Death... and me

Back on Calina's side, her group continued to move forward while keeping their Spiritual Senses spread around them.

At some point, Silo looked behind as he narrowed his eyes.

"Why is Valeu taking so long?"

Erna and Calina stopped as well.

"Could it be that something happened to him?"

"That shouldn't be the case. With Valeu's strength, even if a Stage Four Demon beast appears, he should be able to flee. There aren't many demon beasts in the Profound Abyss that could hold us back."

"Should we go back to check on him, then?"

Erna and Silo pondered a bit, but just as they were about to make a move, they heard a loud sound coming from the front.

*Roar!*

Suddenly, a Decaying Demon Beast came out of the fog ahead. It looked to have a human form, but it was made of Decaying Fog. That wasn't all, though. As soon as it appeared, several others of the same type began to come out of the cave walls as well. As soon as Erna saw them, her face paled.

"Decaying Devourers! Impossible! This path should not have such a thing!"

Every single Decaying Devourer was at Stage Three level, and there wasn't just a few of them.

Silo's expression also turned dark as he shouted.

"Erna, help me open a path for us to retreat. We need to bring the Princess out at all costs!"

Decaying Devourers were a type of demon beast that assumed the same form as humans. The worst thing about them is that they always moved in big groups and knew how to attack together. They could be said to be one of the most dangerous demon beasts in the entire Profound Abyss. Any cultivator group would try to avoid them at all costs.

Calina became nervous as she got close to Erna and Silo. She could hold one or two of them, but definitely not so many. Erna and Silo were obviously stronger than Calina at the moment, but even they had sour expressions.

'Wind Judgement Tornado!'

'Thousand Water Snakes!'

A tornado manifested around Silo, Erna, and Calina as Erna's water snake attacked the Decaying Devourers outside. However, the thousand water snakes' skill didn't have that much attack power. All it could do was force the devourers back a little.

"Breakthrough!"

Erna and Silo then grabbed Calina's arm and shot forward while being protected by the Wind Judgement skill. However, they underestimated the Decaying Devourers too much. Because of the effects brought by the Surge, all the Decaying Demon Beasts were affected by it. Not only were they getting stronger, but their intelligence was becoming better as well. They were not in a constant berserk state, as Roan mentioned in the past.

*Roar!*

Suddenly, an even stronger roar came from the back of the cave. Silo and Erna immediately felt despair after hearing that.

"It's a Stage Four Decaying Devourer!"

"What is happening here?! Even if we entered the Decaying Devourers territory, it wasn't supposed to have so many of them. Let alone the leader who always stays hidden."

After hearing the leader's roar, the devourers seemed to understand that Calina's group was trying to flee, so more and more of them appeared in the direction of the exit. One after the other, they threw themselves against the Wind Judgment Tornado.

The tornado's wind tried to keep the Devourers outside, but a few of them kept passing through it.

"Silo, keep the Wind Judgment Tornado active. I'll get rid of the Decaying Devourers that pass through!"

Silo smiled bitterly.

"That's easy for you to say. This skill spends a terrifying amount of Spiritual Energy."

"Stop complaining, and just do it! As long as we escape their territory, you will have more than enough time to recover. What's the point in saving energy and dying here?"

Calina didn't stay still either.

"I'll help too. I'm not as strong as you two, but I can at least hold one or two of them back while we flee. That's still better than doing nothing."

"But-"

Erna and Silo wanted to stop Calina from doing it, but Calina didn't give them a chance.

"Silence! We need all the strength we can at the moment. The Decaying Devourer Leader is coming for us from behind. If he catches up, we are done for! Understood?"

Erna and Silo gritted their teeth and nodded.

"Alright, Princess. Please lend us a hand."

Calina smiled after hearing that.

"Definitely!"

Erna then switched to the offensive. Lightning began to ran through her body as she summoned her water skills. Sure enough, members of the subordinate clans would be able to use two elements together.

'Water Thunder Dragons!'

Different from the small water snakes from before, the Water Thunder Dragons were enormous. Of course, there weren't a thousand of them, just three. Still, their attack power was no joke. They ran inside the Wind Judgement Tornado, attacking all the Decaying Devourers that passed through Silo's protection. Erna was not a weapon user. Instead, she focused on Spiritual Energy skills alone. In fact, Calina did the same thing.

Calina also did what she could.

'Water Compression!'

'Compressed Water Explosion!'

An incredibly simple combination, to say the least. Compressing the water with one's Spiritual Energy with the help of their Water Element control. However, although the combination was simple, squeezing it with enough strength was another story altogether. It was thanks to the Yin Energy accumulated in her body that she was able to reach this stage while still being in the Foundation Establishment Realm.

The spheres of water shot in the direction of the Decaying Devourers that passed through Erna's Water Thunder Dragons. The devourers didn't try to dodge it, so when the water spheres touched them, the compressed water expanded hastily like an explosion.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!*

Those were all Stage Three Decaying Devourers, while Calina was still in the Foundation Establishment. Although she had combat power at the Core Formation Initial Stage Level, she still lacked attack power. Because of that, there wasn't much damage to them. However, that wasn't Calina's objective. Her intentions were quite straightforward, which was to throw those Decaying Devourers out of the Wind Judgement Tornado. The Compressed Water Explosion just so happened to be perfect for it.

Unfortunately, Erna and Calina's efforts were still not enough. There were just too many Decaying Devourers!

"Fuck! Let's do this then! You two, use your Water Elements to protect yourselves."

Silo noticed that his Wind Judgement Tornado wasn't able to keep enough Decaying Devourers outside, so he decided to go all out. The temperature in the surroundings immediately began to climb to terrifying degrees.

Calina and Erna immediately noticed what he was about to do, and a layer of water appeared around their bodies.

'Hell Judgment Tornado!'

Silo's Wind Tornado transformed into an enormous fire one. Sure enough, Silo was also a member of the subordinate clans under the Imperial Family, so using two elements was something he could do. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have been chosen to be one of Calina's protectors.

His Wind Judgement Tornado was already able to inflict damage to those who tried to force their way in, let alone now. With that, the number of Decaying Devourers that could pass through his barrier plummeted by half. Not to mention that they already arrived inside in a sorry state after clashing against the Fire Tornado. Of course, Silo's Spiritual Energy expenditure increased even more. He even wondered if he would have enough to reach the end.

"Keep running! Fuck, where is Valeu? Why hasn't he come to help us yet?"

"He might have been caught by the Decaying Devourers as well. Forget about him for now. Focus on controlling your Hell Judgement Tornado. We can ask questions later!"

Silo and Erna were wrong about one thing, though. The place where they were at the moment was, in fact, the Decaying Devourers territory. It's just that the Jade Slips containing the map that they had were fake! It simply guided them directly inside the beasts' mouth. As one could imagine, this was also part of Valeu and whoever was behind his actions' plan.

That wasn't all. That white fog that Valeu used acted as a lure for Decaying Demon beasts. It would mix itself with the Decaying Fog in the surroundings, attracting all the Decaying Demon Beasts several kilometers around it. That's why even the Decaying Devourer Leader appeared. They had been driven crazy by the effects of the white fog.

Valeu was still in the same place ever since he separated from the group. He stayed in that position because he knew that this was the limit of the Decaying Devourers' territory. They definitely wouldn't cross this line since the Decaying Fog outside was not enough for them to keep their forms.

Decaying Demon Beasts were kind of different from each other. Some needed vast amounts of Decaying Fog Energy since their entire body was made of it other than the core. Other Decaying Demon Beasts were different, like the Decaying Golems. They could use both the Decaying Fog Energy and contaminated stones/dirt on the ground to form their bodies, reducing the amount of energy necessary. Decaying Devourers were one of the few Decaying Demon Beasts with bodies entirely made of Decaying Fog, so they needed a lot of it.

~~Bo~~oom...

Valeu could hear the sound of explosions in the distance, quickly approaching his position.

'As expected, Silo and Erna still made their way back. Most likely, Calina is with them as well. However, I wonder just how much effort they had to put into bringing the little Princess back.'

Valeu coldly smiled as he vanished in the dark fog.