Yasenia sneered when she heard the enormous explosion in the distance. Looking back, our girls could see the enormous sphere of light that lasted for a few seconds before disappearing.
Once it was over, Andrea asked. "Love, this is more curiosity than anything else, but… why trap them?"
Yasenia commented. "They were following us probably with bad intentions. It's better to be safe than sorry. They should not have followed us if they did not want to get into trouble. We are in a free for all battle where anyone can become an enemy, plus we are being hunted by an Assassin Sect. Taking risks is not an intelligent thing to do."
Andrea nodded. "Fair enough."
While the fourth floor was complicated, our girls didn't have much of a hard time. This was mainly due to Valeria and Eira's timely warnings, which enabled them to move relatively quickly and efficiently.
It took around four days to reach the tower toward the fifth, and to their surprise, quite a few groups were at the entrance.
However, some of these groups had four people or less.
Yasenia was honestly taken aback. Mid-level Epoch cores were top-notch combatants. Losing even one of them could hurt the foundation of regular sects because they were the future high-level Epoch Cores of the sects, or at least, those with the highest chance of becoming one.
High-Level Epoch Cores were not only helpful during fights, they were a deterrent.
If a sect knew that the opposite side had more Epoch Cores, they would think twice when deliberating if attacking them was worth it. It didn't matter how strong the High-Level Epoch Core truly was because even the weakest High-Level Epoch Core could become an extremely annoying trouble.
In short, the fact that some of those sects, which were dependent on them for the future, were all right by taking the risk of losing them was somewhat unbelievable.
One of them, clearly in a bad mood, snapped at Yasenia. "What are you looking at, you lucky whore?!"
Yasenia didn't react and ignored him, moving away. She even sent a message to her girls not to overstep. Looking at his group, there was only him and another person, so they probably lost three in their group.
"Hey, are you ignoring me!?"
Yasenia spoke in a neutral tone while walking away from him. She didn't even turn to look.
"Don't do this. You've already lost three people. If you die, the loss to your sect will be much harsher."
The man was about to snap again, but the other person grabbed his hand. "Let's go."
Yasenia sensed that his hostile intentions had disappeared, so she stopped paying attention and focused on her surroundings again.
Andrea pondered. "Why do you think these groups are not tackling the fourth and last tower?"
Yasenia titled her head. "There are various reasons. What I lean the most toward is that the thing inside needs five people to be completed. However, that's not the only reason for them not to participate." The dragoness continued while tapping her chin as her tail swished. "Another very probable option is that even if they pass, won't they be stomped in the tournament? However, I think that reaching the top 1024 is worth it even if you finish as the 1024th."
Kali commented. "I think otherwise. I think that they are not going up because they don't want to risk it further. With people in their group dead, if their entire group disappears because of a moment of greed, it would damage the sect more than otherwise reaching the top 1024 while losing a few Epoch Cores. The rewards are not worth the risks."
Yasenia didn't deny it. It was an entirely possible option.
Andrea smiled. "Well, probably a combination of everything."
Yasenia and Kali nodded with a smile.
"You've actually reached here."
Yasenia's group paused and turned to the side, meeting eyes with a group of black-robed people. Their attire covered most of their bodies, leaving very little to see or even discern their race.
However, their aura and eyes clearly indicated that these were the people sent by the Assassin Sect.
Without feeling flustered, Yasenia looked at them and spoke. "Do you want anything?"
The woman who spoke answered with a cold voice. "For you to die."
The dragoness smiled. "And what if I don't want to."
The other woman sneered. "That's not something up to you."
Yasenia laughed. "Not something up to me? Has your ego become too big, or is it that the sect you belong to didn't inform you of anything at all?"
The woman's face was not visible, but the coldness radiating from her was enough to give an air of suffocation. "You are just a junior. What makes you think I can't take your life right now."
Yasenia provoked. "Not even your Sect Master would be able to kill me if he were in your position. What makes you think that you can?"
The woman's hand suddenly flicked at a speed invisible to the naked eye, sending five needles flying. The needles were as thin as an ox hair, making them almost undetectable.
However, Yasenia was a Dragon, a race that prided itself on having the best senses and instincts across Heaven and Earth.
Still, while she could sense them, that didn't mean she could properly react. A sneak attack from one of the best mid-level Epoch Core assassins of the [Nine Silent Fang Sect] was not something someone at her level should even detect, not to mention dodge.
Of course, she wasn't helpless. When she felt the first signal of danger, Yasenia prepared to summon her sword right before her body as a shield.
[Draconic Heart] was bound to her, and it was a weapon with a consciousness. While it was very thin at the moment, that meant that it also could react to its master's plight.
With both of them working simultaneously, the summoning of the giant sword was fast enough to block the needles.
However, Yasenia didn't need to because Eira was around.
The second the needles had left the woman's hand, Eira had grabbed the pommel of her sword and stepped forward, disappearing and reappearing in front of Yasenia.
Then, instead of drawing her sword, she tapped the edge of the pommel of the sword, releasing her sword aura.
The needles were instantly reduced to fine powder and carried by the wind generated by Eira's aura. "Young Miss, can I fight?"
Yasenia looked at the calm-looking face yet extremely furious-looking eyes and nodded. "Go for it. Do we help you?"
Eira stepped forward, her auras exploding like a massive hurricane of blades. "There is no need to dirty your hands with this filth, Young Miss."
The people around instantly became alert as all their senses warned them about the relatively petite, pure white woman, be it her hair, eyes, robes, or sword. Everything was so pure white that it felt dazzling, and when she stood in the middle of the hurricane of invisible blades, it gave an aura of pureness and transcendence.
The assassin woman, who had been cold-faced, became tense, looking with wariness at the woman slowly walking at them as if she were taking a walk in the park.
Eira didn't speak. She felt that there was no need. The only words that left her mouth were words of judgment. "[Sword intent Level 9]."
She unsheathed her sword, and the world around her was cut to pieces. Even the heavy rock that made the mountain couldn't resist, and large gashes began appearing wherever her aura cut.
That sight made those looking terrified.
"Attack."
With a quick order, all five assassins lost no time and melded with the shadows to try and take Eira's life.
However, how could their measly Level 4 Intents and mediocre stealth skills compare with Eira?
The sword master just needed a single pulse of energy to see everything in a 50-kilometer area. Time seemed to slow down as a precise image of everything appeared in Eira's mind.
She could see two of them coming from the front, one at her right, another at her left.
There were another two rushing at her from the side, each coming from one side. Considering their speed, they would arrive earlier than those coming from the front.
Eira guessed they wanted them and the front four to be bait for the remaining last person.
The woman was speeding at her from behind and would arrive one heartbeat later than those attacking her from the front.
However, did it matter? It did not.
To fight someone with a Level 9 intent, you either needed an absolute advantage cultivation-wise, or you needed to have a few Level 8 Intents. If the strengths were similar, Level 9 intents were the peak of mortal comprehension.
Eira elegantly grabbed the hilt of her sword, and after using one hand to grab the scabbard, she unsheathed it.
The world only had Eira moving as she used a five-slash technique. "[Mountains and River Sword: Three Peaks, Two Streams]."
Her body instantly released three attacks on the two people at the front and the one at her right. Her sword was so fast that it created a flash of light because of the friction.
As these attacks flew through the air toward those three people, her body moved with extremely fluid motions and expertly slashed from her left to her right.
Air split in the wake of her sword, and even space was about to be sliced open. Her body was agilely coordinated, her posture never faltered, and the sword created a powerful sword energy blade that rushed toward the fourth person.
After attacking the person to her right, Eira's foot made a half-moon motion with peerless fluidity, and her sword followed the path carved by her body, completing the five prolonged attacks in a beautiful horizontal slash.
From the outside, they suddenly saw a terrifying aura coming from Eira. Her body blurred, and she ended up in a horizontal slashing position facing the complete opposite direction.
Nobody here could follow her speed other than Valeria.
While people were questioning what in Heaven's name happened? They saw five bodies tumbling forward because of their inertia and rolling until they stopped one meter apart from Eira, circling her.
Not a single sound was heard as Eira slowly sheathed back her sword with a cold face.
The sound of the sword fitting perfectly into her scabbard felt like the sound of freedom, as many people reacted and quickly retreated several hundred meters.
"W-Who let that monster in!?"
"Weren't High-Level Epoch Cores prohibited? Why is there one here!?"
"Are they dead? Is the Nine Silent Fang Sect truly eliminated from the competition?"
"This is the biggest insult to a Nine sect since a few hundred years ago when the current [Nine Herb Fragrance Sect] replaced the previous Alchemy Nine sect."
Eira waved her hand, making the five rings float to her palm, and returned to Yasenia's side, respectfully bowing. "Young Miss, I'm done."
Yasenia smiled and patted her head. "Good job, Eira. Thanks a lot."
Eira's cold face melted as she smiled cutely. If she had a tail, it would definitively be wagging.
Following that, Yasenia guided everyone toward the last trial of the competition.
This time, nobody stopped them.