I am an Eldritch Entity

Eryndor seized the opportunity.

He lunged with Shadowstep, bypassing the lingering heat of the area of effect attack made by Rin.

He unleashed Nine Suns Palm, chaining strikes relentlessly on Rin.

His first palm struck Rin's chest, leaving a dark scorch. His second hit his gut, the third his shoulder, and the fourth his leg.

Rin roared in pain, his Cinder Shield visibly cracking and reforming, unable to keep up with the rapid, persistent fire damage.

True, he was strong, at Foundation Building realm, but he had expended a large portion of his Qi while fighting, not to mention the final area of effect attack which consumed almost all the remaining Qi.

He could barely put up any defense.

Not everyone could passively cultivate like Eryndor and keep absorbing Qi even in a fight after all.

Lyra, recovering, quickly threw a volley of Shadowsilk Daggers at Eryndor.

Crap, she recovered too quickly.

He quickly switched focus, intercepting the daggers with his own precise dagger parries, his Disruptive Nullification also diffusing the paralyzing Qi on impact.

She then attempted a Whisperwind Bind on his arms, hoping to stop his Nine Suns Palm assault which he was still continuing on Rin.

Eryndor, even with his mental fatigue, instinctively flared Disruptive Nullification, causing the binding spell to unravel mid-air.

He continued to use Nine Suns Palm to chip away at Rin, forcing him to keep his immensely weakened Cinder Shield active.

Whenever Lyra attempted a binding spell or a deceptive illusion to set up a critical strike, Eryndor used Disruptive Nullification to dismantle her efforts.

During this time, he also got to know about her other cultivation arts, but since all of them were focused around illusions and control, they were entirely useless against him.

It was because his innate abilities were at a much higher level that he could immediately counter her efforts.

If it were instead his cultivation arts which were a counter to her illusion and control cultivation arts, then they would've fallen short no matter what since he was only in Qi Condensation realm while Lyra was at Foundation Building realm.

One could say that it was entirely his innate abilities closing the gap between them.

His Spatial Sight and Cognitive Scrying cut through Lyra's Shifting Veil again and again, ensuring he always knew her true location.

His own offensive output, while weak, was relentless and precise.

It's probably due to my earlier breakthrough to the Telepath realm that I still have enough mental capacity for such focus and precision.

Else by now, my concentration would've already faltered and have difficulty hitting on precise locations.

Even though he didn't have any mental spells for active combat, just the passive effects were already worth it.

Rin and Lyra had gone through another major enhancement when going from Qi Condensation realm to Foundation Building realm, which included both physical and mental aspects, therefore their mental fortitude was on par with Eryndor even without another power system to give a boost.

Eryndor aimed his Air Cleaving Slash and Sky Piercing Palm's air variant at exposed joints or the thinnest parts of Rin's Cinder Shield.

He occasionally used Void Pierce for a quick, surprising jab, drawing more blood from Rin.

Rin's fiery counter attacks, if any, became less frequent, his Qi visibly depleting.

His Flame Lashes lost their intensity, and his Cinder Shield flickered more and more.

Lyra, too, began to show signs of exhaustion, her illusions less convincing, her binding spells being disrupted every now and then.

Eryndor, though exhausted, continued his slow, methodical assault.

Finally, Rin, his Qi nearly depleted, tried one last desperate Flame Lash.

Eryndor met it with Azure Tortoise Shell, reflecting a portion of the waning force back, causing Rin to stagger.

Eryndor then closed the distance in a flash, channeling his remaining Qi into a powerful Internal Fist. He bypassed Rin's now fragile Cinder Shield, landing a solid strike directly on his chest.

Rin coughed, his eyes wide in disbelief as he collapsed.

Lyra, seeing Rin fall, hesitated. She then attempted to use the Shifting Veil to make a hasty retreat. But Eryndor, battered but victorious, wasn't going to let her escape.

What if she exposes my existence?

One must not forget that the others still didn't know there was an additional disciple with them.

He hadn't been there to break the shield, nor to fight the beast.

Which meant he had entered and stayed alive purely relying on the efforts of others, or in worse terms, by using others.

No one would like that. He definitely didn't want to fight all the remaining disciples by himself.

He anticipated her movement with Spatial Sight.

He lunged, his final Air Cleaving Slash cutting through her attempt at cloaking. The dagger connected with her leg, bringing her down.

Eryndor stood over them, panting, his Sovereign's Cloak pulsing faintly before receding. He was covered in sweat, dirt, and minor injuries – a few shallow cuts, and a throbbing head from the mental strain, despite being a Telepath.

It was kind of logical given how he was battling two disciples stronger than him by an entire realm, and they were no slouch either. They were among the best, else they wouldn't have survived.

He had allowed a few minor attacks to pass by so that he could save on some Energy of Consciousness which the Sovereign's Cloak would spend on defending.

He was pretty sure his Passive Regeneration would need less Energy of Consciousness to heal him.

There was also the fact that his Passive Regeneration used Energy of Consciousness over the course of several minutes or hours, while his Sovereign's Cloak used the energy immediately.

The former was obviously more beneficial during the battle if it were just minor injuries.

His Energy of Consciousness was almost entirely depleted, leaving him mentally drained. But the two Foundation Building disciples lay defeated before him, a testament to the amazing defense of his Sovereign's Cloak.

This amazing defense almost deactivated during the final phases of the battle. It's a good thing I took the risk of allowing minor attacks to pass through.

He had won, but it had been a long, hard-fought battle of attrition against superior power.

Of course, he didn't wait for long.

He killed both of them, and searched their bodies.

After a while, Eryndor buried the bodies and left the place.

While keeping his Spatial Sight active, Eryndor scanned if there were any disciples in sight.

There weren't any.

I'll search for them after going through the loot I currently have.

Since it wasn't safe out in the open, Eryndor went back to his previous spot underground and began going through the loot.

The batch, as always, will be discarded.

It truly pained Eryndor every time he discarded the batches. After all, he had seen for himself just how big the loot was in the room of the last disciple out of the three he killed.

This was despite them having a good loot on their bodies anyway.

However, he always convinced himself that it was all for his safety.

He had an inkling of how evil cultivators were treated because of the memories he scanned, and he didn't have much confidence in being able to deal with them.

For that reason, he actively severed each and every connection which could trace the death of disciples' death to him.

Although the loot I take from them can also be considered a point of connection, I always use all of it quickly before discarding the bottles.

Why else would I be so wasteful as to use Qi Gathering pills for even passive cultivation?

Eryndor sighed, and continued going through their loot.

He first kept aside the energy herbs they had gathered, inwardly scoffing at their efficiency.

From the looks of it, their probing cultivation arts weren't that good, or maybe they weren't entirely effective on herbs on a large scale as they might have had to individually scan all herbs for a long time before coming to a conclusion.

This could be seen from the fact that they didn't have as many herbs as him even though they were two people and were operating in a much larger area.

Apart from that, there's plenty of loot.

There were no healing pills or even any one time use treasures obviously.

Only someone with a high amount of healing pills would have some left after the initial shockwave when the shield opened and the fight with the two huge beasts.

Rational people didn't move around with that high amount of pills, as that would mean they had to take less of other pills.

There was limited space on the body after all, they didn't have spatial treasures.

Apart from the complete lack of healing pills, there was also a shortage of Qi Gathering, Pure Qi pills, and other pills and treasures which helped with absorbing Qi.

Ah yes, they spent a lot of Qi trying to break that shield. Unlike me, they don't have passive cultivation so they need to rely on these to maintain the Qi levels in their storage.

There was also the fact that they couldn't afford to be without Qi even after defeating the huge beasts in case a fellow disciple attacked them, therefore they must have quickly used these kinds of pills to bring their Qi to an appropriate level.

Apart from the above disadvantages, the loot both these disciples had was rather substantial.

After all, they were still in the Foundation Building realm. Their loot was not something those at Qi Condensation could compare with unless they were truly poor.

After he segregated the entire loot, he began making a list of what he currently had.