'It's quiet...Can those butterflies not pass through the wall?' Jagrel cautiously looked around, closely inspecting the wall's condition.
"Phew..." Turbid air left Jagrel's mouth as his body relaxed, seeing that nothing happened even after dozens of seconds.
"Put off all the flames from the torches, it's burning away the air we need to breathe." Mangrel nonchalantly ordered while ripping a heart out of a providence plant wolf. Three dead providence plant wolves lay around the enclosed area.
The surviving cultivator put out the only source of light as Mangrel instructed. They used their origin essence to light up their surroundings.
"Gather around," Mangrel spoke softly while concentrating on recovering his used-up origin essence.
The few who survived formed a semi-circle before Mangrel, still carrying a depressed atmosphere with them.
Counting the survivors, there were only fourteen of them.
"Does anyone have any information on what's behind the third door?" Mangrel looked around the dimly lit area.
Jagrel frowned: "No, my father only said to keep as many cultivators alive as possible for the third door. He told me just to think of surviving when it begins."
Jagrel came clean of his situation, knowing that his life was on the line.
"I am not talented...so my family doesn't care about me..."
"Me neither..."
The other young cultivators bit their lips in frustration.
"What about you?" Jagrel looked at Mangrel with expectation.
Mangrel shook his head solemnly.
"Focus on recovering your strength for now. Gather in one place in approximately three minutes. For now, spread out so you can break comfortably." Mangrel moved away first after saying this.
'Just think of survival...If it's like that, I need to survive for five minutes no matter the cost. There are not many alive, decreasing survival chances, unfortunately. I will stay in the rear this time around too. As long as I use all my origin essence to keep performing movement-type martial arts, I can hold on for a while.'
At the same time, Mangrel kept a doubtful mind. He didn't want to plan wholly based on the information he gained from Jagrel.
As Mangrel focused, the eight rings of death on his back began absorbing the origin essence from the surrounding rapidly.
It was felt by the others too, making their eyelids twitch with envy.
Silence took over the enclosed area, and soon the cultivators began gathering in one place.
With no instruments to measure time, the people living in this world develop a sense to keep track of the time. Such a sense comes in handy for many situations.
"It's gotten quiet outside..."
"Yeah. It's like something is going to begin soon."
Jagrel's and Feriem's expressions suddenly hardened.
"T-those soul dissonance butterflies' presence vanished...!"
"Hiding like this was the right answer!"
They secretly glanced at Mangrel, who was watching the wall they had created.
"Keep your guards up, it's coming." Mangrel felt cold sweat forming on his back. His instincts were warning him at this instant.
Mangrel quickly ordered them to stand in the formation.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
Before long, the voice of something walking with heavy steps echoed through the area.
All the young cultivators held their breaths.
Thinking: 'It's just one beast! As long as we defeat it...we can move on!'
'hmm?' Feeling the chill on his spine, Mangrel squinted. Just the presence of the beast on the other side of the wall caused such a reaction in his body.
'Its body is huge to make the place shake like this. In other words, its strength should not be low either...' Mangrel's heart jumped in that instant.
"Everyone! Crouch down on your body!" Mangrel lay on the floor covering his head before anyone else.
Boom!!!
Almost in the blink of an eye, tons of rock headed toward the cultivator menacingly.
It was too fast for anyone to dodge or guard against.
Most of the cultivators were able to react to Mangrel's voice and crouch, but still, two unlucky people died getting crushed below a flying rock.
"Gahhh!"
While some had their limbs blown away.
Mangrel stood up immediately and looked at the part of the wall which was destroyed.
An entity walked out of the huge hole, and the dust from the debris was pushed aside exposing its appearance.
'That's.....' Mangrel squinted his eyes. 'What's that?'
A head of a bull and the teeth of a crocodile. Its huge body reached three meters, mostly in the shape of a human. The muscle around its body appeared hard as a rock, mostly covered in blackish-brown fur. It held a huge club in one of its hands.
'That beast belongs to this world, I have never seen or heard of this one. From its presence, there is no doubt that it is a peak rank zero Earth beast!' Mangrel calmly saw the people around him and then the beast.
'I can tell without even fighting it...I won't be able to dodge or escape it by running around As I had planned. I have no choice but to fight it head-on.'
If it was a beast Mangrel was aware of, he could have come up with a countermeasure. But it was not possible anymore.
Mangrel's eyes glowed with an insidious glow.
The cultivator who could fight had gotten up, they numbered only ten.
"Focus on dodging and attacking from long distances. You will be crushed immediately if you get near it. I, Jagrel, and Number 807 will finish it, just hold on for a few seconds. You both! Come here." Mangrel motioned to Jagrel and Fereim, showing a nervous expression.
"Quickly!" Mangrel urged.
Growl!
Without any prior notice, the beast attacked the nearest cultivator it found. Unlike the providence plan wolf, this beast did not have an ounce of intelligence.
Bang!
The air whistled as it swung its huge axe with an irresponsible force.
Fereim moved quickly while this scene filled his eyes. The color drained from his face, as he mumbled the word 'impossible'.
'How in the world can we beat that thing!' Fereim's mind could only think of how to survive at this instant.
'Right...! I will use them both. No information about what happens here is spoken outside, I will be safe even if I betray them!' With that in mind, Fereim moved towards Mangrel urgently.
"Huh...?" Herein suddenly slowed down. In his eyes, Mangrel split into three images making him bewildered.
Phantom Path art — Dreams flicker before eyes.
Dark Path art — Black serpent palm.
"Blughh!" A surprised groan left Fereim's mouth.
Looking down, a black palm impaled him right through the chest. And forward, a pair of bloodshot eyes stared at him with deep killing intent.
Mangrel had appeared beside him without him noticing. However, his breathing was ragged and his face was pale. He had used up more than 70 percent of his origin essence at once. His body was not ready to use two martial arts like this.
'A strong soul acquired...' Mangrel turned to the shocked Jagrel.
"Follow me."