"So, my opponent is you. Not only is your level lower than ours, but there are two of us. How are you gonna fight?"
Looking at his opponent, John was genuinely curious. After all, cross-level attacks did exist, but not under this kind of situation.
There were two of them and just one of her. It should be a one-sided beatdown, but Elena showed no fear in her eyes.
"Then, let me show you why."
[Shadow Creation Art- Four Divine Beasts Technique]
Her shadow suddenly spread out and erupted into a massive sphere, slowly carving into the shape of four divine beasts.
If Daisy's secret technique was a space-time technique, then Elena's attack technique was a creation technique.
By molding her dark energy, she made four divine beasts capable of fighting an enemy of her level.
"Shut the fuck up, John!"
Megan couldn't help but curse him upon seeing those four beasts. She recognized them from their shapes.
Although they were just shadow creatures, she didn't think they would be simple opponents.
"You handle her, I will handle these!"
She said before running towards the four shadowy beasts. She released a pair of gloves from the spatial ring and wore them while running.
In an instant, she appeared in front of those beasts and punched.
Bang! Crack! Crack! Boom!
An insane level of strength appeared on her fist as she struck the shell of the Black Tortoise.
For a moment, the entire body of the tortoise trembled, but it managed to redirect the damage to the ground.
A web of cracks appeared underneath them, creating a massive crater.
Elena and John immediately dashed away as they saw the destruction caused by her ability.
"Damn! What kind of strength is that? Is she a Body Cultivator?"
Elena couldn't help but curse loudly. Suddenly, remembering something, she slapped herself in the face.
"My technique is a Strength of Nine Bulls. Upon using this technique, I can amplify my strength by nine times."
Megan's voice rang in her ears, and Elena closed her eyes in despair.
Why did she have to open her mouth and ask such a ridiculous question?
"Now, you doubled her strength. That means she has the strength of eighteen bulls."
John chuckled as a fiery wave of flames appeared around his body.
"I understand."
Elena took a deep breath.
"Then, I will take care of you in an instant."
John almost had a chuckle when he heard that. He didn't believe she could do this because of the gap in their strength.
But suddenly, he found two massive shadows rushing towards him. He panicked and tried to run away.
But those two shadows kept chasing him.
[Fireball] [Firebomb] [Great Fire Dragon]
John panicked even more, releasing his mana into powerful fire-based attacks.
The explosion rang, but they were all concentrated on that shadow.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dust rose, and the ground cracked open. Seeing this, John calmed down a little and sighed in relief.
"How can her shadows move so fast? I almost got strangled by those shadows."
Just when he thought he had destroyed them, he found himself unable to move.
Only then did he see the entire ground being covered in dark energy.
"You didn't think you could outspeed my shadows, do you? My technique is above S-Grade. There is a difference between you and me."
"I forgot to mention something. Those shadows were just to make you fluster so that you would attack the ground."
The dust slowly cleared up as Elena walked towards him nonchalantly. There was no artifact or weapon in her hand.
At this moment, she shrugged her shoulders and said.
"Look around you! Oh, let me help you!"
She controlled the shadows strangling John and made his head turn around.
What John saw stunned him.
Nearly a thousand meters around him was covered in a thin layer of dark energy.
At this moment, he understood what she meant by using those shadows as bait. She just wanted to make sure he didn't jump into the sky.
By blinding his vision, she was easily able to capture him.
More importantly, what she said about the difference in grade made sense. The grade also affected one's affinity towards mana.
The higher the affinity, the easier it would be to sense mana. Because his technique was one C-Grade, he didn't even sense her release of so much mana.
Although her Supreme Darkness Technique had an inherent advantage of stealth, those with powerful techniques would've sensed so much mana.
"I told you. I will take care of you in an instant."
As Elena reached in front of him, the dark mana began boiling around her hand and slowly formed a blade.
The blade was nearly a meter long, and it didn't have a handle, or rather, it was directly connected to her arm.
Splash!
Without much hesitation, she swung her arm and cleaved his head off.
As his head fell to the ground, the dark layer of mana on the ground also disappeared, followed by the long shadows that were strangling his body.
"Hmm! If I remember correctly, Young Master also practiced the Shadow Strangling Technique, right?"
"I wonder if Young Master can release mana like me after reaching the Treasured Body Realm."
She was able to do this because of her technique improvement. After its improvement, she had an enormous amount of mana in her Mana Space.
It was at least times higher than normal cultivators in her realm.
Since Tyler's technique was even better than hers, she believed he would be able to do the same if he reached the next realm.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
She quickly sped up and rushed towards her creations. She had already sensed the destruction of the Azure Dragon Shadow.
Because of this, only Black Tortoise, White Tiger, and Vermilion Bird remained, but by the time she reached close, White Tiger was also destroyed.
Crack!
Seeing a woman violently tearing apart her shadows, she couldn't help but palpitate.
She also wanted to be this violent. Unfortunately, her technique didn't give her strength amplification like this one.
Even if it was just a C-grade, its strength amplification was better than hers.
That was the power of inherent technique. They could have some ridiculous power or simple power, but on a ridiculous level.
Megan didn't know Elena was closing the gap. She was just focused on destroying the Vermillion Bird before destroying the Black Tortoise.
Because of its incredible defenses, she wanted to finish it last.
But the black tortoise kept getting in her way, blocking most of her attacks, while the Vermillion Bird would release black flames from the side.
With its flight, Megan was having a hard time getting closer to this bird.
"Damn it! Go away!"
Megan charged her fist with mana before slamming it forward. Because it managed to enter its shell, her fist only landed on the shell.
Bang! Whoosh! Thud!
Her incredible strength managed to send the shell flying. Using this opportunity, she stomped on the ground and rushed towards the Vermillion Bird.
Only for her to find herself stuck to the ground.
"This…..You, why are you here?"
Megan noticed the shadows strangling her legs and turned her head. When she saw Elena, she couldn't help but scream in shock.
How long has she been fighting these four creatures?
She wasn't sure about the exact time, but it shouldn't be more than five minutes.
John was a level higher than she. How could he lose in just a few minutes?
"No!"
Megan immediately noticed a problem and forcefully took out a talisman before slapping it on her chest.
Bang!
Then, she slammed her fist on the ground, releasing so much force that it split the ground in half, forcefully cutting off those shadows.
Seeing this opportunity, Megan retreated, but two massive fireballs made out of black flames struck her from behind.
Boom! Boom!
When Megan rushed out of the flames, she was wearing armor that blocked most of the damage from the fireball.
"An artifact? I guess it's time to use mine."
Elena was watching this from afar. She muttered, and a dark orb appeared in her hand.
Putting the dark orb on the ground, she clapped her hands together with her index and middle fingers up.
[Temple of the Shadow Empress]
Suddenly, a powerful dark energy burst out of the orb, releasing into the sky.
"W-wh-what's that?"
Megan's expression drastically changed as she tried to increase her speed. But before she could leave further, she was suddenly pulled inside a dark room.
There were nine statues made out of dark energies, with Elena standing before them.
"What did you do? What is this?"
"A technique that is modeled after a Domain but not exactly a domain."
"Here, I am the Ruler, the Empress of Shadows."
[Shadow Strangling Technique]
Suddenly, four shadows caught Megan before she could even react. She tried to break them apart, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't move.
"Don't struggle too much! This technique amplifies my shadow creations by five times. Your inhuman strength is useless here."
Crack! Crack! Splash!
Her legs and hands were twisted and broken before a shadow crept into her neck and pulled her head out of her body.
As her life ended, the darkness around them slowly disappeared.