Emerging from the depths of the scorching desert, eight formidable beings burst forth, their massive bodies gracefully swaying to evade the jutting purple spikes. Each of them bore a striking resemblance to actual sharks, anatomy-wise.
But compared to their normal cousin, these ones were way bigger and had slimy skin.
In addition, their leap was quite high.
Most of them crashed into the platform created by the Awakened to lift the army upwards due to how high their leap was. Even though they were quite agile and slippery, the purple spikes managed to pierce one of them right in its body.
Almost instantly, the mutated shark's body tensed when it was stabbed.
Soon, the purple spike started to take effect.
Amid the watchful eyes of onlookers, the mutated shark began to deteriorate visibly, its skin shifting to a sickly purple hue as the purple spike hastened the disintegration of its corporeal form. Gradually, the majestic creature was reduced to mere skin before finally dissipating entirely.
However, there was one mutated shark that managed to pierce through the platform.
Out of the other mutated sharks, this one is the biggest.
Roar!
<Desert Slimy Shark (Suppressed)>
Race: Mutated Lamindae
Power: Rank Seventh (Mid) - Sand Tyrant (1)
Mental: 4,150
Strength: 6,850 (+1,500)
Agility: 9,300 (+4,000)
Endurance: 2,000
Intelligence: 5,500
Rex scrutinized the lone Desert Slimy Shark, the one that is stronger than the others.
He deduced it to be a seventh-rank mutated animal, among the most formidable mutated animals he had ever encountered. It should've been on the cusp of the eighth-rank realm or potentially even verging on the early stages of the ninth-rank realm before the First Breath happened.
What's with the bonus stats? Where did it come from?
<The Shifting Realm blessed one mutated animal per terrain that it possesses>
Initially, Rex was confused as to how a shark could end up in this scorching desert, but he then remembered that the Shifting Realm has all terrains, and that includes an ocean which might be the way that these sharks ended up here.
But now is not the time to think, Rex would need to do something.
Prepared, he gripped his sword, flexed his knees and as if stepping in the air, he launched himself forward, leaving streaks of black lightning behind. His target was the largest Desert Slimy Shark, wreaking havoc within the ranks of the army.
Blitz!
A fraction of a second is all it takes for Rex to reach it, aiming a swing at its gills.
Focusing his black lightning elements to course in the sword, he uses the Sharp Lightning spell, expecting that this will be enough to slice the Desert Slimy Shark into two before he can move on to secure the others.
However, Rex raised an eyebrow when he hardly felt that his sword hit anything.
Turns out, the sword was deflected fully.
Due to the malleability of the Desert Slimy Shark's body, his attack was ineffective, leaving only a small, hardly visible cut on its surface. Rotating for another stronger swing, he decided to electrocute the Desert Slimy Shark to no avail.
Before his attack connects, sand elements encompass its body and nullify the lightning.
Not allowing any more chances, it went back into the sand once again.
Rex landed on the ground and scanned the battlefield and found that it was a free-for-all, the mutated sharks were everywhere, and there were more coming in as he saw at least a dozen dorsal fins heading towards them.
Most of the people were already in safety on the platform.
However, those who were still on the ground was the one having trouble the most.
Unlike a march of a legion of foot soldiers, there were people inside military vehicles and mobile artilleries, and it would be too heavy for the Awakened to lift all of them at once and thus they were left behind on the ground.
If this keeps going, more of them will die.
Although it wasn't his intention to be here, Rex will not let these brave people die in vain.
Even though if not for the special circumstances, these people were his enemies, it doesn't change the fact that he was leading them right now. Letting them be slaughtered like this is not something pleasant to see, he needs to do something.
"Okay, that is enough, I'll blast all of them at once. Devo!"
Heeding Rex's call, Devo appeared and started marking the mutated sharks around them.
Rumble!
On the other hand, Rex spreads his arms to the side and channels his black lightning element again, his eyes start blitzing violently with ebony electric streaks, summoning a cloudy thunderstorm to block the entire sky with his might.
Soon, he sensed numerous targets around the area, marked by Devo himself.
"Sky Rupture Assortment!"
Crack!
A barrage of black lightning bolts streaked from the heavens, zeroing in on the targeted Desert Slimy Sharks swimming within the sand. None of them would be able to sustain such a formidable spell, Rex was sure of it.
However, something unexpected happened.
Gazing skywards with his stormy eyes, Rex saw that his spell was blocked by something.
"What blocked my spell? It mustn't be the sharks" He wondered in confusion.
Just then, a convergence of energy, fueled by the blocked black lightning strikes amassed together in the sky. In the blink of an eye, it changed from black to brown, before transforming into a thick, brown lightning bolt that shot towards Rex.
Caught off guard, he wasn't able to react properly and got hit by it.
Splash!
Rex got sent bouncing across the desert before eventually stopping a hundred meters away.
Slowly getting back to his feet, he uttered amidst his breath, "What the heck was that?"
<The Shifting Realm is an anomaly of nature, able to have multiple terrains at the same time, and it could sense an attack resembling a natural disaster. Any attack that resembled a natural disaster would absorb and blast it back to the caster>
Upon reading this, Rex clicked his tongue as he wasn't aware of this.
His legs which had been hit by the brown lightning strike were now numb and convulsing.
But the Shifting Realm provides no rest for anyone trapped in its danger.
Almost instantly after Rex was hurtled away, the ground trembled, and two colossal rock formations in the distance surged toward the center with incredible speed. Its movement disorientates everyone due to the intense quaking, making it nearly impossible for them to regain their footing.
It was supposed to be fine, as the Desert Slimy Sharks were also affected.
However, Rex's eyes rested on one particular rock formation.
"Oh, no... it's going to cross us. It's going to crash into the army!" He frowned.
Meanwhile, a man inside a heavily armored tank peered through the periscopes and found that their formation was in shambles, courtesy of the pesky Desert Slimy Sharks that attacked them from below suddenly before vanishing back into the sand.
He was the man who tried to kill Rex before and is still bitter even now at Rex's response.
Luck seems to not be on his side as he was forced to follow Rex's lead.
Swoosh!
"Arrghh!"
Just as the tank was about to move to safety, a Desert Slimy Shark lunged from right below them and flipped the tank over. The man and his crew were cursing out loud as their bodies got slammed into the steel interior.
"Activate the barrier, and initiate the flipping system!" the captain of the crew instructed.
Unlike other tanks, this one is the newest and most advanced one.
Consistently adapting to the new challenges posed by the Supernaturals, the latest tank now boasts a feature that allows it to flip itself over using a magnetic system. Since the Supernaturals learned that tanks have heavy firepower, they often aimed at these tanks and overturned them, rendering them immobile.
Due to that, this system was introduced.
But while the tank is slowly being flipped over, the man's eyes widen suddenly.
It was the fact that from the periphery of the tank, a towering column of rock formations could be seen heading straight towards them. A few seconds before impact, nothing could be done at this point.
Just as the man decided to brace for impact, the tank suddenly got hauled off the ground.
Looking through the periscopes, he realized that the tank was tossed away.
Not wanting to leave his eyes from the periscopes, the man positioned to the other side and found that it was a figure that stomped at the sand and sent his tank, and a few other tanks in the vicinity flying away from the incoming rock formations.
A second is all it takes for the man to realize that it was Mavenna who did this.
Furthermore, she was not alone.
"Good work, Mavenna. Keep steering them clear from its path!" Rex praised with a nod.
Moments ago, he had spotted a colossal rock formation hurtling towards a group of military personnel, threatening to flatten them on impact. He intended to quickly reach there first, but Mavenna, it seemed, realized his purpose and arrived there ahead of him.
She bought enough time for Rex to arrive and slammed his body into the rock formations.
Kaboom!
Despite his immense strength, Rex wasn't able to stop the rock formations.
It surprises him because he wasn't expecting this at all.
Rex's feet which were planted into the sand were pushed back, his stature was akin to a mouse in front of a giant if compared to the colossal rock formation. He couldn't gather enough force to stop it completely, but enough to slow its movement.
On the other hand, Mavenna moved quickly and steered clear of the path from the others.
When there were no others on the path, she also dashed away.
Just when Mavenna was about to inform Rex that it was okay now to let go of the rock formations, he slammed into another smaller rock formation that was in the path before he was forcefully expelled, sent sprawling away again.
He pushed himself up from the ground before coughing a mouthful of blood.
"I know that I told Elder Tilrith to make it believable to the Executor, but this is way too much"
Rex whispered as he felt his body was in pain all over.
Gazing back at the direction where the camp was located, he frowned in concern.
If this fight made the army suffer too many casualties, the attack would be delayed. Although it would give me more time to train, there's a chance that the Executor would step back and realize that something was wrong, and I couldn't take that risk.
Shifting his eyes back to the fight, he and Edward made eye contact.
Nodding his head, Rex's energy riled up once again as he let out an overbearing howl.
Aooouuu!!
Swoosh!
It caught the attention of the Desert Slimy Shark and all of them instantly have their bodies tensed up and their movements slowed, affected by the Alpha Bearing skill from glancing in Rex's direction, attracted by the howl.
Following that, Edward made his move.
Moving like a shadowy entity, he summoned his lance and went to work.
Now that the Desert Slimy Sharks were slower compared to earlier, their rough locations could be pinpointed. Edward then leaped into the air before he pulled his lance back and did multiple strikes, fueled with purplish energy, the chaos element.
Like a needle, the lance stabbed the ground a hundred times in a couple of seconds.
Although Edward couldn't see all of the Desert Slimy Sharks, he didn't need to and could stab randomly in the rough location where he thought those creatures gathered. And thanks to their slower movement due to Rex's Alpha Bearing skill, they were incapable of being elusive enough to dodge Edward's attack.
Under that attack, more than a dozen of them died, and the rest fled away.
It seemed their first obstacle was now finished, but the army wasn't given any time to recover as a loud trumpeting sound suddenly could be heard from afar, attracting their attention to the north direction.
On the edge of the horizon, five Vampires could be seen blowing a war trumpet.
Rex who was still gasping from being hit by the rock formations earlier, hardened thanks to the First Breath, saw this scenery before he frowned in exhaustion. I specifically told them to show their forces gradually along the way, but this...? This is not what we agreed on.
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