Chapter 190: Elif & Elaine's Plan

"So, given Miss Via's teachings, how confident are you in closing the portal, Elaine?" Asked Elif as he glanced at Elaine while the two flew through the void, hidden from sight, though the monsters could still roughly discern their position.

"Hmm, it depends. I've only been learning from Miss Via for a little over a year, and I'm still studying Earth tier formations, so if the portal is just a simple portal, I'm confident in at least being able to stop it from increasing in power. However, if it's a portal backed by a formation, I won't be able to do anything; it'll be too complicated for me, someone who is still learning basic formations." Replied Elaine through furrowed brows as she gazed at the sea of monsters, which was everywhere she looked; the only vacant place was the sky above them.

"Formation? Well, we can't rule out that possibility, but I find such a possibility hard to believe; wouldn't the supposed formation need to be formed inside the Treasure realm? Father had inspected every participant, along with their belongings, with his divine sense before they were finally allowed entrance; even if the formation were a low-level one, it would still need some form of resources, and Father wouldn't allow someone suspicious into the Treasure realm." Remarked Elif with a frown as he glanced at Elaine's thoughtful expression, curious what was on her mind.

"What's gotten you pondering so deeply, Elaine? I'm assuming it's regarding our predicament." Asked Elif, prompting Elaine to look at Elif while expressing her thoughts.

"I was just thinking if the cause of this was because of a formation; it couldn't be too powerful, considering the first monsters that appeared were mostly weak Saint monsters. So the formation was mediocre, but after a few days, it's now able to allow passage to monsters with the strength of a Divine King; the only logical answer to this would be the formation was the kind that can grow." Replied Elaine, while Elif nodded in understanding as he followed along.

"Grow? Do you mean adaptable formations? I don't know as much about formations as you do, but aren't adaptable formations credited to be rather powerful?" Asked Elif with a raised eyebrow, and while Elaine nodded in confirmation, she was slightly smirking.

"Yes, they are one of the more powerful types of formations since, with enough time and just basic resources, a mediocre formation will eventually grow into an incredibly powerful and terrifying formation." Said Elaine with a slight smirk as she viewed the endless horde of monsters that ran amok in the realm.

"However?" Added Elif, knowing such an amazing thing couldn't exist without some form of drawback.

"However, while the strength of the formation may grow, the formation itself won't adapt, and since the initial formation was a low tier, that makes it very easy to destroy and tamper with; even someone with basic knowledge will be able to destroyer the formation by hardly doing anything." Stated Elaine with a smile while Elif smirked alongside her.

"That's good to know; however, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, Elaine. Let's first observe the portal before making any decisions on how to progress, lest we make a mistake." Advised Elif with a slight smirk as he looked at Elaine, who smiled and nodded in response.

"Alright, Brother; just make sure to stay close to me." Said Elaine while smiling as she brought her hand, which was holding Elif's, closer to her, causing the distance between the two to lessen.

"Since we are still in relative safety, I'll play along; just make you stay focused once we arrive at the portal." Remarked Elif with a slight shake of his head as he practically hugged Elaine, causing her to display an expression that contained love and obsession.

For the next day, we continued flying just like this, both of us embracing each other while wrapped in our Qi, and though it probably wasn't the most optimal, neither of us was complaining; besides, for some reason, I felt like I just needed to shower Elaine with my love.

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Hidden deep in the void, away from prying eyes, thanks to Elaine and her technique, Voids Veil, we floated in the air while looking at the behemoth of a portal before us that constantly spewed out monsters like a broken dam.

"Well, we are lucky; while the portal was created alongside a formation, it is indeed an adaptable formation. Even from here, I can read the formation and learn of its purpose." Remarked Elaine as she intently eyed the edge of the massive portal, which was laced with ethereal words that only formation apprentices and above could comprehend.

While Elaine deciphered the formation's purpose, I, on the other hand, took the time to observe the surrounding area and monsters we'd most likely end up facing that, for now, seemed to be stuck around the late Divine King realm. Which was something Elaine and I could handle, though Elaine will be having a tough time. After all, she is only a middle Divine, and while she can fight two whole realms above her, against so many powerful monsters, she'd be quickly overrun.

'Well, I don't really need to worry about her well-being. Elaine and I have different fighting styles; she's not someone who'll fight face-to-face. Besides, if things get too rough, she can always hide deep within the void; even I'll have a tough time finding her if she were to do that.' Thought Elif as he observed the tens of thousands of monsters surrounding the portal, seemingly protecting it.

Seeing the monsters standing guard, which is something they normally wouldn't do, I was curious if this was the limit to how many monsters the powerful individual, who was behind the scenes, could control. While I don't have detailed knowledge about Nether monsters, If the individual was as strong as I Imagined, then it should be able to control far more than a few measly tens of thousands.

'Maybe they think roughly a hundred thousand monsters will be enough to deal with Elaine and I? If that's so, the person controlling them is rather arrogant; they'll need far more than that much if they wish to take me down, though I will admit, it will be a tedious process killing them all, and it'll use a decent chunk of my Qi reserves.' Mused Elif with an amused yet severe expression as he summoned Hokori from his dimension ring and unsheathed it without hesitation.

"I see; the formation didn't create the portal; no, it is more like a beacon, if anything. However, it also stabilizes the portal, so destroying the formation should not only stop it from growing stronger, it should hopefully cause its collapse." Stated Elaine with furrowed brows as she looked at the portal before looking at Elif.

"Seems you were right; we are lucky. So, all we have to do is destroy the formation, clean up the remaining monsters, and everything should return to normal." Remarked Elif lightly with a smirk as he rested Hokori over his shoulder while Elaine summoned Orcus, which emitted a dense aura of killing intent.

"Yes, but, as you can see, Brother, that's easier said than done; the instant we leave the void, all the monsters will come charging at us. Even if it's you, Brother, it'll take time to get through that massive horde of monsters, not even considering that monsters appear faster than you can kill them." Said Elaine as she eyed the monsters spewing forth from the portal, thousands a second.

"Well, you're not wrong; it would take me some time to get through that horde. How about this, then? Since you're the formations expert, you'll deal with destroying the formation while I face the monsters and protect you?" Asked Elif as he glanced at Elaine, who nodded without any hesitation, having complete trust in Elif and vice-versa.

"Alright then, let us get this over with. It's been nearly four weeks since I've bathed, and I'd like to relax a little." Added Elif with a sigh, feeling rather dirty, even though he has cleaned himself with Qi after every battle.

Shortly after I said that, Elaine and I surfaced from the void, reappearing within the physical plane; well, more like Elaine dragged me along since my movements were rather hindered within the deep void. The instant we appeared, the monsters guarding the portal immediately locked onto our location as they gazed at us with minimal intelligence, though we didn't grant them any time to react as we were already flying toward the portal.

As we neared the portal, we started splitting off; I went to face the monsters while Elaine headed toward the edge of the portal to tamper with the formation; however, whether the person controlling the monsters understood the plan or not, some monsters ignored me and headed right for Elaine.

"Ho, where do you think you all are going? No one will be interfering with my little sister." Remarked Elif, using his movement technique, the Elven Body Flicker, appearing directly in front of the monsters chasing after Elaine.

Raising my hand, I manifested a large purple palm and sent it hurling toward the approaching monsters, turning them into bloody mush as they were squashed beneath my power. Though that wasn't all I had for them, grabbing my sword by the hilt, I raised Hokori into the air while injecting my Qi into it, causing it to be engulfed in purple ethereal flames, before I sliced down, launching a massive purple arc from my blade.

With those two attacks, they sliced and crushed through the monsters with ease, killing thousands until the two finally crashed into the ground, causing a loud rumble, but other than that, there was hardly any damage to the decayed ground.

"To the person controlling these Nether monsters, just know, you'll never step foot past me; that's the promise of a Prince." Stated Elif with an incredibly proud expression as he brandished Hokori while eyeing the numerous monsters that rushed toward him.