As Nadia’s bellow echoed across the area, the Alstreim Family people all flew away with their backs open to any kind of attack as they fully concentrated on escaping the furthest while carrying many people as they could. After a few brave seventh-stage cultivators stopped to see if all had escaped, and once they confirmed that everyone, including the new brat, managed to safely escape, they no longer bothered to stay and followed the retreating people.
Although their hearts were congested with a lot of thoughts, including fear, they didn’t dare do anything against that mysterious magical beast as they knew that they would be massacred in an instant. Strangely enough, they could see that the Eighth Stage Experts who were guarding outside came to their side to guard them, but why were their count so little?
Only three of them came to their protection while having ugly expressions on their faces. It could be seen that the other eighth-stage experts were nowhere to be found, including the Ancestor, making all of their expressions change as their hearts fell.
How can it be? Weren’t they more or less all guarding the entrance and spread out in this region?
Could it be that they were all killed?
"Where are grandpa, father, and mother? Where are the others?" Niera Alstreim asked with anxiety pervading her face.
Her body trembled as she asked, and three eighth-stage experts who heard it quickly answered her to soothe her raging emotions.
"Don’t worry, they are all safe. It seems like we were only taken by surprise..."
"What do you mean?" Niera prompted.
The three eighth-stage experts explained that the scouts in the forest had seen the mysterious magical beast, which then instantly caused all of them to be wary.
Ancestor Elizar Alstreim, who was guarding the entrance, went to confront the mysterious magical beast while the other eighth-stage experts, including Nero Alstreim And Keira Alstreim, went to guard the perimeter of this area which was tens of kilometers away.
Only the three of them were left to guard near the cave entrance, but they didn’t think that the mysterious magical beast would attack them from inside the cave.
Fortunately, it seemed like all of the people managed to get away, instantly making them think back to the case where it didn’t seem to strangely target cultivators below the seventh stage. They had heard that it did once, but it was all to kill the cultivators who were apparently looting the spatial rings. Nevertheless, it seems like it didn’t kill those who showed no offensive intent against it.
"I see... so nothing happened to them..." Niera Alstreim heaved a sigh when she suddenly heard a lot of noises that felt like things were being thrown out!
They all looked towards the cave as their eyes went wide!
All of the things that had been inside the cave, the tents, makeshift buildings, and every other structure inside, including their assets, had all been thrown out by a flash of dark energy. The others who recognized that their belongings had all been ejected turned flabbergasted that they couldn’t help but suddenly slow down, wondering if that mysterious magical beast was trapping them.
"I have some important belongings left there... Can I go get them?" Someone asked with a bit of doubtful tone.
"Idiot!"
"Don’t fall for its trap!"
"You stupid prick! Everyone has their valuables left there! Don’t get us all killed for a silly reason!"
"Let us wait for the Ancestor!"
Hurls of insults fell on that person before an eighth-stage expert uttered a valid point that let all of them calm down a bit.
A few seconds later, fiery undulations bellowed towards them as a silhouette could be seen rushing towards them.
"Ancestor!!!~~~"
Everyone raised a cheer in excitement while they saw that other eighth stage experts were on-route towards them as well, looking safe and sound. Some couldn’t help but shed tears, knowing that they had escaped a disaster. Now that the Ancestor was here, their hearts that were still rapidly pounding couldn’t help but calm down by themselves.
In a few seconds, before all the other eighth-stage experts could arrive, Ezekiel Alstreim arrived here in an instant, his face looking grave.
He saw the mess in front of the cave entrance before looking at the cave sealed by intense dark, murky energy that looked like it would squeeze him into the empty void, making him think that his sight would fail him if he were to enter inside.
’What powerful magical beast aura!!! A Peak-Level King Beast Stage Magical Beast...? Strange... Why do its aura and energy feel so incredibly powerful...?’
Ezekiel Alstreim’s expression turned even more grave as his eyes went wide!
’Could it be a King-Tier Magical Beast!?’
He instantly managed to sense its true strength, making him aware that he should not carelessly attack it. A Peak-Level King Beast Stage Magical Beast with a King-Tier Bloodline could definitely handle a Law Rune Stage Powerhouse without much of a problem. At least, that was what he had heard when he was out of this sealed space in the past.
He had never seen a Peak-Level King Beast Stage King-Tier Magical Beast before, so he couldn’t be sure.
However, he didn’t know if it was a King Rank Species or Emperor Rank Magical Beast Species. If it were the latter, he definitely didn’t want to offend it, but if it were the latter and was in the process of growing, then he felt that it should be better for him to nip it in its bud!
’However, that’s a do-or-die situation, not to mention that it seems to be able to willfully become concealed at any moment with its dark energy, making it even possible for it to escape my senses... If it escapes, I’m doomed. I will cause all of us to be doomed.’
At that instant, numerous thoughts ran on his mind, and the likely answer that he arrived was to not offend it. However, their safe base, they lost their home. Even he didn’t feel good about it after living there for so many years.
"What’s the situation?" He asked after the other eighth-stage experts had arrived behind him, their faces grave and reluctant as just as him.
"Ancestor, this powerful dark-attributed magical beast suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the underground cave. It looked like a winged wolf, but we couldn’t be too sure as we could only see it vaguely. However, it only chased us away and didn’t seem to harm us." A seventh stage cultivator who was training in the underground cave when Nadia attacked spoke.
"It didn’t harm us, you say?" Nero Alstreim narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"Yes, it only made us exit the cave and didn’t pursue any further. It stated that it was that this cave was its territory and bellowed at us to scram."
"This is its territory?" Ezekiel Alstreim became taken aback, thinking that there were no signs of living when he came here. Not even a single trail of poop or skeletal remains of any magical beasts could be seen.
’Could it be that all of those were buried under the lava...?’ He scoffed, becoming doubtful and even more suspicious because a dark-attributed magical beast definitely wouldn’t claim this place wreathing with fire-attribute as its territory.
Why would it harm itself? Unless it was going through some ordeals like generating a unique resource from its body, he couldn’t think of anything appropriate.
Nevertheless, what could he do? He felt a bit helpless in this case. He felt that he could definitely attack it and perhaps defeat it before managing to kill it. However, if it escaped, which he felt that it definitely could, his people’s lives couldn’t be assured anymore. It was all the more dangerous to offend it because it seems that it can easily enter the cave in a concealed manner without him even noticing.
However, the underground lava location was a natural training zone that could support fire-attributed cultivators’ law comprehension till the eighth stage! It still had a minute relevance in the ninth stage, and consequently, he couldn’t help but feel extremely reluctant to just let it go to the magical beast!
"Grandpa, what should we do?" Nero Alstreim spoke through soul transmission.
Ezekiel Alstreim closed his eyes before he opened, his grave expression returning to one of calmness.
"First, take our people to safety to somewhere safe, but I guess anywhere is safe, but here..."
Nero Alstreim couldn’t help but wryly smile, "Is grandpa going to attack it? Those people on the other side of the forest call it the ruler of this sealed space. Perhaps, we should simply let it be and concentrate on protecting our people?"
"I think so too..." Ezekiel Alstreim nodded, "But, I’m not going to just let it take our home without an explanation. Since it didn’t harm anyone, conflict isn’t probably its wish. So after you take our people to safety, I’ll try to establish a conversation with it."
"I understand..." Nero Alstreim didn’t ask anymore and started to direct the people to leave.
In fact, they had already located a few places to extend their settlements so they could live and expand if the way out was bleak, but they didn’t expand since the threat of the mysterious magical beast was still on their minds.
Now that their home was taken away, the locations that they had reserved in their minds before came a viable option for them to settle down.
Davis looked at them, wondering what kind of decision they took.
When he came out of the cultivation dwelling, he was about to visit the underground cave, wanting to awaken the strands of lightning that were slumbering, but with so many people now gaining the motivation to cultivate and everything after the massacre he conducted, it seemed that the underground cave was fully packed with people training, not allowing him to tamper with the lightning.
If he did, his undulations and his special power would be discovered, and people would come to check, which he must definitely avoid.
So, the only possible answer he arrived at was to use the ’ruler of the sealed space’ to send all of them away.
’Mhm... Perhaps, I am even more of a tyrant... A peace-loving tyrant...’ Davis couldn’t help but inwardly lampoon as he was taken away along with the others.
He looked back and saw that Ezekiel Alstreim stayed, looking at the cave as if he would block the magical beast with his life until they were all led to safety. However, Davis knew that it wasn’t anything like that as a war wouldn’t break out. He didn’t thoughtlessly do this but knew that Nadia definitely wouldn’t lose!
First, she had reached the Peak-Level King Beast Stage after eating up all those human corpses. Lastly, she didn’t even need the Scorched-Crystal Crimson Apes Carcasses she had in her spatial ring to become a Peak-Level King Beast Stage Magical Beast but had instead used it to reach the very peak of what she could reach in the eighth stage!
Right now, she was in the strongest state, the most powerful she could ever become that Davis felt that she had little chances of losing against a Low-Level Law Rune Stage Powerhouse! Perhaps, she might even win if they were to have a battle to the death!