591 The Giant Lizard

"Understood!" 

After hearing Alex's voice, they quickly spread out to kill the 10-Star Martial Emperor with their hands. It shouldn't be too hard considering their progress, but seeing it wasn't a normal monster, they needed to be careful.

As it just woke up from its slumber, Anna made the first move. She appeared right above the five meters high lizard. Dark Energy formed and covered her scythe.

There was not a single clue to identify Anna's attack, but everyone somehow knew what kind of attack she would use. This was the most crucial attack that could overturn the situation.

The lizard waved its hand toward Anna, trying to slap her away. 

"Tch." Artur clicked his tongue as he leaped toward the lizard, specifically to its right hand. He drew his sword and slashed it toward the lizard. "Mistress Anna attacks you, just accept it. Heroic Slash."

Artur struck right at the hand that was trying to slap Anna, blowing it away and throwing the lizard's balance.

"Scree!" The lizard roared again as it was angry against Artur. It sent the other hand to slap Artur. Unfortunately, Anna already arrived on its shoulder, swinging her scythe downwards. "Tri Xeta."

*Clang!*

Everyone expected a stabbing sound and another scream. Yet, somehow they could only hear a clicking sound like two metal clashing. On the way here, Anna already tested it with the normal lizard that they might have strong arms, but not strong shoulders. The attack that should have been connected, now couldn't even penetrate the skin.

"I'm sorry. I haven't told you about it. The lizard seems to have extraordinary energy like a dragon. Only aim at its belly next time, but for now, let's connect the attack first." A male's voice resounded gently in her ears.

Anna was startled for a split second before uttering the person's name. "Alex."

Alex didn't reply to her. Instead, he focused on her scythe and raised his sword above his head before slashing downwards. "Heaven Light Slash."

The sword struck right on the back of the scythe, giving another push to the scythe to let it pierce the lizard's thick skin. 

"Scree!"

The lizard screamed again because it never expected to be stabbed by a human. In fact, after a few thousand years, it had never seen a single human invading this place, so it hadn't gotten used to their movements. 

At the same time, Anna quickly activated her skill and sent the dark energy on her scythe inside the lizard. "Tri Xeta."

The lizard screamed once more because of the disturbance in its brain because of Tri Xeta.

Alex then grabbed Anna and snapped his finger, creating a teleportation array right below their feet. 

"Teleportation!"

"Bam!"

As soon as they teleported, the lizard's other hand finally reached their position after Artur retreated. Alex and Anna went back to the others.

"Aim its belly," Anna added because she just made a mistake earlier.

Alex didn't say anything about it and just left it to the others' discretions.

"Flame of Extinction."

"Water Spiral."

Sherry used Alex's technique, Flame of Extinction, as usual. In fact, all the fire arts she knew this entire time came from him. She didn't know why, but she could copy Alex's skill pretty easily rather than using Kyle's or Stina's ability. In the end, Alex gave permission to do whatever she wanted as long as she was comfortable with it.

Meanwhile, Jean also released torrential water and enveloped Sherry's flame inside it. Sherry's flame seemed to be faster than Jean's water, so it hit and pierced through the lizard's belly first. 

The torrential water followed right after, but it didn't have any penetration effect. Instead, it had a different purpose. By using the power behind the water force, Jean pushed the lizard two meters back, making the position of Sherry's attack shift. This shift was a good thing because Sherry's Flame of Extinction cut the belly like a moving laser. It created a vertical cut in the lizard's belly. 

"Scree!" The lizard screamed again as it looked at the blood that started dripping from the wound. It sent another paw toward Sherry and Jean, but Kyle finally made a move.

"Fire Lotus, First Petal. Fire of Supreme Phoenix." 

A lotus appeared in the middle of the cave as two petals fell from the lotus, flying toward the lizard's hands.

"Boom Boom!"

The two explosions came from between the hands, blowing the two hands away.

"!!!" Alex and Anna noticed the purpose of this attack, which was to create a gap in the lizard defense so they could take advantage of it. Alex and Anna exchanged looks and nodded at each other before leaping forward.

"Dark Cut." Anna appeared from the left side, sending a powerful dark wave toward the belly.

"Bam!" Another explosion sound resounded across the cave. 

"Scree!" The lizard screamed out of pain. It looked at its belly that had a deep wound. 

Anna looked at the wound and shook her head in disappointment. "Tch. It's still not enough. As expected, my Dark Cut doesn't have enough penetrating power… but that should be enough for Alex." 

As she muttered to herself, Alex appeared from the opposite, swinging his sword three times.

"Triple Draws."

However, this attack was like none other. Usually, he combined the Triple Draws with Heaven Light Slash, but the reach alone wouldn't let him kill this lizard. In that case, Alex changed his strategy as he coated his sword with powerful Domain and Fire.

"Blade of Conquest."

He finally combined the Blade of Conquest with his Triple Draws, sending three flame sword waves toward the lizard, specifically to the wound that Anna created earlier.

"Boom Boom Boom!"

Just like how an explosion sound echoed after Anna's attack, each Sword Wave also produced a sound after it hit… However, it exploded not because it hit the lizard's stomach, but because it hit the cave wall.

"Heroic Slash." Artur struck at the lizard's chest to confirm the effect. Surprisingly, the lizard's upper body flew toward the wall while the lower part fell to the ground. 

"The lizard isn't so strong. Although it will give us a bit more trouble, I doubt a lizard that big will let another lizard fit inside the tunnel. In other words, if there is another lizard like that in this place, we will most likely fight them like this. Each group should be able to kill it within two minutes." Alex nodded while observing the lizard.

"Yeah. I should be able to split the lizard into half if I use Dark Cut three times, considering it doesn't have enough penetration power." Anna nodded before coming back to Alex's side.

"Don't worry. You are with Sherry and me. We should be able to finish it easily." Alex assured her with a smile.

Anna only smiled and walked to Anya. On the other hand, Alex burned the lizard's body and skeleton to clear up someplace. Yet, he spared the blood because he wanted to use it for something else.

Forcing the blood that flew out of the body float in the air, Alex began drawing symbols on the ground while giving his order, "Kyle's group will check Fabio's group and replace them after an hour. Also, tell them to go back here so they can recover their Spiritual Energy in this place. I am planning to make a bigger rank 6 Gathering Array so many people can use it at once."

"Understood." Kyle, Jean, and Artur left as soon as they heard the order. Meanwhile, Anna and Sherry looked around the area to see if there was any danger in this place. 

"Alex, I am going to the front for a few minutes to see the situation." Anya couldn't stay still, so she requested.

"Sure. Give me the status report." Alex nodded.

"Yeah." Anya vanished into thin air. On the other hand, Sherry turned back to half-human form and walked toward Alex while watching their surroundings. "Master. How long will the battle last?"

Alex wasn't surprised by her question as he didn't have any change of expression. He thought for a moment and answered, "It will depend on how much we can kill and their strength. We don't really have much information about this place… but if you want me to speculate the time, it won't last more than two days." 

"What is the basis of that number?" Sherry asked while tilting her head. She thought they should be able to finish it in a day, but Alex needed twice the number. 

"We need to preserve our Spiritual Energy and the other reason is this place," Alex answered mysteriously while drawing a symbol.

"This place?" This statement also piqued Anna's interest before realizing what he meant. "I see. The space, huh…"

"Yeah. You are right." Alex smiled and nodded. "With their number, it is easy to fill up the tunnel with dead bodies. Unlike in Zwaka's place where we fought inside an Ant Nest and killed in a wider area, we need to kill in this small tunnel this time. In other words, we should also dispose of their body with our flame or teleport them inside the blue-layered realm, which I will burn them after this is over."

"I see. The other groups have Fabio and Kyle, so they should be fine in destroying the dead bodies." Anna nodded.

"How about we strike them in their nest? Although their number is pretty high, we should be able to handle one thousand monsters at once." Sherry asked. The questions she asked this whole time might be foolish, but it was her own effort to learn everything she could from Alex. "I am sorry if I ask too many questions."

"Haha… It's fine. The answer to your question is because of this place. After killing all lizards in this place, we still need to continue our journey underground. We don't know anything about this place, and there might be more monsters other than these lizards. In that case, I want to preserve our stamina as much as I can… especially when the spirits' True Spirit Body will be undone in a day." Alex said while sighing.

"So, is Master planning to attack them together on the second day… I mean, after the True Spirit Body's effect is over? That's why you said no more than two days?" Sherry opened her mouth in surprise, just like she got enlightenment.

Alex smiled and nodded. "Correct."

Before Sherry could ask another question, Anya called him. "The situation is pretty controlled there. Their number is slowly increasing, but it is still stuck in line. As long as we can control the flow of monsters, we should be fine."

"Alright. Just make the others preserve their stamina because this will be a long one. From my Spirit Eyes yesterday, there should be around five thousand lizards. I want to kill three to four thousand today without spending all of our stamina." Alex said.

"I understand your plan. I will explain the plan to them right now." Anya replied with a calm tone as she already read Alex's move long ago.

"Yeah. The huge array will be completed in an hour, so you can come back after that since I, Anna, and Sherry will go there. Tell Fabio to change position with Kyle's group and escort you to this place to restore their energy."

"Sure. I will tell them that." Anya nodded and fell into silence.

Alex knew Anya had cut their connection and tossed her card inside the Inventory. Sherry kept asking questions to him to learn about his tactics. Alex was happy to answer Sherry's query because there might be a time where he wasn't with her.

One hour passed in an instant, and Alex finally stretched his body after finishing the array. He activated the array and poured the Spirit Gems before glancing at Anna and Sherry. "Let's go."

They nodded and disappeared at the same time.