The harsh rays of the sun beat down on the forest, where a massive battle raged on.
Ruel lifted himself up from the ground, scraping his sword on the ground, and using it as a support to get up.
Just when he was pushed back, others had already reached Baleful Creeper, fighting the destructive vines flailing around in the air, ready to blow them up at a moment's notice.
With the power hidden in those seemingly feeble vines, they were slowly getting pushed back.
Some of them threw the moltovs at it in hopes of doing some damage, and it did work.
The skin around Baleful Creeper was getting softer with the constant barrage, but the problem was the range.
The Baleful Creeper vines had a massive range, making it difficult for anyone to even get near its body.
Ruel's mind raced as he tried to come up with a plan and in the heat of the moment, only one thing came to his mind.
Suddenly, he kicked the ground and rushed past others, narrowly dodging a vine aimed at him. The others watched in shock, fearing for Ruel's life.
Having a serious expression on his face, Ruel just dropped back first on the ground, dodging the blow by a hair's length.
Just when it all seemed over, his hand shot in the direction of the vine.
Following the vine with his hand, he finally got near it when it just seemed to be in a still state.
Not missing this chance, Ruel caught it in his hand.
Just as his hand touched it, the vine shot backward, in the direction of Baleful Creeper.
This was the moment Ruel was waiting for. This was a mechanism of the vines.
They moved back and forth between its body and the fighting cultivators. The vines did this for maximum damage by building momentum. Using this to advantage Ruel planned this.
But it wasn't as easy as it seemed.
Every step was thought carefully as any wrong move could spell his doom.
If he didn't catch it at a near-perfect time then his hands would have been elongated and broken in a gruesome manner.
Just like now, the momentum in those vines was building up back and forth and as Ruel got near the main body, the more his hands wanted to let go.
Persisting with it, he didn't let go.
Seeing all this in awe, one person had let go of his concentration mid-battle, but letting your eyes off your enemy was a grave sin on a battlefield.
As if punishing his recklessness, a vine came towards his chest.
A look of horror appeared on his face. He couldn't do anything to stop it.
Just as the vine touched him, his chest caved in, rib bones piercing his heart. No scream could be heard as his mouth gurgled with blood.
Still high in the air, Ruel let go of his hands around the vine. The vine was still moving towards the baleful creeper, but with more speed as the burden on it had been lifted.
Ruel was flowing towards the Baleful Creeper with speed. Taking out some Molotovs from his side pouch, he lit them.
Even in the breezy atmosphere, the flame didn't die out.
Ruel threw the bottles down when he was just near it. But the bottles didn't touch the Creeper instead, they just blew right in front of it, catching its attention.
In confusion, the Baleful creeper looked above, trying to find the source of this petty disturbance.
But just as it looked up, its eye only saw a horrifying human with a sword just in front of it.
Ruel crashed into the eye, with his legs scraping the inside of it. His legs gave in to force and his bone cracked.
It was to be noted that Ruel had fallen from high up, it was so high that his legs could break and become a mess.
Meanwhile, he would have been waiting for his inevitable death.
He had thrown the bottle on the ground instead of the creeper itself because if he threw it at the creature then it would flail around more and damage the airborne Ruel and even if he survived it, he wouldn't survive the drop as his legs would break and become a mangled mess under the sheer pressure.
With this strategy he made, the Baleful Creeper will look above for the source of moltovs.
And it had paid off.
Yes, it was true that in the process he also had sustained some damage but it was a small price to pay to kill the Baleful Creeper in one blow.
Swinging his sword aimlessly around the inside of Baleful Creeper, Ruel was trying to maximize the damage done.
SCHREEE!!
Screaming in agony, the Creeper went mad, rampaging with its vine, while the lesser horncreepers started to return to save return in a frenzy to save their mother.
The Baleful creeper had a mental connection with her progenies to give them simple commands, but it was only one-sided.
Now it was a race against time to see who would kill the other first.
Either Ruel kills the Baleful creeper fast or the rampaging duo of creepers slaughters everyone in the blood frenzy outside.
But Ruel was a veteran going through many such battles, he knew the location of the core.
Every demon had a core that stored all its energy, it functioned like a heart without which the whole demon would die out.
Shoving his sword rapidly in the direction of the core, Ruel felt resistance toward his sword. He had finally got the core!
Putting his hand inside, he took out a dark red-colored marble from the flesh of Baleful Creeper.
The Baleful creeper became slower with time as if a switch had been turned off.
With a sudden stillness in its movement, it ceased to exist.
Its body turned into a lump of dead mass in the blink of an eye.
Ruel dropped to the ground with a groan, he had dropped from some height when the Baleful Creeper died.
With the crimson red marble in his hand, he looked around, and only one thing could come to his mind: they had won!
The lesser horncreepers were dying left and right as their primary source of energy was Baleful Creeper.
They functioned like a hive, with the Baleful Creeper at the top.
If it died, then they would die as well.
With a sigh escaping his mouth, Ruel tried to stand up with his sword. Using it as a cane, he walked near the ones who fought with him.
In the sudden rampage of the Baleful Creeper, another of them died, making the death count of their group somewhat astonishing.
It had to be noted that this surviving in itself was a miracle as the Baleful Creeper was one realm above them all!
Everyone's injuries were fatal at the moment, even the ones who had fought with the imps, only a fifth of them had survived.
They were 40-strong at the start of the battle, but as it progressed, only 16 survived this ordeal.
Even though the imps were not even in the Qi cultivation realm, their claws, and teeth were a menace in themselves not to talk about the massive numbers they had.
Despite this, Ruel was happy with many of them surviving the battle.
In his previous life, less than 10 people had made it alive from here.
Just surviving barely while hiding themselves from every battle and desperately waiting for rescue which came by luck.
Ruel didn't want his fate to depend upon so called luck, which may or may not come true.
The keeper had sent him back to the past, would he expect Ruel to depend on luck to win?
From now on, Ruel had to be vigilant in everything, the old man's words deeply resounded in his mind.
'He was cautious of me and what I would do.'
Ruel could feel it at that time, it may have seemed like the old man didn't have any leash on Ruel after sending him back to the past, but it was just an illusion.
Ruel always felt like there was something wrong with that conversation, would a being more powerful than him not have any second plan?
No.
He couldn't figure it out right now but it didn't mean he wouldn't in the future.
Just as he was thinking of this when, all of a sudden, the voice of something flying in the air could be heard.
Lifting his head above, he saw a red object flying when it burst into a flash of light.
Reinforcements were here!
And the red flashing of the signal indicated that a cultivator higher than the Foundation establishment realm was dispatched.
Maintaining a slight smile on his face, Ruel's vision blacked out.