Four spears aimed for the two ships.
Lao De immediately dashed into the storms again, a bright grin on his face.
Turning into a bolt of lightning the burly man collided with a spear, pushing it off its trajectory.
"Haha, this is nothing!"
Even as he was caught by the storms and spun in circles, Lao De wasn't distressed. Lightning enshrouded his massive bracers.
Pushing his arms out, fists of lightning shot at another two spears. Sparks scattered in the surroundings. The lightning was torn apart, but the spears' momentum also waned.
Lau Ru wasn't sitting idle as well. Five ghostly beings spread out, not affected by the storms at all. They precisely punched the spears, using little strength to deflect them.
Tepo sighed in relief as he watched the scene. He realized that he underestimated the two brothers and overestimated the kingdom.
In the end the peak combat power of the Hurricane Kingdom were only a few domain lords. If the weapons in a single fort could threaten powerful ascendants, wouldn't they rival the might of domain lords?
Thanking the brothers inwardly, Tepo focused on approaching the floor with ease of mind.
He was unsure what the fort was thinking at the moment, but soon the attacks against them stopped entirely.
Anyways, it would be difficult to hit Tepo as he got close to the ground.
Not much distance was left as the mountain soon filled his vision. Tepo focused, knowing that there were no storms in the vicinity of the mountain.
Suddenly he felt his body drop. The stale air couldn't carry him.
Large, reddish wings spread from Tepo's body as he activated [Spirit Wings]. Illuminated by the bright sun they looked like a blend between the wings of a dragon and phoenix.
The conspicuous movement was seen by many soldiers on the floor.
In comparison Varei was much sneakier, as the spirit could use his wings to fly even in [Spirit Form].
Tepo frowned as a few soldiers tried to attack him from the ground. Fortunately, they didn't dare to be too ostentatious, fearing that they would reveal their position to the enemy army.
But the attacks still distracted Tepo. Flying with wings for the first time, he was still unstable. And now he even had to break after falling towards the ground.
Tepo's chest tightened, wind whipping against his body as he flapped his wings strongly.
The mountain took an ever-increasing part of his vision. The young man felt anxious as he could discern the sharp rocks protruding from the cliff wall.
"You need to tilt! Tilt!"
Suddenly Varei's voice appeared in Tepo's mind. The spirit sped up, pushing his body into Tepo's vision.
"Copy me!"
As Varei moved his wings, redirecting the momentum and shot straight in the air it looked incredibly easy and graceful.
Concentrate, Tepo!
Watching his partner the young man cleared his mind and gritted his teeth.
The mountain came closer.
20 meters…
10…
Finally, Tepo willed his wings to move. Gravity pulled on his body as he changed his direction and glided vertically along the cliffside.
"Not bad… for a human."
Varei praised Tepo as the two partners traveled upwards, soon reaching the tunnel they saw Parton enter.
"Here! Let's go in!"
The two warriors directly ignored the boulder in the way. Using their [Spirit Form] they entered the tunnel.
Tepo even more or less figured out how to land, only rolling on the ground a few times.
A suppressed chuckle sounded out as Varei turned his body away from the embarrassing sight.
Meanwhile Tepo's friends arrived as well. With their ships they had it easier to precisely approach the tunnel.
"How do we get in?", asked Yerive anxiously. Although the young man improved his self-esteem over the last few months, he still felt useless at the moment.
All his spells were geared towards fighting, not offering the versatility Tepo showed.
"How? Just use the most direct way!"
While Lao De spoke, he already appeared outside the ship. Suddenly his body was engulfed by a pitch-black rock, flames and lightning dancing around it.
Like a meteor it barreled towards the ground.
Boom!
The entire cliffside vibrated from a massive impact. Rocks separated everywhere, some of them threatening to smash soldiers into pieces.
From below the cliff one would see a crater ten meter in diameter where Lao De crashed into the mountain.
The boulder originally blocking the tunnels was already gone.
"What are you waiting for?! Let's go!"
Only as Lao De's voice sounded out did Yerive and Droa'va manage to get rid of the shock. They had seldom experienced such a purely destructive spell.
The couple could still spot many blackened stones as they left their ship and followed the brothers into the tunnel.
Tepo and Varei had already gone ahead as they felt their surroundings tremble. Their chests tightened, afraid that the tunnel might collapse.
At this moment an illusionary figure appeared next to Tepo.
"Master said you can go ahead."
Naturally the young man recognized one of Lao Ru's ghosts. He nodded and signaled Varei to continue.
Meanwhile the ghost sped up, scouting the way ahead. It explored the tunnels quickly, finding many dead ends, helping Tepo to save time.
"There are soldiers ahead!"
With the ghost's warning, Tepo turned vigilant. He listened closely, hearing many voices arguing. Apparently, they discussed if it was worth opening a blocked passage.
Tepo and Varei stopped for a moment, the spirit using [Telepathic Communication]:
"What do you want to now? Should we ignore them?"
"We can't. From the discussion they are obviously pursuing someone! Let's take a look at the situation."
"Ok, your call."
The two partners gradually formed a tacit understanding. They activated their [Spirit Form] at the same time, sneaking up on the soldiers.
But before Tepo had time to overhear their discussion, his heart skipped a beat.
With his [God's Soul] the young man's vision ignored most obstacles like walls. Thus, he could directly 'see' past the rubble and into the cave behind it.
Tepo's body trembled in shock as he watched a certain blond man fight against a team of soldiers, including his best friend Parton.
The latter was desperately blocking a spell, struggling to hold on.
Finally, only him and a women were left.
"NO! Parton!"
Suddenly Tepo reacted. He screamed loudly, not even caring about the Tamed Storms soldiers nearby.
Tepo directly plunged into the wall with his ghostly body and dashed towards the cave, with Varei following closely.
Only a few steps separated Tepo and Parton.
But at this moment Insce made his move. Parton had nothing left to save himself, falling into the dark abyss.
NO!
Tepo's thoughts churned wildly. He arrived in the cave, ignoring everything as he directly jumped into the black hole.
Not far away Insce was observing the blood on his boots with a disgusted expression.
Suddenly he felt some movement. He raised his head, furrowing his brow, but he missed Tepo and Varei as they passed him.
If it weren't for [Spirit Form] the two younger warriors might've been blocked by the blond vice-captain.
However, Tepo couldn't care for Insce right now. He dived headfirst into the darkness, his arms close to the body, hoping to accelerate his fall.
After a few seconds however something strange suddenly appeared in the view provided by [God's Soul].
An enormous, soft, white object blocked the path, barely clinging to the rocky walls.
Towards one of its sides the woman who fell together with Parton had her hand buried into the cocoon, hanging on for dear life.
It only took a moment for Tepo to analyze the situation. His heart was unsettled as he found no trace of his best friend.
The young man immediately used [Telepathic Communication], questioning the woman:
"Where is Parton?!"
"Wha? Who are…?"
"WHERE IS PARTON?!"
"Ahh, he… he is inside. He used a spell."
"Inside?"
Tepo's eyes lit up.
Did Parton manage to save himself?
The young man smiled as he used [Spirit Wings], coming to a stop above the white cocoon.
But just as he felt joyful, the situation changed. Threads suddenly separated from the cocoon. The large object quickly dissolved.
Normally this was part of the spell, but now they were still flying at an unknown height in the air. As the cocoon's edges began dissolving, it abruptly began falling again.
Oh no!
"AHH!"
"Varei! Catch her!"
Tepo made quick decisions as he dove towards the side. There was a gap between the cocoon and the wall.
Tepo hastily passed it, arriving below Parton.
With his [Spirit Wings] flapping wildly the young man gritted his teeth and raised his arms, prepared to stop the fall at all costs.
But the cocoon weight a lot less than Tepo expected. It was incredibly soft, bending like a bridge above the young man as he held it up.
At this time the spell began to dissipate faster and faster. The cocoon shrank within seconds, soon revealing its core.
Tepo only had to balance the object above his head until he saw Parton's body laying amidst some white threads.
Although the cocoon had the effect of temporarily transforming one's body, it couldn't replenish force.
Thus, Parton was still exhausted, passively experiencing the changes around him.
Now as the spell dissolved, he suddenly found himself floating in midair.
The tall man couldn't figure out what happened. He turned his head. Suddenly Parton's body froze, watching the man holding him up in disbelief.