The Invincible Full-Moon System

Chapter 1368: High-Speed Pursuit

In the heart of the Verdantveil Forest, the cutthroat battle continued.

Nobody expected the battle to be easy and they were completely right.

Merging the feral and brutal style of the Werewolves along with the tactical and precise style of the Elves was surprisingly effective—the different styles allowed them to fill different roles and created a harmony of deadly combinations.

Physically, the Werewolves overpowered the slaves and allowed none of them to go through.

From range, the Elves shoot arrows to assist the outnumbered Werewolves.

Becoming the slaves of Shadow made the fallen Elves stronger than ever.

All of them became extremely resilient, and could even survive a fatal blow that could kill any living being for certain. Other than having to decapacitate—or outright crush their heads, the slaves could stand back up and stab them from the back.

However, under their compatible chemistry, the slavesʼ numbers were thinned quickly.

It didnʼt take long for the Werewolves and the Elves to focus on Shadow.

But unlike the battle with the slaves, Shadow obliterated them.

Valkis commanded them to swarm Shadow when its death mana sky-rocketed significantly.

”What is happening?!” Mavok approached.

He was using his kingly energy to sustain the stream of death mana coming from Shadow.

As much as he wanted to answer that question, Valkis was unsure, ”I am not sure,” He said, he needed to speak up—because of the blowing stream. ”but it might be transforming—we need to end this before it could transform completely!”

”Transform? Itʼs not a Lord class yet, how could it transform?!” Mavok frowned.

Naturally, the power paths of Humans and mutated animals were similar.

Both harnessed the mystic elements to become stronger and even employed the same core.

Once an Awakened reached their bodily limits, they would form a spirit core—harnessing the power of the spirits to reach a higher-level of power. Similarly—mutated animals would sleep and cultivate their elemental affinity using mana to reach their maximum capability.

Upon reaching the ceiling, they would form Elemental Order to continue becoming stronger.

Reaching a certain level of power, an Awakened gained access to the Gladiator Form.

On the other hand, mutated animals also gained a form called Tribulation.

Basically, the said mutated animal became a living natural disaster of their elemental affinity.

Valkis has seen it back in ancient times but only Lord-class Order Beast could do that.

So Shadow transforming shouldnʼt be possible.

”Itʼs not a Tribulation but a makeshift of it,” Valkis added, squinted his eyes.

Shadow who was defending itself violently from the Werewolves, and Elves was soaring with a death aura. Its tail turned into hard, impenetrable bone—and branches of bones, protruded out from the left side of said bone, and these branches climbed upwards.

If seen from the front, Shadowʼs tail would make it look like a peacock with partial plumage.

And this partial plumage wasnʼt only for show.

Crash!

Boom!

Brutally, the Werewolves that lunged at Shadow were impaled.

Other than making it more menacing, the branches of bones could elongate at will.

It has ten branches and each could impale one.

Additionally, it doesnʼt only inflict fatal wounds but also sucked the life essence of the victim rapidly, draining even a Werewolf in the eighth-rank realm to nothing but withered skin—and bone in five seconds.

As if that wasnʼt enough of a threat, the life essence empowered the branches of bones.

Each kill feeds them, making them thicker and stronger.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, the Alpha Primes were about to leap into action again— but Flunra landed in front of them and stopped them, ”Changes of plan—the Alpha found out that it was protecting a powerful artifact that naturally exudes death mana. Killing it wouldnʼt be possible, the longer we fight, the worse weʼll get, and the stronger it becomes”

”So weʼre going to lure it away instead,” He added, giving them the new instructions.

Gistella and Adhara wounded Shadow but the wounds were already healed.

It would regenerate non-stop with each kill and the death mana coming from the artifact.

Killing a near Lord-class Order Beast is still out of their hands.

”Lure it to where? We need to ask the Elves” Mavok said, pivoting towards the Elves.

But Flunra shook his head, ”I already asked them—there is a valley nearby—with a significant drop about twenty miles north. Our plan is to locate and take the artifact, bring it to that drop—and throw the artifact there”

Upon hearing this, Valkis, Mavok, and Fenrik nodded their heads.

Now that they knew the plan, Flunra turned around with the three of them ready behind him.

Seeing Shadow wanting to break free when it saw Rexʼs clone heading to its precious artifact—Flunra and the Alpha Primes quickly sizzled—with extreme strength. Flunra used his Herald Mark while the Alpha Primes activated their King Marks.

Swoosh!!

In an instant, their energy level surged violently.

Others who were focusing on Shadow were pulled in their direction, sensing the abrupt shift.

Even Adhara and Gistella who were not in their right minds spared them a glance.

”Protect the Alphaʼs clone, heʼs the only one who could find the artifact,” Flunra commanded.

As he said that, the four of them rushed ahead with an explosive charge.

Sensing the incoming, Shadowʼs aura exploded.

A fraction of a second was all it took for it to pierce through the enclosure, taking advantage of Adhara and Gistellaʼs momentary distraction to blast through. It didnʼt only pierce through them but also crippled them.

Adharaʼs eyes widened as the right side of her stomach was blown off along with her arm.

Similarly, Gistella was also thrown to the side with a vicious bleeding mark crossing her body.

Paying them no attention, Flunra and the Alpha Primes picked up their pace.

Meanwhile, Rexʼs clone was going as fast as he could, fixing his eyes on the artifact ahead.

He would be the one carrying the artifact and bringing it to the valley.

Just as he was about to pick up his pace—the inverted trees around him—suddenly became wobbly and before he knew it, the roots shot and tried to grab him. Fully following his bodyʼs reflex, he twisted and dodged the rootsʼ attempts.

It was getting harder but he could cut them before they grabbed him.

But as he leaped ahead to dodge the tentacle-like roots, he sensed something behind him.

Rex glanced over his shoulder and saw that it was Shadow.

Glaring at him murderously, Shadow swung its paw at him but Rex was able to dodge albeit barely, and rolled forward. However, he wasnʼt in the clear yet, the partial plumage—soared high and shot its sharp branches toward Rex.

Boom!

Boom!

Each strike shook the ground, causing Rexʼs clone to lose balance for a brief moment.

As he leaped to the side to dodge, he was grabbed from below.

Not the roots from the inverted trees but skeletal hands that came out of a portal.

Seeing this, Rex punched it to break free but they were as hard as a rock!

Splash!

Caging Rexʼs clone, multiple teeth of bones emerged from the ground in front of him, barring his way even if he could break free. He hissed in pain when the skeletal hands infused death mana into his body.

It was intrusive and overwhelming.

Shit, I canʼt hold it much longer! Iʼll disappear!

Unlike his real body, if this body was wounded too severely, it would disappear.

But Shadow had no patience as it struck again with its plumage, aiming to end Rex instantly.

In the nick of time, Flunra came rushing with incredible speed.

Borrowing strength, his speed surged explosively, so fast that he seemed to flicking in—and out of existence. In an instant, he closed the gap to Rexʼs clone. As the attack came hurtling toward them, he countered—with a precise parry, deflecting it with enough force to throw it off course.

Not stopping at that, he twisted his torso and struck the skeletal hands.

Under his energy-infused claws, the skeletal hands shattered, freeing Rexʼs clone.

”Keep going! Weʼll handle it!” Flunra shouted.

Roar!!

Charging as fast as Flunra before, Shadow dived right to them and swung its plumage hard.

Flunra pushed Rexʼs clone back so that he wouldnʼt get struck by this.

However, before the plumage was about to hit, Valkis and Mavok arrived and stopped right in front of Flunra. Both crossed their arms—and took the hit. Although they had planted both of their feet firmly and even already prepared to block the attack, both were pushed back.

Driven back by the staggering force, their feet dug into the earth, leaving deep craters.

Both were hurled backward and crashed into another inverted tree.

Even then, the two Alpha Primes bought enough time for Rexʼs clone and Flunra to move.

Boom!

Fenrik came out of nowhere and unleashed a devastating roar at Shadow.

He bought a few seconds, disorienting Shadow from the ringing and sickening soundwave.

Valkis and Mavok also came back, pushing Shadow back.

On the other hand, Rexʼs clone sprinted as fast as he could, his legs were moving like a blur, with Flunra sticking close to him. Eventually, they saw a ruin up ahead, a building in the past that was now reduced to rubble.

Stopping on ruin, Flunra sensed concentrated death mana coming from underground.

Seeing this, he poised to blast the ground but Rexʼs clone stopped him.

”Itʼs a decoy, the artifact underground was a decoy,” Rexʼs clone said, he already consulted with the System, and knew exactly what to do. ”Once you destroy the ground and grab the artifact down there, the real artifact will be teleported elsewhere”

”Shadow thought of that...?” Flunra muttered in shock.

An Order Beast with this level of intelligence is quite rare even among the Lords.

Pivoting towards a broken pillar, Rex stood in front of him before he stabbed his hand into it.

Once he did that, the entire black pillar crumbled into pieces.

Rexʼs clone watched the pillar pieces and waited.

However, Flunra was becoming impatient, the sound of the Alpha Primes—and Shadow was nearing them, with each passing second. He knew that Rexʼs clone wouldnʼt wait if he didnʼt need to so he also waited.

But ten seconds in, his legs were already moving up and down.

Roar!!

Just then, Flunra snapped his head to the right and saw Shadow galloping in hot.

Valkis was wrapping his arms around its neck, trying to choke it and perhaps even stop it.

Fenrik kept firing soundwaves at Shadowʼs legs, trying to trip it down.

Lastly, Mavok was right behind, he was holding onto the plumage and trying to stop Shadow.

All three of them had blood covering their entire bodies but they stayed steadfast and filled their designated roles—to stop Shadow from reaching Rexʼs clone. Once they neared, Rexʼs cloneʼs eyes lit up.

In a magical way, reacting to Shadowʼs roar, the pillar pieces hummed with death mana.

Each one of them gathered into a single piece, forming a black beast skull.

Seeing this, Rexʼs clone grabbed it and sprinted to the valley, ”Got it! Letʼs move!”

Swoosh!

A high-speed pursuit commenced as they headed to the valley as planned.

Rexʼs clone ate up ground while holding the black skull close to him.

I canʼt put it in the inventory or else it wouldnʼt be distracted, and instead attacked the Alpha Primes and Flunra instead of chasing after me, but what is this aura? Itʼs climbing higher and higher without any sign of stopping!

As he thought of that, Shadow zig-zagged and reached him in the blink of an eye.

Seeing this, Rexʼs clone lifted up his hand before Valkis, the fastest out of them all held onto a root, grabbed him, lifted him up, and kicked him away to the other side, effectively helping Rexʼs clone dodge Shadowʼs attack.

Dashing from behind, Fenrik caught Rexʼs clone, ”Use me, Your Highness!”

Upon hearing this, Rexʼs clone nodded.

He planted his feet onto Fenrikʼs chest before blasting ahead, fleeing out of Shadowʼs reach.

In complete and utter anger—Shadow pierced its plumage into the ground, summoning a full garden of bones in order to stop Rexʼs clone in his tracks. It wanted to make a second strike, but Mavok and Flunra were persistent, keeping Shadowʼs feet planted on the ground.

Every time Shadow tried to leap, they would bar its way and push it back to the ground.

Rexʼs clone climbed the bones and continued on ahead.

He didnʼt forget to cast a mocking look at Shadow, ”Come on then, catch me if you can!”

”Or else you should bid farewell to this thing,” He lifted the black skull tauntingly.