It turns out that Core Formation Demon Beast was a Black Demon Wolf. It is not a rare race at all. Like Krune, they can also take the human form in the early stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm. The fact that this one was able to achieve the Core Formation Realm is already very impressive. Through his powerful Divine Sense, Krune could notice that this wolf is at the 3rd stage.
This wolf was also under the blood contract agreement, so it didn't say anything and attacked straight away. As expected, it was an agility-type demon beast. And the fact that it is already in the Core Formation Realm made it even faster. Even Ao and Arlan could barely keep up to its movements.
Fortunately for them, Krune's defenses were air-tight. If even Shinja, who can defeat ordinary 5th-stage Core Formation Realm cultivators, can't pass through Krune's defense easily, let alone this wolf. After several exchanges, the wolf was already injured in quite some places. But thanks to its speed, it avoided any serious one. Noticing that it couldn't beat Krune's group like that, it immediately called for reinforcements.
It opened some distance between them and gave a deep howl to the sky. Immediately, Krune's face changed, because he noticed that several wolves started to enter into the range of his Divine Sense. But that wasn't all. This wolf is the one who controls the territory they are in, so several other demon beasts from other races also answered its call. It is to be expected, though. Wolves are creatures that live in packs to start with, so it would be weird instead of having no backups.
"Ao, Arlan, things changed. There is an army of demon beasts coming straight at us, we need to leave!"
Ao and Arlan immediately stopped their attacks. If Krune said that there is an army, then there is one, indeed. The three of them might be confident in dealing with the Black Demon Wolf alone, but definitely not against several demon beasts.
Ao and Arlan immediately retreated. The wolf changed from defense to attack once more and tried to stop them. But with Krune's flying shields and skills from the side, it could do nothing to impede it. Unfortunately for Krune's group, the black wolf seemed to have been prepared. It howled once more in the direction they started to escape, and a lot of Demon Beasts started to converge there.
"Let's go to the North-east! That's the place with the least amount of demon beasts coming in our direction. We are going to forcefully breakthrough!"
With demon beasts coming from everywhere, Krune could only choose to attack them where it was easier. Of course, the Black Demon Wolf didn't give up either and followed them at full speed. It was astonishing that those Foundation Establishment contestants could move as fast as it. But it got even more excited with that. The Divine Path Sect always bestow rewards according to the number of black tokens they can gather during every gathering. And a group like this one is bound to have quite a few.
The wolf was very confident. Although Krune had selected the direction with the least amount of Demon Beasts, there were still tens of them. Every single one was at least in the 5th stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. The plan was to go out when they engaged in a battle against the beasts in the front. As long as it holds them back long enough, the rest of the demon beasts will surround and slowly swarm them.
Krune's group noticed it and looked at each other and nodded.
"Well, don't blame us for being nasty!"
Arlan, Ao, and Krune finally turned sober and released their full power!
"Sky Searing Swords! Descent of the Sword Hell!"
"Infernal Swords! All flames to Heavens!"
"Heavens, Thunderstorm!"
Instantly, their attacks reached brand new levels of prowess. Ao and Arlan went to the right and left sides, respectively. They looked like Fire Demons who slaughtered everything in their way. Anything under the Core Formation Realm was cleaved in two or burnt to crisp!
But the real calamity came from Krune. Heavens Thunderstorm is a weaker variation of his Heavens Fall. Krune created this technique with Lightning Element and Tribulation Lightning as a base, mainly used for wide-scale battles against several enemies at the same time. Hundreds of Lightning Bolts fell from the sky, each of them with a fraction of Tribulation Lightning. Even though it wasn't his real Heavens Fall, an ordinary new Core Formation Realm cultivator or demon beast would have a hard time to defend against it. Let alone a bunch of Foundation Establishment Beasts.
Krune might not like killing, but it doesn't mean he will give up his life for that notion!
The Black Demon Wolf's face immediately changed. With the power Krune's group was showing at the moment, it wouldn't take the risk. If they focused on it, it might really die in the end. The wolf might be bound by a contract, but it doesn't mean it should throw its life away. The wolf turned around and tried to escape while dodging as many lightning bolts as possible. They might not do much harm individually, but it can't just eat them all.
"Don't you think it's too early to say goodbye?"
"Right! You have just arrived after all."
The black wolf's back chilled when it heard those two voices! It immediately felt unprecedented danger and tried to dodge, but it was already too late. Two swords covered in flames appeared out of nowhere and impaled the wolf's heart. It couldn't believe it! It was sure Ao and Arlan had just moved to the right and left side of Krune while moving forward, not to mention that they should have been in the middle of slaughtering the other demon beasts. How come they appeared there?
It had to thank Krune, Ao, and Arlan for that. They had already discussed a plan through Divine Sense as soon as Ao and Arlan moved out. The breakthrough of the demon beast army was just a decoy; the real target was still the Black Demon Wolf. Ao and Arlan had really attacked the demon beasts in front of them, but it was right after that movement that Krune used one of the skills Yusa likes very much, which is Water Frame!
With the help of the Water Frame's imaginary cover, both Ao and Arlan used the elemental replacement. It was the same one Thunder Hawk Tasier, and Water Dragon Drorne used during the last Mercenary Selection. With those clones left to distract the demon beasts for a few seconds, Ao and Arlan sneaked beside the Black Demon Wolf. They attacked as soon as it tried to escape from the Krune's Heavens Thunderstorm area.
The demon wolf struggled a bit but soon stopped breathing. The other beasts saw that and immediately started to run away. If even their territory boss, a 3rd-stage Core Formation Realm Demon Black Wolf, cannot defeat that group, let alone Foundation Establishment beasts like them.
Silence soon returned to the surroundings, and Krune could confirm with his Divine Sense that all the demon beasts were leaving this area. He then looked at the bodies around and couldn't help but sigh.
Ao noticed that and just put a hand on his shoulders.
"There is a limit to how merciful we can get. If we go past that line, we could lose our lives instead."
Krune nodded his head.
"I know, but it doesn't change the bitter feeling that it leaves behind. Don't worry! It's not like I haven't killed before. It's just that it has been some time since it happened."
Since Krune was okay, he proceeded to check the Black Demon Wolf's corpse. Sure enough, there was a thin collar around its neck that was hard to see due to its fur, and attached to it, there was a spatial ring. Other than a few resources the wolf kept for itself, there were also four black tokens. Obviously, they weren't the first group it had attacked.
"It is as we thought. It's probably part of the Divine Path Sect arrangements. I guess the more black tokens the bandit cultivators and demon beasts get, the more rewards they will receive from the Sect. Maybe they will be able to even leave this training planet where they are being forcefully held. Both the bandits and demon beasts around there have probably offended the Sect in some way.
Instead of being killed, they reached an agreement to become the contestants' enemies."
Arlan and Krune heard that and agreed it was most likely the reason. Of course, it didn't mean that all demon beasts and cultivators were like this. With the sheer amount of time they had been there, several offsprings had been born and just took that place to be their home.
With everything over, Krune's group removed the Core Formation Wolf and the Foundation Establishment beasts' demon core and put them in their spatial rings. Demon Cores of dead beasts will lose their spiritual energy eventually. But the higher the beast's level, the longer it takes for all the spiritual energy to disappear, especially the Core Formation Realm Demon Core.
Krune and the others gathered everything they wanted and left right after. This battle will definitely catch the attention of other high-level demon beasts and cultivators. There are other teams as well. Not to mention that they used quite some spiritual energy and needed some time to recover it.
Around an hour after they left, another Core Formation Beast appeared where the Black Demon Wolf died. It looked at the demon wolf corpse and just snorted. It is a Fire Eagle that lived in the next territory and then changed into its human form to check the battlefield. It arrived so fast because it could fly much faster than the other Core Formation Demon Beasts and Bandit Cultivators from the other territories around this place. After spreading its Divine Sense to the limit, it still couldn't find any trace of the team that battled against the wolf.
"There is no one matching the description reported by the demon beasts that fled. It seems like they are very good at running as well."
But then it showed an evil smile.
"It looks like the demon beasts weren't the only ones to notice the commotion."
A group of five cultivators was also inside its Divine Sense range. It then returned back to its Eagle form and dashed away. Since it can't take the tokens of those contestants that killed the wolf, it will have to be content with the leftovers.
Somewhere not too far away, Krune, Ao, and Arlan were sat recovering their spiritual energy and discussing their next steps. Although they hadn't used all their spiritual energy in the last battle, it was still good to keep their combat prowess at their peak.
"We have been pretty slow already looking around for other teams. I think we should increase our pace and move past half the way to Ravil city. We can wait for other teams to appear around there."
"It's been only a week; I don't think many teams arrived at that side already."
"That's exactly the main point! With Krune's Divine Sense range, it would be easy to hunt down the teams that appear close to us."
Arlan also gave his opinion.
"What about the demon beasts? So far, we have been avoiding the territory of those Core Formation Realm ones, but it seems they could have black tokens as well."
Krune shook his head.
"It seems they are more like a last resort option for the teams that lost their black tokens. That way, they would still have a chance of at least finishing this first phase."
Ao agreed with that.
"Although the Black Demon Wolf wasn't hard to deal with alone, when he called those beasts over, the situation changed completely. If it wasn't us but some common team, they would have died or used their blue token without a doubt."
Krune then asked.
"Should we go past the middle then?"
After thinking about it for some time, they decided to go ahead with this plan. They were just about to leave their hiding place when, suddenly, Krune's Divine Sense picked up something.
"Uh?"
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