Attackers Descend!

The digging crew and 4 cloaked individuals eyed the clearing ahead of them in an attempt to identify their intruders. It didn't take them long to see their attackers as the silhouettes from the dust clearing became visible.

"Prepare a counterattack!" bellowed one of the Bellingham cultivators. 

"Don't waste your time, you're out of your depth." said one of the cloaked individuals with a cool feminine voice. 

The previous speaker was enraged and pointed at one of the cloaked individuals, "Who do you-" 

"She is right. Our job is to stay out of our way and keep digging," chimed in the petite man. The petite man was thoroughly terrified and had no interest in joining the battle, as it was clear that their visitors were more capable than they had assumed.

"Did Mercedes actually bring most of her troops?" asked one of the excavators. But no one replied as their attention was focused on their attackers. They had expected the Spectralian group to send troops to their location, but they never expected them to arrive so soon. 

The Bellingham crowd had been able to arrive early due to Siegfried's assistance. Odysseus guided the Spectralia Group while Siegfried guided Michael Bellingham's crew. As Fafnir was a legend belonging to Siegfried, the latter had an innate advantage in terms of information that he happily shared with Michael. 

Michael was a natural strategist, thus this was no different from granting wings to a tiger. This allowed him to prepare objects such as the pendants that could ward off the draconic miasma. The area around the group of excavators was cleared of all poison, making their jobs much easier.

The Spectralian group on the other hand had no such advantage. Yet they had managed to arrive only a few hours after the Bellingham pack. This meant only one thing. The success of the Spectralians had little to do with knowledge or preparation. It was mostly due to might!

The diggers were tense at this realization and swallowed saliva. Their heartbeats quickened while the weaker-minded ones subconsciously stepped back. No one could forget the image of a Devastated Banshee being pushed back like it was a weightless cushion. The fact that only a handful of individuals created that situation only served to worsen their fears.

The absence of the Sector Bosses' corpse further served to frighten the excavators.

When the dust had cleared and the silhouettes became visible, a sense of discomfort plagued the Bellingham group.

'Natasha de Ligt, Gianluigi Remus, The Twin Crescent Moons of Remus, Lydia and Palmer Spectralia. This is more of an elite lineup.'

One of the hooded figures quickly analysed the makeup of the team of invaders. She licked her lips in anticipation of the battle to come. These were all infamous names that could shake their section of the sector. Each of them had the potential of being a Sovereign had they been born on other worlds. 

The world of cultivators was one that stressed the importance of the young generation. Death and war were accepted as necessary aspects of population control and struggle that allowed a species to evolve, but this was only acceptable if there was a constant supply of young talent to move forward down the path of cultivation. 

Every mortal that ascended to immortality did so after stepping over a mountain of corpses. Every mortal that became did so after shedding an ocean's worth of blood, sweat and tears. But even then they still needed to have heaven-defying talent and luck. Thus prodigies were valued above the masses. Most worlds would not even hesitate to sacrifice a majority of the population just to strengthen a handful of individuals. This trait was even more common in weaker worlds.

This resulted in the prodigies of the young generation of cultivators having an abnormal amount of infamy, with most of their images and feats being flooded through the system. Local Information Banks sold their information, resulting in certain reputations overshadowing others. Natasha, Lydia, Palmer and the Twins fell into this category of genius. Thus the cloaked individual who was analysing was pleased as she looked forward to the battle that was about to begin.

But an anomaly made her feel uncomfortable.

'Three unknown cultivators. Since this is an elite team selected by Mercedes herself, these three must be of a certain standard. But I have never seen any of them. Could they belong to Peerless?'

Peerless Dao Master's reputation had spread like wildfire across the system after he beat 3 of Everlasting Willow's disciples. The only way a Lord from such a weak background could succeed is if he had assistance from a powerful being. Hence it made sense that he would have impressive subordinates. In this case, it was the absence of any knowledge of him that frightened many! 

While there were mountains of information on all the other candidates available if one had enough resources, information on Peerless was ridiculously scant. The lack of any knowledge further affirmed the fact that a powerful and influential individual was preventing others from looking into his true identity. Thus he was a variable that left many uncomfortable. 

The hooded figures communicated with each other via telepathy and came up with a plan of action on the spot. They each churned their mana and got ready to attack, but before any of them could move, they heard screams behind them!

"Look out!"

One of the hooded individuals shouted to warn the others, but unfortunately, her warning was a moment too late. A blade light tore through the miasma and ripped apart the concentrated group of gravediggers. This was the very same blade light that had passed them moments ago!

'This isn't a blade light, it's a water blade!' noticed one hooded individual. The blade light they had seen was indeed a water blade that had boomeranged back to attack the gathered individuals from behind. It was filled with qi so concentrated it radiated aqua blue light that could easily be mistaken for an energy attack.

Most of the group from the Bellingham group used last-minute skills to defend themselves, but the few dozen that could not turned into body parts strewn on the poisoned ground. The hooded individuals ignored the damage and traced the waterblade back to its source. A brown-skinned arm made a pulling motion and the shining water blade was absorbed back onto the surface of a sword held by the other arm. The hooded individuals could not help but focus their attention on the owner of those arms.

His silvery-white hair and piercing blue eyes were focused while the sword force radiating from his body made his presence a magnet that pulled one's attention. His blue and white Daoist robes flowed freely while a simple katana was his only weapon. An ice-blue scabbard rested in his waist while a fingerless glove covered most of his left land. 

The hooded individuals churned their cultivation bases as they narrowed their eyes. It was clear that the three individuals they did not know about in the group of visitors were of a certain pedigree.

'Creating a water blade capable of being mistaken for blade light, this is no ordinary swordsman.'

The hooded woman who had blocked the Macedonian Charge zeroed in on the water blade that was madly running along the edge of the katana in the swordsman's hand.

'This water blade is infused with the momentum concept, the more it's used the stronger and faster it becomes. It has a few other concepts I can't make out as of yet but one of them should be sharpness.' 

The visitors were of course Will and the others. They had had a brief encounter with the Devastated Banshee, but they were able to make quick work of it despite their disadvantages thanks to the Macedonian Charge. While the Twin Crescent Moons and Achilles combined to fuel the charge, Will disposed of the Mournful Banshees that approached while Gianluigi single-handedly finished off the other Wailing Banshees that tried to sneak up on them.