An eight-meter hulk, with bulging muscles and two unbelievably long horns, fell on top of the six-meter ape with arms as thick as trees.
As the savage descended, it poised itself to attack with the momentum from its fall.
The ape was no slouch either.
Its geno core was an incredibly thick and heavy pillar, which was even thicker than its tree-like arms.
Roar!!!
Two roars echoed at the same time as the ape blasted the pillar and the savage unleashed a descent of death.
Bian, who was getting ever closer to the gate, suddenly had a bad premonition and jumped out from the ground.
Immediately after, an explosion unlike any before struck the center of the shelter.
All the zombies and creatures in the tunnels, save for the sacred-blood variants, were pulverized into chunks and splatters of blood.
The shockwave spread throughout the shelter, killing thousands of primitive and tens of thousands of ordinary zombies.
Mutant creatures like the Acid Spitters were only affected if they were close to the tunnels.
Bian himself would have been injured because his fitness was more or less like a primitive creature, and he didn't have enough energy to activate the Body Pillar.
At least not while using the Emperical Aura.
"I just evolved less than a week ago. I shouldn't be fending off mutants or be in the crossfire between sacred-blood creatures."
He could only grind his teeth and complain a bit to the child on his shoulders as he jumped to the side of a building and pushed off to the side of another building. He darted between the walls of buildings, taking extra measures to be as stealthy as possible.
Luckily for Bian, the shockwave also disturbed the Acid Spitters. They didn't take the subtle vibrations from his ejection seriously.
As Bian was about to jump off the side to another building, he suddenly paused and held on for dear life.
Bam!!!
"Even with the distance, their clash is deafening all the way over here."
Bam!
Bam!!
Bam!!!
This time, the savage had found solid footing and began its assault on the tree-armed ape.
The two could be considered humanoid sacred-blood creatures, and their fight didn't seem to be reaching a conclusion anytime soon.
The ape was at a slight advantage because of its geno core, which it used as a weapon, but the savage wasn't too far behind with its ferocious horns.
Bian observed as Ash Princess finally left the shelter with the Ruby Viper on her neck.
"Oh no!"
Bian would have cursed all her generations if not for Bao'er, who was on his shoulders.
The Ash Princess moved towards his location specifically.
She must have known that he was still alive, and the Ruby Viper could still track him with the poison from the pill he had ingested not so long ago.
The gap between the two was very large, but Bian knew the royal princess would catch up to him in less than an hour.
"Is everything okay?" Bao'er asked with concern when she saw Bian's face fall.
"Of course," Bian gave her a peck on the head. There was no need to concern a kid with the matters of adults.
Besides, Ash Princess had tried so hard to live. She endured her stay in the shelter, making sure all the factors were right before moving out.
Although she didn't end up using the poison in the end for anyone other than him, it was still a great idea not to depend on a single plan.
'I thought you wanted to live, yet you come after me. Very good, I'll show you just how crazy I can be.'
A dangerous glint flashed in his eyes as he spontaneously changed his direction toward another spot of the walls.
Bian initially wanted to avoid there no matter the cost, but Ash Princess had forced his hands.
He unsummoned the Solum Mirror, which already had full parameters when all the creatures in the tunnels died.
Then he deactivated the Emperical Aura. It was too draining for him to maintain right now.
...
Feet rapidly crashed against the ground as Bian ran. His eyes darted left and right, his head turned to look backwards as if he were worried about something.
Bian was sprinting at full speed and had to dodge to the side, narrowly avoiding a sword light that cut through the ground and went on to cleave a building in half.
"ASH PRINCESS, DO YOU DARE!"
He yelled as loudly as he could. Bao'er had already protected her ears.
The princess stopped chasing and paused to glare at Bian.
"You've already escaped. Let's go our separate ways and forget about each other." Bian cautiously stepped back as he spoke.
A light chuckle escaped from her lips.
"You don't have the qualifications to bargain with me."
She raised her sword, ready to end Bian's life, and at the same time, Bian summoned a glyph-type beast soul.
The beast soul granted him camouflage, albeit a very weak one. It made him difficult to spot and even worked to camouflage Bao'er as well, who was perched on his shoulder.
Then he used the Dongxuan Sutra to obscure his life force.
In an instant, he basically disappeared with little to no presence, making it difficult to spot him.
Yet a light chuckle escaped from her lips. Ash Princess said with some ridicule, "You have a lot of tricks, but it's all meaningless in front of true strength."
She felt immense joy, knowing her escape from the shelter was all but certain. She would have preferred to torture the weakling who made a fool out of her, but there was no time.
"Listen, such weak camouflage would only work on weaklings like yourself or absolutely brain-dead beasts."
A sword light concentrated on her sword. This time, she had solid footing, and missing would be a miracle.
Bian knew he couldn't survive or even dodge that sword beam. His plan was almost complete, he just had to stall her for one more second.
"You're right about one thing..."
Thankfully, Ash Princess was a sentient being, so she paused and listened to what he had to say. There was no way his strength could turn things around anyway.
"My camouflage would only work on brain-dead beasts. I mean, WHAT ELSE DO YOU THINK I WAS LURING US TO!"
ROARRRRRR!!!
Bian's loud yell was the last string that allowed the zombie to finally locate them.
Wings, mouths, eyes, tentacles, and darkness.
All shaped to vaguely resemble a human, but its true appalling nature was too evident to classify it as a humanoid zombie.
From the moment Bian saw this monstrosity in the Emperical Aura, he knew he had to stay far away from it.
He thought it was another sacred-blood undead, but this one was feared even by the savage. It was a berserk sacred-blood zombie.
The Eldritch flew toward the loud voices that disturbed it.
It felt four distinct presences.
Two were burning like a forest fire, and the other two like a quiet candle about to go out.
Quite obviously, the Eldritch aimed for Ash Princess and the Ruby Viper.
"You bastard!"
Words couldn't describe the amount of hate Ash Princess felt toward Bian at this moment. Before she could attack him, the Eldritch descended on her like a crushing wave of tentacles and darkness.
Her mood turned sour and her demeanor shifted in rage and fear. She had to use all her might to resist, yet even with the Ruby Viper they were both utterly suppressed by the monstrosity.
Beast soul? Geno cores?
Bian used Terraslip and fled for his life.
Of what use were those things if he died?
He maintained the Dongxuan Aura, constantly minimizing his aura as he fled away from the shelter.
The tree-armed ape, Ash Princess, and Ruby Viper were the only three living creatures left. Their chances of survival were slim, and Bian hoped he wouldn't have to worry about them ever again.
'Stupid spirit!' He cursed Ash Princess again for making him risk the lives of both Bao'er and himself.
Bian used Terraslip to the best of his abilities, covering a great distance and even surpassing the gates of the shelter.
Once he had gained enough distance, he activated the Body Pillar and used the Dongxuan Sutra to meditate on the insides of his body.
Tiny black granules were stuck in several parts of his body, especially where his bloodstream would have been.
Since he didn't have flowing blood while maintaining the body pillar at full throttle, Bian used the opportunity to find the numerous particles.
He marked each and every one of those tiny granules using Vital Point Targeting, then he deactivated the Body Pillar and summoned the Blood Syringe Geno Core.
It was a painful and arduous process, but once he started, there was no going back.
'It takes a peculiar mind to indulge in self mutilation.' He constantly spoke with himself, to act as a distraction against the pain.
Over a couple of hours, he injected himself and removed the black granules from his bloodstream.
A lot of blood was wasted in the process, but he finally got rid of the latent poison, which also acted as a tracker.
With his physique, the puncture holes healed in half an hour, and Bian could finally escape with peace of mind.
It was a rough ride, but he finally made it out of the dead lands.