Death... and me
chapter-2009

The twins looked behind as the barrier separating the swamp and the outside faded in the distance. They were planning to simply fly far away enough from the barrier until they were sure that no one was watching them.

'How is it?' Roan asked Rean. 'Can you feel anything?'

Rean shook his head in response. 'No. After Rui left the swamp through the barrier, his Divine Sense completely disappeared.' He also took the chance to ask Sister Orb. 'Can you feel any kind of tracker in those talismans or on our body, Sister Orb?'

[It doesn't seem like it. These Long Distance Thoughts Transmission Talismans are truly just that. As for any other kind of formation capable of tracking you two, I can't feel any.]

Roan nodded and continued to move. 'Let's fly a little further, and then we can discuss what t-'

However, before he could finish his words, the twins felt the power of space contract around them. To be more specific, it began to turn dense. Because of that, the twins were forced to lose altitude as they couldn't fight against it.

*Thud, thud...*

Eventually, they landed on the top of one of the many old trees in the swamp, trying to avoid falling into the water. Only then did the space around them loosen up, although it was still very present. "Seems like flying is out of the question..."

Roan tried to use his own Spatial Power to counteract the effects of the denser space above him. Unfortunately, when he tried to do it, the area around the location he focused on seemed to receive the help of the surroundings, fighting against what he was doing. A few moments later, Roan gave up as he was starting to feel tired. "Can't say I'm surprised that flight is restricted. Then again, I didn't expect it would be the space itself that would force us into this condition."

[Indeed. So far, all the areas you entered that prevented flight just happened to be that way due to formations. This time, however, I can't feel the presence of any formation whatsoever. It's just how this place works.]

With that, the twins stayed on the top of the tree, gazing into the distance.

*blub, blub, blub...*

Little did they notice, but the water below the tree began to bubble. It was completely dark under its surface, so it wasn't something easy to notice anyway.

*Shua!*

It was then that the water split apart as a huge creature pounced at Rean, who was closer among the two.

"What?!" Rean was taken aback by that. He didn't stop using his Divine Sense even for a moment, but he still didn't notice something that big was so close to him.

In response, Rean immediately jumped away from the branch he was standing on, trying to open some distance from the creature. With that, he got a better look at the creature. It was something similar to a frog, although it had scales on its back and five eyes. Seeing that Rean tried to escape, it opened its mouth as its tongue soon shot in Rean's direction.

Rean, naturally, dodged straight away... or so he tried. Unfortunately, the frog seemed to be able to control space as well. Surprisingly, it contracted the space around Rean, which made it difficult for Rean to change direction.

'Life Style, Enhancement!'

'Death Style, Shadow Bind!'

Rean then used the strength of his Star Body in conjunction with his Enhancement ability to forcefully break away from that situation. At the same time, he used Roan's Shadow Bind to latch around the frog's tongue, reducing its speed.

Unfortunately, the frog used the current situation to its advantage. Since Shadow Bind firmly held onto its tongue, the frog tried to retract the tongue, which instead launched its body even faster in Rean's direction. As soon as its mouth reached the point where its tongue was being held, the frog bit on it, breaking Shadow Bind while keeping the speed earned by its action.

However, Rean wouldn't just look at it as the frog flew in his direction. His Black Star was already in his hand as he retaliated against the frog.

'Life Fire, First Form, Flame Emperor Slash!'

Light and Fire Element fused together as Rean's sword released a wave of burning white fire in the frog's direction.

The frog's eyes, which seemed so determined a moment ago, showed a hint of fear as it immediately tried to dodge the attack. Unfortunately for it, its momentum was too great that not even its control over space was faster enough to avoid being hit.

*Swish!*

*Croaaaaaaa!*

The frog let out a scream of pain after Rean's attack hit the back of its body. Although it didn't have enough time to completely avoid the attack, its power over space wasn't small, so it still succeeded in rotating its body so that it was hit on the scales on its back.

The Dark Element inside the frog's body was even thicker than the Dark Element in the surroundings. It would usually be a good thing as the environment would give it a huge advantage. Unfortunately, it met one of the almost nonexistent Light Element users in the entire Underworld. It went without saying that Rean's Light Element rampaged against the frog's Dark Element, only exacerbating the damage of the attack.

Rean didn't simply watch as the frog screamed. Taking advantage of the frog's plight, he changed direction and immediately attacked the frog from the side, using the trees' branches to move.

'Life Fire, Fourth Form, Light Piercing Bomb!'

Soon, a piercing ray of light and fire hit the frog from below, where there were no scales. From inside, the energy of the attack grew, exploding right after.

*Boom!*

The Dark Element inside the frog's body only helped Rean's Light Element cause even more damage, which gave the frog a nearly fatal injury.

With that, the frog immediately gave up on the idea of continuing its assault. It knew it had selected the wrong target and dove into the swamp once again to flee.

Rean looked at that but didn't try to stop it.

*Splash!*

The frog then disappeared under the swamp water, making the surroundings quiet once more.

"Hey, couldn't you give me a hand?" Rean then looked at Roan, slightly angry.

"I wanted to, but there was another guy eager to take action the moment I let my guard down," said Roan as he looked at a specific point in the water.

*Blub, blub...*

Only then did Rean see a pair of red eyes poking out of the water a few tens of meters away.

Seeing that both Rean and Roan knew about its existence, the eyes dove back into the dark swamp water. It gave up on its idea of attacking the twins after seeing what happened to the frog a moment earlier.

Rean sighed after seeing that. "We're still on the outskirts of the swamp, but that frog was already as strong as an average Middle Stage Void Tempering Realm cultivator."

Roan came down and landed on the same branch as Rean. "It's not like we didn't expect it to be a walk in the park anyway."

"That's true." Rean knew that. "So, what now?"

*Vup!*

A second later, Luan appeared on Rean and Roan's side. "What else? Luan, we're counting on your eyes from now on."

Luan couldn't hold his excitement. "Leave it to me, father!"