Armipotent

The Myth Rank could feel the terrifying force that kept pushing his barrier. His skin started to turn red from the heat of the dragon's fire. He tried to hold, but there was nothing he could do as the fire pushed him down to the ground. He was thrown to the ground, but thankfully the barrier was still intact.

The Myth Rank realized his predicament, and it was not the time to save his Bloodline Transformation for later. He thought of using the Bloodline Transformation later after they came out of the Epic Rank Garden. Since his goal was to capture Lulu Avilius Mistovel, he had to fight the other adventures outside the garden. There was a chance that experts from the Mistovel Family were outside, so he tried to preserve his strength for the latter. He did not expect that Mistovel would summon the dragon inside the garden, and he did not know how the opposite party summoned the dragon in this pocket dimension.

As the Myth Rank was about to use Bloodline Transformation, he sensed the danger. He then realized that he was inside the giant shadow's maw that had eaten his feet earlier. He was midway through Bloodline Transformation, but he realized that he might not have the time to finish the transformation before the shadow ate him alive. The Myth Rank canceled his skill and reinforced his barrier with his mana.

Whoop!

The maw closed, and the Myth Rank saw with his own eyes that millions of teeth crushed his barrier. As the barrier crumbled, his body was crushed between the teeth. The Myth Rank's eyes opened wide as he died in the most undeliverable way. He still had his consciousness as the pressure on his body was released, and the maw opened once more. The thought of begging for his life crossed his mind, and as his lip moved, the maw closed once more.

The second bite took the Myth Rank's life as the giant shadow munched the body. The sound of the shadow swallowing the body was heard by everyone, and it gave them a chill on their back, especially Damian and Roman. As for Lulu, she was busy admiring the majestic figure in the sky, barely paying attention to the Myth Rank.

"What was that!?" Damian was terrified. He turned toward Lulu, but he realized it was not Lulu's spell. He had the same guess as the Myth Rank, thinking the shadow was Lulu's spell. But he quickly found out that it was not Lulu's spell but something else. However, he did not know what kind of shadow it was.

"That's Sir Ying's familiar," Roman muttered in a low voice as his eyes locked on the small figure where the shadow had disappeared. He saw Greed licking his paw as the little cat had just finished his meal. However, it was not just any normal meal, but a Myth Rank player. He could not imagine that an Epic Rank familiar would kill the Myth Rank. The shock of witnessing the unthinkable lasted on Roman for a while; standing there, frozen, looking at the cat with a terrified gaze.

Damian had the same reaction upon finding the cat, who nonchalantly licked his paw. As if swallowing a Myth Rank alive was nothing. Then he realized that he had been showing his hostility toward that little cat's master. What if.... What if he fought Ying? Would he suffer the same fate as the Myth Rank from the Virandal Empire? Most likely yes. If a Myth Rank stood no chance against the little cat, let alone him, measly Epic Rank.

Suddenly Damian's back was wet with cold sweat. Death flashed before his eyes, and thankfully he managed to avoid that. Then he looked to the sky, added with the majestic Golden Dragon, which was also a Myth Rank. Damian realized that he was not more than an ant in front of Ying.

Greed, who sensed his master, stopped licking his paw. His figure blurred into shadow and disappeared. The giant figure in the sky also shrunk back to the size of a small lizard. Everyone followed where the Golden Dragon landed, and only then they noticed Ying's arrival. The man waved his hand at them with a smile.

"It seems I am not needed here." Tang Shaoyang came out of his hiding place with Wrath and Greed on his shoulders.

"Where's the enemy?" At this moment, Eril arrived, out of breath.

*** ***

The Ancient Rank of the Virandal Empire breathed raggedly, distancing himself from the nearest skeletons. These skeletons' aura was far weaker than the man who left half an hour earlier and the demon that watched them from a distance. However, these skeletons could not be trifled with, especially with their teamwork.

Each time almost caught one of the skeletons, another would come at him to save the skeleton in danger. The most worrying thing was the black beam that would come at them at any time and from different directions every time. They could not predict when it would come, making them split their attention for the black beam.

He thought of looking for the person that kept shooting the black beam, but the skeletons did not let any of them do so. They were surrounded by skeletons without any chance to escape. The moment they turned their backs, the skeleton mage cast the powerful spell on them most. The mage saved the offensive spell when they tried to retreat or escape, and while in the fight, the mage tried to minimize their movement or even stop their movement with a control spell. The mage might not be as deadly as the shooter but the most annoying one.

Thinking of the annoying one, the skeleton with a shield on both of its hands, was also annoying. It never attacked them, but the skeleton always neutralized their attack. One of many reasons the fight was a stalemate for half an hour.

The Ancient Rank realized that they could not win against this group of skeletons. Not only could they not win, but they started to lose their ground as the skeletons started to attack them even more aggressively. As he thought of how to escape from the current predicament, he lowered his guard slightly, and a black beam shot toward him. He sensed it when it got too close to him, and he could not dodge it in time.

The black beam hit his shoulder, breaking through his armor, and a big chunk of his shoulder went missing along with the beam. The Ancient Rank grunted in pain as he fell on his knee. He glanced at his shoulder and his dangling left arm. Holding the pain, he took the regeneration potion in his inventory and drank the potion immediately.

A shadow loomed over him as he drank the potion, and he subconsciously looked up. The skeleton with the dagger was right above him. It was the most agile skeleton among those skeletons, and its movement was unpredictable, giving him and his friend a hard to break through the skeleton formation.

The Grandmaster Killer Skeleton planted his bone dagger right at the Ancient Rank's neck and back. The green potion and the red blood flowed out from the man's neck and mouth altogether. The emotionless skeleton held the man's head as it placed its left foot on the man's shoulder. The skeleton pulled the man's head and blood spurted out from the neck. The white skeleton was bathed in red blood, and with its glowing red orbs in its eyes, it terrified the Ancient Rank's friends.

Eril, Damian, Roman, and Lulu listened to Ying about the Virandal Empire's plan to abduct Lulu. They did not suspect Ying of lying because there was nothing to gain for the man to lie. In fact, what Ying said made sense, considering that the Virandal Empire suddenly went back on their words and proposed a new contest.

"What if we did not agree with their proposal?" Damian muttered by himself, but everyone with him listened to his mutter.

"They will use force and capture Lulu outside the garden," Eril answered him. A battle would take place outside the garden, and if that were the case, the Virandal Empire must be prepared. "This is bad. They might have more people than us if they planned this. They know that this problem must not reach the alliance's ear, or the Virandal Empire will become the public enemy in the Starter City #5."

"Thank god you brought Sir Ying with us, Eril. Or else we will die here." Roman blurted out his honest thoughts, and he subconsciously addressed Ying respectfully, just like Eril did.

Seeing what Ying's familiars were capable of, put Roman at ease. A Myth Rank was easily killed by the combination of two familiars, and Ying had not jumped into the fight yet. The fight might not be easy, but they could win with Sir Ying with them.

"Then we need to wait until Greed finishes his advancement first." Ying pointed at the sleeping Greed on his left shoulder. "He is in the middle of advancement after eating the Myth Rank guy."

Everyone turned toward the black cat and finally noticed that it was not a normal nap. They thought the cat was just sleepy after fighting the Myth Rank but did not expect the little guy to be in the middle of advancement.

"Does he rank up to Ancient Rank?" Roman was the first one to approach the little guy, looking closely at the sleeping cat. "Is he on trial right now?"

For people to advance to the next rank, they must face a trial. However, he did not know much about how the beast advanced. He was curious and asked Ying.

"I don't know if they face a trial in their sleep or not. He just slept for hours for his advancement to the Epic Rank."