"Fourth brother, close the net!"
As soon as White Tiger Laius sent the message in his mind, he felt a crushing weight descend around him. The gravity at the ground instantly increased hundreds, even thousands of times, as if a giant hand on the ground were dragging him down from the sky.
Laius had been prepared for this. He let gravity carry him down and landed steadily, while swinging his horse-slaying saber to send a material attack at Tristan.
A powerful blade of Qi swept through the air with a sonic boom, striking precisely across the path Tristan had to take as he fell.
Squelch!
The blade of Qi sliced into flesh, its sharp edge severing Tristan's arm at the elbow.
Laius thought it a pity. If Tristan had not reacted so quickly, that strike would have hit him in the head.
Tristan did not hesitate after losing his arm. The divine power within him swiftly began repairing his divine body, and fresh flesh slowly grew where Laius had severed his arm.
That was the advantage of a God Level expert. With the soul housed within the Divine Spark, the divine body could be restored using accumulated divine power, as long as the Divine Spark was not destroyed and the soul did not disperse.
Even missing arms or legs could be fully restored, as long as there was enough divine power.
Tristan slipped back into the shadows and lay in wait once more, like a venomous snake concealed in the dark, ready to strangle Laius at any moment.
While Tristan hid, Black Tortoise Bowen used the Earth Travel Technique to appear silently beside White Tiger Laius.
Bowen turned his wrist, and a pitch-black octagonal hammer appeared in his grip. As he activated his divine power, the presence of the Earth Elemental System emanating from him became as heavy as a mountain.
Bowen and Laius exchanged a glance and nodded in tacit understanding.
Among the Four Divine Beasts, White Tiger Laius was best at attacking, while Black Tortoise Bowen was best at defense. Working together, they could unleash several times the strength they could muster fighting alone.
Sensing the earth divine power emanating from Bowen, Tristan cursed inwardly. Laius alone was troublesome enough, and now Bowen, who specialized in defense, had joined him.
Tristan immediately thought of retreating. He could not understand why, despite having broken through to the Highgod level, he still could not defeat Laius, a mere Midgod. Was he really going to fall here today? Were the Skyrite Mountains to become his burial place?
No, impossible!
Tristan was furious, but there was nothing he could do. If he had known Laius was this powerful, he should not have rushed to take revenge. He should have waited until he was stronger.
But nothing could change matters now. If Tristan were given another choice, he would certainly investigate the situation before attacking Laius.
In stark contrast to Tristan, Laius was in a good mood. With Black Tortoise Bowen's defense protecting him from Tristan's sneak attacks, Laius could finally go all out and have a proper battle with him.
His chest trembling slightly, Laius gradually calmed himself. He spread out his soul force, sensing his surroundings along the direction of the wind.
"Second brother, how is it? Have you found that fellow?" Black Tortoise Bowen asked Laius beside him through Soul Transmission, all the while remaining on guard.
Frowning slightly, Laius replied, "Not yet, but he shouldn't be able to hold out much longer. Bowen, make sure you keep me covered. I'm going all out from here. As long as he dares to come out of the shadows, I can kill him with one strike!"
Laius's voice was cold and harsh, and he was indeed qualified to make such a boast. Of the Wind Element's nine Profound Mysteries, he had fused two and had largely fused a third. In terms of strength, Tristan, an ordinary Highgod who had not fused a single Profound Mystery, really might not be his match.
If the abilities of the Darkness Element's Profound Mysteries had not been so strange, Laius might have been able to kill Tristan on his own without Bowen's help.
Just as Laius had expected, Tristan's ability to hide in the shadows consumed an enormous amount of divine power.
After more than an hour of deadlock, Tristan felt the divine power within him draining rapidly. He knew he had to act. If this dragged on, he feared he would not even have the strength to fight back.
I'm going for broke!
Tristan gathered the obscure Darkness Element divine power within him and tore apart the shadows like a curtain with both hands. His back bent and every muscle in his body tensed, he charged out of the shadows like a cheetah.
Bowen, who had surrounded Laius with Earth Elemental System divine power to protect him, noticed Tristan's movement and sent a message to Laius. "Second brother, that fellow Tristan is trying to escape!"
A smile curled at the corner of Laius's mouth as he snapped his eyes open. "Don't worry, he won't get away!"
Wind Divine Power surged around Laius as he raised his horse-slaying saber and flew toward Tristan.
Traveling through space using the shadows, Tristan had completely lost his will to fight. When he sensed Laius chasing him from behind, his first reaction was not to turn and fight back, but to flee faster.
The Profound Mysteries of the Laws of Darkness were strange, but when it came to speed, they could not quite compare to Laius's Wind Element.
In just over ten breaths, the distance between Laius and Tristan shrank from several thousand meters to less than five hundred. Given a few more seconds, Laius would be able to reach Tristan and engage him in close combat.
He swung his horse-slaying saber, sending blade after blade of wind slashing toward Tristan as if they cost him nothing.
His will to fight gone, Tristan cared only about escaping with his life, using the shadows to evade Laius's wind blades.
But Laius's attacks were too fierce. Each time a wind blade struck, its sharp cutting edge was accompanied by a violent gust of wind that spread outward.
Tristan failed to dodge in time on several occasions, and numerous fine cuts had appeared across his body.
As he dodged Laius's attacks, Tristan called out a threat. "Laius, don't push me too far! Let me go this once, and I promise I won't come looking for trouble with you again."
Tristan spoke in a defiant tone, yet his words could not have been more craven.
But Laius clearly had no intention of letting him go. Without another word, he simply kept swinging his horse-slaying saber.
The distance between them continued to shrink. Tristan watched as the wind blades Laius sent at him grew ever fiercer, and the wounds on his body multiplied.
Clenching his teeth, Tristan shouted angrily at Laius, "Laius, you forced me to do this!"
Tristan turned his wrist, and a flash of light came from his spatial ring. A crimson fruit appeared in his hand.
The fruit was crimson all over and roughly the size of a baby's fist, giving off a faint plant fragrance.
Holding the fruit, Tristan's eyes flashed with reluctance. "Laius, I'll say this one last time. Leave now, and I promise I won't come looking for trouble with you."
A dense barrage of wind blades was Laius's answer.
"Fine, fine, fine. You asked for this."
After narrowly dodging Laius's attack, Tristan swallowed the fruit in his hand with a vicious grin.
Chewing in great mouthfuls, Tristan's eyes turned scarlet, and red juice spilled from the corners of his mouth. "In that case, Laius, die!"