When Dai Ruoheng regained control of her body, she stared at the mountain as the dust settled, too shocked to speak.
The inside of the mountain was hollow! From the fluctuations of Soul Power inside it when she had attacked earlier, she could tell that it concealed two Soul Douluo, several Soul Emperors, several Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, and even a Titled Douluo, along with the auras of three hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts and Ferocious Beasts! (Note: Someone had tampered with the Soul Power-shielding formation at the observation post, rendering it ineffective, but the concealment runes were still working. At this point, Thranduil and the other elves had not removed their disguises.)
But as the enormous dragons shifted the shattered boulders aside, Thranduil and the others were fully exposed to the Star Luo Empire's high-ranking officials.
Seeing this group of humans living alongside Soul Beasts, Dai Ruoheng was reminded of a piece of intelligence from the spy agency. It had been rated somewhere in the middle, but she had been told it deserved attention. They had sent it to her when she was accompanying General Kallen's army on another attack against the Indigenous People's human forces along the Black Water River front. It included photographs of a group of humans (?) at an observation post, monitoring the Star Luo army's movements, as well as Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts destroying the Star Luo Empire's military supply lines. (Elves: We'd relied on that one supply line to deliver goods for decades. They still didn't build another one after I hit them hard. What a bunch of idiots.)
At first, she had only pretended to look through it, just to get the spy agency's personnel off her back. But after some unknown force took control of her body and made her attack this mountain, everything changed...
In the sky, the eighty-nine-year-old, Level 95 Dai Ruoheng faced the 228-year-old Thranduil, who stood atop the ruins and had reached a false Level 95 through a Mental Contract. Behind Dai Ruoheng stood a guard of twenty-two people, made up of Titled Douluo, Soul Douluo, and Soul Emperors. Behind Thranduil stood six elves and seven dragons and Soul Beasts, all of whom had reached at least seventy thousand years through Mental Contracts.
The two sides seemed evenly matched.
But the Light Dragon King in Thranduil's ring sent her a message directly, telling her some very bad news: the human before them had once been controlled by a god from the Divine Realm. There was no telling whether the god had secretly strengthened her. Her combat strength might have risen by one or two levels for a short time—and the god might even have shamelessly pushed her all the way to Level 99.
Even with Riven, the 260,000-year-old Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, and the two near-hundred-thousand-year-old Turquoise Dragon Scher and another Crimson Fire Dragon joining the fight, they couldn't be sure they could win. Their top priority now was to retreat.
Thranduil immediately shot Riven and Scher a look. The two dragons understood her meaning at once.
But Dai Ruoheng was already consumed by rage. She wasn't going to give this group of people time to exchange glances. Aside from herself, her side had eight Titled Douluo, while the other side had three dragon-like Soul Beasts.
"Everyone! Capture every one of these people of unknown origin! Even if we only catch one! Titled Douluo, hold off those Soul Beasts!"
Whether to use Soul Tools was no longer the point. Dai Ruoheng's side and Thranduil's side were practically at point-blank range.
With a furious roar, Dai Ruoheng lunged at the strongest member of the unfamiliar human-and-dragon group. She would figure out who had taken control of her body after she captured these people of unknown origin.
Powerful fluctuations of Soul Power spread from Dai Ruoheng's enormous White Tiger True Body, and an oppressive force washed over the elves, dragons, and Soul Beasts below.
"So this is what a true Level 95 feels like?"
Feeling the evenly matched pressure, Thranduil grew excited. During the kingdom's rebellion in 196, she had served as Marshal Tewitz's personal guard and personally killed the elven Soul Masters who had carved out kingdoms of their own.
But those elven Soul Masters had only been low-ranking Soul Elders and Soul Ancestors. There had been even fewer Soul Kings. And since she had been killing her own people, even knowing that they had caused the kingdom's rebellion, she had still been turning her blade against her own kind.
Humans were another matter entirely. The way they killed their own kind had opened the eyes of every elf, herself included. And now these humans stood against her and were trying to capture her? This was a fight between two races. Thranduil felt no qualms at all and was ready to give it everything she had.
"Good, good, good. Let's see how much of what you just said is backed by real strength."
As the enormous white tiger lunged toward her, Thranduil neither backed away nor dodged. She walked forward. As the distance between them rapidly closed, she took one final step with her left leg and stopped, turning her body slightly as she reached for the storage Soul Tool at her belt.
"Die!"
Seeing that the Super Douluo before her dared to meet her attack without using her Martial Soul Avatar—or even a Soul Skill—Dai Ruoheng roared again and shot forward, leaving a white blur in her wake.
It wasn't that Thranduil lacked a Martial Soul Avatar. On the contrary, the Mental Contract that Barus had continually refined through multiple versions was now good enough to let elves use the Martial Soul Avatar of one of the species they had contracted with for a short time.
Dai Ruoheng's foreleg instantly grew larger and came straight down toward Thranduil's head.
Clang!!!
As claw met metal, terrifying explosive Soul Power burst outward from the point of impact.
A series of thunderous booms followed, and countless razor-sharp forces carved deep trenches across a wide area.
Both sides had no choice but to release their Soul Power and Soul Guidance Shields to withstand the shockwaves.
But then something happened that the humans still in the air hadn't expected: Dai Ruoheng's Martial Soul Avatar attack failed, and the white tiger that made up her entire avatar was knocked back dozens of steps. Her Martial Soul Avatar was forcibly dispelled by the injuries she had sustained. Her battle suit had also been torn apart in the collision, revealing armor made from Heavenly Sun Dragon scales beneath. Several of its plates had been shattered completely. Before Soul Power could seal the wounds, blood had already stained the white armor.
And the one responsible for all this hadn't even used a Soul Skill. She was an unfamiliar human wielding cold steel!
She stood where she had been a moment earlier, a gigantic shield in her left hand, large enough to cover seventy percent of her body, and a massive spear in her right, twice her height!
[Horror story: Before and after Rus Wang brought all the elves under his rule, elves across the Zheer Continent often became monster hunters to protect the cattle, sheep, and children in their tribes and villages. Armed with bone and bronze weapons, they fought predators like Allosaurus, Siats, and Smilodon. Their evolved martial techniques and attack methods have been passed down throughout the military and the Grey Feather Division. Every year, wild Allosaurus are used to test officers and high-ranking operatives, who are forbidden from using Soul Power and may only activate their Soul Guidance Shields.]
"Weapons forged from Dragonflame Alloy really are easier to use than Soul Tool melee weapons."
Thranduil quietly remarked on the weapon developed by the Dragon Clan Committee for use in the army. She was very pleased with how it had performed in her first real battle with it. Soul Power flowed smoothly through the metal weapon.
If Dai Ruoheng had stayed in the air and used long-range Soul Skills, a Soul Tool might have helped her maintain a sufficient advantage. But she had chosen to fight Thranduil on the ground.
A mage was using a Soul-Power-enhanced body and a melee Soul Skill to fight an opponent older than her, who specialized in physical combat, had additional Soul Skills, and could share her teammates' abilities.
Thranduil couldn't imagine how her opponent could win unless a god descended. And judging from the force of her blows, she seemed weaker than Lady Elena, who was Level 93 without a Mental Contract.
Seeing Dai Ruoheng lose the first round, though thankfully she was unharmed, the members of her guard immediately panicked. They rushed at Thranduil, hoping to keep the future of the Star Luo Empire from dying here. When Riven, Scher, and the others saw the humans in the air move and charge straight at Thranduil, they too immediately lunged toward her.
Before you continue