On the left, there was a muscular man blocking the path.
On the other side, there were four realm guardians, including Atlanta and Medusa.
The muscular man looked at Angele and spoke in a light tone, "The road is closed. The heads ahead were formed by at least 20 bird heads. You'll die if you proceed further."
Atlanta noticed at Angele's presence and nodded slightly.
"The bird heads were gathered around the strongest realm guardians. They used some special techniques."
Angele noticed that Atlanta's right arm already turned green. There were blue and green lights flashing on his arm. It seemed like he was damaged by the green mist.
The other realm guardians here were also injured. Angele was the only one that did not take any damage, so others were looking at Angele with surprised looks on their faces.
The muscular man's brow furrowed after he noticed the situation.
Angele did not see this muscular man when he was in the Star Lord Palace. He wanted to say something, but his expression suddenly changed, and he looked at the area ahead.
"WAHHH!"
The crying sound suddenly came from the far side. Black water was moving toward the realm guardians, its pressure stopping them from flying into the sky.
The black water was expanding at full speed. Before the water arrived, the energy waves it released stopped the realm guardians from escaping, and no one could move an inch under the heavy pressure.
"The weight of over 100 bird heads!" someone shouted in fear.
The realm guardians' expressions changed. The power level of this attack had exceeded rank 7. Its power was on par with a damage spell released by a rank 8 wizard. They noticed that there were some pink meatballs inside the water after it moved closer.
The meat balls had the height of around two meters. There was no eyes or noses on the meatballs, but Angele could see the sharp teeth in their mouths.
"I need to leave! Star Lord Palace!" a realm guardian shouted.
The silver light fell from the sky, but it was too late.
*BAM*
The realm guardians' bodies were wrapped around by the water and quickly swallowed.
Angele snorted. He dragged Atlanta and Medusa to him, then released the blood mask, which quickly turned into a shield in front of them.
With a loud noise, the shield protected the three from the water; a red energy barrier was formed to prevent the water from touching their bodies.
"What's this?" Atlanta swallowed and stood up. He was staring at the blood mask in fear.
"A unique magic device of mine," Angele explained. "Alright, let's move after the black water disappears. The water is not going after us. It was formed by the remaining energy waves of a previous strike, but we were not the target."
Atlanta realized that he never knew Angele had such an item. He thought for a while and opened his mouth again. "Without your help, I would also be swallowed by the water. I owe you one! I'll give you the potion after everything is done."
"Thanks." Angele smiled and looked at Medusa. "Where's Leonard?"
"I don't know. He didn't reach the destination. I think he was taken away by the Star Lord Palace," Medusa answered. There was a bloody hole on her stomach, which looked a bit terrifying. The twisting tissue around the hole was trying to recover.
"I owe you one too," she spoke in a deep tone.
The black water passed by the three, and it took around ten minutes to disappear.
Angele retrieved the mask and glanced around.
He had no idea what happened to the other guardian realms, and there were still pools of black water on the ground.
They started moving without saying anything else, heading toward the source of the screams.
They encountered two more merged bird heads, but easily eliminated them with the help of Angele's mask.
As the scream got louder, more and more merged bird heads appeared. They found several bird heads that were formed by over 30 bird heads.
Atlanta was having trouble handling the attacks.
"King of Dark Wizards, I have a favor to ask. The Sea Flowers are important to me so I want as many flowers as possible, but I'm afraid I might not be able to stay in the fight. Don't worry; if you can collect enough crystal pieces, I'll hand the potion over to you!"
"What do you mean?" Angele narrowed his eyes.
"Are you trying to force me to work for you with the potion? I don't really need the flowers."
Although Angele had a great magic device, Flower King, Ken, and Zoe could be stronger than him. He was not confident that he could handle them just by himself.
Atlanta was a bit nervous, he knew that he made Angele angry because he did not keep his promise.
"I only need a fifth of the total number! I'll hand the potion over to you after everything is over!" Atlanta was certain that he would win a fight against Angele with the help of the realm power.
They stared into each other's eyes for a while.
"Alright, a fifth of the total number. I'll do it." Angele opened his mouth slowly.
Medusa did not like what Atlanta was doing after Angele accepted the offer. She asked the Star Lord Palace to help her leave as she did not want to get involved.
The two continued to advance and found a lake-sized pool that was formed by the same black water.
The water in the pool was boiling. A humongous yellow head was standing in its center, staring at the realm guardians in front of it.
Ken, Flower King, and Zoe were standing in front of the pool. Shadow Demon was injured, and the dark shadow around his body turned gray. It seemed like he was severely injured.
Angele and Atlanta's presence caught their attention. They all had their own thoughts.
"I didn't think you could make it to this place. I guess there are only five realms left. The losers won't get any of the Sea Flowers." Flower King sneered.
Atlanta and Angele did not know that they would get a fifth of the total number so easily.
"If that's the case, we'll only take what belongs to us, and you can—"
"A fourth of the total number!" Atlanta was breathing heavily when he interrupted. Angele could see the blood veins in his eyes. "King of Dark Wizards, I changed my mind! I'll give you the potion if we can get a fourth of the total number!"
*BAM*
Angele slapped Atlanta in the head and blew him away. He charged to Atlanta and stepped on Atlanta's chest.
"You…"
Atlanta did not resist. He let Angele step on his chest and a smile appeared on his face.
"A fourth of the total number! That's it! We signed the contract, don't forget!"
"How greedy." Ken slowly put his hand on his long sword and glared at Atlanta. "King of Dark Wizards, what kind of potion do you need?"
"I need the potion to remove the mark of an ancestor." Angele stopped looking at Atlanta. He stepped forward and looked at the other realm guardians.
Ken's brow furrowed. "An ancestor's mark… That's a problem. When do you need it?"
"Within ten years if possible."
"My apologies." Ken shrugged and stopped talking.
Atlanta chuckled.
"The potion for the removal of the ancestor's mark is ready. No other guardian realm can provide you with the same potion in such a short duration! Don't worry, I only need the flowers, and I'll give you the potion!"
Angele was releasing red light anxiously. He hated being treated like this; no one had done that in a while.
"Guardians, I'll help you to get more flowers if you can give me the potion that can remove the ancestor's mark."
The realm guardians started thinking carefully. They all knew that only strong beings could reach this place. The weak ones were already eliminated.
Atlanta was also getting nervous.
Suddenly, a large black ring was thrown to Angele.
*PA*
He caught the ring and tried to figure out who threw it to him.
He was surprised that the ring was from the bird in the center of the pool.
The bird blinked its eyes.
"My ritual ring can help you remove the mark. What do you think, King of Dark Wizards?"
No one expected the bird to offer help.
"How do I use it?" Angele wondered.
"Eat it."
Angele scanned the ring and bit it without any hesitation.
The ring shrank and its size decreased to the size of a fist. Angele swallowed it quickly.
*WOO*
Angele noticed that a think layer of dark silk covered with blinking eyes appeared on his back. Angele felt relaxed after the silk disappeared into the air.
"That's it?" He could not believe that the mark was removed so easily. He rolled up his sleeves and noticed that the purple eyes also disappeared.
"It's not hard to do it. You just need to be smart," the bird said.
Angele inhaled deeply and looked at the bird.
"Alright, I'll not help them to get the flowers. If you need my help, I'll help you. However, you should understand that there are many strong beings here. I don't think we can win the battle easily."
The bird nodded.
"Sure, the flowers will blossom every 100 years. I can share the flowers every time it blossoms with everyone here."
Angele interrupted, "I'll give my share to you."
The others were a bit surprised. They realized that Angele probably did not live under the sea so they remained silent.
"Thanks." The bird nodded slightly and released a ray of dark light from its mouth. The dark ray landed on Angele's hand and turned into a triangular bronze badge.
"This is a communication device. Contact me if you need anything else."
Angele smiled and grabbed the bronze badge. He looked at Atlanta and noticed that he already left the place. Angele decided not to waste his energy on him.
"Atlanta, I don't want to see you again!" Spitting out those words, he turned around and nodded slightly. He then quickly disappeared into a ball of flames. After the ancestor's mark was removed, he could move freely again.