Back at the Beast Hall's Book Collection Vault in Desolate Grounds city, there was an ancient text that had spoken about the Blazing Overlord Lions. These lions were just like other lions, only that their bloodline were extremely peculiar.
Unlike normal lions, the Blazing Overlord Lions had a scorching orange flame as fur. They also had the dragon bloodline mixed with theirs, and as such, if they claimed to be second strongest in the animal kingdom of their cultivation realm, then no animal would dare claim to be first.
Most Blazing Overlord Lions have lived for centuries and so their cultivation levels were overwhelming. Although, of recent days, they had slowly grown extinct in the Arerat Planet due to how drastically fast the human cultivators were improving.
As a beast tamer, these were basic knowledge one must have.
For weaknesses, it is said that they could be overpowered when there's an increase in the yin energy, and due to this reason, ice-related Gifted cultivators were normally dispatched to take down creatures such as these lions who were extremely rich in the yang energy.
However, the Blazing Overlord Lions made up for their weaknesses through one simple way — their number.
They ran as a pride. A standard Blazing Overlord Lions' pride consisted of a leading male and its harem, which were mostly lionesses, as in the case before us.
However, this case was just extremely bad. From a headcount, the lions summed up to eighteen in number. Three, including the leader of the pride, were two realms across the Meditation realm, while the others were in the Meditation realm, and one in the realm immediately after the Meditation realm.
After the Meditation realm comes the Ethereal Opening realm which consists of three stages or levels, namely: primary, advanced and expert. The same three stages follow for the next realm, the Ethereal Ascension realm, and the following Heavenly Ascension realm. Those three stages continues even in the following higher realms.
In essence, that was to say that fourteen of them were in the Meditation realm (and I must mention that that's the highest realm few of my classmates have achieved), one was in the Ethereal Opening realm, while the remaining three most powerful were in the Ethereal Ascension realm!
Now, that was enough to make one cry.
Despite being also in Meditation realm, I didn't have half the courage to think of engaging with any one of the fourteen Meditation realm beasts.
As we watched on, we suddenly noticed a girl appear from the blue, and within her hands were four other girls. They were the remaining girls in my class! From the look of things, it seemed like they'd been the ones actually chased by the Blazing Overload Lions.
Lingxi whistled.
"Hey, over here!"
The girl who'd appeared was called Ruby. She had a plump stature, long legs, and very conspicuous dark, red-coloured hair. It was a difficulty to find one with these features all blended together. Within her braces were as follows: Xueyi and Jessica (both my roommates), then Mingming (her hair was silver-coloured) and Xuan'er (who had a jet-black hair).
The mahogany tree was big enough to accommodate more people. Its branches were strong and firm.
They raised their heads in alarm, and sighed in relief on seeing us. Then, a warm, red light wrapped around them, and the next instance they appeared beside us on the large branch of the tree.
I stared surprised at Ruby with her red hair fluttering in the wind.
"You can teleport?"
She chuckled, then said, "It's my ability, and it's called Spacial Retreat."
I nodded, quickly.
"What's the situation?" Lingxi asked the others, falling back to her cold disposition.
"Umm... I kinda fell into the territory of the pride. They're so fast in sensing my next moves. We couldn't even hold our grounds on them. Good thing I found Xuan'er in time, she was almost pounced on, in her moment of shock. On our escaping route, we gradually met with the others." Ruby had a quick way of talking that sounded peculiar, especially when she was breathless.
Jessica looked petrified, only nodding a greeting to me when our eyes met.
Lingxi turned to me. "Sis, what do you suggest?"
Immediately Lingxi said this, I noticed the surprise that spread across their faces. Lingxi wasn't someone that gave an amiable feeling to others. In fact, her eyes alone told "stay away", so they couldn't understand how we became friends, plus the reverence in her eyes when she called me "sis"...
For the past one hour, Lingxi and I worked together, so she naturally listened to my decision before we carried out an attack, based on my precise estimations with the strength and weaknesses of animals — after all, I am a beast tamer.
I naturally said, "We don't have a chance. Those animals are called the Blazing Overload Lions, and they're very powerful. Fourteen of these ones advancing are in the Meditation realm, one in the Ethereal Opening realm, while three in the Ethereal Ascension realm!"
Shocked, Jessica said, "Then I suggest we run."
I shook my head in gloom. "If it were any other lions, then that'd have been the only option. However, these lions, once they've been disturbed, would chase you till you've used up all your true essence, then devour you into pieces!"
Jessica gulped.
I sniffed the air. "They're already twenty metres from us!"
Lingxi quickly said, "Since we can't run, we'll have to try stalling out some more time. We'll fight them. Once our two hours is accomplished, then we'll return!"
"Deal!" everyone echoed.
Ruby said, "Let's go down and face them head-on. We're no cowards!"
I felt wrapped around in Ruby's warm aura and, the next instance, we were already about ten metres away from the mahogany tree. Surprisingly, she'd already positioned us all.
Looking at her uniform and seeing the Formation Masters badge, I nodded in comprehension.
According to our team's formation, I was in the vantage point like a leader. My fists were clenched as we watched the falling trees progressing towards us. On my right hand side, slightly behind me, was Lingxi, and Mingming was standing closely behind my left hand. I still didn't know what the silver-haired maiden's ability was. Still, I wasn't bothered. Ruby stood way behind the whole team, while behind Lingxi's right hand was Xueyi. On Mingming's left hand was Xuan'er. In the middle, behind me, was Jessica.
Throughout the hour spent with Lingxi, I'd also learnt to control the energy derived from my Meditation realm base, so I was quite more confident than when I'd stepped into this virtual world. In addition to that, Lingxi and I had already learnt how to work as a team and compliment one another.
Immediately the lions breached the ten metres distance, falling the tree that once gave us an overhead view, I made a finger sign to Lingxi. She had been waiting for the sign long ago, so when she saw it, she did not hesitate to move. Her figure blurred as a glacier sword appeared in her hands, tightly gripped. My sign was to indicate who her target was.
The lions summed eighteen, we on the other hand, were just seven. We were at loss in both quantity and quality of fighters. Still, it didn't mean we didn't totally stand a chance.
"Everyone, our objective is to try holding down those Meditation realm beasts. Do not even dream engaging the others!"
I indicated the Meditation realm beasts from amongst the approaching lions. Everyone nodded and began to act. These lions should be intelligent, so all we had to do was prove ourselves as humans by outsmarting them.
And, of course, we didn't plan on keeping our original team's formation. We scattered immediately, each person to a Meditation realm lion, evading the incoming blazing breath from the other higher-ups.
I dashed into the air, made a quick twist and spotted a free Meditation realm beast to face. I used the force from falling as a medium to gather energy into my right hand for a deafening blow.
The lion was advancing towards my classmate when it suddenly felt an energy falling towards it. It quickly leaped on its hind, during that split-second, wanting to also reply brute force with brute force.
'Boom!' A crater appeared underneath the area where the lion stood before jumping, leaving cracks in its wake. The lion itself did not expect so much energy from me. Plus, its attack was only an impulsive act. It was immediately knocked back to the ground, causing it to moan for backup. I smiled, I understood what it'd said. And because I understood what it'd said, it was more than enough reason for me to do with it, quickly, before help came. After all, they had the upper hand with the numbers.
I used my true essence to wrap it. It didn't resist me, because it felt true essence was only true essence, nothing more than cultivation energy. However, what it witnessed next shocked it to the bones. Lethal energy began to spread quickly into its body, and swiftly to its heart. Before it could scream "Jack Robinson!" it was already dead. One down.