Mary's group joint tightened up, their mind fell more into despair, and their flimsy wills was finally crumbling down. What started out as a seemingly ordinary servant testing quickly turned into their worst nightmare.

Far more intense than last time, the ground quiver from great forces of several raging charging Spirit Monsters beasts. Beasts that all far surpassed the might of the previous rounds of beasts.

Mary's group eyes all helplessly looked over to the ones that started this whole mess. The two shabby-looking youths, still dressed in their same ripped clothes, were smiling proudly at them.

While Mary's group despaired, the duo were quite happy with this sudden development.

With their way, their bodies were reacting to the black flames, while it still didn't hurt, they knew they wouldn't be at top tier condition. And now their work will be finished for them.

Before anyone could react, though, Aniela's eyes glossed over to the now still Anne. The once mighty and confident Qi Formation youth of the Wrathful Clan now lay still in a sickly purple-red blood puddle.

Purple Lines ran down her whole body showing off a grotesque appearance even in death. However, Aniela paid her death no mind as she said, "When they're not against us, that place sure is handy!"

Aniela crouched down to take back the scalpel as she was sure it would come in handy for the future.

"Handy when it comes to being as cruel as possible, now then," Darcel snided and suddenly,

'Pa!'

He slammed his hand into the ground, making a dark shape hand imprint there. Looking over to Mary's group while doing so, Darcel had remarked at least they have enough common sense to understand their position.

Even if the beasts were all several meters away, their speeds would indeed traverse such a distance in mere seconds. But Mary's group did become confused about this action of Darcel.

Standing up, Darcel exchanged glances with Aniela and told the group, "I wonder how savagely you'll get ripped apart? Ah, well, it's none of our concerns now."

While talking, he turned off his Darkness glow hand and was reinforcing his warm feeling legs. Amplifying his legs, Darcel now felt hot down there but more soothingly hot than a painful one.

"Darcy may be crude with his words, but your sacrifices will be remembered!" Aniela proudly told them and amplified her legs like Darcel.

She, too, felt the hot soothing sensation that admittedly fueled her with some excitement.

The rustling of grass only grew closer and the ground shaking only got more intense. Still, Mary's group couldn't understand what these two were talking about.

There was just no way they believed they could outrun these beasts, right?

"Argh!! You! You two! What bullsh-" The enraged words of the robust boy were caught off when,

'Hua!'

In a trail of black flames did Darcel and Aniela sprinted off! They ran in some random direction, but their speed caused even the robust boy eyes to widen.

After only a second, neither he nor the others could spot just where they ran off to. And to make matters even worse, like the beasts were right next to them, they all heard,

"DARGH!!"

Fear, dread, and hopelessness spanned across all of their faces. With Anne dead, their talisman spent and them not even at one hundred percent, their deaths were assured.

Their last thoughts would be on just what the hell was that freakish duo of black and white…

….

Blazing through the woods at a fiery pace, Darcel and Aniela felt entirely new with the addition of black flames. Already they felt like they entered a whole new realm of cultivation!

Darcel and Aniela knew and were forced to practice with their devouring abilities regarding Qi. But they didn't expect absorbing the properties of an Elemental Law would heed such good results.

While thinking upon this, Darcel's attention focuses on an upcoming vast cave. He calculated they have been running for at least ten minutes or so, and this would be a good pit stop far away from that clan.

Luckily as well, the two managed to avoid any of the previous beasts Darcel's Darkness had called upon.

Moreover, by smashing his imprint into the ground, he was sure those Spirit Monsters were enjoying their time with Mary's group.

"Here."

Darcel simply said and pointed to the cave for Aniela to see. She smiled and nodded, locking her attention on there as well.

The distance of a few meters was crossed in a couple of seconds by the duo. Safely they made it inside the cave, skidding a bit when stopping their runs.

Looking at the open, unsecured entrance, Aniela immediately gained an idea. Her hand glowed white and focused on several random chunks of rocks lying around outside.

With a squeeze of her hand, Aniela pulled those rocks to the cave entrance, making a makeshift close door.

"Fuuu, that went far smoother than I expected! And we even got a chance to spend quality team bonding time!" Aniela sighed out while leaning down on the walls of the caves.

Her glowing white hand illuminated the cave enough to see around. And Darcel promptly sat right next to her while taking in the sight of one of the mysterious ominous caves here.

Like other structures in these woods, everything was in a glossy back texture. But just barely could Darcel notice a hint of a small blue glow in the blackness of the rocks.

"Don't get too relaxed now, airhead. Even if we're out of the fire, we're still in unknown dangerous lands. So for no we sh-"

"Should cultivate right, right. Oh, Darcy, if it wasn't for mine brightness, you would be too cynical and boring on your own!" Aniela finished his sentence as she immediately leaned on Darcel's shoulder.

Their already rising warming bodies felt another burst of warmth and soothe by this intimate contact. It was like their mind and bodies were getting purified by this warm sensation.

Darcel had a small smile while feeling this sensation but still said,

"You need someone like me to ground you in reality. Or else your head will fly off into the skies. Let's just get to the eighth layer since I'm sure that we'll smoothly make it to that city with our speed."

"Hmmm, fine. In this position, I'll relent...for now~." Aniela had soft sweet giggles as she closed her eyes to cultivate. Leaning on Darcel's shoulder gave her the calmest serene bliss she needed.

Darcel as well closed his eyes, feeling steady, calm, and the same soothing bliss while cultivating.

Focusing more in detail now, Darcel could sense a fiery warm sensation swarming around his soul. His Darkness had seemed to put the properties of black flame there, allowing him access to its use.

After all that fighting, his body was now in a perfect stabilized condition for another continuous breakthrough. Focusing on drawing out more of the bug's energy, Darcel also familiarizes himself with this black flame.

And compared to other times when cultivating, things were strangely even smoother and faster for him.

His mind immediately went to the cute white-haired girl lying on his shoulder, which provided him with another layer of warmth.

'Heh, she really is my good luck charm.' Darcel tenderly thought about the girl before focusing back on cultivating.

Only a few minutes passed since the two started cultivating, and in both Darcel and Aniela's mind,

'Bang!'

They effortlessly broke through their mental blocks and stepped directly into the Qi Foundation Realm's eighth layer! In no time at all did the two skips two layers achieving demonic genius speed.

However, no happiness was shared between the two when their eyes had abruptly snapped open. The perilous feeling of danger tensed up their joints and sharpened their minds as they looked around the cave.

When they both had a breakthrough, a terrifying feeling of dread permeated throughout the whole cave. This sinister, deadly feeling was akin to several blades being pointed straight at the duo neck.

Aniela shined her hand an even brighter white as the two both jumped to their feet. Still, all they could see for miles in this cave was just the glossy black rocks and a long walkway down the cave.

"No need to waste time here anymore," Aniela spoke in a new serious tone since the situation was turning bad for them. Her eyes immediately snapped to the cave entrance, and she shined her hand over there.

"Don't need to tell me twice. Let's go?" Darcel agreed with leaving, but he noticed something odd when looking at the caves' entrance. The mere fact none of the rocks were moving already left Darcel worried.

All of the rocks were glowing white, but they seemed just impossible to budge. And when looking at Aniela's expression, it was one of someone struggling to open something.

Her hands were tightly clenched, her teeth were grinding, and her frustration was building. It didn't matter how hard she pulled, even with her new layer, she couldn't break her own damn rocks!

"Heeeh...want to leaave?"

Darcel and Aniela's body went cold, and all movement from them ceased. Actual cold sweat formed and dribbled down their faces. That person sounded far too close to them like they were right in their ears.

Yet when looking around, their eyes didn't see anything but glossy black rocks! No matter where their eyes darted to, it would be in a vain attempt to pick up where that voice came from.

It was then, a tremendous pressure wrapped the two from behind, giving them the terrifying feeling of death. Their pupils dilated, and their bodies straighten up when hearing,

"Juust behind youu…"

'Hua!'

Narrowly, Darcel and Aniela desperately flung their bodies forward while feeling something incredibly sharp graze their clothes. The two landed on their feet and promptly turned around.

Doing so finally allowed them to gaze upon who was making that frightening voice. But it wasn't like anything the two could've expected.

The being before them was mysteriously translucent! It had a figure resembling a human, but it had this strange long dress like clothes on.

Though the duo was able to clearly see sharp blue claws extending out of this creature's supposed sleeves.

Never before in either of Darcel or Aniela's life had they stumbled upon such a creature. They also didn't have any memories of someone talking about this kind of being.

This would've been a neat discovery if the two weren't feeling immensely pressured at this moment.

"This...this is like some childhood story ghost or something." Aniela breathlessly said, and Darcel was inclined to agree. Being translucent with a blue outline did at least speak ghostly vibes.

"We're not alooone…"

'Chi!'

The ghost-like creature's eyes flashed a harsh blue light while talking. The sudden and brief flash of light was far too great than anything the duo was expecting, and it forced the two to shield their eyes.

"You can open uuup now…"

Like they needed the ghost permission, the duo was tempted to ignore the ghost mocking call. However, the feeling of dread and death had explosively multiplied!

Snapping their eyes open, Darcel and Aniela immediately felt the air get sucked out of them.

Five new ghost-like creatures had joined the fray, all staring menacingly at the duo. Oddly enough, while watching, the two had noticed three of the ghosts had a figure similar to a woman.

But this small detail meant little in protecting their lives.

The pressure brought upon them wasn't so great they wouldn't be able to move. Still, the duo knows their chances of winning was extraordinarily slim.

Their eyes bear witness to the ghosts raising their claws slowly, all proclaiming in a terrifying unison,

"Diiieee…"