"Hieeek!"
Natalie and Grace simultaneously screamed out in fear when they realized the ident.i.ty of the crimson eyes floating amidst the darkness. Even Dan who thought that nothing could scare him within this world when he became a cultivator s.h.i.+vered in shock and fear.
Rats!
Hundreds no- several thousands of Rats whose body at least a foot tall appeared right before the eyes of the three. Unsheathing their weapons. The normally graceful Natalie and Grace flailed their arms in the air in panic. Dan clicked his tongue and gnashed his teeth. Suppressing his disgust, he pounced forward and pushed the Rats away before sending a Lightning Bolt at the direction of the ceiling.
An ear-splitting rumbling sound reverberated followed by the sound of cras.h.i.+ng rocks as dust flew towards the air, reducing further visibility which hampered their senses. Miserable shrieks after miserable shrieks rang out along with the sound of flesh being crushed into meat pastes.
Standing at the edge of the entrance. Natalie and Grace huffed and puffed as they complained.
"What the h.e.l.l is wrong with this place! Didn"t the attendant say that we could imagine the ideal world that we want and it"ll come true? Why are there giant Rats lurking around in caves?!"
Grace didn"t respond to Natalie"s rant. Instead, she glanced at Dan and said in a soft voice.
"Dan, since you"re the one that went first inside the Array. This world should be your fabrications. Just what kind of a world did you make that it"s this bizzare..." She wondered and Dan merely smiled.
"To tell you the truth, I have never imagined any world or even anything. I just closed my eyes, waiting for the disappearance of that nauseating sensation of Spatial Transfer..." At the end of his sentence, Dan suddenly widened his eyes in shock and exclaimed.
"That"s it! Now that I think about it, that sensation earlier... that must"ve been the feeling of Spatial Transfer! If that"s really true then the world we are in shouldn"t be inside an Array but somewhere within the continent!"
Dan"s conjecture astonished the two women who fell into deep contemplation.
"Your idea is feasible but too farfetched, something that could constantly transfer people in such long distances, that"s something that only Divine Emperor"s could possibly do!"
Natalie nodded her head in support to Grace"s answer. After the three of them arrived at the Divine Soul Realm. They had realized that the world had something deeper than they had expected. Spiritual Energy, Heavenly Laws, Heavenly Tribulation and all sorts of strange and unique occurrences all follow strict rules under the heavens.
That included the manipulation of s.p.a.ce. Despite having basic control of the Heavenly Laws. Manipulating s.p.a.ce requires an enormous amount of energy expenditure that it"s completely impossible for someone below the Divine Emperor Realm to constantly transfer other people in such large distances.
"Grace, you"re thinking inside the box, how about think outside of the box for a moment. Haven"t you realized the grandeur and complexity of the array that we entered earlier? Though I can"t understand it, I"m sure that it could do something that only Divine Emperors could do..."
Dan lightly smiled and Grace merely shook her head towards Dan"s answer and didn"t argue anymore. Natalie who observed all this while bitterly smiled and said, "How about we stop the argument for a moment and think of a way that we can do to exit this Array?"
Her words awakened the two from their state of trance as they said, "That"s right, we went too deep into thinking. Let"s just keep each other safe for and find the exit first before we start thinking about the Array..."
Dan nodded in understanding and the three stared back at the depths of the cave where countless rocks formed into a mountain that crushed the thousands of Rats earlier. Thinking about the Rats and their size, Dan had a subtle idea in his mind about what kind of a world they were in but soon shook his head in denial. Unless definitive proof was present, he preferred not jumping into conclusions.
Just as they were thinking about their next course of actions, dozens of subtle movements became visible up ahead of them and the sound of the earth, faintly trembling rang out as the expressions of the three, changed.
"The depths of the cave is blocked, and ahead of us are several thousands of wolves approaching. I refuse to believe that this forest is endless. Come, let"s go and baptize ourselves with blood, we"re gonna slaughter our way outside!"
Dan decisively declared, Grace and Natalie nodded their heads without hesitation and unsheathed their weapons. Cutting off the sleeves and hems of their robes to increase movement fluidity and flexibility. The two women rotated their cultivation bases as Dan opened up the battle with a concentrated beam of Lightning which illuminated the world.
RUUUUUUMMMMMMBBBBBBLLLLLLLEEE!
A deafening boom of m.u.f.fled thunder shook the heavens and earth as it pierced through all obstacles and incinerated the approaching wolves, wind formed a tempest and countless trees were uprooted. Under the attacks of a Divine Soul cultivator like Dan who could manipulate Heavenly Laws, uprooting trees and upturning the earth was a simple feat.
Miserable howls reverberated out which quickly turned into whistles and whines of pain as Natalie and Grace recommenced their slaughter. This time, the two women didn"t hold back and unleashed everything that they had. One left a trails of Lightning Bolts behind her while the other left Ice statues of wolves that shattered upon impact.
"Awwwooo!"
A fierce and mournful howl echoed at the distance and Dan"s expression visibly changed when he saw the appearance of a monstrous wolf that looked to be at five to six meters in height. On the wolf"s forehead was the image of a crown below a floating moon. Standing there amidst the darkness, the monstrous wolf"s body sparkled with a soft-silvery light.
But that wasn"t the reason why Dan felt so shaken. It was because due to the fact that the energy fluctuations coming out of the wolf was something incomparable to those of the Divine Soul Realm. Clearly, the monstrous wolf possessed a cultivation beyond that of the Divine Soul Realm!
"s.h.i.+t! It"s a Divine Ascendance Realm Beast! The two of you, hurry up and retreat!" Dan fiercely ordered, but before Natalie and Grace could realize the severity of the situation. A trail of silver light flashed before their eyes as they miserably shrieked. Their figures flying backward and struck towering trees before stopping.
"Natalie! Grace!" Dan turned around and rushed towards their figures and found the mutilated bodies of the two. All of Natalie"s ribs had broken while both of Grace"s arms had turned into a weird angle. Blood decorated their robes, as the two kept spouting mouthfuls of blood one after another.
Opening his Virtual Inventory. Dan took the highest quality of Recovery Pills that he had and fed them to the two. Within an instant, the greenish light of nature enveloped their bodies and one could visibly see their injuries healing along with constant crunchy sounds as their bones recovered from fractures.
"Ugh... What happened... I only saw a flash of silver light and before I realized it, I was flying in the air..."
"Me too... Before I knew it, I felt intense pain and struck this tree..."
Natalie and Grace moaned out in pain and confusion. Gnas.h.i.+ng his teeth, Dan turned behind and saw the image of the monstrous wolf standing there idle with its army, staring at them with disdain in its eyes.
"That stupidly huge wolf is comparable to a Divine Ascendance Realm Elder... That"s the reason why I called out, earlier..." Dan said and the two followed his line of sight. When their gazes landed on the wolf, the two of them exclaimed in shock and hopelessnes.
"Yeah... That energy fluctuation... Only a Divine Ascendance Realm Expert could possibly possess such an overbearing and dominant pressure which trembles even my soul..."
"This is hopeless, this is definitely hopeless... Maybe there"s a way for us to get out of here like, suicide?"
Grace and Natalie lost their minds from the fear of death. Frowning, Dan turned towards the two and stared at them with a pensive gaze. Both of his wives possessed strong minds and att.i.tude, their nature made it so that they wouldn"t easily give up but why were they acting so cowardly right now? Such a matter felt too strange for Dan who blurted out.
"What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you two? The Natalie and Grace that I have known are strong, independent women that wouldn"t falter in the face of enemies or adversities like this? Have the two of you went nuts? Wake up, you two!"
Dan fiercely scolded without holding back, awakening the two from their trance who mumbled in scared voices as their expressions went completely pale without any color.
"Please no... Sir, please don"t hurt me, we never meant to do anything like that, please... forgive meeee!"
"No, please... you can hurt me, but please don"t hurt my daughter, Juliet..."
Grace and Natalie huddled together whilst trembling. Natalie tightly held Grace into an embrace and incoherently muttered amidst her bated breath. Dan stood in front of them with a dark expression on his face. Staring at the bluish system notification in front of him, his eyes flashed in cruel light.
[System Evaluation: The targets are under the influences of Fear and Hallucination Effects. Duration: Indefinite.]
"Indefinite Hallucination and Fear Effects, within this place, that stupidly huge wolf should be the one that did this to them..." Dan slowly turned around with his dagger clenched on his left hand. Furiously tapping on the air, numerous equipment manifested around his body such as Grenades, a handgun and a knife whose blade looked twisted and unique.
Taking a Grenade from his waist, Dan dashed forwards, leaving a trail of Lightning and the sound of m.u.f.fled thunder as he appeared amidst the wolves and hurled the Grenade at the center. Circling around, his body transformed into a mirage, leaving countless afterimages in his wake.
BOOOOOOMMM!
A defeaning boom resonated throughout the entire forest as countless chunks of flesh flew in all directions. The smell of concentrated blood and iron filled the air as the monstrous wolf howled in rage. Staring with reddened eyes at Dan"s direction, it waved its paws, causing s.p.a.ce itself to collapse as Dan hurriedly opened a hole in s.p.a.ce and s.h.i.+fted his location towards the opposite direction.
"Uggghhh..."
The attack never struck Dan, but the aftereffects of instantaneous movement disoriented and nauseated him. Nevertheless, turning towards the direction of the attacking wolf, Dan covered his body with Lightning as he rushed at the wolf with his dagger in tow.
Evading its gigantic paw in a hair"s breadth, Dan glided through the air and arrived at the center of the carnage where most of the wolves had gathered. Littered on the ground were their corpses and those severely injured. Arriving amidst the destruction and slaughter. Dan"s body suddenly exploded into a bluish brilliance as he screamed in a decisive manner.
"Blessing of the Lightning G.o.d: Fourth Stance, Lightning Domain!"
His words turned into a dharmic decree which manifested an all-encompa.s.sing Lightning that consumed everything on its path, the severely injured wolves cried out one last time as their bodies turned into nothingness. The entire forest became bathed with the azure light of lightning, everything around Dan had collapsed, the explosion of the Lightning Domain left the entire forest void of life.