After Yasenia managed to split one of them from the group of five and place the rest just before herself and Andrea, they started the second part of the plan. First, Yasenia used a large chunk of energy to reinforce [Draconic Full Moon]. This forced the four mid-level Epoch Cores to struggle against her defense for around 3 or 4 seconds.
By the time those four seconds went by, Kali's army was arriving and the smog she released already swallowed the surroundings.
After her defense exploded, Andrea extended her hand and combined her Natural Treasure with her [Molten Sun] innate skill.
The massive sphere of pure energy manifested above the four bear men and instantly exploded, creating a downpour of superheated material.
The four bear men took care of it by slamming their palms upward with enough strength to level common mountains.
The explosion pushed the downpour into the ceiling, splattering it all around.
Still, what the bearkin didn't realize was that Yasenia and Andrea had used that small timeframe to approach into a melee distance.
The bear woman felt extreme danger and quickly turned around.
Andrea appeared in front of her, covered in her [Obliterating Chromosphere], and swinging down her heave halberd with [Warring Sun Art: Foundation Crumbling].
The bear woman swung her large mace and met head-on with Andrea.
BOOM!
Andrea took back two steps, but her attack was not meant to be damaging. [Foundation Crumbling] was extremely adept at bursting open defensive stances, as the name implied.
The bear woman's arm was blasted backward with a tremendously strong explosion, making her face change. 'Such a strong pushing power!'
However, she was confused. 'That attack doesn't feel like it could hurt me.'
"Xiong Na! Behind you!"
The urgent call coming from her leader startled her, but it was too late.
"[Celestial Cosmos Palm]."
From behind, pressure strong enough to constrict her entire being appeared. Her face changed to one of horror as a lithe and elegant palm landed right at the middle of her back.
The impact pierced into her body, destroying her spine and organs into bits as her eyes bulged and her stomach burst open from the pressure. "GAH!" Then, the sound from the impact echoed like a bomb exploding.
BANG!
The body of the bear woman was blasted into one of the pillars Kali summoned, and the gorgeous celestial light bloomed like a lotus from the point of impact. Behind that explosion, Yasenia's cold and indifferent figure appeared, her knees bent as her palm slowly retracted.
While the body cultivator's defense was terrifying, Celestial Energy was one of the most destructive energies. A clean hit from Yasenia's full-strength palm strike while using a Celestial Skill was almost a death sentence for anything below the High-Level Epoch Core.
The fact that the bear woman didn't instantly die and explode into bits was a testament to a Body Cultivator's sturdiness. A Dantian Spiritualization Realm cultivator of the same strength would've been annihilated on the spot.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
The bear man leader angered after seeing the bear woman fly off with her stomach burst open, charged at Yasenia like a relentless bull.
The dragoness, fully expecting it, made seven quick steps while leaving a star behind in each of them. "[Heavenly Constellation Steps, Second Sky: Ursa's Grasp]."
The image of a gigantic cosmic bear appeared, towering high enough almost to touch the ceiling, and then it was absorbed into Yasenia's body.
Her aura changed as Yasenia's body became pleasantly athletic without losing her curves. She held her sword with two hands and swiftly slashed at the incoming bear man.
The bear-man leader grabbed his own mace and swung it in a destructive arc. The sheer speed of the attack sent columns of water rising in its wake, propelled by the force of its motion.
Yasenia's footwork became precise and elegant as [Firmament Battle Dance] was unleashed, and then, she used one skill that she hadn't used in years: [Lingering Star Steps].
This skill allowed her to create a temporary illusion that followed her initial motion while she herself changed her movements.
Of course, because of its low level, the bear-man leader was only distracted for a fraction of a second, but this minuscule time window allowed Yasenia to take half a step sideways and spin as she crouched.
The bear man's enormous mace flew right above Yasenia's head, touching some strands of her long black hair.
The time seemed to stop as the bear-man looked downward with wide eyes at the crouched dragoness looking up at him with cold eyes. 'Oh no. The momentum is too big to change directions.'
Yasenia's powerful legs pushed upward as her shoulder, arm, chest, and back muscles dragged her heavy sword in an upward strike. "[Draconic Sunrise]."
A flash of golden light drew a beautiful arc, aiming at the bear man's right arm.
The leader used his strengthening skills on his arm, changing his entire arm into something even more solid that some low-level Heaven Ranked metals. With confidence, he started changing the motions of his mace and ignored Yasenia's strike.
'Unless her sword can cut through Heaven-ranked weapons, it won't be able to slice my body! I'll use her attack to stop my body from delivering a lethal hit!'
However, he miscalculated.
Yasenia's [Draconic Heart] had long been firmly standing at the peak level of the Heaven Rank, unable to push through into Quasi-transcendence because of Yasenia's lack of strength.
Still, a low-level, Heaven-ranked weapon's hardness was nothing for it.
SLASH!
The golden flash didn't get stuck in the bear man's leader as he expected, but it cut through and flew upward, allowing Yasenia to take a step back and dodge his downward motion.
BANG!
The mace fell onto the muddy water, creating a massive crater, and simultaneously, one arm flew into the sky.
From the outside, this short sequence of movement felt as if Yasenia had become something akin to water, and she slid between all the attacks, eventually slicing his arm off.
It looked extremely beautiful, as the golden trail told the people who were looking at the beautiful path that her giant sword took.
The bear man's wide eyes met with the dragon's blood-colored, freezing eyes. 'W-Wasn't she a junior? How is she so skilled?'
Those two cold red slit eyes seemed to peer through his existence as they observed his every move, making him feel a chill of terror for a moment.
While all this happened, Andrea dealt with the other two bear men with the help of Kali's army.
Her body was surrounded by magma as the heat around her increased exponentially, making even them feel their fine hairs igniting and their skin below cooking. Without their energy covering their bodies, they might've been on fire by now.
However, bearing pain was a specialty for Body Cultivators, so the two of them ignored everything and lunged at the magma juggernaut. Andrea deployed every skill and intent in her arsenal, entering a stalemate.
Her lack of cultivation level made it almost impossible for her to break through the defenses of mid-level Epoch Cores, but her own powerful battle arts and defensive capabilities were sturdy enough to exchange moves with them.
Moreover, with Kali supporting her and the smog approaching, Andrea was sure to be able to hold them back until Yasenia dealt with the bear man leader.
However, the three of them, while exchanging, almost stopped their fight when they saw Yasenia's masterful sword display.
Even Eira and Valeria, who were closely observing from a distance, felt their eyes light up.
Taking advantage of the momentary pause, Yasenia took a deep breath and roared. "[Sun Dragon Roar]!"
ROAR!
An explosive dragon roar burst from the dragoness's throat, hitting their souls with a burning aura that made them feel as if their insides were on fire.
The bear-man leader shook off his confusion quickly enough to defend Yasenia's follow-up attack.
BOOM!
Even then, the powerful impact created by [Nascent Sun Burst], the body cultivation skill she recently learned, forced his feet to leave the ground as his giant body flew backward.
His eyes, burning with anger and a hint of fear, followed Yasenia's next movement, only to be surprised again. 'Huh? She is leaving?'
As he flew backward, the dragoness used [Pegasus Gallop] and [Draconic Sun Charge] to become a golden meteor and join Andrea's fight.
'YOU DARE IGNORE ME!?'
As soon as the momentum pushing him backward weakened enough, the muscles all around his body bulged, and he charged at Yasenia.
However, from the sky, a mass of green creatures fell on him, with a powerful green aura around them. After blasting a few dozen flying, they managed to stop him and began assaulting him with complex attack patterns that made him feel constricted. 'WHO IS MESSING WITH ME NOW!?'
Tracking back the origin of the green aura, his eyes landed on the floating three-meter-tall woman. His face became serious. 'It's her?'
With no other choice, even when he was eager to shake these plant creatures off and pummel Yasenia to the ground, he began fighting and methodically killing the creatures.
Andrea's and Yasenia's combination was delightful as they gradually chipped away at the two bear men's defenses.
In the meantime, Kali herself and the 100 dryads, accompanied by the smog, reached the bear man being held back by Cecile's arrow barrage.
Knowing that this kind of unnatural mist was nothing but harmful, the bear man closed his nose and mouth, holding his breath. Cultivators at this level could hold their breath for weeks or even months with ease, so inhaling poisons was usually not effective.
He was in for a surprise, though. As soon as the smog touched his skin and fur, a piercing pain was transmitted to his brain, as if countless little bugs were gnawing at his skin. With quick reactions, he protected his body with a layer of energy. 'What is this!?'
Looking at his skin, he could see the smog attaching to his body and strangely wriggling as if it were alive, giving him goosebumps. 'What in Heaven's name is this!?'
A nature-like and gentle voice reached him. "Now is not the time to check out your skin."
His spiritual sense instantly caught not only the silver-meteor-like arrows but hundreds of wooden arrows surrounded in a greenish aura.
He swung his polearm with quick reflexes and tried to strike at the thousands of incoming attacks. A few of them got through, striking his body and breaking the layer of energy he deployed.
The second his skin was exposed to the smog, it began itching again, so he had to spend energy reconstructing the energy layer continuously. This type of fighting style was suffocating, making him want to rip his hair off in frustration.
Moreover, what made his chest hurt was the sword-wielding three-tailed fox walking around the battlefield with relaxed steps, swaying her three tails from time to time, presumably controlling the plant creatures around the entire battlefield.
Still, what made him want to eat someone was that he still didn't even know how the fourth attacker looked. 'WHERE THE HELL IS THIS ANNOYING ARCHER!?'
The attacks were coming from so far away that, because of all the disruptions, he still hadn't been able to find them.
He started feeling fatigued as he tried to fight his way out. 'W-What's wrong?'
He swung his polearm, feeling his muscles becoming strangely tired. 'I can usually fight for weeks. What the hell is wrong with me?'
Quickly observing his companions, he saw that all of them had energy layers, showing that they were worried about the strange substance floating in the air as much as he was. 'It must be that.'
He looked at his arm, and his facial expression changed to one of horror. 'What in Heaven's name!?'
The arm that had been exposed the worst had patches of purplish skin, and the strange purple color was slowly spreading across his body. Without a single moment of hesitation, he hastily entered into a defensive stance to check his insides, and his pace became blue.
'Poison? Living Poison? What kind of abhorrent thing is this!?'
Naturally, he was not the only one noticing the strangeness, and the rest of the bearkin became increasingly flustered.