A cultivator, be it a beast that followed the path of energy absorption or an individual that could be a human, elf or demon, that eventually stepped in the path of increasing their strength, by using the natural resources and energies provided by the environment, were without a doubt, the apex predators of this world.

However, there was a certain time that was crucial and fatal, even for such predators. It was a moment that they were at a disadvantage and totally exposed a weakened side. That situation was the scenario Seth encountered himself in just now. Upgrading the Realm of strength.

That weakness was mainly caused by the changes happening in the Mana or Qi. It would get stronger while upgrading realms, but for that to happen, there would be some extreme processes happening with the older Qi or Mana, changing it to a better one.

During that process, the cultivator would not be able to properly use any of his or her techniques, much less stop the changes in the middle of it, unless he or she wanted to damaged their energy veins forever. That's why most cultivators would enter a secluded cultivation session in order to upgrade their realm, safely going past their limits.

At such a time, Seth was completely out of Mana, since it had been compressed to a much stronger version, rendering him with only a low quantity of it, but suddenly, the sky above his head seemed to part in half. There were no clouds up there, just endless darkness and a thin layer of energy that wouldn't let anything leave from the abyss. But right at that moment, it was like dark clouds had formed up there and from inside them, a creature rapidly left.

No giving him the chance to even raise doubts about what was causing that disturbance, the flying beast descended with its full speed towards Seth. It was waiting for the enemy to show a state of weakness and that realm advancement, gave it the perfect chance to act.

The flying beast seemed to be a huge bat-like creature, but by looking closer, it would be easy to identify what it really was. With its unholy torn wings and those deadly sharp claws, a Gargoyle was spiraling down towards Seth, executing one of its deadliest moves.

When Seth and Lan Xue felt that creature's aura, they were shocked to realize that just after defeating the first Mana Sovereign entity another one had arrived. The timing of its arrival though, was not favorable for them.

Lan Xue felt she was more than ready to fight now and like a drifting snow storm, her body started to move with her top speed in order to arrive near Seeth and defend him. However, she realized she wouldn't make it in time.

Seth wasn't able to use his Mana properly yet and if he were to be any other cultivator, he would definitely die from that next attack. But unfortunately for the Gargoyle, Seth was the inheritor of the corruption and all the essence still drifting through the air was his weapon and shield, serving as a tool to accomplish what he wanted.

Like a spiraling missile, the Mana Sovereign beast pointed its sharp claws at his direction, but it noticed an abrupt and fierce energy activity around the target.

Seth attracted all the Energy of Corruption towards him, making it enter his energy veins and bring strength to his muscles. His body received a sudden boost in his physical capabilities with all that corruption on his bloodstream and with a single pull, he took his greatsword out of the ground, turning around to defend himself from the spiraling annihilation coming from the sky.

Swoosh!

Boom!

Seth's greatsword collided against two huge and sharp claws that threatened to rip his body in half, creating another destructive shockwave around them. The gargoyle was forced to a stop, but Seth felt like a huge hammer had just pounded the middle of his chest. However, those claws were not able to proceed further even an inch after the initial impact.

Although it looked like Seth and that Gargoyle were at a perfect balance, they were not. Seth suddenly felt it would be impossible to stay in that deadlock for a long period, since he wasn't able to use his Mana yet. The Gargoyle seemed to have noticed that as well and was about to move its wings and attack him, when it suddenly felt its wings were getting cold and really hard to move.

It immediately took flight once again and abandoned its previous efforts, turning around to defend from the upcoming threat. Lan Xue had appeared there and together with her; a freezing aura started to freeze everything. It was like she was announcing the arrival of winter.

The creature started to feel how limited it was inside that cold area and decided to go away from there, but first it had to take care of the freezing environment around it. It abruptly opened its mouth and a sonic wave was quickly emitted, making all that ice start vibrating and collapse. Lan Xue was forced to use a bit of Mana to protect her ears from that sound wave.

After freeing itself, the creature was about to take to the skies, but its instincts felt something deadly coming from behind.

Seth was already swinging his greatsword to hit that monster and finish it off quickly, but he felt it connecting to an external Mana shield that appeared around the Gargoyle.

Bang!

The shield shook and a long crimson mark was etched there, but it withstood the impact. That was a protective measure the Gargoyle had developed for a situation like this; however, it required a lot of Mana and wasn't something it could use every time.

Taking advantage that Seth wasn't able to recompose himself that quickly to strike once more, the gargoyle wings opened up and it was about to ascend to the skies once again, but it suddenly felt the surface of its shield freezing.

Lan Xue had noticed that the creature wouldn't be able to attack during the time that defensive shield was up and decided to risk her own safety, to put all her Mana and attention on making her freezing energy take over the whole environment.

It was like a blizzard had suddenly arrived to freeze everything around, but at the same time, concentrating most of its energy on sealing the path of what was inside that energy shield.

"Now! Seth!

"

Seth quickly used the Essence of Corruption on the atmosphere to generate a little bit more of Mana for him and crimson flames finally started to burn on the blade of his weapon.

When the Gargoyle felt the energy fluctuations around that greatsword, it decided to use everything it had in order to escape. The already damaged protective shield was discarded and that creature's wings started to vibrate with Mana, increasing its speed and making it be unaffected by the freezing energy.

After that, the beast suddenly took flight towards the distance, making sure to speed up through the air and leave from that place the fastest it could. Seth and Lan Xue were left behind very quickly and their efforts were completely nullified.

However, Seth already had that possibility inside his plans. What he was going to do now, was something he wanted to test, but wasn't able to, at the fight he had before.

His eyes shone with both light and darkness, however the light was a red one. In a single second, his body disappeared, as he had used the Second Step of the Shadow Walk, teleporting away from where he was and appearing right in front of the Gargoyle.

The beast didn't even have time to fully realize his presence and the danger he brought, before everything in front of it turned red.

Seth's crimson flames announced the ending for that flying beast, since just a second after he appeared, his greatsword, coated with flames of corruption, smashed right at the center of that monstruous body.

Crimson flames started to spread everywhere, quickly burning the body of that beast and everything else around the point it had impacted on the ground.

While working together, Lan Xue and Seth were able to take another Mana Sovereign Realm beast down and finally acquiring some time to rest. Or so they thought.

Right after that beast had died, they felt another group of Profound Mana Realm monsters approaching and both of them realized this would not end so quickly. However, Seth was getting stronger and getting a better understanding of his new powers every second that was passing.

When he was still talking with the Great Corruptor, he had seen hundreds of thousands of beasts through the screen and now, he realized this was a test for him. A test to prove he was worth it.. If he didn't kill all of them, like the Great Corruptor had told him to do, the energy layer blocking the path to the surface, would not disappear.