It blocked all our attacks?! The black-robed men were visibly shaken by this .

Their Lord-tier familiars had unleashed their attacks at their opponent all at the same time . All three of them were considered to be extremely powerful in comparison to other Lord-tier monsters .

How on earth did it block our combined attacks so easily… This isn't good!

Lightning suddenly cascaded upon them from the heavens . Boom, boom, boom!

A series of explosions rocked the forest . After a long while, the explosions died down, leaving most of the trees blown to pieces . The ground was scorched and pitted, with smoke slowly rising up from it .

A barrier composed of red, orange, and green could be seen in the smoke, flickering like a candle in the wind around the black-robed men .

“Taira no Masakado's familiars don't even pack that much firepower,” said the leader of the group in the Nihon language .

Though Gao Peng didn't understand what he had just said, he recognized what language the man was speaking in . People from Nihon? Gao Peng's face darkened .

“Are there more of you? If not… then you can all die,” said Gao Peng dangerously, his gaze sweeping across the black-robed men on the forest floor . He knew that they understood him perfectly .

All three of them looked at each other . “Charge!” They shouted their battle cry in unison, evidently prepared to fight to the death .

Their familiars charged at Da Zi without any hesitation . As they were clearly outcla.s.sed by their opponent in terms of elemental mastery, they had no choice but to resort to close combat .

The White Steel Bladed Beast silently leaped down from Da Zi's back, then shook its wings and vanished on the spot .

The three enemy familiars' advance faltered . The Infernal Incinerator was first to sense that something was wrong . It let out a roar and turned back towards its master . But it was too late .

The White Steel Bladed Beast had appeared in front of the trainers, its front appendages held in a cross shape . Schwing— Blood sprayed out from its victims' headless necks, their heads sent flying into the air .

After taking damage from the White Steel Bladed Beast's attack, two of the black-robed men had disappeared, seemingly teleporting elsewhere .

Different trainers had different failsafe abilities at their disposal . The two trainers who had vanished didn't reappear next to any of the four Lord-tier familiars, which probably meant that they had other familiars stashed somewhere else .

Gao Peng was aware of such abilities . Huang Ya had awakened one himself, which he had named Critical Protection . When a trainer received mortal damage, this ability would be automatically activated, causing him or her to be teleported out of harm's way, like to one of their familiars' side .

However, their familiar had to be within a certain range in order for this to work . The ability wouldn't work if they strayed too far out of range .

The White Steel Bladed Beast sniffed its blade-like appendages, then flitted through the forest, tracking the scent it had picked up . Every part of its body was stretched taut, alert to the slightest disturbance in the air .

Then, its eyes lit up . Found you .

Flowing Light, the White Steel Bladed Beast, vanished once more into thin air .

Bang! The Infernal Incinerator swiped at the air, hitting nothing in particular .

“All right, that's enough . Playtime's over . Da Zi, give them all a clean death,” ordered Gao Peng, before leaping down from Da Zi's back with Desolion in his arms .

Da Zi narrowed its eyes and let out a cold hmph . Gao Peng can't carry that lion around in his arms all the time . It's already a big boy, so why's it acting like a cub around him? Does it have no shame?

Da Zi shook its dragon wings . In the next instant, it turned into a ball of harsh electrical light . Pzzzt!

The horns on its head pierced through the Three-Eyed Crow General's chest, setting off an electrical explosion upon impact! A surge of electricity gripped the Three-Eyed Crow General's body, causing it to light up like a Christmas tree . When the surge of electricity finally subsided, the Three-Eyed Crow General fell to the ground, an electrocuted mess of feathers and ash .

Da Zi then swung its tail back, the golden stinger on its tip as sharp as a saw . Judging by the speed at which it was traveling, the centipede's tail could probably cut through solid steel with ease . Its tail struck the Infernal Incinerator, which was trying to creep up on the centipede from behind . The latter held its arms up just in time to cus.h.i.+on the blow, but even still, Da Zi's tail managed to tear a deep gash across the Infernal Incinerator's chest .

Da Zi turned around and coldly gazed at the Radioactive Scorpion . The Radioactive Scorpion had a temper as foul as the Infernal Incinerator's . What the h.e.l.l are you looking at, punk?

It charged at Da Zi, despite knowing that its chances of victory were slim . A minute later, the Radioactive Scorpion's body lay lifeless on the forest floor .

After seeing the lifeless forms of its fallen comrades around it, the Phytophagous Symbiotic Moss knew that now was the time to flee .

However, as it was a Fungal-type familiar, unless it was latched onto another creature's body, there was absolutely no way it could outrun Da Zi . The Infernal Incinerator was the only enemy Lord-tier familiar still standing in the forest .

“Argh!” The Infernal Incinerator had no intention of running . It rushed towards Da Zi, its eyes filled with hatred and hysteria . At that point, its body had lost all feeling . The look in its eyes burned brighter than its flames .

Show no fear, know no fear . It leaped onto Da Zi, scratching and biting at it .

Da Zi slapped the Infernal Incinerator with a casual flick of one of its claw, then pressed its opponent flat on the ground with another claw . Slowly, it rubbed the Infernal Incinerator against the ground, back and forth, back and forth . The abrasion began peeling away the Infernal Incinerator's already charred skin .

This was the difference in power between two familiars two monster grades apart . Such a confrontation could only end with one being ground to a pulp by the other .

Completely subdued on the ground by Da Zi, the Infernal Incinerator pushed against Da Zi in an attempt to escape the crus.h.i.+ng weight of its body .

“Hmph!” Da Zi leaned down on it even more . Next, it tore off the Infernal Incinerator's arm with its jaws .

Frenzied with pain, the latter roared, “My-my name is Anderson! My name is Anderson! Anderson!”

“Have at thee, monster!” the Infernal Incinerator screamed . Its chest suddenly expanded . Cracks began appearing on its surface, releasing thick, black fumes from its body . With one final burst of power, the Infernal Incinerator finally managed to break free from Da Zi, and it landed a swipe on the centipede's chest as it scrambled to its feet . Da Zi roared out in pain . The Infernal Incinerator was now surrounded by flames of fury .

Then—

Bang!

The flames were frozen solid . In the next second, they shattered into a million pieces . The Infernal Incinerator paused for a moment as cracks began spreading across its body . Black smoke was now issuing from the cracks like helium coming out of a punctured balloon .

The Infernal Incinerator stumbled backward . The anger in its eyes had subsided, its gray pupils slowly regaining a human l.u.s.ter . It was now calmly making eye contact with Da Zi . There was a look of serenity in its eyes .

“Where are you, princess? They said they would help me look for you, but I know now that it wasn't you . It was just a statue made in your likeness,” muttered Anderson, a teardrop in the corner of his eye . “I couldn't find you when I was burning in h.e.l.l, and I still couldn't find you when I came back to the world of the living . Perhaps I can find you this time, princess…”

Anderson fell to the ground on his knees, his head bowed deeply over his chest . Black smoke hissed out of his body like the sand in an hourgla.s.s .

Ssshhh… Wind blew past, dispersing what was left of the Infernal Incinerator into the air .

In another corner of the forest, Flowing Light dropped two unconscious black-robed men before Gao Peng .

Gao Peng had ordered it to capture at least two of them alive, though interrogating them would be a waste of time and energy . He would simply have the Growing Brain read their memories . When it was done with them, Gao Peng would know every little detail of their lives, down to when they first wet their pants .

He could still feel someone else's eyes boring into him from afar . After a while, they were gone .