Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis, Stella, and Liam appeared in the middle of nowhere.

"Gravis!" Stella shouted with urgency, panic, longing, and fear. She knew that they had not nearly reached safety yet. The Sect Master was sure to send that one Ascender with the level six Law of Space after them!

"No time! Trust me!" Gravis transmitted to both of them at once.

PACK!

Gravis threw his Life Ring to Stella, who caught it immediately.

"Liam, into the ring!" Gravis ordered.

Liam didn't say anything and simply entered the ring at the same time as Gravis.

"I am the owner of the ring, which means I can still spread my Spirit Sense to the outside and communicate with you," Gravis transmitted to Stella from inside the ring.

"You know the Law of Primordial Force, and your Realm is higher than mine. You are faster with teleportation. Immediately teleport to this spot!" Gravis transmitted.

At the same time, Stella received the image of a map. There was a marked spot at exactly the edge of the frontlines where humans and beasts met.

Stella grew nervous. If they went there, they wouldn't be beyond the Spirit Sense of that terrifying Ascender. Even more, the beast territory was just before them. They would get killed by an avalanche of beasts!

However, she trusted Gravis fully, and she immediately started teleporting.

All of this had not even taken a second. Communication with voice transmission was nearly instantaneous, and Cultivators on their levels could think very quickly.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Stella made one teleportation after the other with urgency.

In less than a minute, they saw an army of Cultivators and fortifications made out of Formation Arrays.

There were so many Formation Arrays that it was insane. In fact, the Nine Elements Sect's headquarters couldn't compare to this region.

These were the frontlines, and they ensured that humanity continued to survive. 80% of the humans' resources went to the frontlines, and they were absolutely packed with fortifications and soldiers.

Stella could even already feel the shockwaves of fighting. Beasts and humans were in constant conflict all over the entire frontlines. Humans invaded the beast territory in order to kill as many beasts as possible. If they relaxed for even a couple of years, there would be so many beasts that they could attack the fortifications.

The humans would still be able to defend themselves against such an assault, but they would be using more resources than they would have saved up in 100 years. If this happened a couple of times, the saved up resources of humanity would be ground to dust, severely weakening the fortifications.

That was why the frontlines were under constant battle. It was a literal meatgrinder that worked at 100% of its capacity.

The frontlines stretched over a gigantic territory, but it was nothing compared to the entire beast territory or human territory. Thousands of Cultivators and beasts died every hour on the frontlines, and it was the primary way to temper oneself as a human or beast.

Constant, unstoppable fighting.

When Gravis saw the frontlines, he truly understood how this higher world could have become so powerful.

In the middle world, only the weaker beasts had constantly fought. Everyone else had waited on the defensive lines. The strong beasts only saw fights every couple of years.

But here, absolutely everyone was going crazy.

Any Cultivator that had lived their life in peace, after they came here, would realize that their world was not as safe as they thought.

If any one of these frontlines fell, an apocalyptic army of beasts would swallow the land, killing every human they saw, mortal and Cultivator alike.

These frontlines instilled a sense of urgency in everyone's Spirit.

Their world was constantly on the brink of destruction!

Stella continued teleporting and came to the Formation Arrays.

Her emblem on her chest that showed that she was the Holy Maiden of the Nine Elements Sect shone, and the Formation Arrays let her pass. If anyone with a weaker status had come here, they would have been annihilated by the Formation Arrays. After all, they had to register first.

This was another reason why Gravis had let Stella teleport to the frontline. No one would have the guts to stop the Holy Maiden of a Peak Sect.

Sure enough, some guards on standby looked at the rapidly passing Stella with wonder.

"The Holy Maiden of the Nine Elements Sect," they said with respect and awe.

"Yes, she comes here from time to time," said a Peak Immortal King from beside the guard.

"Even the Holy Maiden tempers herself in the frontlines?" the guard asked.

"Yes, why not? It's a great place for tempering," the Peak Immortal King said.

The Peak Immortal King didn't seem very respectful when he talked about Stella. In fact, he was talking about her like they were on the same level.

Anyone that didn't know the intricacies of the war between humans and beasts would be shocked. That was the Holy Maiden!

However, one had to know one thing.

The leaders of the frontlines didn't belong to the Peak Sects.

In fact, they belonged to the Human Alliance.

The Human Alliance represented the entirety of humanity, and they were led by the five Peak Sects.

However, that didn't mean that someone had to belong to the Peak Sects to make it big here. In fact, many of the most powerful Cultivators in the world belonged to the Human Alliance directly. They spent day and night at the frontlines, continually fighting beasts. They only fought and never involved themselves in the conflicts between humans.

The higher officers all had Will-Auras at least two levels above their level, without exception, and there were thousands of them.

Holy Sons and Holy Maidens?

The Human Alliance had over 20 similarly powerful and talented Cultivators on the frontlines.

These were the soldiers and warriors that protected humanity. Their Battle-Strength was insane, and they didn't care about honor and status. No, they only cared about power.

Why did they care about power?

Because they wanted to protect their home!

The gathered soldiers on the frontlines could flatten all five Peak Sects at once if the Peak Sects didn't have their Ascenders and Ancestors.

This was the true power of humanity.

Stella continued teleporting urgently to the frontline, and she was quickly attacked by several Immortal King beasts.

Fighting was constant.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Stella released three bolts of burning lightning and annihilated the beasts instantly.

This was the level five Law of Punishment Inferno.

SHING!

Suddenly, Gravis appeared beside Stella.

Then, he transformed into his beast form instantaneously and grabbed Stella's body.

Stella saw Gravis' beast form for the first time, and she became afraid for a second. However, when she felt that Gravis was still careful when pulling her with him, she relaxed.

This was still Gravis.

Even if he looked like a Black Demon, he was still Gravis.

"Graphite Movement!" Gravis transmitted to Stella.

Gravis pulled Stella and himself down with the Law of Graphite's Gravity.

SHING!

And both of them passed through the earth.

Luckily, Stella also knew the Law of Graphite's Movement.

WHOOOOOM!

Stella's face whitened as Gravis' eyes narrowed.

'He's here!' Stella thought with terror.

"There you are," Sten transmitted.

He had already arrived.

The three of them hadn't even left for three minutes!

Thanks to the Law of Graphite's Gravity, Stella and Gravis shot into the earth with insane speeds.

"You think that will stop me?" Sten transmitted with a calm smirk.

SHING!

Gravis immediately stopped.

Sten was just in front of him below the ground.

Their speeds were not even in the same world.

The difference was too vast.

"Hand over the Holy Maiden, and I will make your death swift," Sten said calmly.

Stella's body shook.

'No! We've been so close!' she thought.

However, Gravis only smirked.

"You're dead, and you don't even know it," Gravis said with a slight laugh.

"Hm?" Sten was quite surprised. "What give you such- fuck!"

BOOOOOOM!

Gravis threw himself in front of Stella and summoned his repaired shield in front of him.

The shield broke instantly, and Gravis' scales also broke.

However, luckily, that was enough. After all, this attack hadn't been aimed at them.

No, it was aimed at the wave of roots that came towards Sten.

"I was missing the level six Law of Space," Narcissus transmitted to Gravis. "This human is perfect."

"Ah! What is this! Who are you!?" Sten shouted as a tsunami of roots attacked him.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Several of the roots glowed with calm, cyan flames.

Sten was still able to defend himself after roughly five strikes, but his expression became blank after being struck for the tenth time.

The roots hit Sten two more times to make sure that Sten couldn't escape. Finally, some roots calmly enveloped Sten in a cocoon.

The cocoon slowly moved into the distance, and Sten couldn't be felt anymore.

Gravis took a deep breath.

'That's the Ancestral Wood Element, the level six Law equivalent to Deep Wood,' Gravis thought. 'Narcissus is incredibly powerful.'

Stella was frozen in terror and shock.

What was this!?

This being felt incomparably powerful!

In fact, this being felt even more powerful than her teacher!

Yet, how was this possible!?

Her teacher had been a Peak Immortal Emperor!

How could this being be even more powerful!?

Sten, someone with a level six Law that could put up a fight against even an Ancestor, was utterly helpless in front of this being!

This hadn't even been a fight!

And now, they stood in front of this being, alone!

What would happen to them!?

"See?" Gravis said with a chipper tone. "I didn't disappoint you, did I?" he asked.

"No, you didn't," Narcissus answered. "Yet, I also saved your life. Therefore, I will take this as repayment for saving your life."

"No problem," Gravis said with a wide smile.

Stella felt the being's senses stretch to her.

"Is that your lover?" Narcissus asked.

"Hopefully," Gravis answered in embarrassment.

"Hm, she doesn't have any flowers or roots. I don't get your taste," Narcissus said. "Anyway, I would advise you to travel towards the east, along my domain. For obvious reasons, I can't let normal humans enter. It's already a favor from my side that I didn't immediately kill her."

"Sure, thanks, Narcissus!" Gravis said.

Meanwhile, Stella was shocked.

Gravis knew this impossibly powerful being!?

What!?