Markisah and Ara’s Efforts

"Yes! Success!"

Hana clapped her hands in delight when Kuro managed to land a hit on the Boss eagle's wing and robbed its ability of flight. The subsequent 'bite' was surprisingly smooth and connected. It seemed that her Kuro was actually good at brawling.

The persistent bite was not without reason. In fact, it was what Hana sought for. Kuro was very venomous. However, Hana wasn't sure how much poison needed to be injected into the mighty eagle for it to take effect. The gulf between both of their powers was quite far apart. Now, what they really needed was time to hold on and persevere. Hana sent in her command to the Elemental Fiends on Suria's team's back to quickly pelt the Eagle Boss in place to help Kuro disentangle himself from the enemy.

While Hana focused more on Kuro's location, she was still observing multiple events happening in all other locations simultaneously on satellite mode while being in the confines of her own sojourn. However, this time, she was on the ground level, by Q-chan's side. Both were heavily guarded by hundreds of the best elites of the Elemental Fiends, far from danger. King-chan had pushed for this for the sake of safety.

Hana was sitting in a lotus position with her eyes closed as a multitude of screens appeared in her mental space shared with the Primordial Queen Mother via the Soul-link technique. As long as there was an Elemental Fiend available, she could see through their compound eyes from any angle. At the same time, her link with Kuro was still in full motion as it did not tax her soul too much. With all these aspects combined, she felt as if she was there herself, experiencing her pets' endeavors from multiple angles.

The Elemental Fiend King was only a pace away from them, motionless but poised in a way that he could immediately engage enemies. Their numbers had hit nearly a million to date, though the twice element General-classed and above were only comprised of around three percent of the total population. The rest were Worker-classed foragers. Besides the ones guarding the sojourn, Hana had deployed all elites in every possible location. However, they were concentrated on the site where the team was engaging the spiritual eagles.

Shiro was exchanging blows with the white female Silver-banded Eagle. Although Shiro was only a half-step Noble, his prowess was a tier higher than the initial Lord-phased Lady Eagle. This could attest to Shiro's skills and potential. The female spiritual eagle was mostly in a defensive position, as she was hounded repeatedly from Shiro's ice-based attacks enforced with Micro Control. However, it looked like it would take a while to determine the victor. Hana wasn't worried about Shiro. The underground hall was already surrounded by a chockful number of Elemental Fiends from all paths leading in or out of the hall. Once the female spiritual eagle exhausted her advantage, the sheer number of spiritual insects will swarm over her in no time. She was a done deal.

In the meantime, thousands of Elemental Fiends were still clashing with the last of the Silver-banded eagles at multiple underground locations. They faithfully followed Hana's command to overwhelm each one of the spiritual eagles with numbers. A whole lot of numbers.

The majority of the eagles had been bundled up nicely with the 'glue' produced by the Elemental Fiends. Even their beaks were sealed off, preventing them from further making any sounds. If Hana hadn't specifically instructed the Elemental Fiends to not harm these birds, they would've become food already. The spiritual eagles had been looking down on the 'food' they usually 'foraged' and had taken the newly upgraded Elemental Fiends lightly. That was the primary reason why they were incapacitated so soon.

The image of Kuro being battered viciously by the Silver-banded Eagle Monarch ignited murderous intent in Hana's heart. Hana was still raw with emotions from the bad news gotten from her beloved Arash, hence she was still unstable internally. She had forcefully suppressed it due to the dire situation they were in. She took deep breaths and remained calm, though her fists were shaking slightly. The Queen Mother looked at her Mistress' clenched fists with worry, but ultimately didn't say anything.

Suria's team made tremendous efforts pelting the Bubble-glues over the struggling Monarch after receiving direct instruction from Hana. However, to their dismay, this final Boss only needed to exert its strength three to four times to make the hardened white substance crumbled. While doing just that, it still actively hurt Kuro with its beak, razor-sharp wingtip, and its wickedly sharp silvery talons.

[Ku-chan, just let go! Now!]

Kuro jumped off and loosened his grip on the eagle's body immediately. At the same time, tens of thousands of Elemental Fiends who had successfully surrounded the large eagle released multicolored energy beams from their mandibles. Black-colored ones spouted thousands of black-hued beams targeted at the injured neck and wing of the eagle. Their intentions were obvious; they were planning to add more poison to the exposed wounds. The red ones focused on singeing the eagle's rear parts with their flamethrower, while the white-colored ones went straight for the eagle's eyes.

It was said that the eyes were the window of one's soul. Hana planned to deliver a soul-based attack to the eagle's consciousness through its eyes. No matter how strong a spiritual beast was, Kuro had once informed her that its soul power wouldn't be that great unless it specialized in a branch of soul-cultivation technique. The technique employed by the white Elemental Fiend had the ability to shock their prey's mental capacity and rendered it immobile for a time so that it could be devoured without resistance. Hana wasn't able to test the soul-based attack since she lacked time. Hence she just gambled this time and believed in the Elemental Fiends' abilities.

Kuro managed to escape the deadlock once the synchronal attacks of Elemental Fiends and the avian took place. He wished to jump in again, but something soft was nudging him by the side. He turned to look with annoyance but did not see anything. However, after a double-take, he soon noticed something moving slightly, just like dried leaves.

Kuro was startled with the presence of tiny birds fluttering covertly in hiding. These birds had zero spiritual energy as they were essentially just plain everyday birds. Kuro had been too engrossed with the fight until he ignored everything that could not pose a threat in his surroundings. Lo and behold, in their beaks were All Cure Pellets! Even Markisah was amongst them. But of course, since she was oh so glaringly obvious, she didn't dare to go close. In fact, she was so far away, Kuro noticed her as a tiny yellow dot burrowing in between dirt and yellow wildflowers a few miles away, trying her best to remain obscured.

The earth-colored fluffy birds flew over and dropped the medicinal pellets in Kuro's mouth before fleeing with their lives! It was obvious that Markisah and Ara had been lurking and working together behind the scenes to find ways to help him when he was in dire need of support. Kuro had seen the two cowardly bestfriends in a new light! He couldn't fathom how the girls could convince weak easy-to-die birds to do their bidding. They didn't have slave-making techniques like he did. So, it must have come down to the gift of the gab.

In the short moment where Hana sent over aid to her beloved Kuro, the late-staged Lord-leveled eagle managed to break free from the white substance and broke the siege! It used its good wing dyed in silver and swiped through the Elemental Fiends attacking it with a vengeance! The feathers on its wing had turned into an array of sharp silver swords, harvesting the lives of Hana's termites like a hot knife over butter. The heads of hundreds of Elemental Fiends were decapitated with a single swipe. It even swooped low and gobbled up the unfortunate spiritual termites' head, who was a bit too close as much as it can ferociously. It had never been treated by lowlifes this way!

[Not enough. It's still not enough!]

Hana bit her lips nervously. The Elemental Fiends' level was too low. The concerted soul attacks weren't successful in stopping the eagle's movement at the slightest. She admitted that she had sorely lost her gamble. Even with the support of the purple General-classed, the power gap was just too big. She needed more external support to contain this enemy! She didn't even have time to be sad about the demise of her loyal termites.

[Shi-chan! Mommy need you to help out Ku-chan! Wrap up immediately!]

Hana desperately sent an emergency telepathic message to her pet fox. She had no choice. If possible, she really didn't want to disturb Shiro since a single negligence could cost him his life. But Shiro was the only one who had enough power to join the fight and make a difference. She needed both of them working together to counter the Eagle Boss. Hence, Shiro needed to know that he needed to finish up fast. Nonetheless, he was tied to the female eagle. Although he was at an advantage, it looked like it would be a prolonged fight. Hana wasn't sure what to do and felt deep anguish. She tried to reformulate a plan in her mind again and again to find anything noteworthy to turn the situation around.

The sudden loud droning of the Elemental Fiends jolted Hana from her reverie.

"Are we being attacked?! Another group of Spiritual Eagles?"

Hana stood up with worry. King flashed past her like a streak of black shadow while the Generals crowded over her closely. Their meaning was clear; she was prohibited from stepping outside the cave.

A few seconds later, the Elemental King was back with a greenish-black two-meter snakehead trailing behind him in a hurry.

"Chomper? Why are you not with Ara?! What happen?"

Hana worriedly approached the snakehead fish with concern. The presence of Chomper here signified something wrong in the present vicinity of the fight. She had sent Ara to perform reconnaissance and support only, not to engage with the enemy. Ara actually fell short with Hana's expectations in terms of intelligence. However, the presence of Chomper leveled the game. The aunty knew who was the smarter one between the two. Hence, she never separated the duo from each other when she gave an important task.

"Mistress! Forgive my intrusion! I have brought Your Imminence aid! Although you did not seek the help of the Waterwave Clan, this lowly one had been presumptuous to seek help on your behalf. Moreover, this one has been given instructions by the glorious Grand Elder to inform him when the situation arise a long time ago. Forgive this lowly one!"

Behind Chomper, Grand Elder Watershade appeared.

Although Hana was clueless to what the cute snakehead was saying (it must be saying something since its mouth was releasing copious amount of bubbles while moving nonstop), she immediately got it once she saw the gigantic silver catfish trailing behind.

Hana gave the Grand Elder a grateful stare…

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