The Last Paragon in the Apocalypse

It took roughly 9 hours for Rory and the others to finish forming their immortal rings. They all succeeded, with Rory coming out first and Echo coming last.

While outside, Klaus sensed the moment each of them formed their immortal rings and knew his team had become even more powerful. Of course, as to how stronger they have become, he can only wait for when their cultivation has been restored to the Immortal Lord stage.

While they were in seclusion, his ten clones had scouted rather far ahead.

Not all of them succeeded, though. Six were killed long before they could make much progress. This told Klaus where not to go to avoid danger.

Thankfully, one of the clones reached a vast clearing, where they could easily cross into the northeast wilderness and enter another forest that led to where they had to go next.

So when his team was ready, they left the cave.

With Klaus leading the way, they soon arrived at the clearing and started heading toward the wilderness, where, if no danger found them, they would soon close in on the outer clearing of the Inner Zone of the Jade Nest.

Once they stepped into the wilderness, they felt the air change slightly. This made them all go on high alert. Klaus created more clones and sent them ahead, making sure they didn’t find themselves in any trouble like before.

Unfortunately, trouble found them unintentionally—or at least that was how it appeared at first.

Just when they were making headway through the wilderness, a sudden cracking sound reached their ears, drawing their attention upward.

There in the sky, the void was breaking.

Klaus narrowed his eyes and immediately sensed danger. He was about to command his team to run when the void suddenly shattered, and a near-destroyed flying boat with almost all of its wings torn off blasted through the crack, speeding directly toward Klaus and his team.

Klaus’s eyes narrowed further, and he extended his hand, summoning Bloodwork.

”Rory, save them from crashing.”

Without waiting for any question, he vanished, appearing 500 meters from the crack. Just when he did, a large metallic bird also blasted through the crack, its beak piercing forward.

Klaus struck with his scythe, meeting the bird’s metallic beak in a deadly collision. The impact sent shockwaves that cracked the void in several places.

For a moment, Klaus felt his hands vibrating before he was pushed back. He fell from the air and landed on the ground, his gaze locked on the bird the entire time.

On the other side, Rory managed to catch the boat that was housing the injured and near-death bodies of the 7th Jade Princess and her four cohorts. Two of them had even fallen into a coma, their clothes completely shredded.

The other two are barely holding on, with the 7th Jade Princess being the one with some life in her.

She wanted to speak; however, Rory had no time to hear her. Her focus was on Klaus, but since he had instructed her to save them, she tapped the Jade Princess on the forehead, and she passed out.

Then she formed five lotus flowers and made them merge with their foreheads.

It will take some time to get them out of the maw of death. However, she turned toward Klaus, who flew into the air, eyes locked on the giant metallic bird.

Slate, Omen, and Echo flew to his side, their gazes also not leaving the bird.

”Looks like we can’t run this time around,” Klaus said, a crazy look appearing on his face. ”We have to kill a demigod-level calamity beast, guys.”

They smiled weakly, fear gripping them. While indeed they may have formed 9 immortal rings each, the monster before them is a demigod.

So while they may be stronger than before, they still remain True Immortals.

Fighting a demigod who has both an advantage in strength and a domain seems like a very bad idea.

”Ah, what could go wrong?” Omen grinned and unleashed all 9 immortal rings. His strength surged, making his presence even more powerful.

Three of the immortal rings moved and entered his sword. They spun around it, causing the sword aura to explode outward.

One moved to his right leg and another to the left, while the remaining four merged with his armor. Slate made the same augmentation and created two clones, while Echo added 6 immortal rings to her staff and the rest to her armor.

”Indeed, what could go wrong?” she said, turning to Klaus.

”Let’s kill a demigod, shall we?” They nodded, and each went into action. Slate moved, his clones taking two different directions.

They soon close in on the monstrous bird.

Echo moved her staff and cast a spell, forming ten large ice spears to come to life. They moved like deadly cannons, firing toward the demigod bird.

Klaus stayed back and assessed the bird’s reaction as the attack closed in. Just when the first spear arrived before it, an invisible shield appeared and blocked it.

The other nine were stopped in the same fashion. Slate and Omen were also stopped, and the clones were blasted into sparkling dust.

This defense that the bird had mounted, to Klaus, was a bit surprising. However, he didn’t seem to mind, knowing full well that attacks augmented with immortal rings are useless.

His team seems to be using it to strengthen themselves and their weapons. But even so, they couldn’t get close to the bird.

Strangely enough, the moment the bird stopped them, it turned its gaze toward Klaus, almost as if it was sizing him up.

Seeing this, Klaus smiled and looked at the scythe in his hand.

”You want this, huh?” he brandished the scythe and pointed it at the bird. ”Come get it then.”

Taking the challenge, Slate and Omen were pushed back, and the bird flapped its wings, shooting toward Klaus like a missile.

A pale smile appeared on Klaus’s face as he unleashed a deadly attack, meeting the bird in a second collision.

This time, they both felt the impact.

”Alright, buddy, let’s kill and drink her blood. Your awakening is almost here.” They pushed each other back, and before long, a deadly collision ignited, Klaus and the bird moving in deadly flashes.

Omen and Slate straighten back up, their immortal ring configuration changing slightly. Instead of augmenting their armor, they knew they would have to first match the enemy’s speed before they could attack.

So they augmented their speed and joined the struggle. Echo, on the other hand, resumed her role as a support warrior and started making sure her teammates didn’t die easily.

On the ground, Rory had managed to heal the outer wounds on the bodies of the 7th Jade Princess and her cohort and even managed to awaken the Princess, whom she had to knock out so she could save her uninterrupted.

The moment she woke up, her gaze turned to the battle in the sky, and fear appeared in her eyes.

”Under normal circumstances, I would have enjoyed seeing you in such a miserable state, Evren. But looking at how messed up you have become, let’s save the teasing for later,” Rory said before rising to her feet.

”Take care of your teammates. I have to take care of mine...” She rose into the air, two crescent-shaped blades appearing in her firm grip.

Casting one last look at the 7th Jade Princess, she vanished, appearing beside Klaus. The next second, she started attacking the bird, which for the past 4 days had tormented the 7th Jade Princess and her team in and out of the void.