The deeper they descended into the mountain, the more creatures of that race appeared. It was no problem for our girls because the highest level they met was fourth-level Fusion Core beasts.
The numbers didn't surpass ten per ambush, allowing them to clean up the beasts swiftly.
Even then, they were impressed since a nest full of Fusion Core beasts was not something normal for a realm of this level.
While the top entry-level was Low-level Epoch Core, this didn't mean that all creatures would be a challenge for those on that maximum level. It meant that being low-level Epoch Core allowed you to roam most of the Secret Realm unhinged.
A nest with seemingly hundreds if not thousands of Fusion Core beasts could become a threat to a single Epoch Core if they were not careful.
Andrea deduced as her halberd cleaved one of them in half. "This must be a nest. Where is the treasure you felt, Yasenia."
The dragoness's tail whipped a beast that attacked her from behind, creating a loud bang and the sound of bones shattering. The brute strength launched that beast against another, and Evelyn used her spear to skew both simultaneously. "It should be a few hundred meters below us."
Andrea tilted her head and asked Ebirah, who was trying to imitate Yasenia and tail-slapping the beasts. "What about the yummy minerals, little one?"
Ebirah finally hit the beast, and the solid but thin tail fan at the tip of her tail slices the beast's head off. "I hit it!" Then, she turned toward Andrea and commented. "Those minerals are also a few hundred meters below! What a coincidence!"
Cecile tilted her head, an arrow impaling one beast against the wall right as they left the ambushing tunnel. "Why not blow a hole toward it? We have plenty of skills that would not create widespread destruction."
Yasenia walked forward with a pondering expression. "Let's not do it, just in case. Remember that this is not the wilderness but a secret realm. What if that place has a mechanism against people not entering in a 'normal' way? This place feels like a trial or something similar, don't you think so?"
Evelyn agreed. "A bunch of powerful beasts guarding a powerful treasure. It really sounds like a trial of some sort."
It didn't take long to reach the end of the cave system and arrive at the bottommost room. They knew it was the end because beyond the wide circular cave, a massive spherical room that probably took a tenth of the giant mountain spread like a dome of rocks.
The place was so huge that Cecile could've transformed into her giant Phoenix form and flown around comfortably.
Around the room, mounds where the beasts lived could be seen, creating a bumpy surface.
On the walls, countless holes of various sizes were visible, probably used by the beasts they'd been killing. Moreover, between all those holes, a few, like the one Yasenia and the girls were in, were much wider.
The confusion only lasted until their eyes landed in the middle of the room, where an enormous pillar connected the floor with the ceiling and had something coiled around.
The problem was that the pillar was at least 300 meters wide, and the brown serpent coiled around it was not small in comparison.
Its size was such that even if our girls transformed into their beast forms, they would be dwarfed.
Evelyn cursed in a low voice, fearing to wake it up. "That's just too big. How long is it? Three kilometers? Maybe longer?"
Yasenia was also impressed. It was the first time she met such a giant beast as an enemy she might fight.
Sierra muttered. "It could probably swallow little Ebirah in one bite, no?"
Ebirah protested. "Why me!?"
Sierra chuckled. "Well, you are the "smallest" between us."
Ebirah hmphed, but she couldn't retort. While all of them overcame the one hundred meters in length, Cecile and Yasenia having even surpassed the two hundred meters, Ebirah was ninety meters long in her beast form.
Of course, size was not all, but it was true that the giant serpent could probably chomp Ebirah in one bite, needing two chomps for the others.
The dragoness suggested. "We have two options. The first is entering normally and asking it if it can speak. The second is transforming and attacking right away."
Evelyn muttered. "What about the third option of turning around?"
Yasenia looked at her dear with concern and hugged her, kissing her eyelids. "Oh my, are you afraid, dear? If you don't want to fight, tell me without being shy, okay?"
Evelyn was messing around, but this reaction made her heart flutter with happiness. She chuckled and joked further. "Not at all. Who would be afraid of a snake that can coil itself around a mountain?"
Yasenia saw the mischievous glint in her eyes and laughed. "Silly girl. Size is not all that matters. It's strength."
Focusing on the aura around the sleeping serpent, the dragoness tried to analyze at what level it was. Her eyebrows rose with surprise. "Well, it seems that it has both… It's a level five Legendary Core Beast."
Angel blinked. "That was like a level four Dantian Spiritualization Beast?"
Evelyn coughed. "Say, I wasn't completely joking previously."
Yasenia chopped her forehead and laughed. "If we attack together, we should be able to kill it."
Tatyana and the seniors, who had been silent since the beginning, joined the conversation. Mirrory asked with interest. "What are you going to do with the thousands of beasts in the room?"
Yasenia looked at the three of them and tilted her head. "Will you participate in the battle?"
The three seniors smiled together and answered simultaneously. "Of course not."
Our girls felt their lips and eye corners twitching, but they were already accustomed to their seniors throwing them into the fire with smiles and telling them to survive somehow.
Cecile then commented. "How about beating it up until it's half dead and then trying to speak with it? If it is not a sentient beast, we can execute it; if it is, we can just heal it, no?"
The girls looked at the brute of their group, and they couldn't help but agree that her method was probably the safest.
"By the way, do you know it's race?" Yasenia asked Cecile.
Cecile pondered and tilted her head. "If I'm not mistaken, that's a [Mountain Shredding Earth Serpent], but…"
Andrea asked. "But what?"
Cecile said, confused. "But they usually don't grow this big. So, it might be a [Terrain Shattering Earth Serpent]. The main difference is that the first I spoke about is good at earth manipulation, and the second one has an extremely solid body. However, those yellow strips along the brown body are characteristic of the Mountain Shredding serpent."
Kali blinked. "A new species?"
Cecile shook her head. "An evolution like Sierra, perhaps. Well, either way, the things we need to be wary of are its Earth attribute control and strong defense."
Yasenia pondered and ordered, her tone much more serious and calculating. "Since it is so big, we should transform into beasts. Angel, you will ride Kali and focus on army building with her to keep in check the beasts below and clean them up as fast as possible. Evelyn and Andrea, ride your respective companions."
"Ebirah and Andrea, you and I will act as the frontline. Since I'm more agile, I'll try blocking the tail attacks while you focus on the head with Andrea. Evelyn, Sierra, and Cecile will focus on attacking the serpent. As a Legendary Core beast, its scales are probably highly durable, so try to do slow but piercing attacks. Also, it would be best if you controlled the energy consumption. We are aiming for a prolonged battle, not a quick fight. A thing that size must have incredible vitality."
"Finally, if Kali and Angel finish clearing the army of beasts before us, discard the summons or send them to self-destruct against the serpent and focus on a single target offensive. Secondary damage is most likely not energy efficient."
Yasenia looked at them and reminded them. "These are general orders. Although I will be the leading voice during the battle, do not fear speaking up. Also, if you see something that's useful to damage it that I haven't mentioned, go ahead. Remember, a general plan is just a direction; the path of the battle can change predictably quickly."
The dragoness's eyes looked at the enormous creature and commented. "Lastly, I will do an initial attack to check its strength. If Ebirah or I can't keep the serpent's attacks in check, we flee. Understood?"
They all answered firmly. "Yes!"
Yasenia stepped forward and entered the room with the others.
Then, a massive hurricane of energies surrounded them as Yasenia, Cecile, Kali, Ebirah, and Sierra transformed into their beast forms.
From the mounds around the room, thousands of beasts poured out like ants with a cacophony of myriad beasts.
At the same time, the Earth Serpent's head moved as its closed eyes opened, revealing a pair of red-slit eyes. The pupil constricted in a line as it lifted its giant head and looked at our girls, simultaneously opening its mouth to release a piercing hiss.
HISSS!
The air trembled, and the kilometric body of the serpent uncoiled and fell to the ground, crushing a few hundred beasts with its body weight and charging toward our girls while making the mountain tremble. However, to their surprise, the floor didn't cave in, showing incredible hardness.
Our girls transformed, and Yasenia's aura exploded as she also opened her mouth, and energy exploded from her throat in a shockwave.
ROAAR!
The thunderous dragon roar echoed in the giant room, intimidating the weaker beasts.
Then, leading the battle, Yasenia sprinted forward with her four limbs, agile like a predator rushing toward her prey.
From the very beginning, Yasenia used everything in her arsenal, holding nothing back. Her intention was to damage it enough that even if she used half her strength, her dears would be able to fight it head-on.
Her meridians swelled, her energy roiled, and the treasures in her dantian spun, filling her body with strength.
Starlight surrounded her like a galaxy as spirals of Moon and Sun energy coiled around her giant, galloping dragon body.
The Moon and Sun in her wings glowed with extreme radiance, and fourteen stars arranged themselves around her in the Pegasus constellation pattern.
Then, from Yasenia's dantian, a stream of pure Celestial Energy inundated her meridians and body, multiplying the glow and strength around her.
The turbulent attribute tried to free itself, not wanting to bow to anything.
Yet, while all her auras and buffs gathered and she used her charge skill, her [Celestial Intent] unfurled. With the presence of her constitution an intent, the wild Celestial Energy became like a tamed kitten that followed Yasenia's will and empowered her body, giving her a way to mix her [Sun Dragon Body], [Moon Dragon Body], and [Star Dragon Body] innate skills and [Moon Collapse], [Sun Collapse], and [Star Collapse] into one.
The dragoness's roar echoed throughout the room as the aura around her ballooned seemingly without limits, blowing away every creature before her with just the pressure and becoming unstoppable.
"[CELESTIAL DRAGON BODY]! [EMPYREAN COLLAPSE]!"
The girls' faces became solemn when they felt how the energy around Yasenia twisted the world with galactic splendor.
The serpent's pupils shrunk into lines, and boundless amounts of Earth energy covered its gigantic body, giving its rough scales a mysterious sheen.
The pressure around the kilometric serpent also increased, and it accelerated.
Finally, the Serpent and Dragon collided.
It happened in an instant.
The World appeared to come to a stop as a tsunami of light lit up the caverns enough that the entrances to this area on the surface emitted it outward like pillars of light.
Catastrophic energies collided as Yasenia's golden slit eyes collided with the serpent's red ones for a fraction of a second before the explosion.
Then, the time began ticking again.
BOOOOOOOM!!!!
The nova from the explosion lifted her ground like a rock would when it fell into a pond, and the entire 30-kilometer-tall mountain quaked as if it was about to collapse.
Inside the room, the girls could see through the wave of light as the kilometric body of the serpent cracked slightly and bent before flying backward, with a similar reaction occurring to Yasenia.
Both titanic creatures became a streak of light as they flew off in opposite directions, consequently slamming into the opposite walls of the enormous room.
BANG! BANG!
The walls collapsed, covering the two of them in rocks, but the general integrity of the room and the giant pillar in the middle remained, showing awe-inspiring resilience.
The girls didn't stand still and followed Yasenia's initial orders.
Kali and Angel began summoning creatures, and Cecile and the others waited for the serpent to appear from the rubble.
An explosion of dirt simultaneously occurred on both sides, showing the injured beasts, but as if they didn't see their bodies filled with cracks and blood, they charged at each other again while roaring wrathfully.
Yasenia only said one thing with a roar that shook the air as Ebirah, Sierra, Andrea, Evelyn, and Cecile joined her this time.
"FIGHT!"