Chapter 29: One Against Four!
When it came to fame, Bayer had been renowned for eons before Beirut. As a Great Perfection Highgod, his name had shaken every plane. Even the Overgods sought to recruit these Great Perfection Highgods, making them their envoys. Having stood at the pinnacle for countless years, how could he fear Beirut?
More importantly, deep in his heart... Bayer actually looked down on Beirut.
Beirut had not reached Great Perfection, but because his innate body was too powerful and his divine ability was monstrous, even without reaching Great Perfection, his strength was not inferior to Bayer's. In fact, many Sovereigns feared Beirut more than Bayer.
"He just relies on his talent," Bayer thought to himself.
Inside the courtyard of the mountain cave dwelling.
Bayer stood alone against Linley, Reisgem, and the other two, but it was clearly Bayer who dominated the momentum.
"This is trouble," Linley thought anxiously.
"Boss, if we can't win, run! Maybe we can escape," Bebe sent mentally. "But boss, this Great Perfection is terrifying. Don't be reckless. Your life is what matters."
Linley glanced at Bebe. Since he was eight years old, Bebe had been with him. Even if it meant death, Linley would never abandon Bebe.
"Bayer!"
Linley looked at this 'Bayer' with deep unwillingness in his heart. If he had Beirut's strength, he wouldn't be so helpless today.
"What is this O'Carol Will doing? Getting killed on the planar battlefield and then seeking revenge? Damn it!" Reisgem cursed, his violet-glowing eyes fixed on Bayer as his voice grew sharp. "Bayer, listen clearly. The person you want to kill is a member of my squad. Killing O'Carol Will was a joint effort of our hunting squad. If you want to kill, kill all four of us!"
Bayer's brow furrowed slightly, his two upright white eyebrows like sharp blades, killing intent gathering between them.
"Reisgem, stop pestering here!" Bayer said coldly.
Kill an entire squad? Kill all four?
Even if Bayer had the guts, he wouldn't dare kill Reisgem. He was the only child of the Violetflame Overgod. If the Violetflame Overgod flew into a rage and truly wanted to kill him, Bayer, even as a Great Perfection with the ability to flee and survive, would have no choice but to escape to a material plane. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life hiding in a material plane.
"O'Carol Will was killed by this Soul Devourer Rat. I'm only here to kill him today. The three of you, step aside," Bayer said coldly, his narrow eyes like those of a sinister, ruthless lone wolf.
"Chi chi~" Green-gold dragon scales emerged on Linley's body surface as he shifted slightly, blocking Bebe. Linley stared at Bayer without flinching.
"Boss!" Bebe smiled instead.
He wanted Linley to leave, but Linley's reaction didn't surprise Bebe at all. Over countless years, through every life-and-death crisis, neither brother had ever fled alone.
Reisgem and Lei Hong also moved slightly, shielding Bebe.
"Thanks," Bebe said with a grin.
"For what? We're brothers. You and I are the best team. How could we do without you?" Reisgem chuckled. Bayer's brow furrowed again. The three before him had already answered with their actions—they clearly wouldn't save only themselves.
"I've always heard that Great Perfection is something special, but I've never tried it myself," Reisgem said playfully.
The other three were also ready to strike at any moment.
"Very well!" Bayer said coldly, his thin lips giving him a harsh, sinister look.
Linley kept his eyes on Bayer, but suddenly, his vision blurred. The white-robed figure, still dozens of meters away, became a blur. Before Linley, Reisgem, and Lei Hong could react, the white-robed figure had already charged into their midst.
Such speed! It was the most terrifying Linley had ever seen!
Wind was naturally good at speed. A Wind-style Great Perfection—its speed was unimaginable.
"Too fast. I can't even see his form," Linley thought, his face changing. If he couldn't even see his opponent's movements, how could he block or fight?
"Blackstone Space!" Linley had no other choice. The only thing he could do was activate 'Blackstone Space'. A hazy, earthy-yellow halo instantly covered the courtyard. Not just him—Reisgem, startled by Bayer's speed, also activated his Violetflame Space.
The two spaces overlapped, but their gravitational forces didn't stack. The more powerful Violetflame Space dominated.
"Hmm!"
Bayer's terrifying speed suddenly slowed.
But...
Bayer had already reached Bebe. Because of the Violetflame Space and Blackstone Space, Bebe could now see that Bayer was right in front of him. Bayer's speed had dropped sharply, and he frowned slightly, but he still raised his right hand, fingers together like a blade, and casually swung it toward Bebe!
"Bebe!" Linley, Reisgem, and Lei Hong were too far away to help.
An ordinary-looking hand blade, the crystalline, jade-like palm falling toward Bebe. Strangely, the space didn't ripple at all, and the air itself seemed frozen. Bebe's face paled in terror. "Boss, I can't move! The binding force is too strong!" Bebe couldn't move much, only barely raising his divine artifact dagger. But the powerful binding force made it impossible for him to block, even with the dagger.
Bebe's voice echoed in Linley's mind. "What? Can't move?" Before Linley could react.
As the hand blade descended, Bebe could only use his only trump card—'Divine Ability'. The massive phantom of a Soul Devourer Rat appeared behind Bebe, and the divine ability 'Soul Devour' directly targeted Bayer. "Even if I can't kill you, I'll make you suffer," Bebe thought.
As he activated this move, Bayer's hand blade also fell!
"Pfft!"
The jade-like palm struck the center of Bebe's chest. A low "Bang!" sound erupted, like a bubble bursting. As Bayer's palm struck, the completely still space exploded, following the direction of the hand blade, forming a terrifying spatial rift several meters long!
This was the planar battlefield!
Yet such a massive spatial rift appeared!
"Bang!" Bebe was blasted away without resistance, crashing into the distant mountain rocks. With a loud explosion, the rock wall was blasted into a deep pit a meter in diameter. The entire rock wall cracked, sending debris flying everywhere.
Bebe was sent flying through a hundred meters of rock, out of the mountain.
"Get out!" Reisgem sent mentally.
"Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" Linley, Lei Hong, and Reisgem almost simultaneously shot out through the corridor.
Bayer didn't stop them. He smiled indifferently, then vanished from the courtyard.
When Linley and the others flew out of the mountain, they saw Bebe in the distance. The energy-formed clothes on Bebe's body had burst, and a clear white mark appeared on his chest. Linley sighed in relief. "Bebe's physical defense is indeed terrifying. This Bayer is strong, but not as strong as an Overgod."
Back then, the Yulan Fruit Tree's casual root strike had torn Bebe's skin open.
Bayer was clearly still lacking.
But that single palm strike had bound Bebe so he couldn't move and even tore such a large spatial rift in the planar space. Its attack power was evident. Fortunately, Bebe was the one who took that hit. If it had been anyone else, they probably wouldn't have survived.
"That freak. We can't stop him. We need to run," Reisgem sent mentally.
He had only heard about Great Perfection's power before, but seeing that simple strike had destroyed his confidence in fighting. His physical defense wasn't as monstrous as Bebe's.
"The Soul Devourer Rat's defense is indeed no joke," a cold voice sounded.
Linley and the others froze, finding Bayer's white-robed figure in the air. Linley's heart grew heavy. "Right, with the speed Bayer showed earlier, even using Overgod power, we'd at most match him. There's no way we can escape his pursuit."
Bayer's speed was overwhelming.
"I am the pinnacle of material attacks in both Wind-style and Destruction-style," Bayer said coldly, glancing down at the four. "I didn't expect that palm strike couldn't break the Soul Devourer Rat's defense. Fine... Soul Devourer Rat brat, I rarely use an Overgod artifact. Today, I'll use one to send you on your way. I don't believe your defense can withstand my strongest sword strike!"
Linley, Bebe, Reisgem, and Lei Hong froze.
Bayer flipped his hand, revealing a thin, translucent longsword with a faint cyan glow.
Linley's heart sank. Bayer wasn't a divine beast; his body was ordinary. But relying solely on his Great Perfection understanding of the laws, even a casual palm strike was so terrifying. If he used an Overgod artifact with his strongest attack, could Bebe's defense hold? Linley had no confidence!
"Overgod artifact?"
Reisgem's eyes went wide, then he sent a mental roar. "Run! Run now!!!" A Violetflame Space spread from Reisgem, covering Linley, Bebe, and Lei Hong. The four of them, without hesitation, fled madly toward the Star River.
"Run?"
Bayer smiled dismissively. Escaping by speed? Impossible.
"Whoosh!" Bayer vanished and gave chase.
A dazzling Violetflame Space spread out, with Linley, Reisgem, and the others at its center, fleeing into the distance. Reisgem was also helping Bebe speed up.
"Reisgem, is this really our only option?" Linley sent urgently.
"The only way is to reach the Star River, then take a safe route deep into its center and hide on a floating boulder. If Bayer comes, we'll knock him into a spatial rift. Even if we can't kill him, we'll make him lost in the rift," Reisgem sent. "But... I don't know if we can make it to the Star River."
Linley had no other ideas. Reisgem's plan was indeed the only option.
"Haha... Reisgem, using your gravity space in front of me is useless," a proud, confident voice echoed in Linley and the others' minds.
At the same time—
Linley and the others, watching Bayer behind them, saw him fly ahead of them. A violent air current erupted from Bayer, distorting the space within a kilometer radius. The chaotic air currents wildly churned the space.
Linley and the others felt the binding force of space pressing on them.
"How is this possible!" Linley, who also cultivated Wind-style laws, knew the 'Wind Space' law, but that binding force was almost negligible against Highgods. Yet, in the hands of a Great Perfection Highgod, this move bound even Reisgem and the others!
Their speed plummeted!
"Swoosh!" Bayer flew directly into the Violetflame Space. Though his speed dropped, he was still much faster than Linley and the others, who were bound by the space.
Bayer drifted toward Bebe, but he looked down at the Overgod artifact in his hand, as if the sword were his beloved lover. Then, he casually swung it. The already distorted space was torn like a piece of cloth!
A terrifying spatial rift, a hundred meters long, exploded open. This rift, a hundred meters long but only a finger wide, followed the Overgod artifact's blade and struck Bebe, who couldn't dodge in time. At the same time, the Overgod artifact shot out arrow-like energy streams, tearing tiny cracks in the space.
"Pfft!" A tiny crack grazed Linley, who couldn't dodge.
It easily tore through Linley's dragon scale defense, slicing off a chunk of flesh and shoulder bone from his arm.
But Linley's attention was on Bebe. His face changed drastically. "Bebe!" Linley had only been grazed, but Bebe had been hit directly by an Overgod artifact!