This was not a good situation, Xie Xiu thought to herself as she was checking the downed body of the old man she so disliked yet begrudgingly respected.
"Fuck. Old man, how did you let this happen to you, you idiot!?" she growled under her breath as her face took a furious yet bitter expression as she shifted his body to see what the hell he was dealing with, and how she could even begin to fix whatever she could.
If she could, that is.
Her mind kept repeating what just happened, over and over, as if trying to see where everything went wrong. Everything seemed alright when she tricked the former Xie clan member, Mei Wu and her non-contracted beast, that alraune with an attack with her Venomous Viper, only to then hit them with her silver-ranked level 4 Garguantuan Earth Worm, an absurdly large worm-like beast specializing in moving underground and is capable of hiding its presence while at it. It was almost impossible to sense when under the ground due to its natural skills at hiding since it lived in a harsh desert before she contracted and tamed it.
That part of the fight, it was fine. She expected that the two would not die by such an ambush, which is why she told the Garguantuan Earth Worm not to swallow them.
Mei Wu's ability to force one's energy and Qi to become dormant and nullified, along with that beast of hers that seemed to focus only on ripping apart the Qi pathways, and whatever poison the pink-haired woman seemed to generate to target the Qi and mess with it directly. And the terrifyingly intelligent alraune was a pit of poison and acid.
Xie Xiu's beast won't be able to survive the attempt to swallow them, and would most likely fail at harming them effectively, since the alraune could easily protect Mei Wu while the pink-haired woman weakened the giant worm.
Xie Yao then jumps rapidly towards the terrified woman and easily punches a hole through the alraune that intercepted his attack to protect Mei Wu, and Xie Xiu thought it was finally about to end.
Except it didn't.
What happened afterwards was what she felt the most horrifying thing to ever deal with in that fight. Hate, hate, hate so massive and a shriek filled with so much venom that it almost felt like whoever Mei Wu was, changed into a monster that desired nothing but to taint and break anyone her gaze focused on, as whatever skill that seemed to degrade any ability to use Qi, suddenly went out of control, painfully forcing even Xie Xiu to a level where she was nothing but a weak human, if only for a second, her beasts almost being unsummoned because of that, had she not been so experienced.
With a cruelty that seemed to only appear in a beast that lost all reason, whatever poison that Mei Wu could create, brutally invaded him, attacking every part of his body. So much power and energy being pumped by the screaming and beastly Mei Wu that seemed to lose all ability to think about anything but to murder him, that Xie Xiu was certain that it was only due to the alraune's vine injecting healing nectar into the woman that allowed her to live through the usage of her own attack.
An attack that would have emptied all of Mei Wu's reserves a dozen times over, as she all but forced the poison inside of Xie Yao's body, and then her beast hungrily and furiously followed, and Xie Xiu didn't need to hear the ear-piercing scream of Xie Yao to realize how weakened he was, as he seemed to be barely capable of throwing Mei Wu, protected by her Grimoire's Halo Shield, and the alraune so far away, before he dropped to the ground.
And as she was right now inspecting the damage to the injured and almost unconscious Xie Yao, she realized just how brutal Mei Wu's attack was.
Xie Yao had already lost the ability to focus properly to summon his beasts, reverting him to his much weaker and smaller form. He no longer looked like a hulking mix between an ogre and a bipedal rhinoceros, which made a lot of sense, since he was literally like that when fused to both his strengthening-type beasts.
Instead, he now looked like the old man he was. Nearly two meters tall, yet nothing seemed to inspire power or grace like he usually did in Xie Xiu's opinion, as she was looking at his injuries with barely restrained horror, her face trying to appear furious as usual at him, yet failing to do that.
The damage she was seeing was one that would be impossible to take lightly, even for one as tough as him.
Parts of his body were practically stripped of flesh, showing the white bones to the world and blood was tainted black as it leaked from his body, a foul and repulsive smell emanating from it.
A whole fist had almost all of the in it flesh taken away, the bones looking so fragile that a simple touch would break them, and there was an equally horrible rip in his stomach, as blood and stomach acid mixed, sizzling and giving a most disgusting odor. The flesh on his forehead was almost ripped apart the same way, and she wasn't certain how he was still alive, since she could feel one of his eyes was about to leave its socket. Whatever attack that Mei Wu's beast did, either it wasn't serious at the start, or its power only increased the more Mei Wu seemed enraged, that was the only thing Xie Xiu could think of to explain why she and the old man were even still alive.
If Mei Wu attacked with this brutality before, when she first threw her beast at them as they broke into the hive, Xie Xiu was certain they would be dead in seconds. Though that's with the assumption that her idea on how Mei Wu's beast works was correct, and she unfortunately had no time to think of that at the moment.
And now that she could also get a much better idea on what Mei Wu's ability was, Xie Xiu realized that Xie Yao's Qi wasn't poisoned, like she thought it was before.
No, it was a more horrifying concept. Much to her disgust, it was pumped with impurities, so much that he was effectively crippled, and would take years, if not decades, of dedicated training and cultivation at the very least to purge them to a more manageable level, and even if he tried to do just that, Xie Xiu knew that he won't be able to do so, because as she inspected the damage she noticed another problematic development.
The Qi pathways were damaged, severely so. She was certain, even with her rather lackluster experience and skills in healing, that at least, some meridians were severely damaged, maybe even utterly broken.
Maybe one of the far more experienced healers could fix and restore the flesh. Maybe they could even find a way, expensive or not, to purify the Qi and even possibly to mend the damaged qi pathways. But there would be no way to easily fix the damaged, or even destroyed meridians. Not unless there was some very unique and special pill or item that could allow such a thing.
But, regardless of that, the point being, he will not be able to use his usual power for a long time. And who knows how his beasts are affected or will be, if he fused with them at this state. No matter what, his power and position in the sect would plummet due to these injuries.
"Old man..." she muttered, deciding to use whatever she knew about healing to at least stabilize him for a while. It was by no way a lasting solution, but she knew how to deal with some of the impurities and at least close the wounds. She wasn't a full-fledged expert when it came to healing, but she learned a few tricks during her life to deal with such things. If she could make a sudden experiment on herself to purge demonic Qi in her body right in the middle of a life-and-death battle, then she was more than prepared to take out foreign and harmful substances from the body of an old fossil such as him.
Though naturally, she won't be able to eject all the impurities and other poisons that he has in his system. She's not experienced enough to try that and genuinely think she would succeed without killing him.
Still, she had to do her best at least. Despite how much she disliked him, she would be rather upset about him actually dying, especially in a mission like this. He was still a part of the Xie clan, and a person she respects for his attitude and skills, even if she didn't show it.
"You... brat..."
Even though she was shocked by the sudden call, almost jumping up due to the stress and effort she was making to at least halt the process of the poisons and impurities killing him. His voice sounded so soft and weak, extremely different than how he usually was, and she found herself hating it more than his usual condescending tone towards her.
"Shut up old fossil." she bit scathingly even as she didn't let go of his body as sweat trickled on her forehead from the concentration. "You just mangled yourself so badly I'm sure even the resources of the entire Four Great Clans won't be able to fix you, you dumbass!"
And she was genuinely honest about what she said, in her opinion. Even in the Da Xia Kingdom, there was a limit to how rare some resources are, and she doubted that even they could fix something like Xie Yao's messed-up body.
Xie Yao only laughed weakly, before coughing blood as black as the night. Even this was already taxing on his fragile state. "Do you think that just because I became crippled, I would simply die? Ghk!" more blood left his lips, yet he continued to smile even as the pain was almost unbearable.
"You foolish woman, you should leave me here this instant. Either go and finish what we started, or escape and leave the forest with these youngsters. This is an order from your superior!" he glared at her, making it clear that he wasn't interested in dealing with any arguments.
She though only glared at him with the same intensity. "Don't act so arrogant! If you want to die this much, you can probably court death in this state. But you better not think you can dictate my actions." she retorted angrily at him.
Honestly, how callous can one be? He puts himself close to death, then acts so selfishly and rejects her efforts to heal his old body that should have disintegrated decades ago? What a joke!
"Don't be stupid, you brat!" he coughed and wheezed after that, and she only gritted her teeth in annoyance. Can't he just shut up!? That would be far better really! Less time and effort spent on stabilizing him and keeping him alive that way.
"You think the Queen Bee will continue to ignore us for so long? She's already probably mobilizing her army of silver-ranked beasts! You know that, right?" he told her, and she only bit her lips at that, feeling bitter.
"I know that." how couldn't she? The first thing she did before even moving to deal with this stupid old man's injuries was to command her Gargantuan Earth Worm to finish these two off.
Unfortunately, that blasted Queen Bee suddenly decided to make a move instead of apparently enjoying being a bystander! Being a Golden King Beast, she was practically the equivalent to a queen of beasts, and her mere presence was usually enough to pressure and terrify those not close to her level.
The Gargantuan Earth Worm, being a mere silver-ranked beast, and a level 4 at that, was simply unable to actually do much against the pressure the Queen Bee exuded. The Queen Bee had surpassed it in both level and rank, along with being in a different category altogether.
Xie Xiu's beast tried to find a way to reach Mei Wu and the alraune, it really did, and Xie Xiu knew so from the contract and the link it had with her. Sadly, the Queen Bee, while deciding not to murder it, for whatever reason, was determined to keep it away from the pink-haired woman and the plant woman.
And if she did understand the Gargantuan Earth Worm's impression correctly, the Queen Bee was pissed. It was probably that she wants to personally kill the entire Xie clan search party as soon as possible, but the only thing stopping her from doing that is the lives of her two non-bee subordinates.
Even more so, her Venomous Viper tried to go and deal with the enemies as well, but from what she could gather, there were many Silver-ranked Protector Bees and Bronze-ranked Drone Bees making sure that Xie Xiu's beasts can't leave the area. If the Venomous Viper tried to actually fight back, it would be dealing with dozens of beasts nearly equalling to it in level, and that won't end up well.
The fact that that even the disciples won't even be able to fight back was obvious, though Xie Xiu was certain they are either terrified or excited, as they had probably felt Xie Yao's power before he was so horribly injured. They most definitely heard that scream, along with Mei Wu's before everything suddenly turned relatively silent.
Not that it mattered, she supposed. The Protector Bees most definitely were watching them, and the fact they are alive or not is up to debate at this point. Honestly, their presence in hindsight was a waste...
"... We're going to die here, aren't we?" Xie Yao spoke, strangely without any bite in his tone. Suddenly, he raised his intact arm and grasped Xie Xiu's hand, much to her surprise.
"What are you doing? I'm trying to save you from a well-deserved death you worthless relic!" she shouted indignantly, but a second later, she realized what he planned.
"Wait... you!"
Ignoring her shout, Xie Yao immediately summoned his three beasts. The Metal Rhinoceros and the Violent Ogre fused with him again, while the Saber-toothed Blazing Tiger was once again ready for action, even if it didn't heal from the poison inside its body yet.
"Are you an idiot!? You're killing yourself this way!" knowing that he won't take kindly to her forcefully making him stay and rest, Xie Xiu decided to just shout in fury at him, angry enough that her Camouflage Chameleon, hidden around them to watch out for approaching enemies, felt worried for its master's state. "You're so injured you will die in hours without proper, or even minimum care! And even your beasts won't be able to allow you to survive for long! The moment they disappear..."
She clenched her fist at this guy's idiocy. He really wanted to court death today! How can she deal with such unreasonable person!?
"I know that." he admitted, still looking as determined as ever "Let's admit it. The moment we knew there was a hive, we should have immediately returned and brought back a lot more of our powerhouses to crush the enemy. Yet we didn't. And even when we had more chances and reasons to escape, we decided that sticking around would be the better move."
"And now that all exits are closed, it's time to face the consequences of our actions?" Xie Xiu snorted at him, yet didn't bother to argue back. This old fart won't stop if he was determined enough and there was no better idea than fighting. And they both knew that surrendering was impossible, since they would be killed at best, and be tortured for who knows how long at worst.
"Well, look at this. We agree on something only in the face of certain death. Like every other time we nearly died before in a mission together." she snarked as she mentally unsummoned her Venomous Viper and Gargantuan Earth Worm, and then resummoned them next to her. In her heart, she lamented the fact that she had no beast that could fly. At least that might have made escape possible? Prehaps not, since the Queen Bee would probably just kill them in the air.
"They say that one's true nature shows when in front of the face of death." he only replied with a grin, his hulking figure standing strong despite the severe damage he received. He probably would only live a few hours at most if he was lucky. He would just have to make them count, even for a while.
And then... silence.
For a few minutes, the two imagined that there would be an attack from the Queen Bee and her subordinates, yet strangely, nothing like that happened. There was not even a buzz from any beast bee for what felt like a long time, and even Xie Xiu's sensitive and sharp beasts couldn't hear such a sound.
"Hey, you think something wrong is going on? Are they trying to act like they're going to leave us alone to surprise us?" Xie Yao grunted and she only shook her head at that.
But, what reason is there for the bees to stay so silent and so far away? An unpleasant feeling made itself known in her stomach, and she felt as if something truly horrifying would be attacking them anytime soon.
And then, her chameleon made a weak sound. It had picked up something. Multiple, in fact, and there was a rather new yet familiar potent Qi signature that was making itself known.
Plants started to get more vibrant, but only slightly and nothing else. But seconds later, a strange scent reached their noses, one that felt so diluted, yet surprisingly sweet and a bit intoxicating, only for it to start growing in potency at a very fast rate, and the smell turned from something one would attribute to a perfume, into one that felt like...
"What is this...!?" Xie Yao was shocked as his body felt as if it was getting hotter, in a much different manner to how fire burns. He honestly couldn't fully comprehend it as his body, damaged and full of impurities as it is, couldn't probably understand it as best as he could.
"Hn~ ah, no...! This is bad!" Xie Xiu though was easily able to understand what was going on, and Xie Yao immediately noticed the moment he glanced at her, before being shocked at the sight.
Xie Xiu's face was reddening, her body felt so hot, and the temperature seemed to rise by the second. She found herself breathing a bit harder than usual, and it seemed to get worse as the time passed.
"Aphrodisiac..." she gritted her teeth at that, eyes widening in shock and realization. So this was the alraune's attack!?
"And a rather potent one, too, knowing how your body is more capable of resisting these things..." Xie Yao said as the two noticed another thing.
Their beasts are becoming restless. Something is capturing their attention, something similar to the aphrodisiac, as Xie Xiu and Xie Yao could feel their beasts wanting to go somewhere where they were smelling a powerfully sweet and highly tempting delicacy.
And then, there was a faint sound of something approaching them. A sound that seemed to come from all the sides that soo started to get louder, as the smell of the aphrodisiac and whatever scent that was attracting their beasts intensified. This... this wasn't a single creature. It felt more like a horde of beasts, and the two elders noticed the lack of buzzing. Instead of it, there was the sound of growls and hisses that was getting clearer to hear.
These aren't the Queen Bee's army... then what is it?
"What the hell is going on...?" Xie Xiu asked to herself, resisting the impulse to rub her thighs as she ordered her Gargantuan Earth Worm to give them a good view as she jumped on the top of its head, Xie Yao following her.
The moment they got a better view on what is around them, their eyes widened in complete bafflement. The sight in front of them wasn't one they could even imagine.
"Hey, old man. We only fought one Thorny Alraune, right?" she asked, not believing her eyes, a feeling of dread looming over her stronger than ever.
"Yes, we did." he answered lowly, feeling the same disbelief she was feeling.
"And the only plant-type beast we fought along with Mei Wu was the alraune, correct?" she asked again, as if hoping that she wasn't in an illusion.
"..." this time, he didn't answer her. They both knew the facts.
"Then, how did all these powerful plant-type beasts suddenly appear!?" she almost shouted at him as she tried yet failed to keep her composure, barely stopping herself from moaning as the heat seemed to intensify inside her body.
What they saw was something horrifying even for them.
Plant-type beasts, multiple ones, easily reaching the hundreds, advancing towards them. Each beast seemed to have dozens of itself in the horde of plant beasts.
Bronze-ranked Level 3 Treant Warriors, Normal-ranked plant-type beasts looking like flowers, ones that Xie Xiu identified, as she saw many of them around the lake when she investigated it. Stunflower, Frose, Heasy, Florn, along with so many Thorny Flowers and what seemed to be variants of the Thorny Flower as well, though all of them were Normal-ranked. These plant-type beasts easily reached about hundred in total.
These odds were hellish as it is, but unfortunately, it seemed that misfortune really wanted to meet the two elders today, since there was another plant beast and its variants, reaching nearly two hundreds...
Thorny Alraunes were making up the bulk of the advancing miniature army of plant-type beasts. Normal, Bronze, and Silver-ranked variant of each were moving at a rapid speed towards the two elders. Each one was arguably smaller than the Gold-ranked alraune they had fought, their human bodies looking like a younger or child-like version of the Gold-ranked one's but they seemed to posses none of her intelligence as they ferociously moved, jumping on the trees or just colliding with and ripping them apart in their brutal march.
Each alraune was grinning maniacally, both human and plant parts, a sadistic and predatory smile seemingly attached to their faces. And from every alraune's human mouth, eyes, breasts, and swishing vines, a golden liquid the two elders immediately realized was the alraune's natural nectar; was leaking, drenching the alraunes and the soil they moved on, and everything around them. The smell was overpowering and horrifyingly sweet even at this distance. So this was the source of the aphrodisiac, and the sweet scent that was making Xie Xiu and Xie Yao's beasts restless and even making them have thoughts of even running away from their masters to consume the golden nectar.
"Just how did they grow this numerous? There's no way their numbers could reach this amount so casually!" Xie Yao was genuinely unable to believe what was happening.
"The same way most plant beasts could make copies of themselves..." she groaned, the aphrodisiac was seriously potent, and she really hoped that she won't see how powerful it would be when the distance between them and the advancing plant beast horde becomes practically zero. Already, her nipples were getting hard, and it wasn't getting any better.
"Division Propagation..." she whispered the name of the skill, as her eyes looked even further, and she got to finally notice the Gold-ranked alraune that she and Xie Yao were fighting some twenty minutes ago.
The alraune in question was so far away it was rather hard to notice her, even if she was larger than most alraunes in the horde, but the two elders, straining their eyes, could determine that this was her.
Even more so when they could notice the long pink hair as it stood out like a sore thumb in the sea of green and golden. Mei Wu is alive, and for some reason, she was sitting next to the alraune's human body, inside whatever pit that was violently leaking the same golden nectar around the two of them.
More terrifying, was the fact that they could sense and see, however faintly, that the alraune didn't feel like she was in pain. How did she just heal herself so much and so easily?
"This is so not our day..." Xie Xiu mumbled as she prepared for the fight that would soon begin.
This would be most definitely their last fight in life. There would be no chance to escape using Xie Xiu's Garguantuan Earth Worm, nor do they have a way to escape via air. They are surrounded by an enemy who has both quality and quantity, and they were damaged, with one of them already close to death.
"We will just have to make it count..." Xie Yao stated, as he prepared himself as well. He won't die being cowardly, that much he understands about himself. Either death on a bed with others he cared about besides him, or felled by an enemy. Anything else was unacceptable in his opinion.
"You better die after me, old man." Xie Xiu snarked, mustering all the power she could to fight until her last breath.
"Aaa~aahhh~! Finally, I would have some real fun~! It was almost worth the wait~! He, hehe... hehahahaha~!"
Mei Wu didn't respond immediately to the predatory voice oozing malice and lust. Instead, she only kept looking at the source of it with a bitter yet grimly determined expression.
She didn't like this situation. Not one bit. And yet...
"Jiko Ai..." she seemed almost pained as she called the entity who called herself Kasumi Ai's instincts and Narcissism given a body, and that was currently taking control of her lover's body...
Of her friend's body...
'Ai'er...' she bitterly thought, face down at the pit of lust that was already activate, as the pheromones and overpowering smell of lust oozen in the air, mixing with the feeling of nature that her friend used.
Mei Wu though wasn't affected by the aphrodisiac, able to think rationally, even as she had long stopped using her Apoptosis Qi. Not consumed by lust, not tormented by the sensual touch of the alter ego of her beloved, or the lack thereof.
After all, Jiko Ai gave her a ultimatum, and she took it.
"You will keep your part of the deal, won't you?" she weakly asked the alter ego, almost pleading her to answer positively.
Jiko Ai, turning around with the face Mei Wu so loved, a smile that looked too predatory and animalistic for Kasumi Ai to have. "Of course, Wu-chan~!" she giggled at the crestfallen woman, "I promised her that I won't break you so soon after all. Now, I will do my part of the deal, and then, I'll see if you decide to uphold yours. I'm pretty sure she will understand, or if not, to suck it up, after all~"
Mei Wu shuddered at that and nodded silently, her hands carefully touching the three vines that were piercing her chest, barely above her breasts. Jiko Ai did that as a part of their deal, both to protect Mei Wu from the aphrodisiac, and to allow her to fight af full strength and with complete and virtually unlimited access to all her abilities as a Predator Rainblossom Alraune. They won't even scar afterwards, and Jiko Ai would heal them later.
"Haah~ you're no fun, being so gloomy." Jiko Ai only sighed, as if disappointed, yet Mei Wu could notice the sheer glee and amusement around the alter ego who seemed to be pondering about something.
"What should I call this little battle from our enemy's perspective, I wonder...? Mugen Hoshoku Jigoku (Infinite Predation Hell), or prehaps Mugen Kairaku Jigoku (Infinite Pleasure Hell)~? It's so hard to decide..."
Mei Wu felt as if her heart was stabbed, hearing the humor that felt so similar to her lover's.
'Ai'er... I'm sorry...' she felt tears falling from her eyes. She really sucked at being strong enough to protect both herself and her beloved, didn't she? In the end, she was so weak she had to make a deal with literal predatory, and sadistic instincts made manifest to protect herself and Ai.
How she hated this day. If only time could go back, so she would never allow Ai to fight the two elders and just let the Queen Bee kill them and be done with it.
But, there was no cure for regret, was it? Mei Wu thought humorlessly as Jiko Ai started to move her (Ai's) whole body, the grin on her (Ai's) face widening.
"Now, time to start taking after what I am now..." Jiko Ai chuckled, "A predator. Ah~how I waited for this day~!"
She looked back at Mei Wu, her smirk somehow turned just the slightest bit softer, even as the predatory feel was there. "You know that you don't need to look depressed all the time with me, you know? You look prettier with a smile on your face~"
Mei Wu gave a brittle smile at that. "Please, just go and finish them off."
"Oh." immediately, Mei Wu noticed the disappointment in Jiko Ai's tone, with no hint of anger or annoyance. And then, the alter ego sighed in boredom "Fine, I won't bother you right now. Just remember our deal though..."
Mei Wu shivered, looking at these eyes that just screamed danger. "You are mine for a day every two weeks."
She flinched at the reminder. "... Yes... I will tell her when this is over, and discuss what you told me to with her as well."
"Good." Jiko Ai flatly stated before turning around. "Time to hunt some pesky prey now."
Glendios
And thus, the end of the fight is around the corner. Next chapter will be about what happened with Mei Wu and Jiko Ai, their 'meeting' and the explanation of some events that happened in this chapter.
SpoilerCough the plant beast army cough
[collapse]
This was not a good situation, Xie Xiu thought to herself as she was checking the downed body of the old man she so disliked yet begrudgingly respected.
"Fuck. Old man, how did you let this happen to you, you idiot!?" she growled under her breath as her face took a furious yet bitter expression as she shifted his body to see what the hell he was dealing with, and how she could even begin to fix whatever she could.
If she could, that is.
Her mind kept repeating what just happened, over and over, as if trying to see where everything went wrong. Everything seemed alright when she tricked the former Xie clan member, Mei Wu and her non-contracted beast, that alraune with an attack with her Venomous Viper, only to then hit them with her silver-ranked level 4 Garguantuan Earth Worm, an absurdly large worm-like beast specializing in moving underground and is capable of hiding its presence while at it. It was almost impossible to sense when under the ground due to its natural skills at hiding since it lived in a harsh desert before she contracted and tamed it.
That part of the fight, it was fine. She expected that the two would not die by such an ambush, which is why she told the Garguantuan Earth Worm not to swallow them.
Mei Wu's ability to force one's energy and Qi to become dormant and nullified, along with that beast of hers that seemed to focus only on ripping apart the Qi pathways, and whatever poison the pink-haired woman seemed to generate to target the Qi and mess with it directly. And the terrifyingly intelligent alraune was a pit of poison and acid.
Xie Xiu's beast won't be able to survive the attempt to swallow them, and would most likely fail at harming them effectively, since the alraune could easily protect Mei Wu while the pink-haired woman weakened the giant worm.
Xie Yao then jumps rapidly towards the terrified woman and easily punches a hole through the alraune that intercepted his attack to protect Mei Wu, and Xie Xiu thought it was finally about to end.
Except it didn't.
What happened afterwards was what she felt the most horrifying thing to ever deal with in that fight. Hate, hate, hate so massive and a shriek filled with so much venom that it almost felt like whoever Mei Wu was, changed into a monster that desired nothing but to taint and break anyone her gaze focused on, as whatever skill that seemed to degrade any ability to use Qi, suddenly went out of control, painfully forcing even Xie Xiu to a level where she was nothing but a weak human, if only for a second, her beasts almost being unsummoned because of that, had she not been so experienced.
With a cruelty that seemed to only appear in a beast that lost all reason, whatever poison that Mei Wu could create, brutally invaded him, attacking every part of his body. So much power and energy being pumped by the screaming and beastly Mei Wu that seemed to lose all ability to think about anything but to murder him, that Xie Xiu was certain that it was only due to the alraune's vine injecting healing nectar into the woman that allowed her to live through the usage of her own attack.
An attack that would have emptied all of Mei Wu's reserves a dozen times over, as she all but forced the poison inside of Xie Yao's body, and then her beast hungrily and furiously followed, and Xie Xiu didn't need to hear the ear-piercing scream of Xie Yao to realize how weakened he was, as he seemed to be barely capable of throwing Mei Wu, protected by her Grimoire's Halo Shield, and the alraune so far away, before he dropped to the ground.
And as she was right now inspecting the damage to the injured and almost unconscious Xie Yao, she realized just how brutal Mei Wu's attack was.
Xie Yao had already lost the ability to focus properly to summon his beasts, reverting him to his much weaker and smaller form. He no longer looked like a hulking mix between an ogre and a bipedal rhinoceros, which made a lot of sense, since he was literally like that when fused to both his strengthening-type beasts.
Instead, he now looked like the old man he was. Nearly two meters tall, yet nothing seemed to inspire power or grace like he usually did in Xie Xiu's opinion, as she was looking at his injuries with barely restrained horror, her face trying to appear furious as usual at him, yet failing to do that.
The damage she was seeing was one that would be impossible to take lightly, even for one as tough as him.
Parts of his body were practically stripped of flesh, showing the white bones to the world and blood was tainted black as it leaked from his body, a foul and repulsive smell emanating from it.
A whole fist had almost all of the in it flesh taken away, the bones looking so fragile that a simple touch would break them, and there was an equally horrible rip in his stomach, as blood and stomach acid mixed, sizzling and giving a most disgusting odor. The flesh on his forehead was almost ripped apart the same way, and she wasn't certain how he was still alive, since she could feel one of his eyes was about to leave its socket. Whatever attack that Mei Wu's beast did, either it wasn't serious at the start, or its power only increased the more Mei Wu seemed enraged, that was the only thing Xie Xiu could think of to explain why she and the old man were even still alive.
If Mei Wu attacked with this brutality before, when she first threw her beast at them as they broke into the hive, Xie Xiu was certain they would be dead in seconds. Though that's with the assumption that her idea on how Mei Wu's beast works was correct, and she unfortunately had no time to think of that at the moment.
And now that she could also get a much better idea on what Mei Wu's ability was, Xie Xiu realized that Xie Yao's Qi wasn't poisoned, like she thought it was before.
No, it was a more horrifying concept. Much to her disgust, it was pumped with impurities, so much that he was effectively crippled, and would take years, if not decades, of dedicated training and cultivation at the very least to purge them to a more manageable level, and even if he tried to do just that, Xie Xiu knew that he won't be able to do so, because as she inspected the damage she noticed another problematic development.
The Qi pathways were damaged, severely so. She was certain, even with her rather lackluster experience and skills in healing, that at least, some meridians were severely damaged, maybe even utterly broken.
Maybe one of the far more experienced healers could fix and restore the flesh. Maybe they could even find a way, expensive or not, to purify the Qi and even possibly to mend the damaged qi pathways. But there would be no way to easily fix the damaged, or even destroyed meridians. Not unless there was some very unique and special pill or item that could allow such a thing.
But, regardless of that, the point being, he will not be able to use his usual power for a long time. And who knows how his beasts are affected or will be, if he fused with them at this state. No matter what, his power and position in the sect would plummet due to these injuries.
"Old man..." she muttered, deciding to use whatever she knew about healing to at least stabilize him for a while. It was by no way a lasting solution, but she knew how to deal with some of the impurities and at least close the wounds. She wasn't a full-fledged expert when it came to healing, but she learned a few tricks during her life to deal with such things. If she could make a sudden experiment on herself to purge demonic Qi in her body right in the middle of a life-and-death battle, then she was more than prepared to take out foreign and harmful substances from the body of an old fossil such as him.
Though naturally, she won't be able to eject all the impurities and other poisons that he has in his system. She's not experienced enough to try that and genuinely think she would succeed without killing him.
Still, she had to do her best at least. Despite how much she disliked him, she would be rather upset about him actually dying, especially in a mission like this. He was still a part of the Xie clan, and a person she respects for his attitude and skills, even if she didn't show it.
"You... brat..."
Even though she was shocked by the sudden call, almost jumping up due to the stress and effort she was making to at least halt the process of the poisons and impurities killing him. His voice sounded so soft and weak, extremely different than how he usually was, and she found herself hating it more than his usual condescending tone towards her.
"Shut up old fossil." she bit scathingly even as she didn't let go of his body as sweat trickled on her forehead from the concentration. "You just mangled yourself so badly I'm sure even the resources of the entire Four Great Clans won't be able to fix you, you dumbass!"
And she was genuinely honest about what she said, in her opinion. Even in the Da Xia Kingdom, there was a limit to how rare some resources are, and she doubted that even they could fix something like Xie Yao's messed-up body.
Xie Yao only laughed weakly, before coughing blood as black as the night. Even this was already taxing on his fragile state. "Do you think that just because I became crippled, I would simply die? Ghk!" more blood left his lips, yet he continued to smile even as the pain was almost unbearable.
"You foolish woman, you should leave me here this instant. Either go and finish what we started, or escape and leave the forest with these youngsters. This is an order from your superior!" he glared at her, making it clear that he wasn't interested in dealing with any arguments.
She though only glared at him with the same intensity. "Don't act so arrogant! If you want to die this much, you can probably court death in this state. But you better not think you can dictate my actions." she retorted angrily at him.
Honestly, how callous can one be? He puts himself close to death, then acts so selfishly and rejects her efforts to heal his old body that should have disintegrated decades ago? What a joke!
"Don't be stupid, you brat!" he coughed and wheezed after that, and she only gritted her teeth in annoyance. Can't he just shut up!? That would be far better really! Less time and effort spent on stabilizing him and keeping him alive that way.
"You think the Queen Bee will continue to ignore us for so long? She's already probably mobilizing her army of silver-ranked beasts! You know that, right?" he told her, and she only bit her lips at that, feeling bitter.
"I know that." how couldn't she? The first thing she did before even moving to deal with this stupid old man's injuries was to command her Gargantuan Earth Worm to finish these two off.
Unfortunately, that blasted Queen Bee suddenly decided to make a move instead of apparently enjoying being a bystander! Being a Golden King Beast, she was practically the equivalent to a queen of beasts, and her mere presence was usually enough to pressure and terrify those not close to her level.
The Gargantuan Earth Worm, being a mere silver-ranked beast, and a level 4 at that, was simply unable to actually do much against the pressure the Queen Bee exuded. The Queen Bee had surpassed it in both level and rank, along with being in a different category altogether.
Xie Xiu's beast tried to find a way to reach Mei Wu and the alraune, it really did, and Xie Xiu knew so from the contract and the link it had with her. Sadly, the Queen Bee, while deciding not to murder it, for whatever reason, was determined to keep it away from the pink-haired woman and the plant woman.
And if she did understand the Gargantuan Earth Worm's impression correctly, the Queen Bee was pissed. It was probably that she wants to personally kill the entire Xie clan search party as soon as possible, but the only thing stopping her from doing that is the lives of her two non-bee subordinates.
Even more so, her Venomous Viper tried to go and deal with the enemies as well, but from what she could gather, there were many Silver-ranked Protector Bees and Bronze-ranked Drone Bees making sure that Xie Xiu's beasts can't leave the area. If the Venomous Viper tried to actually fight back, it would be dealing with dozens of beasts nearly equalling to it in level, and that won't end up well.
The fact that that even the disciples won't even be able to fight back was obvious, though Xie Xiu was certain they are either terrified or excited, as they had probably felt Xie Yao's power before he was so horribly injured. They most definitely heard that scream, along with Mei Wu's before everything suddenly turned relatively silent.
Not that it mattered, she supposed. The Protector Bees most definitely were watching them, and the fact they are alive or not is up to debate at this point. Honestly, their presence in hindsight was a waste...
"... We're going to die here, aren't we?" Xie Yao spoke, strangely without any bite in his tone. Suddenly, he raised his intact arm and grasped Xie Xiu's hand, much to her surprise.
"What are you doing? I'm trying to save you from a well-deserved death you worthless relic!" she shouted indignantly, but a second later, she realized what he planned.
"Wait... you!"
Ignoring her shout, Xie Yao immediately summoned his three beasts. The Metal Rhinoceros and the Violent Ogre fused with him again, while the Saber-toothed Blazing Tiger was once again ready for action, even if it didn't heal from the poison inside its body yet.
"Are you an idiot!? You're killing yourself this way!" knowing that he won't take kindly to her forcefully making him stay and rest, Xie Xiu decided to just shout in fury at him, angry enough that her Camouflage Chameleon, hidden around them to watch out for approaching enemies, felt worried for its master's state. "You're so injured you will die in hours without proper, or even minimum care! And even your beasts won't be able to allow you to survive for long! The moment they disappear..."
She clenched her fist at this guy's idiocy. He really wanted to court death today! How can she deal with such unreasonable person!?
"I know that." he admitted, still looking as determined as ever "Let's admit it. The moment we knew there was a hive, we should have immediately returned and brought back a lot more of our powerhouses to crush the enemy. Yet we didn't. And even when we had more chances and reasons to escape, we decided that sticking around would be the better move."
"And now that all exits are closed, it's time to face the consequences of our actions?" Xie Xiu snorted at him, yet didn't bother to argue back. This old fart won't stop if he was determined enough and there was no better idea than fighting. And they both knew that surrendering was impossible, since they would be killed at best, and be tortured for who knows how long at worst.
"Well, look at this. We agree on something only in the face of certain death. Like every other time we nearly died before in a mission together." she snarked as she mentally unsummoned her Venomous Viper and Gargantuan Earth Worm, and then resummoned them next to her. In her heart, she lamented the fact that she had no beast that could fly. At least that might have made escape possible? Prehaps not, since the Queen Bee would probably just kill them in the air.
"They say that one's true nature shows when in front of the face of death." he only replied with a grin, his hulking figure standing strong despite the severe damage he received. He probably would only live a few hours at most if he was lucky. He would just have to make them count, even for a while.
And then... silence.
For a few minutes, the two imagined that there would be an attack from the Queen Bee and her subordinates, yet strangely, nothing like that happened. There was not even a buzz from any beast bee for what felt like a long time, and even Xie Xiu's sensitive and sharp beasts couldn't hear such a sound.
"Hey, you think something wrong is going on? Are they trying to act like they're going to leave us alone to surprise us?" Xie Yao grunted and she only shook her head at that.
But, what reason is there for the bees to stay so silent and so far away? An unpleasant feeling made itself known in her stomach, and she felt as if something truly horrifying would be attacking them anytime soon.
And then, her chameleon made a weak sound. It had picked up something. Multiple, in fact, and there was a rather new yet familiar potent Qi signature that was making itself known.
Plants started to get more vibrant, but only slightly and nothing else. But seconds later, a strange scent reached their noses, one that felt so diluted, yet surprisingly sweet and a bit intoxicating, only for it to start growing in potency at a very fast rate, and the smell turned from something one would attribute to a perfume, into one that felt like...
"What is this...!?" Xie Yao was shocked as his body felt as if it was getting hotter, in a much different manner to how fire burns. He honestly couldn't fully comprehend it as his body, damaged and full of impurities as it is, couldn't probably understand it as best as he could.
"Hn~ ah, no...! This is bad!" Xie Xiu though was easily able to understand what was going on, and Xie Yao immediately noticed the moment he glanced at her, before being shocked at the sight.
Xie Xiu's face was reddening, her body felt so hot, and the temperature seemed to rise by the second. She found herself breathing a bit harder than usual, and it seemed to get worse as the time passed.
"Aphrodisiac..." she gritted her teeth at that, eyes widening in shock and realization. So this was the alraune's attack!?
"And a rather potent one, too, knowing how your body is more capable of resisting these things..." Xie Yao said as the two noticed another thing.
Their beasts are becoming restless. Something is capturing their attention, something similar to the aphrodisiac, as Xie Xiu and Xie Yao could feel their beasts wanting to go somewhere where they were smelling a powerfully sweet and highly tempting delicacy.
And then, there was a faint sound of something approaching them. A sound that seemed to come from all the sides that soo started to get louder, as the smell of the aphrodisiac and whatever scent that was attracting their beasts intensified. This... this wasn't a single creature. It felt more like a horde of beasts, and the two elders noticed the lack of buzzing. Instead of it, there was the sound of growls and hisses that was getting clearer to hear.
These aren't the Queen Bee's army... then what is it?
"What the hell is going on...?" Xie Xiu asked to herself, resisting the impulse to rub her thighs as she ordered her Gargantuan Earth Worm to give them a good view as she jumped on the top of its head, Xie Yao following her.
The moment they got a better view on what is around them, their eyes widened in complete bafflement. The sight in front of them wasn't one they could even imagine.
"Hey, old man. We only fought one Thorny Alraune, right?" she asked, not believing her eyes, a feeling of dread looming over her stronger than ever.
"Yes, we did." he answered lowly, feeling the same disbelief she was feeling.
"And the only plant-type beast we fought along with Mei Wu was the alraune, correct?" she asked again, as if hoping that she wasn't in an illusion.
"..." this time, he didn't answer her. They both knew the facts.
"Then, how did all these powerful plant-type beasts suddenly appear!?" she almost shouted at him as she tried yet failed to keep her composure, barely stopping herself from moaning as the heat seemed to intensify inside her body.
What they saw was something horrifying even for them.
Plant-type beasts, multiple ones, easily reaching the hundreds, advancing towards them. Each beast seemed to have dozens of itself in the horde of plant beasts.
Bronze-ranked Level 3 Treant Warriors, Normal-ranked plant-type beasts looking like flowers, ones that Xie Xiu identified, as she saw many of them around the lake when she investigated it. Stunflower, Frose, Heasy, Florn, along with so many Thorny Flowers and what seemed to be variants of the Thorny Flower as well, though all of them were Normal-ranked. These plant-type beasts easily reached about hundred in total.
These odds were hellish as it is, but unfortunately, it seemed that misfortune really wanted to meet the two elders today, since there was another plant beast and its variants, reaching nearly two hundreds...
Thorny Alraunes were making up the bulk of the advancing miniature army of plant-type beasts. Normal, Bronze, and Silver-ranked variant of each were moving at a rapid speed towards the two elders. Each one was arguably smaller than the Gold-ranked alraune they had fought, their human bodies looking like a younger or child-like version of the Gold-ranked one's but they seemed to posses none of her intelligence as they ferociously moved, jumping on the trees or just colliding with and ripping them apart in their brutal march.
Each alraune was grinning maniacally, both human and plant parts, a sadistic and predatory smile seemingly attached to their faces. And from every alraune's human mouth, eyes, breasts, and swishing vines, a golden liquid the two elders immediately realized was the alraune's natural nectar; was leaking, drenching the alraunes and the soil they moved on, and everything around them. The smell was overpowering and horrifyingly sweet even at this distance. So this was the source of the aphrodisiac, and the sweet scent that was making Xie Xiu and Xie Yao's beasts restless and even making them have thoughts of even running away from their masters to consume the golden nectar.
"Just how did they grow this numerous? There's no way their numbers could reach this amount so casually!" Xie Yao was genuinely unable to believe what was happening.
"The same way most plant beasts could make copies of themselves..." she groaned, the aphrodisiac was seriously potent, and she really hoped that she won't see how powerful it would be when the distance between them and the advancing plant beast horde becomes practically zero. Already, her nipples were getting hard, and it wasn't getting any better.
"Division Propagation..." she whispered the name of the skill, as her eyes looked even further, and she got to finally notice the Gold-ranked alraune that she and Xie Yao were fighting some twenty minutes ago.
The alraune in question was so far away it was rather hard to notice her, even if she was larger than most alraunes in the horde, but the two elders, straining their eyes, could determine that this was her.
Even more so when they could notice the long pink hair as it stood out like a sore thumb in the sea of green and golden. Mei Wu is alive, and for some reason, she was sitting next to the alraune's human body, inside whatever pit that was violently leaking the same golden nectar around the two of them.
More terrifying, was the fact that they could sense and see, however faintly, that the alraune didn't feel like she was in pain. How did she just heal herself so much and so easily?
"This is so not our day..." Xie Xiu mumbled as she prepared for the fight that would soon begin.
This would be most definitely their last fight in life. There would be no chance to escape using Xie Xiu's Garguantuan Earth Worm, nor do they have a way to escape via air. They are surrounded by an enemy who has both quality and quantity, and they were damaged, with one of them already close to death.
"We will just have to make it count..." Xie Yao stated, as he prepared himself as well. He won't die being cowardly, that much he understands about himself. Either death on a bed with others he cared about besides him, or felled by an enemy. Anything else was unacceptable in his opinion.
"You better die after me, old man." Xie Xiu snarked, mustering all the power she could to fight until her last breath.
"Aaa~aahhh~! Finally, I would have some real fun~! It was almost worth the wait~! He, hehe... hehahahaha~!"
Mei Wu didn't respond immediately to the predatory voice oozing malice and lust. Instead, she only kept looking at the source of it with a bitter yet grimly determined expression.
She didn't like this situation. Not one bit. And yet...
"Jiko Ai..." she seemed almost pained as she called the entity who called herself Kasumi Ai's instincts and Narcissism given a body, and that was currently taking control of her lover's body...
Of her friend's body...
'Ai'er...' she bitterly thought, face down at the pit of lust that was already activate, as the pheromones and overpowering smell of lust oozen in the air, mixing with the feeling of nature that her friend used.
Mei Wu though wasn't affected by the aphrodisiac, able to think rationally, even as she had long stopped using her Apoptosis Qi. Not consumed by lust, not tormented by the sensual touch of the alter ego of her beloved, or the lack thereof.
After all, Jiko Ai gave her a ultimatum, and she took it.
"You will keep your part of the deal, won't you?" she weakly asked the alter ego, almost pleading her to answer positively.
Jiko Ai, turning around with the face Mei Wu so loved, a smile that looked too predatory and animalistic for Kasumi Ai to have. "Of course, Wu-chan~!" she giggled at the crestfallen woman, "I promised her that I won't break you so soon after all. Now, I will do my part of the deal, and then, I'll see if you decide to uphold yours. I'm pretty sure she will understand, or if not, to suck it up, after all~"
Mei Wu shuddered at that and nodded silently, her hands carefully touching the three vines that were piercing her chest, barely above her breasts. Jiko Ai did that as a part of their deal, both to protect Mei Wu from the aphrodisiac, and to allow her to fight af full strength and with complete and virtually unlimited access to all her abilities as a Predator Rainblossom Alraune. They won't even scar afterwards, and Jiko Ai would heal them later.
"Haah~ you're no fun, being so gloomy." Jiko Ai only sighed, as if disappointed, yet Mei Wu could notice the sheer glee and amusement around the alter ego who seemed to be pondering about something.
"What should I call this little battle from our enemy's perspective, I wonder...? Mugen Hoshoku Jigoku (Infinite Predation Hell), or prehaps Mugen Kairaku Jigoku (Infinite Pleasure Hell)~? It's so hard to decide..."
Mei Wu felt as if her heart was stabbed, hearing the humor that felt so similar to her lover's.
'Ai'er... I'm sorry...' she felt tears falling from her eyes. She really sucked at being strong enough to protect both herself and her beloved, didn't she? In the end, she was so weak she had to make a deal with literal predatory, and sadistic instincts made manifest to protect herself and Ai.
How she hated this day. If only time could go back, so she would never allow Ai to fight the two elders and just let the Queen Bee kill them and be done with it.
But, there was no cure for regret, was it? Mei Wu thought humorlessly as Jiko Ai started to move her (Ai's) whole body, the grin on her (Ai's) face widening.
"Now, time to start taking after what I am now..." Jiko Ai chuckled, "A predator. Ah~how I waited for this day~!"
She looked back at Mei Wu, her smirk somehow turned just the slightest bit softer, even as the predatory feel was there. "You know that you don't need to look depressed all the time with me, you know? You look prettier with a smile on your face~"
Mei Wu gave a brittle smile at that. "Please, just go and finish them off."
"Oh." immediately, Mei Wu noticed the disappointment in Jiko Ai's tone, with no hint of anger or annoyance. And then, the alter ego sighed in boredom "Fine, I won't bother you right now. Just remember our deal though..."
Mei Wu shivered, looking at these eyes that just screamed danger. "You are mine for a day every two weeks."
She flinched at the reminder. "... Yes... I will tell her when this is over, and discuss what you told me to with her as well."
"Good." Jiko Ai flatly stated before turning around. "Time to hunt some pesky prey now."
Glendios
And thus, the end of the fight is around the corner. Next chapter will be about what happened with Mei Wu and Jiko Ai, their 'meeting' and the explanation of some events that happened in this chapter.
SpoilerCough the plant beast army cough
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