With the squirrels dead, the bird man was able to free himself from the unenergized sphere of branches. Although, curiously enough, the soul avatars of the squirrels continued living on even without the will and power of their masters.
From this, the plant and or life attribute is shown to be potentially extremely dangerous, which reminded the bird man of his fear from just a few seconds prior.
Yet, also because of this attribute, an opportunity presented itself. Based on rumor alone, this animal-like tree has many benefits. If left alone, it would eventually bear fruit which were great tonics and even reportedly had a chance of enhancing a wood or life affinity.
Its sap or essence is an excellent elixir for breaking through ranks and its body can be burned as an incense for greater meditative effects.
And so, like any sane person would, the bird man eagerly pocketed the trees. However, upon looking at the corpses of the squirrels, a shiver ran down his spine as he pocketed them as well. After all, he didn't have the luxury to see everything at the time as his life was constantly on the line.
And while he wasn't able to see the inner workings of the White Knight, he did see it suddenly gain a significant amount of strength before spouting some esoteric-sounding nonsense. After which, the squirrels dropped dead while their eyes leaked out of their heads.
This kind of strange ability was the worst kind to have to deal with and he definitely wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of whatever Ann had dished out. Yet, she had saved him with this move.
And while he was in the middle of his thoughts, a certain someone was struggling.
After Ann had finished the squirrels, she returned her soul projection and along with it the avatar. However, it was at that moment that Ann developed a massive headache; she could no longer hold herself steady and fell to her knees.
After all, having your consciousness temporarily expand like that is never truly good for anyone. Frankly, there couldn't have been a worse person for it than Ann. Her soul was already severely injured and now this could be added to the list of things that could eventually cause her death.
In fact, it was much worse than this because cracking noises began emanating from her soul, reverberating through her core and echoed out into the world. In the beginning she was confused because she didn't know what was happening, but then a pain like no other came.
Because of her wounded soul, she had already been experiencing some amount of pain everyday, but now this pain grew to such an extent that her posture switched to a fetal position. She held her head so tight her nails embedded themselves into her own skull while she cried tears of blood. She felt as if her body was being shredded piece by piece, layer by layer, all while completely conscious. And no matter what, it wouldn't stop.
However, the problems didn't end there as the cracking grew louder and louder until everyone within a several mile radius heard it.
The squirrels instantly felt the aura fluctuation, and once they ascertained that it was non-squirrel, they immediately abandoned their battles to chase after Ann.
After all, a rank-4 powerhouse is valued anywhere.
The bird man, on the other hand, was scared shitless and cursed nonstop. However, he still gently picked up the feeble Ann.
"Ah shit, well I knew this would happen."
He then simply activated a skill mid-flight, once again calling upon the wind to boost his speed, allowing him to push the distance between him and those bloodthirsty squirrels to the maximum. No matter how strong the other party was, if they weren't faster, they wouldn't catch up.
Soon enough the bird man flew past the front, mid, and backline, drawing attention countless times. Although situations like this happen all the time, being that someone is entering a greater rank, it's always cause for celebration. Of course, the bird was less enthused considering Ann's condition.
By the time he reached an infirmary at the very edge of the battlefield, it turned out that two others had begun the process of ranking up as well. While one was like Ann, breaking into rank-4, the other was actually heading towards rank-5.
It was strange, as while the person reaching rank-5 was going through a familiar process, it was also unfamiliar in comparison to when Ann reached it. While the formation of the soul projection and the images swirling around were very similar to Ann's, last I remembered, Ann hadn't been inside a cocoon.
This, coupled with the fact that the soul projection was that of a non-human, some kind of pigeon to be exact, then the most logical conclusion was that this was the famous transformation. The transition from a non-humanoid species to a humanoid species, which typically happens upon reaching rank-5.
And so, the bird man was confused when he compared the situation of others to Ann's. It was only when someone pried Ann off of his arms did he come back to reality. The person had been one of the few healers put here and they immediately set Ann down onto a bed. They tried to get her attention, and even tried speaking to her, but she was completely unresponsive to them.
"Where'd you find this young lady? Were you with her originally or…"
"No. Really, she just showed up out of nowhere and bested two rank-4's."
The bird shrugged as he watched the person's jaw unhinge.
"She did it in one move as well."
The person then began shivering harder than Ann was and was now extra careful with her.
"No shot—" they said, trying to rebut the bird's claim, but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of two corpses. Some of the liquefied eyes even accidentally splashed onto the side of their lips. This immediately shut the person up.
"Well, then what seems to be the problem? Her body is in seemingly great health."
Deciding to move on, the supposed healer tried to treat her, only to fail miserably. He could only gently but thoroughly examine her internals for clues.
The bird once again shrugged at the question.
"My best guess is that she used a psychic attack to finish these guys off and then possibly suffered a backlash of some sort."
"Psychic? That would explain her pain despite no outward injuries."
After all, breaking through requires the expulsion of impurities in the soul, and in the later ranks, this process becomes harder and harder as there are less and less impurities. This also means that pain is inevitable in the later stages. One thing that Ann did not happen to know.
"But then, I can't help as I can't heal souls."
The bird on the other hand was astounded that the other person gave credence to his inference. But more importantly, if he couldn't help her, what then? The terrible pain that she was in was clear for all to see, and it was definitely not normal to have this much suffering during a breakthrough.
"Perhaps another psychic of some kind could intervene and ease her pain with an illusion."
At this point, the supposed healer was just spitballing while continuing to monitor her condition as she headed straight for the fourth rank.
Everything seemed to be going… well, the way it had been going before, that was until he decided to see Ann's soul core.
However, that one peek was enough to make him pale-faced. The cold sweat he was now experiencing was enough to almost fill his shoes, yet he still managed to back away without slipping.
But it was yet again, at that moment, that something truly terrible happened.
Unlike the normal cracks that were associated with a breakthrough in rank, a crack like no other was suddenly emitted from Ann.
It was so thunderous that it literally pushed away the air around her, blasting away practically everything in her current vicinity. Luckily, if it wasn't for a few others nearby, the other people going through a breakthrough would have been sent flying as well.
Yet, it did not happen only once.
Nor twice, but thrice.
Each time, the sound grew louder and practically the entire battlefield heard it. The battlefield itself, upon considering the very fringes, probably encompassed almost half a hundred miles.
"What the fuck was that!? What's happening!?"
The bird shouted, the cracking at this point had gotten so loud that his ears were ringing.
"It's… It's her soul core. It's cracked!"
The supposed healer seemed quite frightened while speaking. On the other hand, the bird was at first shocked before conflicting emotions emerged.
"Then… doesn't that mean—"
"Yeah, she's just inches away from soul death."
Then, a fourth crack sounded, but something was a bit different this time. Something seemed to be attracted to Ann as the clouded sky was parted, making way for a resplendent purple ray of light.
It bathed her for but a second, and while it left no impact, the cracking completely stopped afterward.
Her aura grew before stabilizing at rank-4.
And just like that, all was quiet. Ann even stopped clutching her head. Not only that, but if one listened closely, one could actually hear her light snoring.
…
"What just happened?"
The bird and the human healer looked at each other before shaking their heads simultaneously. This would definitely go down as at least one of if not the most shocking thing they had witnessed. It really was just the fact that they knew nothing of what was happening from start to finish.
"I… genuinely don't know. I don't remember getting this light when ranking up to rank-4. But… that light; it felt just like when I received my first meal straight from my mama's stomach. That warmth…"
The bird then sniffled a little, reminiscing about his deceased mother, letting out little squawks here and there.
"Yes, that was… truly brilliant."
The man's eyes shined as he watched Ann sleep.
"This person, to be able to sleep so soundly after the cracking of her soul core; she is truly a… A genius!"
However, Ann was no genius.