The formation master's smile hadn't even finished forming—
When the ground beneath him shifted.
Not cracked.
Not split.
It moved.
A deep, grinding tremor rolled through the forest floor. Loose soil lifted. Pebbles rattled. Roots snapped as something vast displaced the earth from below.
His pupils shrank.
"…What?"
BOOM!
The ground behind him erupted.
A colossal serpent burst upward—its body forged entirely of compacted stone and hardened earth, scales layered like interlocking slabs of granite. Mud and shattered rock cascaded from its rising form as it coiled skyward, its massive head looming over him.
Before he could even turn—
BOOM!
Another eruption.
A second earth serpent tore free from the ground at his flank, spiraling upward in a storm of dirt and broken roots, sealing off his escape.
The tremor rolled outward like a miniature quake.
The forest shook.
The formation master stumbled, barely maintaining his footing as both serpents hovered, their bodies suspended not by flesh but by controlled earth qi, massive maws opening in silent menace.
His barrier flickered.
"This—this isn't the same attack—!"
Above, the fox's tail swayed lazily.
"Oh, don't misunderstand," the fox said mildly. "You destroyed the guide for the water one."
Its eyes gleamed faintly.
"But did you really think that was the only element we could play with?"
The formation master's breathing quickened.
Water conducted lightning.
Earth trapped movement.
And the unseen attacker was still—
A violent impact slammed into his barrier from behind at the exact moment the first earth serpent lunged.
CRACK.
The barrier fractured visibly this time.
The formation master coughed blood, barely stabilizing himself midair as the second serpent snapped forward, its stone fangs slamming into the opposite side of his defense.
He realized it then.
The pill hadn't been guiding the attack.
It had been—
Simplifying it.
Now—
The attacks were coming from multiple vectors.
Unpredictable.
Relentless.
From somewhere unseen, scales shifted softly against soil.
The lizard stood beneath the earth, invisible and unmoving, controlling the terrain as if it were an extension of its own body.
Its thoughts were calm.
Remove one method.
Apply pressure with another.
Above, the fox's smile widened slightly.
"You should've run when you had the chance."
The two earth serpents lunged in tandem.
Stone fangs slammed against the formation master's barrier—
BOOM. BOOM.
The defensive light rippled violently, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface—yet it held.
The formation master didn't hesitate. He thrust a formation flag downward and shot backward through the air, retreating at full speed. Symbols flared beneath his feet as he accelerated, putting distance between himself and the serpents.
"Mindless constructs," he muttered through clenched teeth. "Without guidance, they're nothing but brute force."
The serpents pursued, but he weaved sharply, forcing them to collide with trees and tear through stone instead. Their massive bodies carved trenches through the forest floor.
Below.
Beneath the churned earth.
The lizard stood perfectly still.
Invisible.
Silent.
Its tongue flicked once.
Nothing.
No scent of sweat. No shift of breath. No tremor precise enough to mark a body suspended in the air.
The pill was gone.
Without it—
There was no anchor.
Its sight had not returned.
Its sense of smell was useless against someone suspended midair, defensive qi sealing all leakage.
For a brief moment, there was only quiet calculation.
I cannot see it.
I cannot smell it.
Then location is irrelevant.
The lizard lowered its body slightly.
Then I will just attack everything.
The ground trembled.
Not violently.
Subtly at first.
Then—
The entire forest floor within a hundred meters shifted.
Soil compressed.
Stone compacted.
Hidden rock veins pulsed with gathered earth qi.
The formation master's eyes widened mid-flight.
"…What is it doing?"
Then the world below him rose.
Not in one place—
But everywhere.
Pillars of earth shot upward like spears. Jagged spikes erupted randomly across the terrain. Whole sections of ground heaved and flipped, turning the battlefield into a chaotic field of vertical stone lances.
No targeting.
No precision.
Just overwhelming coverage.
One pillar barely missed him—
Another clipped the edge of his barrier.
CRACK.
His defensive light flickered harder this time.
The earth serpents dove again, using the rising terrain as leverage, launching from stone to stone like living siege engines.
The fox watched from midair, eyes narrowing slightly.
"…Ah."
Its tail swayed.
"So that's your solution."
The formation master gritted his teeth as he dodged a forest of erupting spikes. His movement space was shrinking rapidly. The sky above was safe—
But descending even slightly meant being impaled.
And staying high meant draining qi faster while maintaining his barrier.
He clenched his jaw.
"This unseen thing… it doesn't care about accuracy."
Below the battlefield, the lizard remained unmoving, feeding earth qi outward in controlled waves.
Its thoughts were simple.
If a single strike cannot find it—
Then make the world the strike.
Above, the fox chuckled softly.
"…You really are insane."
The formation master's breathing grew ragged.
Everywhere he looked—
Stone.
Spikes.
Serpents.
Unpredictable eruptions tearing through the battlefield without pattern or mercy.
His formation flags hovered around him in a rotating orbit, defensive glyphs spinning rapidly as he tried to stabilize himself midair.
"Fine," he hissed.
"If you won't show yourself—"
A flag slammed downward.
Light flared across the sky.
An attacking formation unfolded above him—geometric lines of golden light interlocking into a massive circular array. Symbols rotated, locking onto the entire area below indiscriminately.
"You want chaos?" he muttered.
"Then let's see how you like being burned out."
The formation ignited.
From above, condensed beams of spiritual light began raining down—each one precise, destructive, and fast. They weren't aimed at a single target.
They blanketed the terrain.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Stone pillars exploded.
Earth serpents shattered into rubble.
The ground ruptured violently under the barrage.
Below—
The lizard's claws dug into the ground.
Its body shifted, lowering even closer to the earth as beams punched craters into the surface. Soil collapsed in chunks, but each time a section was destroyed, more earth compacted beneath it.
It adjusted.
Calculated.
He was high.
Maintaining dual formations.
Barrier active.
Qi consumption extreme.
Drain him.
Above, the fox watched the exchange with narrowed eyes.
The sixth-layer talisman master hovered at a distance, barrier shimmering, clearly waiting for an opening.
The fox licked its lips.
"Hmm…"
It could feel its energy recovering from the pill—but not fully yet.
The formation master was spending heavily.
Good.
Very good.
The fox's divine sense expanded quietly, observing micro-fluctuations in the formation's rotation speed.
Slowing.
Just slightly.
The fox smiled wider.
"Looks like you're burning faster than you expected."
The formation master snarled. "Shut up!"
Another volley descended.
But this time—
The earth below did not erupt defensively.
It went still.
Too still.
The formation master's instincts screamed.
And then—
The ground beneath one of his descending beams suddenly hollowed out completely.
A massive vacuum pocket.
The beam punched through—
And in that instant, compressed earth from all directions collapsed inward like a triggered avalanche.
Not upward.
Not random.
Focused.
The sky beneath him detonated as a colossal column of condensed stone shot straight up, like a mountain being born.
His barrier met it.
CRAAAAACK—
The sound rang like breaking crystal.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
"That—!"
A second later—
An invisible force reached him.
A maw.
Silent.
Precise.
Guided not by sight—
But by vibration.
The lizard had felt the fracture in his barrier the moment it cracked.
Its jaws closed around the weakened point.
SHATTER.
The barrier exploded outward in shards of light.
The formation above flickered violently.
The fox moved instantly.
All three spears screamed through the air in perfect synchronization.
The black spear pierced first—straight through his chest.
The jade spear followed, impaling his shoulder and pinning him midair.
The third weapon struck his dantian directly.
Blood sprayed into the night.
The attacking formation overhead sputtered—
Then collapsed entirely.
The forest fell quiet.
The formation master's body hung suspended for half a breath before the fox flicked its paw.
The spears tore free.
He dropped.
Dead before he touched the ground.
Silence reclaimed the battlefield once more.
Only two remained now.
The talisman master at the sixth layer.
And—
The unseen lizard below.
The fox turned slowly, fur still faintly smoking from earlier lightning, eyes gleaming.
"Well," it said lightly, its voice carrying through the devastated forest.
"Now it's just you."