Life Hunter

At the same moment, the leader of the group of dragons which went to meet Arima landed beside Oulan and informed him about something through telepathy.

The old dragon"s eyes widened and he nodded slowly "I had no idea they could do that"

Jorga frowned as he looked at both Layla and Oulan "The Téra are gathering. They"re even getting stronger as they do so" The former spoke up to explain the situation "They are not as strong as the ones that were in h.e.l.l but they seem to be feeding on Fafnir"s aura" She added.

"Do we need to stop them now?" Karma asked.

"Yes" It was Oulan who answered her question "They are gathering around the biggest nest on this continent. It seems that they are preparing to attack it"

"It"s strange" Karma tilted her head "I thought that they were not supposed to be intelligent enough to prepare a coordinated a.s.sault… Arima said it was a special case in h.e.l.l since the stronger ones had appeared and controlled the others"

"Then does it mean that one of those superior Téra was born on this planet because of Fafnir"s energy? So quickly?" Jorga was surprised. He had in fact studied those Téra a little bit and at least on his planet, they were far from being intelligent. Their strength was not that big too.

"They get stronger over time, as Pandora designed them, but they can also feed on wild auras and energies to gain power" Layla said "And basically, the stronger they get, the smarter they become. It seems that the Téra are the kind of monsters which act mindlessly but are extremely cooperative with their peers…" She concluded.

"But it should be fine" Karma declared and everyone looked at her "I was with Arima when he was fighting the stronger ones in h.e.l.l. If the ones here were as strong as them then we would have a huge problem, particularly if there is more than one, since even Arima at full power was struggling against them"

"But Fantasia is far from having a similar quant.i.ty of aura and energy as h.e.l.l had on its surface. At best, the strongest we will find will be around the first or second divine. Maybe third divine, if they"re able to share the energy and concentrate it into a single Téras" She a.s.sumed and Layla nodded.

"I agree with that" She followed and looked at Oulan "Tell the dragons to retreat, I will go there myself"

Oulan nodded and signaled the n.o.ble dragon who had just come to warn him "Kuan, go tell them to retreat and avoid the fight"

Kuan nodded and flew away as he transmitted the message to everyone through telepathy. Layla sighed and her silver wings grew on her back. She flapped her wings and instantly disappeared. Oulan looked at her as she disappeared and then followed her. Although he was old, his power level was still at the second divine and he wanted to fight too.

Jorga blinked as he looked at them "What am I supposed to do now? Did I come here to just name something, and complain about my life?"

Karma laughed "Maybe"

"…Why are you still here?"

"Mm? Me? Why would I go? I"m a weapon in the first place and only Arima and Night can use me" Karma said "And I don"t really like to fight"

"You"re at the first divine though…" Jorga retorted.

"That"s just a detail" Karma smiled "Also, I don"t need to help" She added and Jorga frowned. Karma chuckled at his reaction "She"s strong, you know? She was not able to show her strength in h.e.l.l but Layla is definitely powerful. To the point that she may be approaching Arima"s level of existence"

"She"s far from being as strong or sage as Arima, of course, but right now she"s definitely one of the most "complex" individuals in this plane and which can reach great heights"

Jorga was a bit amazed. Layla was a lot stronger than he thought. He was lost in his thoughts until he felt Karma climbing on his body "…Hey"

"What? Let"s go there to watch"

"Why would I be your mount? Why don"t you use that big creature over there?"

"I don"t want to wake up Deva without Arima around…she"s kinda scary" Karma answered and Jorga grunted. He clicked his tongue and just ascended in the sky before flying toward the place Oulan went to.

******************************************

Layla arrived before anyone and saw the entire horde of dragons flying away from the tall rocky mountain that stood proudly in the middle of the continent. She scanned every life-sign with a single glance and focused on the huge ma.s.s at the feet of the mountain.

Her eyes blinked several times and her pupils went from one side to another. Then she closed her eyes and called her rapier in her hand "Six thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight targets…" She muttered and the blade of her sword glowed.

She slowly opened her eyes and her wings left a white trail as she moved fast enough to leave an afterimage. She charged inside the horde of Téra.

It was like in h.e.l.l. They were weaker but their appearance was pretty much the same. They could be nothing and anything at the same time. As Lanya"s rapier flashed, a silver light followed the path she made among the army of monsters.

Oulan arrived at that moment and froze in a stupor. The moment he reached the combat zone, he saw the intricate silver lines floating among the Téra like it was a physical substance of some sort. The whole army was bathing in silver light and each Téras was touching at least one of the lines.

From above, it looked like a really complex puzzle with intertwined strings. Layla reappeared above them and as she moved her rapier naturally, a wave of physical light spread around her like water. Strangely, the Téra could only look at her as their veins were bulging and illuminating through their skin.

"[Dazzling Enigma]" Layla chanted and every monster coughed blood and died instantly. When their bodies fell on the ground, the heads rolled on the ground.

The aerial Téra also fell from the sky, along with a rain of blood, around Layla. The latter was being protected by that silver light as she looked down.

Oulan shivered. The sight of that stunning woman in the middle of a b.l.o.o.d.y rain was a bit too much for his mind. Jorga arrived afterward and exclaimed in slight surprise while Karma smiled.

Layla looked at the corpses around her and smirked. She flapped her wings and landed as she created a crater. The blood and bones bounced from the ground and Lanya swung her rapier at the dragon-like Téras.

Her hand moved like lightning and her blade pierced every pressure point before the Téras could retaliate. He could only growl and spat out a huge flame. But it was quickly extinguished by the "liquid light" which followed Layla.

She went through the flames as if it was a breeze and planted her rapier in the dragon"s head before pressing the trigger. The pellets left the barrel and blasted open the head of the Téras.

Layla jumped back just after and lightly landed on the ground this time. Without even disturbing the air. She tapped her clothes a little to dust them and smiled when she finished.

The old dragon felt awkward as she smiled bitterly. Jorga"s azure eyes widened as she stared at Layla in the middle of that b.l.o.o.d.y ground "It was a great show of finesse" He praised and Karma laughed.

"Yes. It"s the opposite of Arima. If he was the one doing it, it would"ve ended sooner but he also would have used more mana. And instead of destroying the head of that mutant Téras, the entire body would have vanished"

"Even though he can be quite calm and slow sometimes too, most the time he"s just kind of a brute" Karma nodded several times to affirm her sayings and Jorga closed his mouth as a shadow was cast beside him.

"I"m sorry for being a brute"

Karma stopped laughing and looked behind her with robotic movements. When she saw Arima looking down at her, she laughed awkwardly and yelped as Arima hit her head with magic.

"{Why are you angry? She just said the truth}" Night casually intruded and Arima made a deadpan face. He expressionlessly shifted his look toward Layla and his eyes flashed with a strange light as if he suddenly thought of something "I"ll check that later…"

"Hey, you"re back" Layla said as Arima was mumbling to himself "Did you get a core?" She asked when she arrived beside him. Oulan also approached slowly.

"I got one" Arima nodded.

"Then we have to wait now?" Jorga uttered and Arima scowled at him.

"Why would we do that? I don"t have the time to patiently wait for an ancient dragon of greed to wake up" He retorted.

"What?" Jorga was shocked and so was Oulan.

"What are you so fl.u.s.tered about?" Arima followed "In the first place, we didn"t attack him directly because it would wake him up and we needed to resolve the problem of the lack of a core. But now that we have a solution, there"s no problem"

Jorga was speechless but he also knew that Arima was right "Fine. I won"t be of any use in the fight anyway" When he said that, Layla"s eyes shook for less than a second but instantly returned to normal afterward.

Arima also looked at him strangely but then smiled "Of course, you can take some distance. I"ll bring you back to your forest too if you want"

"It"s fine, I want to stay here and watch. In case you need me, just call"

Arima shrugged and pointed somewhere "You can get on Deva"s back. She will get you out of here if it"s ever needed"

Jorga nodded and then flew away as Karma returned to Arima"s side "So, how do we do this?" Layla then inquired and Arima glanced at Oulan.

"Call all the dragons. Tell them to get as far as possible from this exact location. Right now" Arima instructed and Oulan immediately complied.

"It"s really simple" Arima then spoke toward Layla as he took out Superore. The gun had now become even bigger to fit this dragon"s stature. In the eyes of a normal human, it would be bigger than a tank already.

But it didn"t mean the power had risen compared to his usual size. Only the range was maybe bigger. The two cannons of the gun lighted up with the blue and black plasma.

"I"ll just give him a good reason to wake up then I"ll distract him somehow until I can replace the core. Then we"ll need to find a way to lead him somewhere else. Out of this planet would be good" Arima explained and smirked. His eyes glowed and the barrels were full of energy. Electricity was escaping into the air and surrounding him.

Arima stared at the ground for a few seconds and then finally pressed the trigger of his weapon.