Coming back to reality, I realised with relief that only a few seconds passed. With my body hurting all over, I still forced myself to raise myself and look around to assess the situation.
Surprisingly, there wasn't much destruction around the area. Contrary to the times when I erupted by myself, the surroundings didn't look like any kind of force devastated them. Does that mean that the forest in this area was more resilient itself than the small vegetation back in the sect? While it wouldn't be that much of surprise, that also means that I might be able to somehow steal its energy for myself!
Wait, it's not a time for such idle thoughts!
Looking at the seemingly dead body fo this powerful cultivator, I notice that this is the only thing that seems to bear the signs of going through some hardships. With its robes torn completly away, even his skin was charred down with bones visible in a few spots!
But how the hell such a powerfull outburst managed to be contained in a small area alone?
Only after taking a closer look do I realise that this area indeed suffered from the powerful onslaught of our energies. The difference that prevented me from spotting this right away lays in a very specific outline of the damage.
Instead of being spread like a sphere of freed energy similar to the effects of microscale atomic bomb, there is only a very thin thread of nothingness going as far as my eyes can see. Looking at the trees that stood in its path, they are still standing strong with their roots buried deep in the ground, but they have a thin hole going through their entire height!
With only the pain still keeping my senses intact, I crawl towards the nearest tree and try to look through this hole only to realise that everything in its path got literally obliterated! Wide for as much as a single centimetre, it went through various trees, rocks and even a small hill, as if God poked a thin needle through the fabric of the world!
Crack.
It's not the sounds that alert me, but the direction that it's coming from. With the forest being in such a state, there are bound to be things that will break after only a short while, but this sound came from the pit where this unknown expert's body was laying in!
Looking back, I see his charred arms slowly tingling, as if he was trying to gather the energy to stand up. Looking at his surrounding with my energetical sense, I can feel a great suction, kidnapping every last bit of world's free energy from the air and using it to fortify his destroyed body!
No matter the pain, if this bastard managed to survive the onslaught of our energies, I need to properly dispose of him right now! When I was looking around I saw that Eve collapsed to the ground with all her energy dried down. If he manages to recover even the tiniest bit of his strenght, she would be in danger!
With the pain shrouding my mind, I still tighten my grip on windslord handle before I execute the fatal strike! There is no place for any hesitation or moral doubts right here and now! Saying that the strenght remains supreme, or that this world is governed by the law of jungle is easy, but only now did it dawn on me what it really means for a cultivator. Pick the wrong enemy once, and you are done!
Unable to hold my pained cry as my body moves according to the executioner path ability, I spent the last remains of my strenght to plunge my sword right into this lethally wounded expert, only to stop my hand as soon as the blade penetrates his skin ever so slightly.
From what I know, the first thing that cultivators try to reinforce is their skin. In the end, as long as they can develop a barrier that protects their entire body, their innards will still be safe! Banking on this fact, I slash my sword from his collarbone all the way down to his hips, while making sure that the tip of my sword is always inside his body!
With the wind-wave coming to being inside the expert body, it instantly erupts with a furious might, shredding his insides into a mince! While I know that might be overdoing it, as soon as my hit comes to an end, I change my position a bit, place the tip of the sword on the opposite side of this expert neck from me, and press on the handle with the full weight of my body!
"Blop!"
"Killed an Enriching essence Spirit cultivator!"
"Host obtained 14.000 experience points!
"Host has levelled up!"
"Host has levelled up!"
"Host obtained an "underdog" title!"
With my sword acting as a guillotine, there was no way that this cultivator would be able to toughen out this attack in his weakened state. But seeing the notifications, while I can't help but be happy for this insane amount experience that I earned, there is no way I will ignore the very first part of the Bonger's information!
But I need to ditch this out for now. With my willpower being the last thing allowing me to move my body tortured by both the injuries, overused muscles and complete lack of mana, I still manage to reach Eve's body to check on her.
Only when I can hear her stable albeit weak heartbeat, I can allow myself to rest easy for a short moment.
"What did you do to our master!"
As if… This world will never stop making things hard for me, won't it?