Vedora felt the ground trembling as they heard the roars becoming louder and louder. The purplish moths covering the ceiling crumbled down on them with each roar.

“Dang it, how could we possibly kill whatever that’s coming here?” Sarba blurted out,

“We need to wake her up” despite their situation Cain still sounded calm, just like Michael.

“No, the only way we can survive this place is if she breaks through to the Core Strengthening stage. We must stall that thing and give her the time she needs” Ayag flapped their tiny wings to land before Gaya.

“How are we gonna do that? Talk that thing to death?” Sarba snapped,

“Idiot, I have powers and if I do, you two meatheads must have some powers too”

Her words indeed made sense to Sarba and Cain still it seemed like a bad time to rely on their unfound powers. Even if they could find out about their powers, there was no guarantee they, a Body Refining stage level 2 beast could survive a battle with anyone above Body Strengthening stage.

“The shield is still up, let’s hope whatever’s coming towards us is not a Core Strengthening beast,” Sarba said,

“Man, I miss Ghost. If he was here, we could have just stood on his shoulder and enjoyed him beating the hell out of everything”

“It was her stupid decision in emotion to eave him and you dragged us with her instead of convincing her not to leave him” Cain grunted after hearing Ayag. From the very beginning, he was against the idea of Gaya leaving Michael and venturing into such a dangerous place. Unfortunately, Sarba leaned with Ayag-so two out of three votes made Vedora accompany Gaya. There was nothing Cain could do.

Ayag headbutted Cain hearing his disagreement. But in the next second, Ayag’s eyes lit up, and she blinked with a cunning look in her eyes,

“Look, in case it’s a Core Strengthening stage beast, we don’t need to kill it”

“We can’t” Sarba interjected only to get a vicious headbutt from Ayag,

“We just need to stall the beast until this half snake wakes up from her cultivation”

Ayag looked at both Cain and Sarba for their approval,

“Since getting out of here without Gaya is impossible and you won’t let us wake her up, it seems we have no other choice but hope your plan would work. What do you think Cain?” Sarba asked Cain,

“We can stall the beast alright. If what Nightmare said was true, the Core Strengthening beast would possess the intellectual prowess of humans. And the sight of us, a new species would make the beast curious and reevaluate or form up a new plan to deal with us. It might take time to gauge our strengths and weaknesses. If I saw a new species in front of me, that’s what I would do”

Cain’s words somehow reassured both Ayag and Sarba. With his approval, Ayag closed her eyes, trying to figure out how she managed to let out the sonic cry.

After having inherited Michael’s personality and observing Gaya and Ghost for so long, Cain had learned a lot of crafty actions, and he had gained a lot of combat experience.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

As the seconds passed by, the ground trembled more and more violently. They were getting drenched in purplish moths, it was raining moths inside the cave. However, the moth was the last of Vedora’s problems.

“If you have any powers, now will be a great time to reveal it Cain” Sarba shivered hearing the roars getting louder and louder. He could tell whatever that’s coming to them is closer than they like it to be.

“Hey, it can still be a Core Formation beast and Gaya’s barrier can save us” Sarba tried to calm himself by being optimistic. His smile was not the brightest as he still had intense fear hiding behind his smile.

“They” Cain muttered,

“What?”

“It’s not one, it’s two. Two beasts” Just as Cain uttered these words, Sarba looked through the translucent shield Gaya cast to see two huge yet majestic panthers made out of gray stones standing at the entrance.

Considering Vedora’s small stature, the panthers noticed her first before they noticed the tiny beast standing before the human. Both the panthers bore their teeth, which caused Sarba to feel a tingling sensation in his spine.

“Dazer, look there” Surprising Vedora, one panther talked in human tongue. The voice sounded so rough and animalistic as one would imagine.

Soon the panthers both closed their mouths while their slit vertical pupils that shone in silver in the darkness became rounded. The murderous look in their eyes got replaced by curiosity.

“We are screwed” Sarba grunted, noticing the panthers’ cultivation level, both of them were at Core Strengthening stage level 3, one level above the Three headed crow Gaya fought. But unlike before, the Panthers weren’t in a disadvantageous position. In fact, the Panthers had the advantage of fighting in a closed space such as the cave.

“What is that? I have never seen such a beast before” the other panther gracefully took a step forward. Looking at the shield, one panther just raised its front paw, slowly putting its paw through the shield like it was testing the shield’s power. When the panther’s paw touched the shield, it produced a ripple through the shield.

“Humph,” the panther snickered after making sure the shield couldn’t stop or hurt them. Step by step, the panthers entered the cave through the shield.

“GET OUT!” Ayag’s eyes abruptly opened as she let out a powerful cry. A more powerful blast of a sonic wave shot out of her mouth and soared towards the panthers. The entire cave shook violently as the panthers got pushed back several steps backward.

Although Vedora was just on the Body Refining stage level 2, the sonic cry had the power of a spell cast by a Body Strengthening stage level 7. The panthers’ eyes went wide except their eyes brimmed with more curiosity and bloodthirstiness.

“Neror, this must be some heavenly beast”

“And it must be delicious to eat”

The panthers talked to each other,

“We cannot waste a drop of blood of this beast and we must do it before that human breakthrough to the Core Strengthening stage. I can feel she’s just an hour away from breaking through”

“Then we kill the beast and devour the human before she breaks through”

“So much for your theory Cain” Ayag growled,

“Im not the idiot shouted and kindled their curiosity” Cain snapped,

“Eat these two, I’m all bones and no flesh”

The panthers evilly grinned hearing the silver head in the middle trying to plead.

“I think we should go with Cain’s plan of waking her up” Ayag swallowed a mouth full of saliva. An overwhelming threat to her life shadowed her pride and haughtiness.

Just as the panthers were only a couple of meters away from Vedora, an emerald green orb shot into the cave from somewhere. The panthers were startled as they almost jumped back in shock.

Boom!

Before Vedora could see the orb completely, it exploded creating a muffled booming sound. Soon afterward, a green smoke filled the cave. Vedora immediately tried to close their nostrils with their small wings.

“It burns!”

“ARGGGG!”

Unlike Vedora, the panthers growled. Their voices were filled with terror and pain. Soon, they fell onto the ground, rolling frantically like they were on fire.

By now, Vedora realized the green smoke didn’t pose a threat to them since they felt nothing. As the Panthers were rolling on the ground, a golden bolt of lightning hit the panthers from outside the cave.

“Ghost!”

Vedora’s eyes went wide as they sparkled in excitement. They couldn’t help but let out a long heave of sigh. However, Cain noticed something different with the lightning bolt, he looked at the panther which got hit by the lightning bolt to see a sword sticking out of the panther’s gut.

“Swords of justice” a calm yet magnetic voice sounded in the cave. Vedora looked at the cave entrance to see a human in pure white robes making his way towards them with a glistening white sword in each hand.

For a moment, Vedora thought it was Ghost because the images of Ghost flashed across their eyes when they saw the youngster. Except for the color choice of his dress, this youngster possessed the same swag and grace of Ghost. In simple words, he looked just as dashing and stunning as Ghost in Vedora’s eyes.

Vedora saw the youngster raise his swords at the panthers before swinging them in the air. In a snap of time, several energy swords resembling the swords in his hand appeared above the panthers.

The youngster winked at Vedora as the swords hanging above the panthers fell straight into the ground while skewering the panthers. The panthers frantically wiggled in pain, blood gushing out of their bodies. Still, no matter how hard they squirmed, they couldn’t cast a spell or escape the wrath of the swords.

Vedora was completely stunned seeing the youngster’s prowess, they never expected a Core Formation level 4 youngster to kill not one but two Core Strengthening stage level 3 beats with such ease.

Cain could guess it was that green smoke that affected the panthers somehow making them vulnerable to the spell he cast. Under Vedora’s shocked gazes, the youngster went closer to the panthers before ending their suffering once and for all by stabbing the panthers through their hearts using his swords. Then he squatted down to pull out the cores from the panthers’ chest.

Whoooosh!

Just after a few seconds, the youngster pulled out the cores, a strong gust of wind swirled inside the cave forming a small tornado around Gaya. An eye hurting bright light enveloped her body.

The light covered her body for a few more minutes before fading away.

“She did it, I” Ayag shouted excitedly. Gaya then abruptly opened her eyes and her sharp gaze fell on the youngster standing before her.

“Noah Winston”

Vedora saw the youngster letting out a calm smile,

“Aelia or should I call you Gaya Ashton?”

*******************************

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