The moment Master Aaron took the bloodstone off the throne, the earth beneath them was shaking with great force.
"What's happening now?"
All of them seemed to break dancing because of the strong irregular tremors, making it difficult for most to remain standing.
The altar also changed as it started to release a devious, dark, poisonous aura that seemed to fill the entire underground ruin.
"Don't breathe; hold your breath."
Master Aaron was the closest, so he immediately warned everyone to be careful and to hold their breath.
But it was far from over, and from beneath the altar, suddenly tentacles made of shadows appeared and attacked Master Aaron as he was taking the remaining bloodstones.
The attack was instantaneous and fast. It was absolutely unexpected because of the poisonous, dark aura, which seemed to hide its aura.
If it had been someone else, he could have been caught off guard by the surprise attack, but the target now was master Aaron, whose swordsmanship had advanced to the highest extent, and his every action was instinctual, so he didn't need to see anything to attack.
Many shadow tentacles from behind moved towards Master Aaron, but without looking back, he just held his sword cane lightly, and instantly, he seemed to have completely changed.
He swung his sword, but it was so fast that nobody saw it. Only when the aftershocks came did they understand it.
Szzzzz! Bang!
And all those tentacles were sliced into thousands of pieces with a loud explosion.
Apollo and others looked at the scene with a shocked feeling, as for the first time, they had seen a master swordsman attack.
Apollo was the most shocked, as although he did not see how the sword moved because it was too fast, what was incredible was that in these attacks he did not feel an ounce of life energy; instead, such devastating force was achieved just by raw physical strength.
"Truly worthy of being the strongest, a senior does not even need to use life energy to defeat such things."
After dealing with this master, Aaron returned to them, but the dark shadow-like things did not stop and continued to come out from beneath the altar in large quantity, trying to swallow everyone.
"We have to leave this quickly."
"Let's go."
Apollo and his grandfather, along with their soldiers, followed the master Aaron's lead and ran with their might.
But those shadows did not make this easy for them, as all of them were assaulted by numerous shadows from different directions.
"Ready to battle!"
Everybody took their weapons out and charged, swinging them towards the shadows that attacked them.
Apollo was also in this group. As the situation became chaotic, everyone needed to do their best, as now it was not a training session but a real-life and death situation.
He moved with fast and accurate movements without wasting any strength or life force; he made multiple swings with his sword, slashing many shadow tentacles in his path.
His sword was fast, as they would leave an afterimage after every single lethal strike from him. And if you looked carefully, they had a certain charm similar to the sword movement of Master Aaron's previous strike.
Although he was not able to fully see and mimic that strike, it still gave him some hints, which increased his swordsmanship understanding.
Every sword of his was meant to destroy his target as these countless weird shadows tried to swallow them, but this intense and nerve-racking situation meant he needed to improve, which he could not feel in his usual training sessions.
So at this moment, every time he swings his sword, he improves and understands new things about swordsmanship. He was now in a zone of his own where his mind was only concentrated on improving his swordsmanship.
And slowly, his swordsmanship started to get faster, better, and beyond ordinary human understanding.
But others were not in the same situation, as with time, no matter how many of those weird tentacles they cut, in the end, they would return stronger with an increase in their number.
As if this trouble was not enough, the severed tentacles suddenly started to fuse.
"What this?"
"Stand aside!"
Without waiting a second, Master Aaron, whose eyes glowed with lightning as he took out his cane sword, started to release lightning bolts.
"Wrath of Thunder God!"
Master Aaron said in a clear and calm voice and swung his sword, which seemed to break some barriers as the surroundings changed and the whole underground ruin shook with a blue lightning aura.
The lightning was so eye-blinding that everyone closed their eyes except Apollo, who was still looking at the sword.
Boom! Boom!
A beam of lightning travelled hundreds of meters within a second while ravaging everything in its path, whether the dark shadows or the barrier that seemed to be trapping them. This lightning destroyed everything.
"Damm!"
All of them almost shit their pants seeing the destruction caused by the single attack of Master Aaron. The whole place seems to have been destroyed, creating a hundreds of meters-long crater, describing the devastating power of that single attack.
"This is not something humans can do."
"Indeed, as expected of the strongest masters of the kingdom, they are all beyond human limits and closer to divine beings."
The soldiers all started whispering and talking after seeing the divine might of Master Aaron that levelled the place.
Apollo was still lost in thought of Master Aaron's lightning attack, as he seemed to have seen a lightning god in it and felt a mysterious power that seemed to transcend the world.
But just as all of them were feeling relieved as the danger seemed to have disappeared from beneath their feet, suddenly the weird shadow appeared again, which seemed to have been waiting for this moment, and instantly swallowed half of the people and disappeared, leaving everybody shocked.
Even Master Aaron did not expect this and could not do anything.
"Apollo!"
Grandpa William also came to his senses and roared, realizing that Apollo was also within the swallowed group.