Rushing through the battle, Tara ignored the Pikeake and Iron Salamanders, who remained locked in fierce confrontation, knowing she needed to get to the Elder Iron Salamanders fast.
Fortunately, her defeating the Greater Pikeake in one blow intimidated the other Pikeakes, so they steered clear of her on their initiative.
Most of them cowed at her presence; none of the Pikeake's previous aggression was present since all magical beats responded to strength.
The Pikeakes were pleased to see her rush towards the aid of the Elder Iron Salamanders, full of the belief their leader, the Sphyrna Pikeake, would be the one to deal with her.
With the Pikeakes mostly giving way, she was able to navigate her way through the chaotic clash swiftly.
Reaching the second Greater Pikeake, the gigantic fish immediately responded to her presence.
Fear and suspicion filled its red, bloodthirsty eyes as it looked at her warily, and the Elder Iron Salamander took full advantage of its opponent, making a surprising leap of motion; the large-clunky-looking Salamander moved at speed through the water that seemed far too agile for its appearance.
The Greater Pikeake was taken by surprise, underestimating the Elder Salamander, who had been on the defensive since the start to occupy it and its companion.
All four Elder Salamanders knew the Sphyrna Pikeake wanted minimal involvement from the Greater Pikeakes, so it had sent them to deal with only one of the four Elder Salamanders, and that one was downplaying itself from the start to wait for an opportunity to strike.
The Elder Salamander had lost all hope and was going to go all out not too long ago. Yet, even then, the two Greater Pikeakes were too strong as a duo to take down by itself, yet with one remaining and Tara distracting it from the front, it had allowed this gambit to pay off.
Finally reaching the Greater Pikeake, the Elder Iron Salamander's brute strength can now be utilised to latch onto the thing with its claws, causing the large fish to struggle as it swings its large maw from side to side, trying to bite the Elder Iron Salamander.
However, despite its thrashing, the Elder Iron Salamander could hold on. Tara, who was taking a ridiculous risk by trusting the Elder Salamander to continue its hold on the large fish, approached the head of the Greater Pikeakes, which began to become even more aggressive, making the Elder Salamander struggle to contain it.
Nonetheless, that was all Tara needed as she bottomed out her Qi to generate a final metallic spike, causing the Greater Pikeakes to screech in desperation.
Yet, that didn't stop Tara from firing at point-blank range towards its eye socket.
Even though she was often inferior to it in cultivation, the attack was damaging; the Greater Pikeake was held firmly by the Elder Iron Salamander and could not evade the metallic spike that punctured right into its eye.
The Greater Pikeake yelled an enormous shriek, causing a piercing sound to echo through the water. The thrashing became so intense that the Elder Iron Salamander was finally dislodged.
Near its gaping maw, Tara found herself in grave danger, as the thing remained alive despite having a large spear deep into its eye socket.
Tara's fortune downing the first Greater Pikeake was not present this time, as she realised despite the Pikeake boasting weak natural defences, the thickness of their flesh that was bolstered many times by their superior cultivation made them extremely difficult to kill in usual circumstances.
The Greater Pikeake's remaining eye appeared enraged as it looked at her. The thing opened its maw as it tried to repeat the actions of its predecessor, but this time, she had no preemptive means to stop it.
Tara was only saved by the swift recovery of the Elder Iron Salamander, whom she had assisted. Using the spear as leverage, the Elder Iron Salamander gripped it with its powerful jaws, and with the fish who was trying to travel forward to attack her, its momentum only allowed the spear to dig even deeper into its eye socket, making it freeze as it shuddered.
Tara thought the thing would never die as its other eye moved to acknowledge the Elder Iron Salamander as it attempted to swing its mouth towards its aggressor.
Yet the Elder Iron Salamander was determined as it pushed the spear even deeper. Despite the Greater Pikeake's high vitality, Qi Gathering beasts are still mortal, and the final crunch from the spear digging through the skull to its brain was finally enough to end the Greater Pikeake.
And despite the Elder Iron Salamander carrying her in this encounter, either her contribution, her closeness to the Pikeake as it breathed its last or the fact it used the metal spear she generated from her Qi, for whatever one of those reasons caused her to receive credit for the kill according to the notification she had received.
[You have defeated {Greater Swamp Pikeake}, gaining 150 EXP. You are now 1007/1000 into progressing to Level 4.]
And with it, she had enough EXP to level up. Yet despite that, this was neither the time nor place to do so, so she had to decline the pressing notification indicating if she wanted to level up.
[Congratulations, you currently have enough experience points to level up. Would you like to progress to level 4?]
Hurriedly selecting 'No', the Elder Iron Salamander, who had just downed the remaining Greater Pikeake alongside her, wasted no time as it rushed to aid its comrades looking worse for wear.
The Sphyrna Pikeake, though, was enraged at this point and seemed done playing with its prey; the intense light from the crystal on its gigantic head seemed to glow even brighter as Tara witnessed the horrifying sight of the Elder Iron Salamander that had just downed the Greater Pikeake by her side get sliced into two, its thick flesh unable to put up the slightest resistance as a blade of ice split it open in a flash, the surrounding water around its carcass freezing slightly.
Tara felt hopeless seeing her powerful ally wiped out like that. Yet, she noticed that instead of pressing its advantage, Sphyrna Pikeake's eyes betrayed its true feelings as exhaustion filled its eyes.
It made Tara realise the Qi expenditure on its ice abilities must be ridiculous. Tara knew firsthand the expense, and even with the Sphyrna Pikeake being double her cultivation, it had been utilising its skills many times during the battle. Even with its more advanced cultivation, it was still only a Qi Gathering beast and did not possess endless Qi.
It was the first time the Sphyrna Pikeake had shown any vulnerabilities during the conflict. It was one magical beast of the age and experience that the two remaining Elder Iron Salamanders would never let such an opportunity pass.
Charging toward the Sphyrna Pikeake, which seemed more lethargic, slowed in its movement after utilising its Qi.
The Elder Iron Salamanders duo began to land repeated hits on the gigantic shark, causing light injuries to appear on the ginormous Pikeake.
Such a sudden shift in momentum was alarming. One moment, the Sphyrna Pikeake tore apart a strong enemy in one blow. The next, it seemed to be pushed back by the aggressive attacks from the remaining two Elder Iron Salamanders, not allowing the Sphyrna Pikeake any recovery time.
Despite this, the Sphyrna Pikeake's sheer power and size made it seem invincible. Even with its Qi exhausted, the Sphyrna Pikeake proved a mighty beast with a superior bloodline to Elder Iron Salamanders.
Tara became desperate to think of what she could do, and her thoughts drifted to the Earthray, how her poison allowed her to slow down and defeat a far superior opponent.
She had no idea the effectiveness of her poison towards the stronger Sphyrna Pikeake, yet she had to try.
The only thing is {Poison Secretion} only worked if she was close. The Sphyrna Pikeake's thicker flesh and more substantial cultivation made her need to target a wound to get her poison in its bloodstream.
Approaching the Sphyrna Pikeake, the large fish briefly gazed at her with a chilling look that screamed death. Recognising her contributions to the battle, the Sphyrna Pikeake loathed her and wanted to tear her limb from limb.
Yet, it had seen her capabilities and did not feel threatened by the metal spikes, which seemed her most deadly weapon. The Sphyrna Pikeake was far more durable than its Pikeake counterparts, so Tara was not worth noting. Being only in the third stage of Qi Gathering, it dismissed Tara as the lesser threat, with the two Elder Iron Salamanders occupying its attention.
The two Elder Iron Salamanders similarly did not believe Tara could do anything. They seemed to look at her pleadingly to back off, as if they wanted her to maintain her safety, thinking she was throwing her life away.
However, Tara was determined. She knew that if she didn't do anything, the two Elder Iron Salamanders were guaranteed to lose eventually, and for some reason, the thought of this irked her greatly.
Getting close to the Sphyrna Pikeake, she saw the fresh wounds caused by the two Elder Iron Salamanders. Despite the frantic movements from the three, they seemed ridiculously fast and swift compared to her, who, despite seeming smaller and more agile in appearance, was noticeably slower than the three, whose bulkier frames moved scarily fast. Nonetheless, she still achieved her goal of barely feeling poison dripping from her body as she managed just about to throw herself to climb all over the large fish wounds.
The Sphyrna Pikeake strangely invited her to do so, allowing her to crawl on its back as she pretended to make attempts to attack it to hide her true intentions of releasing her poison into its wounds.
She soon discovered why, seeing that her claws and teeth seemed harmless to the gigantic fish; they were not even sharp enough to pierce deep into its skin. With the cunning glint in its eye, she soon discovered exactly why it took the initiative to encourage her to crawl on its back.
The two Elder Iron Salamanders seemed to screech in annoyance at her to flee as she soon discovered their warnings held meaning as the gemstone on the giant fish head seemed to glow again.
She realised the Elder Iron Salamanders' warnings, but they were too late, and she suddenly found her consciousness frozen.
'Haha. At least I got my poison into its wounds, I tried.' Tara thought as she found her movements seemed to slow. Her mind began to grow hazier before her vision started to become black. She recalled something.
'Wait, don't I still have a level available?' Tara thought, knowing she had a chance. She brought up the system, trying to push her to the next level, hoping it would be the thing that saved her.
She had a weird determination that didn't allow her to back down.
Tara could be stubborn sometimes, and it may have cost her life this time.
Yet, if she still could make it out of this one, Tara promised to grow strong to the point where she never found herself in such a situation again.