Chapter 199: Fighting Alongside A New Partner
Elton sat panting heavily with terrible injuries covering his body. Seated within his lap, forcefully, was a certain Umankan woman he had never met before, but the inner voice knew her well enough. She was the woman from the mansion who killed the Mortal Lord Daemonorc, the main culprit who committed the slaughter and sparked the rebellion in the Daemonorc capital.
The inner voice partially took over Elton's body through insistence to speed up the process of recovery through synchronized cultivation.
Lying beside them with a heavy breath was a horrifically injured man with scales and wings, magical seals placed throughout his body. He was half conscious, staring at Elton and the woman in disbelief.
"Damned serpent, it's your fault that you ended up this way thanks to being such an irritating pest. Hahaha! Now you can serve me as a mount!… Should I really be grateful for this kind of thing, though?" Elton seemed to be speaking aloud with a strange sense of incongruity, as both his and the inner voice's differing thoughts slipped out.
The Umankan woman paid no attention. For the first time, she felt a form of true ecstasy that didn't even require penetration different from the forceful ravaging from that Daemonorc Mortal Lord, which had only ever felt painful and humiliating. For the first time in years, she felt happiness, relief, and true excitement. She even swiftly broke through the barrier into Gold Tier 5 at last, officially a Golden Lord expert.
Elton, on the other hand, was finally able to truly feel the existence of the not-yet-awakened 8th meridian without using Celestial Sense.
"What exactly is this 8th meridian… Why does it need the synchronized essence of different women for me to activate it?" Elton muttered, confused.
"Ahh? Hell if I know, boy. At most I was simply aware of its existence and that it will be extremely beneficial when breaking through into the Mortal Shedding Realm and even beyond. It's best to continuously work on as many foundations as you can in the Mortal Realms before actually transcending to Mortal Shedding for our future growth! In fact, I'd say that if possible we should at least be able to contend with a Middle Stage Mortal Lord to some extent before breakthrough. Hehehe." The inner voice spoke arrogantly through Elton.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Elton muttered in disbelief.
"Tch. We don't have too much time. We've got plenty of essence beasts charging over here fast. On the other hand, we also have help coming. For your own sake I say we finish this up before anyone comes," the inner voice replied coldly, much to Elton's annoyance.
Not long afterward, Elton stood up with most of his terrible injuries healed a decent amount. He held the Umankan woman with a bitter expression and sighed, then picked up the scaled man by the neck with one hand and slapped him multiple times with the other as it glowed with a mighty nature magic meant for healing and recovery.
"Buaah! You damned bastard! I will kill you!!!" the man shrieked in fury.
"Oh, shut up already! You've already completely lost to me and have signed a contract as my sla— I mean, contract beast. This is all your fault, remember? You should have died a long time ago, but here you are delivering yourself to me on a silver platter," Elton snorted in annoyance.
The scaled man could only look down, his face filled with depression. In fact, everything Elton said was true. There was just one thing Elton did not know: for some reason, the scaled man's intelligence at that time wasn't as high as it was now. Only in this battle, after a great clash and taking a powerful sword strike, did his mind jolt with a newfound intelligence and understanding. This also led to him being able to transform into this humanoid form.
Because he suddenly gained new awareness and intelligence, it also brought newfound feelings, thoughts, and abilities. The problem was that he was still in the middle of a life-or-death battle. In their final clash, he suffered defeat because of distraction and a strange innate fear of the guy before him that originally wasn't there. Afterwards, he was forced into submission in a half-conscious state and made to become a contracted beast.
"I know that even though your injuries are horrific you're still capable of fighting. I've even aided you by accelerating your healing and recovery through magic and vampiric blood magic. Not to mention, you are also a mutated Winged Serpent Demonic Beast of very high talents! Let's fight, 'partner,'" Elton said sarcastically.
"…You say all of that, but because of you I barely even have my strength as a Mortal Lord! You annoying bastard!!" With a desperate shout, the scaled man fully transformed back into his giant Winged Serpent form as he and Elton watched the essence beasts nearby charge toward them with terrible killing intent. Two of them were Early Stage Mortal Lords, creating yet another desperate battle.
Unlike before, the Winged Serpent Demonic Beast was far more calculating and skilled with using its abilities, even creating new applications he had always been capable of but lacked the intelligence to conceive.
A storm of sharp black wind blades ruthlessly cut through many weaker beasts, but a Mortal Lord beast quickly stopped the onslaught as the two began a serious clash.
– White Lightning Spear Barrage –
Elton unleashed a barrage of White Lightning Spears. They pierced and exploded across various beasts before he went all out, charging at the second Mortal Lord beast with a piercing strike.
– Heaven-Piercing Radiance Fang –
The Mortal Lord essence beast was slightly startled by the extreme speed and power of the Blue Heavenly Star Destroyer's strike and barely mounted a defense. Its side was pierced and it was knocked back on impact. With a furious roar, it rampaged, doing anything in its power to destroy Elton.
"Seriously, give me a break already!" Elton panted while defending against each strike. He also had to watch out for the numerous essence beasts attacking from all sides while making sure the Umankan woman was safe. It was truly a dreadful task.
Finally, aid arrived. An arrow seemed to appear from the void, smashing directly into the burning lightning-infested wound Elton had opened on the Mortal Lord beast. An explosion filled with killing might caused its burning blood to splatter profusely. A barrage of ranged attacks spilled from the sky in the distance—sharp white and green winds, a rain of arrows, red fist projections filled with crushing intent, and other assaults.
The Winged Serpent tried to dodge in panic as many of the attacks were also aimed at him.
"Hey, you bastard, make them stop including me in their waves of attacks!" the serpent growled in irritation.
The Mortal Lord essence beast fighting Elton continued to howl in pained fury as some of the attacks struck it. Suddenly, a sharp burning sword intent erupted, and a figure clad in shining green flames came crashing toward the beast.
– Flaming Green Hammer Sword –
The rampaging essence beast was heavily swatted away as a lingering green flame swallowed its body, sending it half a mile into the distance. The Mortal Lord beast that had been stalled by the Winged Serpent panicked upon seeing that and leaped away to observe.
"Get lost, you trash!!"
The Winged Serpent roared. A dark, piercing ray of light blasted from its maw, smashing into the beast and hurling it far away. A faint shield could be seen covering its body, though it was unknown how much damage it had suffered. The Winged Serpent gave a smug smile—then suddenly felt impending danger from those around him, especially the man with the sharp green sword aura.
"Heeey! Stop him! You bastard, what are you doing?!" the Winged Serpent screeched at Elton with a bit of terror, causing the man and the others flying on top of Elchris to pause in slight confusion.
These people were none other than Elton's group, along with Christy's parents and Shayleaf's father. Elton moved at lightning speed, appearing by the Winged Serpent hovering near the ground, then smiled.
"Ahh, thank you for your help earlier, umm, Mr. Jonovan—ah, and you guys as well. Don't harm this Winged Serpent. He's on our side now. Due to the circumstances, he became my contracted beast."
A brief silence hung in the air—then Elton's comrades erupted in shock.
"EHHHH?!"
"Ohh? How interesting! As expected of this son-in-law!" Jewleaf said with a proud expression.
Jonovan smiled and sighed in relief upon seeing Elton was fine. He was also shocked by Elton's combat abilities, which were nearly at the Early Stage Mortal Lord level.
"Gege! I'm so glad you're safe!"
"Brother Elly, I was so worried!"
"Master… I'm relieved to see that you're fine."
Elchris dove beside Elton as Christy, Shayleaf, and Tongsheng gave heartfelt words filled with relief.
"Oh, you guys… I appreciate that. We've got to leave this place as soon as possible, though. Earlier I sensed a Late Stage Mortal Lord," Elton said with a serious expression.
"Mother and the others might be stalling it as best they can for now. We certainly have to leave as soon as possible!" Christina said, her expression paling with worry.