Angele smiled and lowered his hand. He quickly slashed forward and released a red string of energy from the blade.
Translucent sound waves left his chest and started spreading in all angles.
The cliff started sliding down; Angele ran up the incline and charged toward Terry, his sword soaring through the air.
*BAM*
The two ran into each other and another translucent wave was released into the air. The yellow cliff under their feet broke into pieces and completely fell off the edge of the canyon.
They were standing on a relatively small piece of rock and the surface area was large enough for four to five people to stand on it. However, the rock cracked again after the impact.
Angele held his sword tight and slashed down.
*CLANK*
Terry was forced to retreat to the edge of the cracked rock.
The rock cracked again when Terry was about to fight back. She lost the support and started falling.
However, she quickly released the tower shields and grabbed the edge of the rock.
*BAM*
A black leather boot stepped on Terry’s hands hard.
*Crack*
The edge of the rock cracked.
"See you." Angele looked down and watched Terry fall into the abyss. The black smoke was approaching her quickly and Angele’s body was reflected in the female wizard’s constricted pupils.
"Light of the Thunder!"
Terry reached forward and chanted the incantation.
*BAM*
A ray of golden light was released from her hands and hit Angele hard.
"Phoenix!" Angele shouted and a flaming red bird spurted out of his chest. The bird had a long tail that was coated with flames—it was the ancestral spirit Angele acquired by completing the third stage of Molten Core River.
The golden ray hit Angele’s chest and penetrated his skin, muscles, and bones after breaking the silver barrier.
*CHI*
The golden ray pierced though Angele’s body and spurted out of his back, leaving a golden arc in the air.
"Go!" he shouted as he spat out blood. Angele had no time to treat the wound, but his stamina was so high that he could still recover even if his heart was crushed. He could use the energy particles to temporarily keep the heart pumping and help his blood to absorb oxygen.
He quickly took out two small bottles from the pouch—one was red and the other was blue.
*Crack*
His powerful grip crushed the bottles.
A glowing blue energy circle and a glowing red energy circle covered Angele’s body as the bottles broke.
The lightweight potion and feather potion helped reduce Angele’s weight. Their effects could be combined—it was the perfect combo in this situation.
Angele left Terry to die in the black smoke and grabbed Phoenix’s claws with the right hand. The bird started flying up slowly after his body’s weight was reduced.
Phoenix was flapping its wings slowly, but its altitude was increasing quickly. Angele’s weight was almost the same as a feather’s, the bird had no problem lifting him up.
The chilling wind brushed against Angele’s face and the wound in his chest. The brown cliff was still sliding down and there were large pieces of rocks in the air.
Phoenix dodged all the falling rocks; it changed the direction several times in the air and Angele was not hit by any rock.
Several minutes later, Phoenix brought Angel back to the edge of the canyon and landed on the grass.
*PA*
Angele’s feet touched the land again. He staggered and almost fell to the ground.
He was almost killed by the woman named Terry. Angele gave the abyss one final glance—the only thing he saw was the black smoke, Terry had already disappeared.
Angele took a deep breath and stood straight.
"You really think I’m going to die with you?" he sneered as he looked at the wound in his chest.
The golden ray penetrated the center of his chest and the musical note was destroyed. He could see the grass on the ground through the large hole.
The musical note was nowhere to be found, and the flesh in the large hole was growing back at an unbelievable rate. Angele could see how fast he was recovering with his bare eyes.
‘Zero, check my condition.’ Angele was suffering from the intense pain. He took out a glass tube containing green powder from the pouch and poured the powder into the bloody hole.
*CHI*
White smoke rose from his chest as the powder came in contact with his flesh.
Angele’s brow furrowed, he bore the pain and returned the tube to the pouch.
‘Angele Rio. Severely injured. Damaged by unknown radiation energy. Damaged by energy particles. Attributes reduced temporarily due to injury. Strength reduced to 9 (12). Agility reduced to 7 (11.5). Stamina reduced to 11 (16). Mentality reduced to 102.5 (123.7). Recovering…’
He looked at the endless Abyss Canyon again.
The terrifying clouds of black smoke were moving quickly in the darkness. They were approaching the edge of the canyon at full speed. It would take them about ten seconds to reach Angele’s position at this rate.
Angele’s expression changed, and the silver sword was absorbed into his skin. He turned around and started running toward the plain.
Phoenix twittered and landed on his shoulder.
The man and the bird turned into a blurry red shadow, disappearing into the depths of the yellow plain.
***************************
Angele stopped and took several deep breaths after about ten kilometers of running. He turned around and looked at the plain.
Countless creatures were trying to escape on the endless plain. They looked like colorful ants that were moving in the same direction at full speed.
Black leopards with flaming red tails and groups of white rhinos were all running like crazy. The silver rhino leading the group was surrounded by a thin layer of white cloud.
Black birds, yellow birds that looked like wild geese, as well as some red and green furry creatures gathered in the sky and were flying forward at full speed.
Angele stood on the grass. He could see the sea of black smoke approaching behind the escaping creatures. The creatures that were swallowed by the smoke looked like stones sinking into the sea. They disappeared without making any noise; even the strongest creatures like the blackbirds and saber-toothed tigers could not escape the death wave.
Fortunately, the death wave was slowing down.
Angele narrowed his eyes and glanced around, then noticed that a group of lions with three feet was passing by.
The three-feet lions only had three feet supporting their large yellow bodies. It sounded like thunder blasted every time their feet hit the ground. The noise was so loud that he could barely hear the sounds made by the other creatures.
This thunder blast-like noise was the only sound Angele could hear. The land started shaking as more and more lions appeared.
Raising his right hand, Angele released a thin silver string; it accurately landed on the leading lion.
Angele stopped the silver string from extending and grabbed it tightly. The contrary force was strong enough to pull him toward the lion and he landed on its back safely.
The lion was more than two meters tall and its body was more than four meters wide. It almost looked like a small elephant. The lion glared at Angele, but it did not do anything.
"Thirty regular magic stones or I’ll shake you off!" the leading lion shouted in Metia.
"Alright." Angele was a bit surprised. He did not know that he was riding a creature that could talk.
The lion did not say anything else after hearing his words. It lowered its head and started increasing the speed.
Angele sat on the lion’s back and activated a green communication rune. The rune looked like a spinning vortex.
He tapped on the finger lightly.
"Hey, are you still alive?" Stigma’s voice came from the rune.
"I’m fine." Angele checked his wound—half of the bloody hole was already fixed. "Where are you now? Did you get rid of Cena?"
"Yeah, I killed him before he escaped, but it’ll take me at least half a month to recover." Stigma sighed. "What about you?"
"I almost fell into the Abyss Canyon, it’s a miracle that I’m still alive." Angele smiled. "Also, you’re right about the servants of the shadow lord. They don’t fear death, the woman hit me hard before falling into the death wave. We need to figure out a good plan. You don’t want to rule the family anymore, right?"
"Yeah…" Stigma sighed again. "I didn’t expect them to find us so easily. I want to leave the central continent with my mother and my sister. We need to go to a safer area."
"Can you escape the tracking spell of the prophet?"
"Don’t worry, my master will help me. She’s probably the best prophet in the world." Stigma sounded proud. "Also, I… Ugh!"
Stigma’s voice disappeared.
Angele scrunched his eyebrows.
"Stigma? Stigma?"
The green vortex shrank in size as he tried to talk to Stigma.
Several seconds later, Stigma’s voice was transferred to him again, but he sounded much weaker than before.
"I’m fine. It’s the aftereffects… Green. You need to lay low in the central continent. I progressed too fast, so fast that I’ll become extremely weak for a short period every two years, weak like a rank 1 Gas stage wizard. The time has come, I need to find a place to hide."
"Is that really worth it? I was wondering how you reached rank 3 so fast," Angele responded.
"Well, I have to find a way to fight the servants of the shadow lord and this is the only method I have; otherwise, they’ll destroy my physical form and capture my soul."
"Where are you planning to go? When will you leave?"
"Very soon. I’m on my way to pick up my mother. I’ll bring my sister, my mother, and several of my friends, then go back to the west coast. I’m familiar with that area and I have my own property there."
"West coast…" Angele did not expect Stigma to return to his homeland. "Good choice. You’re familiar with the route and I’m sure you can survive the trip. Also, it seemed like the storm giant was weakened. You can go around that area and find a better route. We’ll meet again, right?"