Chapter 224: Peak Level Squadron

The colossal Spirit Monster boar snapped open its tremendous mouth, revealing a mass swirl of energy quickly forming within. The pure power of an eighth-level Heavenly King exploded from the Spirit Monster mouth as its destructive Heavenly aura tore through the snowy forest maze.

The Kilir Circle squadron members' bodies shivered, and their eyes were quivering in absolute fear. 

They could only watch a disgusting swirl of black energy ball burst within the beast's mouth. 

More than anything, the Kilir Circle squadron members wanted to scurry away from here. However, the energy from the Spirit Monster boar was far beyond an average eighth-level Heavenly King! 

Though there were hundreds of feet away, all of the Kilir Circle squadron members had their movements tightly sealed by the Spirit Monster boar mighty energy.

The only course of plan the Kilir Circle squadron members had now was to bring out their powerful special talisman just to escape. 

But right when they were about to bring out the talisman, the Spirit Monster boar was instantly done charging its attack.

Not even a full second passed, and the black ball of energy in the Spirit Monster formed, pulsating with immense power. 

'Chi!' 

The Spirit Monster boar spared no expense and blasted the black ball of energy right towards the Kilir Circle squadron members.

The whole snowy environment got utterly ruined as the black ball energy tore through the area, rapidly crossing tens of feet of distance in a single second. 

"Barrier!!" The seventh level Heavenly King leader roared out.

He, along with the other squadron members, furiously surged their Heavenly Qi, making their spatial rings glowed with an intense shine. Their spatial rings began cracking a bit as the Kilir Circle squadron members overloaded them with Heavenly Qi.

But the Kilir Circle squadron members all couldn't think clearly in a desperate life or death situation. 

Right before the Spirit Monster boar's black energy ball reached them, numerous blue lighting arcs arose from the Kilir Circle squadron members' bodies.

'Zzzt!!' 

Chaotic lightning arcs stormed the area, crazily blasting out in the air. 

Immediately the lightning energy formed into a lightning barrier that attempted to cover all of the Kilir Circle squadron members.

The combined power of seventh level Heavenly King and numerous sixth level Heavenly Kings intensely swirled together and directly clashed against the Spirit Monster boar's aura.

However, their combined energy meant little to mighty eighth-level Heavenly King prowess. 

The Spirit Monster boar's black energy ball utterly destroyed any wild lighting arcs bursting from the lighting barrier and had then ferociously crashed right on the lighting barrier!

'BOOOM~!!' 

The black energy ball exploded on the lighting barrier, completely destroying it as if it was fragile glass. 

"Ahhh!!" 

The loud shrieks of anguish from the Kilir Circle squadron members echoed out in the area. 

Their bodies were thrown around the area like broken, bloodied ragdolls. 

Just before none of them could even resist the Spirit Monster boar tremendous eighth level Heavenly King aura. So, of course, none of them could withstand a direct attack from the beast even as they were using a powerful talisman. 

The seventh level Heavenly King had violently crashed right into a particularly huge tree, immediately splitting it in half, causing it to collapse on him.

The seventh level Heavenly King felt its body was in a nearly complete ruined state. Numerous of his bones were cracked beyond repair, most of his organs ruptured, and he had no Heavenly aura to sustain these injuries.

As the seventh level Heavenly King lay face-down in the snowy ground, his consciousness quickly fading. He only had one thought. 'Just….just what the hell is going. We're….we're all going to be destroyed….'

….

At another section of the snowy forest maze, three masked figures were staring wistfully into the increasingly sickly yellow sky. None of them could genuinely take their eyes off from the sky, their minds in slight wonder.

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami just couldn't stop the familiar sensation from rising in their bodies and souls. 

Darcel and Aniela were admittedly feeling a slight swirl of anticipation, knowing precisely what this omen meant.

However, Masami was becoming increasingly wracked with dread, no matter how much her Darkness soul link attempted to calm her down. 

The sensation that permeated the whole independent realm now was precisely the same they felt several days ago when they were approaching New Branch City.

But now, this sensation was far more clear and powerful, significantly surpassing everything they felt that day. 

One thing was for sure, the trio wasn't expecting this to happen as soon as they got to this independent realm.

"The yellow sky….this sensation….do you two know what this means?" Aniela started to talk with a clear, eager tone in her voice. Darcel and Masami gazed over to her, prompting Aniela to continue her talk.

"No doubt in my mind now! We are going to meet the yellow-eyed woman very soon!" 

Aniela didn't feel any danger over believing they were about to have an inevitable meeting. As per usual, the sensation she felt from the yellow-eyed woman didn't fill her with any dread.

Masami, though, she clenched her fist at this thought. 

For a lot of things, Masami would readily agree with either Aniela or Darcel. But if she did disagree with something, she would never be afraid to speak her mind.

And for this yellow-eyed woman, no calming sensation from her Darkness soul link can quell the dread Masmi had from her. 

"Aniela….I'm really, really not sure if we should actively pursue this meeting. Or, really, get anywhere close to that woman. My Darkness Soul link is trying to persuade me to say yes, but….I feel a looming danger for all three of us!" Masami had a passionate, firm edge in her voice when talking. 

While she couldn't see Masami's eyes, Aniela could still feel the fire burning in her eyes. Instead of trying to argue for her point of the yellow-eyed woman being good, Aniela did feel a bit swayed by Masami's tone.

Really, all Masami had was genuine caution for all three of them. And no matter how assured Aniela felt, she couldn't say she knew how exactly their meeting with the yellow-eyed woman would go down. 

"Sami….look jus-"

"Back up!" 

Darcel cut off Aniela's words as he felt his Spirit Senses pricked with actual danger! 

A powerful being was rapidly falling towards them from a mile above them, reaching speeds that even shocked Darcel.

Aniela and Masami sense the same dangerous being too, which had also given them the same sense of danger. 

At the same time, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami blasted off backward, jumping over thirty feet in a single step.

Before they even touched the snowy grounds, Darcel saw and was covered by a colossal shadow shooting towards the ground. 

'BANG~!!' 

A ferocious impact blared out as that vast being crashed on the ground.

A slight rumble shook this area, and large cracks split open the snowy ground for several meters. 

"Hmm? The hell is a hawk doing at that size?" Masami remarked as she, Darcel, and Aniela gazed over at what fell.

It was an enormous Spirit Monster hawk wholly colored in a snow blue shade. On some spots of its snow blue fur, there was a slight charred color. 

The Spirit Monster hawk had its eyes temporarily closed, but its lifeforce was vibrantly abundant.

"An actual peak level Heavenly King for our first encounter, huh?" Darcel thought out loud, feeling little fear over fighting a beast like this. 

He felt a bit of excitement over actually going up against something that can give him a sense of danger.

Aniela and Masami felt a similar sentiment of battle-hungry excitement. As roaring young geniuses with a quite high battle prowess, they too wanted a challenging battle where they could go all out.

But suddenly, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami couldn't keep their attention on the Spirit Monster hawk for long. 

Their eyes snapped towards the sky as they sensed three equally powerful presences were quickly descending towards them.

While they gazed at three figures quickly approaching down, the trio picked up on them talking. 

"Tch. Just what the hell got into these damned beasts. First, that ninth level beast was so damn troublesome, and now this damn hawk."

"Maybe whatever happening is really related to the yellow sky. This certainly is a surprise to all of us." 

As these three figures got close, Darcel's group finally got a clear look at them. 

It was three men wearing bright orange robes and supporting shiny golden hair.

On their orange robes, these men had the design of the God Beast Golden Crown inscribed on it. Each of their aura is immensely powerful that the general air around them sizzled from their intense heat.

These were all tenth-level Heavenly Kings! The absolute peak of the Heavenly Transformation realm. 

And, of course, these three hailed from the Golden Crow Circle mercenary group.

Unlike all other squadron groups, these three essentially had invincible formations among all Heavenly Kings. They all were Leaders, and they had the title Crow Theo, Crow Apollo, and Crow Joe, respectively. 

Such a powerful lineup of absolute Leaders may seem overpowered. But for this independent realm, it only gave them a better chance of surviving at best. 

The Crow Leaders didn't pay attention to Darcel's group at all as they descended towards the Spirit Monster hawk.

They kept their attention entirely focused on the beast, and when they observed it unmoving for several seconds already, the Crow Leaders gained a smirk. 

Crow Theo started to say, "Alright, at least it's down now. Let's fi-"

But before he could even finish his sentence, the Spirit Monster hawk snapped open its eyes. 

Its eyes had a pure bright yellow hue glowing within them. 

'Chi!' 

Radiant yellow rays of light burst from its eyes and tore straight into the skies.

"Nnng! This power!" Crow Theo exclaimed as he, Crow Apollo, and Joe all had to surge a mass amount of Heavenly Qi to stay afloat. 

As the yellow rays of light streamed from the Spirit Monster hawk, its aura had also explosively increased to unfathomable levels!

All three Crow Leaders felt an actual tremendous pressure crash against their bodies and would've knocked them from the skies. 

"Wow! They weren't kidding about this realm!" 

Aniela also exclaimed in surprise as she, Darcel, and Masami all had to erupt their bloodline transformation to not get flung by the Spirit Monster hawk's immense power surge.

And as everyone was in slight surprise over the Spirit Monster hawk sudden power surge, its eyes instantly regained back clarity. 

With its clarity back, the Spirit Monster hawk dangerously narrowed its eyes on the Crow Leaders.