Birth Of The Crafts-God

Condo and Loffi were already aware of the situation and they got into battle position.

Nolan similarly sobered up at this moment, but his eyes were crimson as he glared at the newcomer.

A feminine male walked out from behind a ninety metres tall tree, with a light smile on his face. He had a skin so pale it was almost as if he had never walked under the sun. His lips were a shade of pink rose that many women would die for. He also had an alluring pair of blue-coloured eyes that were bewitching at first sight, and an aquiline nose that blended perfectly with his face.

"Isn't the silence better?"

The effeminate man's curly golden blonde hair drifted in the light breeze as he swept his gaze at the breathing trio.

"Who are you? What do you want from us?" Loffi bombarded the man with questions as he moved one arm behind his back.

"Who am I? That doesn't matter. As for what I want? Your lives, of course." The man stared at Loffi as his lips stretched into an eerie smile.

Nolan suddenly appeared beside the man with his great sword cutting through the air and swinging down at the latter. He had bid his time and utilised the moment the newcomer was distracted with Loffi's question to make his move.

"Die."

The full strength of a sixth level stellar practitioner burst out at that moment. The majority of the force was contained in the blade of the sword and packed enough power to slice through a five metres thick block of steel. With the element of surprise, Nolan was confident that he could injured, if not eliminate, his target.

"Too slow." The effeminate man said without even looking at Nolan.

*Whoosh*

Suddenly, a shadow sprung up from behind the man and abruptly charged into Nolan.

*Bam*

Almost as if he was hit by a moving truck, Nolan was flung backwards faster than he had arrived. He flew through the air before crashing horrendously into one of the grey gigantic trees in the clearing.

*Thud*

*Crack*

With a heart wrenching force, Nolan crashed into the tree and was accompanied by two low pitch sounds. The first low pitch crack was the sound of the battle suit getting destroyed, why the second one was the sound of Nolan's ribs being broken apart.

As the seemingly lifeless body that belonged to Nolan slid down to the ground, Loffi became enraged. However, just before he could make any new move, the shadow that had attacked suddenly became visible for all to see.

"Imoogi."

Condo suddenly fell to his knees.

After identifying the desolate beast that stood beside the effeminate man, he began laughing like a psychopath. Even Loffi seemed to have given up as his body trembled at the sight of the monster.

The monster was a large basilisk with a length of at least thirty metres and a width slightly above five metres. Unlike a typical basilisk though, it had a pair of outstretched arms that wielded massive claws. The creature was covered in grey-white scales that glittered when exposed to the tiny beams of sunlight which went past the canopy of trees. On its head were a pair of astonishing white antlers, three metres long and thicker than a full grown adult's thigh.

The desolate beast was known as the White Antler Snake in official records, but it also had a different name —an Imoogi. This name came about from an ancient folklore in the Human race era's Hodiernal Epoch [1].

According to the legends from that era, the Imoogi was a creature that was about to ascend to dragon-hood; an incomplete dragon or a dragon-in-training. Despite not reaching its full potential yet, an Imoogi was a fierce and powerful creature that few could take on.

Although the Imoogi that stood before the duo had nothing to do with the one in ancient legends, it was still a monster synonymous with death and destruction.

At birth, a White Antler Snake was at the third level and would reach the seventh level at adolescent. Upon maturing, it would become a bona fide ninth level desolate beast with a chance at ascending to the tenth level. The more talented and luckier ones could even reach the eleventh level.

From this, it could be seen that the White Antler Snake was a desolate beast that didn't belong in the outer region of the Forbidden Void Expanse. It was actually a native of the white desert, although after maturing, it relocated to the inner region.

"Why is it here?" Condo muttered with a panic-stricken expression.

"R-run!"

Loffi turned around and dashed in the opposite direction of the man and the monster.

"Run? Run where?" Condo chuckled wryly. Despair was plastered all over his face and he seemed to have given up on life.

This was understandable after all, the opponent was an Imoogi. Although by the stellar energy signatures around it, it was only a peak seventh level adolescent, it was still not something they could handle.

Although desolate beasts were similarly graded using the same standards as stellar practitioners, there was still the difference in bloodline. Desolate beasts with a higher grade bloodline and high blood purity were typically stronger than others. After centuries of efforts, there was a classification system for bloodline rank and purity in Eretre: Low, Average, Grand and Alpha.

A desolate beast with a low grade bloodline could barely take on a stellar practitioner at the same level or had the same ability. If said stellar practitioner wielded a vestige or two, winning was easy.

A desolate beast with an average grade bloodline was typically slightly stronger than a stellar practitioner at the same level. One would need at one vestige to have a shot at winning. For instance, the Púcaí was an average grade bloodline desolate beast. That was why it was able to take on two sixth level stellar practitioners and three peak fifth level stellar practitioners all armed with vestiges and battle suits, despite only being at the peak of the sixth level. If the team didn't have vestiges and battle suits with them, it would have been much more difficult to win —at least one or two of them would have died.

As for Grand and Alpha grades, they were far more ferocious and powerful. These creatures could even jump levels and face stronger opponents.

An Imoogi was an above average desolate beast, which meant that at the same level, an Imoogi was a Grand rank desolate beast. Ignoring its peak seventh level strength, even if it were at the peak of the fifth level instead, it could easily wipe out the entire crew much less Condo and Loffi.

"I'm not in the mood for a game of tag." The effeminate man said as he stared at Loffi who had already dashed tens of metres away.

The White Antler Snake abruptly slithered away and chased after him.

Although the gap between it and Loffi was already more than one hundred metres, it easily closed that distance with its thirty metres long body.

When it was only just five metres away from Loffi, the desolate beast widened its mouth.

Green lines shot out from the mouth of the monster and darted at Loffi. They were so fast that by the time the latter sensed them, it was too late.

Like spider webs, the green lines pierced through Loffi's suit and flesh, then wrapped around him in a horrendous fashion. Whatever the green lines touched —whether it be the battle suit or Loffi's flesh— a sizzling sound was made as the surface of contact seemed to melt.

Loffi wanted to scream from the intense pain of being pierced and having his flesh and insides melted, but the green lines covered his mouth shut. However, by doing so, the acidic characteristics of these lines flared up again and Loffi experienced an incredibly painful sensation all again.

Even though he couldn't yell, his eyes were terrifyingly wide open. Anyone could tell just by looking at them that he was going through an unimaginable degree of pain. Loffi wanted to shout as a means of psychological comfort, but unable to.

The pain was even too much to bear for a sixth level stellar practitioner. Despite that, Loffi couldn't faint as the pain kept him from doing so.

The Imoogi seemed to gulp, following which the green webs drew back, pulling Loffi along. In a short while, the 2.3m (7 feet 6 inches) 'giant' was nowhere to be seen as the Imoogi made a final swallowing gesture with its throat.

Condo saw this happen and he was completely overtaken by hopelessness. In the end, he couldn't take it any longer and moved his gun towards his head.

"No, no, no. I can't let you do that."

The effeminate man suddenly appeared behind Condo and took the gun from his hands.

Then the man walked in front of Condo and stroked his chin slowly with a finger. Following which he whispered gently,

"I still need to have a taste of you."

...

A few minutes later, a horrifying scream resounded.

"Ahhhh!"