The five elder birds showed some discomfort but were otherwise fine. The Beast Lords were startled to feel Protector Avin's aura, and hesitated. The chicken squawked, the toad opened its eyes warily, and the ferret growled angrily. Ultimately though, their bestial instincts won, and they pushed forward. Protector Avin felt it was a shame. Currently, he had around one-third of his Magic Energy remaining. While he did have a Low Blue Depth Core, he was not entirely comfortable fighting five unknown creatures with that little amount of energy. The Featherwind Sect might do something too. He had to be fully prepared. After thinking, he decided fighting would be a problem. He slowly retreated from the cave, hoping to lure the Beast Lords with him.
Rainbow World Energy continuously flowed towards him like a whirlpool. The lights illuminated the dark sky. This was his main recovery method, the one responsible for causing the heavenly phenomenon over Firecast last year. He was not using at full strength, since it had some drawbacks, so it was not as flashy as back then. Regardless, there was a humongous flow of World Energy pouring into his Channels. It was far bigger than anything a Gaseous Fog or Condensed Drop Arcanist could do. It was like a gigantic river in the sky! The higher density of World Energy in these mountains had amplified the effect. But that was still a drop in the bucket for his Blue Depth Core. It would take time for his Core to recover.
The Fat Light Chicken squawked, so Protector Avin focused on it. The second he looked into its rainbow eyes, his body froze. He was paralyzed! It interrupted his movement spell, so he faced a minor backlash and started falling from the sky like a stone statue. The chicken was overjoyed, as it flew over. It opened its mouth, and bit down. At the same time, a massive outline of a mouth chomped down on Protector Avin. Even the ambient World Energy was being sucked up, making it hard to breath. Unbelievably, the chicken aimed to eat him whole!
Protector Avin might have been unable to move, but his mind and Core were still functional. Magic Energy flooded into his Channels. A new movement spell activated, bringing him out of the chicken's mouth. His paralysis quickly wore off. Turning in the air, he grabbed the falling snow, transformed it into a large icicle lance, and shot it at the chicken's head. His attack was near-instantaneous, and yet, the chicken opened its mouth once again, and happily sucked the icicle in. The spell broke down into pure energy, which the chicken feasted on. The peculiar ability took Protector Avin by surprise.
As he landed on a treetop, the hairs on his back rose. He instinctively casted multiple barriers. Screech! Huge claw marks scratched at the barrier in front of him, creating sounds like metal on metal. The attack was not quite strong enough to break through, but it came out of thin air. The wind shifted in a mysterious fashion, as another powerful attack struck his rear barrier. Then, before that attack ended, another claw came from his left. Then, his right. Almost a dozen attacks came at every conceivable angle, trying to reach Protector Avin in the center. Finally, the shadow of a wolf appeared underneath the tree branch he was standing on and slashed out with two paws. It struck with three times the force, enough to produce a powerful shockwave on impact. The wind and snow were blasted away.
The wolf yelped in confusion. Despite the excellent attack, Protector Avin's barriers remained as sturdy as a mountain. They did not budge! The difference between a Late Grand 2 Beast Lord, and an Early Rank 3 King was quite profound after all. It could not be bridged by sheer quantity alone. Protector Avin looked at the wolf with a curious expression. The creature seemed to shift between tangible and intangible like a ghost. He could tell it was using magic, but its application was unheard of. After seeing its ambush fail, the Obsidian Wind Wolf prepared to flee.
That was when a large translucent dome descended, trapping Protector Avin, the wolf, and several hundred trees inside. It was a gigantic bubble! The bubble then rapidly contracted and pushed everything it came in contact with. Trees, rocks, wildlife, everything was helplessly being forced into a smaller space. It was a heaven-defying amount of power! The entire landscape was getting redrawn! This was the power of the Bubble Trap Toad, a Grand Rank 2 Beast Lord!
The contraction happened very fast. Protector Avin could already feel the heat and pressure building as the walls closed in. The wolf panicked, because it could no longer escape, but Protector Avin reacted swiftly. He transformed the overturned earth into spikes that stabbed into the bubble walls. It deformed violently. Just as he prepared an icicle lance to finish the job, that fat chicken flew in. Its giant mouth chomped down on the bubble, like it was the most delicious thing in the world. Boom! A loud explosion rolled over the mountain. Protector Avin blocked the shockwave with his barriers, but the sound still hurt his ears. His barriers could not block everything. The chicken was dismayed to find that there was little energy remaining. The wolf used that opportunity to dissolve into smoke.
At that moment, there was a bright flash in the distance, and a thin 'line' cut across the night sky, connecting the chicken, wolf, Protector Avin, and the world together. It was so fast that whatever it was, it arrived in less than a second. Protector Avin barely had enough time to react and raise three barriers. This was his strongest defense! Shing! There was a crisp, shrill noise then it was gone, almost like a dream. Except it was not.
Everything that thin 'line' touched was sliced clean through! It was sharper than any blade could manage. The entire world was divided into two! The chicken cried out, as its feathers dripped with blood. A deep cut stretched across its body. Since it was fat, dodging was hard. The wolf was gone. As for Protector Avin, he exhaled. One of his barriers shattered, and another one cracked. Thankfully, he had three in total, so he was safe. Still… that was an absolutely horrifying attack, possibly on par with a Half-Rank 3 King. It had the potential to kill him! And it came from the Extreme Blade Mantis, a Late Rank 2 Beast Lord!
Protector Avin quickly casted another movement spell and retreated into the sky. That short confrontation lowered his Magic Energy reserves a tiny bit. The capacity of his Blue Depth Core was beyond imagination. It was as vast as a lake! Of course, it was not inexhaustible, nor was he perfect. He had less than a third of his normal Magic Energy. If he used more powerful spells or made a mistake, then his Magic Energy would be gone in a flash. Therefore, he started using his recovery spell again. A large vortex of World Energy funneled towards him. His biggest worry was that ferret. Although it was the strongest beast, it did not show itself yet. He used his True Perception and when he finally found it, his expression turned strange.
That poisonous ferret was far away, curled on a tall tree branch, as it spectated the battle with a cunning gaze. It felt oddly human. From time to time, it would stare at Protector Avin with its deep black eyes and assess him. However, it seemed to be more interested in the other Beast Lords. That was a good thing because Protector Avin had no countermeasures against poison. It could very quickly lead to his death. Furthermore, it made the nearby Bubble Trap Toad and Extreme Blade Mantis alert. They restrained their actions, lessening the pressure on Protector Avin. Only the Fat Light Chicken and Obsidian Wind Wolf attacked freely.
Elder Crus, who was flying overhead, observed things with a frown. If possible, she wanted all the Beast Lords to attack Protector Avin together, but these beasts had minds of their own. They could not be controlled. What a shame. She looked back at the cave entrance, where her fellow birds were. A large barrier was set up, as perception-blocking magic activated. The place shimmered with mystical lights and 'vanished'. This was Elder Terus's specialty, one that fooled even the Sword King in the Yunyun Stronghold. Just in time too, since the five Beast Lord armies arrived.
There were hundreds of chickens, wolves, toads, mantises, and ferrets. The wolves were the most numerous, while the ferrets were few in number. They were called 'armies' because like a real human army, there were 'leaders' who led the weaker beasts. For example, the Obsidian Wind Wolf commanded several Shadow Wind Wolves, who commanded their own Dark Wind Wolves, followed by other normal wolves. They followed a strict hierarchy. Once they got to the cave entrance, they realized they could not catch up to Protector Avin, so they did the next best thing… They started fighting the other armies! Rivalry on these mountains was extremely fierce, so this hostility was a long time coming. A grand battle ensued with the cave entrance at the center!