought about it, there were several plausible reasons to explain this.
This land might have some kind of unseen problem with the environment that repelled powerful living creatures. This land might also be isolated by geography somehow, limiting the number of species that resided here.
Now, though, it was apparent to both of them that the true reason this paradise lacked Wild Beasts was because it was the domain of a very, very powerful creature, one that was highly territorial, and one that was now coming home.
.....
"ROAR!!!"
As the beast’s head broke through the surface of the waters, it released a roar so loud that it shook the air itself.
Even from over 5 kilometres away, the soundwave alone from this creature was enough to cause Lucas and Christina to stumble back.
"That’s..." Christina shivered as a look of panic appeared on her face. Given her position as a royal princess, she had naturally encountered a few beings, both human and beast, that exceeded the limits of the Rockwell Kingdom, so Christina had a fairly good idea how strong a creature with this intensity of aura was.
"Seventh Order! At least Mid-Rank!" Lucas confirmed the princess’ fears immediately after.
Although she was in the Third Step Sea Establishment Realm, while Lucas was just in the Second Step, his Soul was actually quite a bit stronger and more refined than hers thanks to his special circumstances, so he was able to more clearly discern the true strength of the approaching monster.
If he took his Master, a Complete High-Rank Adept, as a baseline, then Lucas estimated that the giant beast which had just emerged was somewhere between 4 to 6 times stronger.
Although strength varied enormously from individual to individual, in general, there was a 5-fold increase in strength from one Major Realm to the next, i.e. a Complete Low-Rank Adept was about 5 times stronger than a Complete Low-Rank Initiate.
Beasts had innate advantages over human when it came to raw strength, however, so Lucas wasn’t certain whether this monster was in the Mid or High Seventh Order.
Not that it really mattered.
Compared to such a creature, forget Lucas and Christina, even Spirit Initiates were little better than toddlers.
Before Lucas and Christina could fully recover from their initial shock, they suddenly felt a sharp, oppressive gaze lock onto them, causing them to freeze in place.
The pressure followed immediately, an ominous, overwhelming pressure which forced them down on their hands and knees.
It had noticed them, and it clearly wasn’t happy!
The two of them had been immobilized, unable to even lift their heads, their minds blanking out as they were crushed under the beast’s menacing aura despite it still being several kilometres away.
With the Spatial Tear closing behind them, and the Seventh Order monster locking them down, it seemed as if the end was nigh, but just as Lucas felt his consciousness slipping away, a sharp pain in his chest jolted him awake.
Glancing down, he saw Yuki digging her claws into his skin, drawing blood as she yipped frantically.
Somehow, she was unaffected by the approach beast’s pressure, but instead of just fleeing on her own, Yuki had actually chosen to try to snap Lucas out of his daze.
In the moment of clarity that bit of pain brought him, Lucas instinctually and wildly pushed his Soul Qi. He knew he was no match for this creature, regardless how far away it was, but Lucas wasn’t trying to fight it off, he just needed to block its pressure long enough to escape! frёeωebɳovel.com
As the two Soul Senses clashed, Lucas felt like his head was being crushed in a vice. The pain was intense, and his vision quickly turned red as blood leaked from his eyes, but with death literally pressing down on him, Lucas forced himself to his feet and took one faltering step forward, then another, then another...
His muscles felt like they were tearing, and his head was about to explode, but Lucas didn’t stop, he couldn’t, not when he was so close.
Grabbing hold of Christina, who had already passed out, Lucas dragged her along towards the rapidly closing Spatial Tear. He didn’t know if he could make it to the portal before it closed, or even before his body gave out, and perhaps he would have had a better chance if he left this extra burden he was carrying behind, but such a thought never crossed Lucas’ mind.
This princess may have been a bit annoying, a little arrogant, and far too quick to resort to violence, but Lucas didn’t hate Christina. Over the past few days, they had even become friends, so he sure as hell wasn’t going to leave her here to die.
With that unwavering determination, Lucas let loose a final, guttural roar, channelling all his remaining strength into his legs, stomping so hard his shoes dug into the ground as he dashed across the last few remaining steps, diving into the portal just before it sealed shut.
.....
After Eris made it through the Spatial Tear, although her head was aching again from the sudden displacement, she also couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief. This was especially true when she glanced around and saw a familiar sight.
It seemed that although much of Redwood Town had been swept away in the Spatial Storm, this section on the south-eastern edge hadn’t been affected much. There were still some buildings missing, replaced with tropical palm trees and sand; but overall, the area near the bathhouse remained relatively unscathed.
Eris was about to thank both Lucas and Christina, the former for leading them back, and the latter for carrying her up the cliff, but when she turned around, she was surprised to find that neither of them was present.
Everyone else from Rebecca’s group was with her, but her little brother and big sister were still missing.
Did something happen to them? Eris immediately began to worry.
She had heard Lucas warn them that the Spatial Tears were unstable and moved about randomly. If the portal they had traveled through to get home had suddenly shifted, or worse, disappeared, wouldn’t that mean her precious family was now stranded on the other side?
Feeling alarmed, Eris was about to rush back the way she came, hoping to somehow find the Spatial Tear and rescue her little brother and big sister, but before she could make her move, a great shout rang out as Lucas and Christina came hurtling from the Spatial Tear, seemingly appearing out of thin air.
Landing hard in the dirt, the pair tumbled several times before finally coming to a halt.
Gasping and groaning at the same time, Lucas tried to roll himself off of Christina, but his arms quickly gave out and he flopped back down onto her chest.
Lying on top of a budding beauty would normally be an enjoyable situation for a young boy, but unfortunately, all Lucas felt right now was intense, throbbing, tearing, pain, both in his body and his Soul.
As for Christina, if a boy had molested her like this at any other time, she would have smashed his manhood in then butchered him for meat, just like her mothers had taught her to. Luckily for Lucas, the princess was in so much agony right now that she had lost consciousness, and even being thrown to the ground and tossed around hadn’t been enough to wake her.
"Lucas! Tina!" Eris cried out and raced over.
They had only been separated for a few seconds, but something had clearly gone terribly wrong on the other side of the Spatial Tear. In fact, if not for the pained grumblings coming from both Tina and Lucas, she would have worried if they were even still alive.
Arriving at their sides, Eris helped her little brother roll over and lay him on his back, but when she did, she nearly screamed in fright when she saw blood leaking from his nose, eyes, ears, and mouth.
At first glance, Tina seemed to be in better shape, only bleeding from her nose and mouth, but she was also passed out while Lucas was clearly awake, so it was hard to tell just who was more seriously injured between the two.
"How could this have happened to them, they were right behind us..." Rebecca, who had also raced over, was equally shocked when she saw the terrible condition her boss and the new girl from the capital were in.
Having no idea herself, Eris just shook her head as she grabbed her Space Bag and began fumbling around in it, looking for her emergency medical supplies.
"Wait..." Lucas cried out hoarsely, weakly grabbing his big sister’s hand.
"*Cough cough* There’s no time... *cough*... we need to run..." Lucas wheezed hard, struggling to get his words out.
"What? Why!? You’re hurt!" Eris asked frantically, but before her little brother could answer, a distant roar reached the young girl’s ears.
