Chapter 277 - New Strength
As the corpses swept away alongside the water, Theo couldn’t help but glance over the battlefield.
To his surprise, the others had also started finishing up their fights.
Not too far away, countless strange silver feathers swirled through the air.
The woman desperately punched against the feathers, yet even her pink flames couldn’t harm them in the slightest.
’’AHHHHH!’’ she shouted manically.
Her entire body started burning, punching away dozens of feathers one after another.
Yet every time she slammed one away, another feather would simply slip past her defenses and slice through her body.
And worse, she couldn’t even move one bit from her spot!
The fist-sized feathers she’d blocked had become a tornado that swirled around her continuously.
’’SOMEONE HELP ME!’’ she shouted loudly. ’’CAPTAIN!’’
But no response came.
With no other choice, she curled up in the middle of the air, pink flames gathering around her.
Only a moment later, a bright light pierced through the feather storm.
BOOOOOM!!!
A massive explosion of purple flames burst out.
The feathers from the tornado were all blasted away by its sheer force.
’’EVERYONE!’’ she shouted immediately, her head snapping back toward the rest. ’’RU—’’
Before she could finish her sentence, a sharp whistling noise echoed out above her.
Only a moment later, a set of razor-sharp metal claws pierced through her head.
’’Good job,’’ Iris said happily.
The large, winged, silver-brown beast slowly retracted its claws.
’’You could’ve beaten that human yourself,’’ a cold voice rang out from the beast.
Iris only smiled sheepishly.
’’I know,’’ she admitted lightly. ’’But why would I, when we’re partners now?’’
The griffin remained silent for a moment.
Its sharp yellow eyes glanced around before letting out a quiet snort.
"Our conversation can wait," it said. "This battle has already ended."
With a single beat of its wings, hundreds of metallic feathers returned from every direction.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
One after another, they embedded themselves back into its wings as though they had never left.
’’We’ll talk later, yes,’’ Iris answered with a smile.
A silver mass appeared behind the griffin and swallowed it in an instant.
Only a second later, Theo landed beside Iris, smiling faintly.
’’It seems like you successfully got your opportunity.’’
Iris immediately nodded, unable to hide the excitement on her face.
’’Mhm!’’ she said happily. ’’She’s incredible.’’
Theo chuckled softly.
’’I can tell.’’
A few moments later, Jim came over, still on top of his majestic white stag.
Several dozen yards behind it, a lone man wielding a katana lay motionless on the ground, his entire body encased in bright white ice.
’’That... was amazing,’’ Jim muttered, still sounding slightly dazed as he looked down at his summon.
Theo turned towards him with a small smirk.
’’Was it worth the potential danger?’’ he asked.
’’Worth the danger?’’ Jim repeated incredulously. ’’This thing is insane! Of course it was.’’
As a large white mass swallowed the stag, he continued with an even more excited voice.
’’And you never told me about my core’s strength increase either!’’
Theo scratched his head lightly.
Before he could reply, Lyra and Owen also approached from the distance.
Several dozen yards behind her, Theo spotted the final two Gold Cores pinned to the street by countless thorn-covered vines.
Or rather... what remained of them.
Both the corpses and the vines had been reduced to blackened remains after Owen’s skeletal dragon had passed through.
Theo glanced over at the two of them before smiling faintly.
’’Looks like everything truly worked out for everyone,’’ he said. ’’I’m glad.’’
Lyra nodded once, her arm interlocking with Owen.
’’It worked much better than expected,’’ she said with a smile.
Owen puffed out his chest proudly.
’’Did any of you see my dragon?’’ he asked loudly. ’’That’s what a proper pet looks like!’’
Jim rolled his eyes.
Then he slowly turned towards Theo.
’’Anyways,’’ he said seriously. ’’What was all this?’’
’’I want to know too,’’ Owen said, raising his hand. ’’I kinda popped out into this mess all of a sudden...’’
One by one, their gazes slowly turned to Theo.
Theo’s smile gradually faded.
His gaze swept across the devastated area around them before settling on the corpses.
’’I don’t know everything yet,’’ he admitted. ’’But I can make a pretty good guess.’’
He pointed to several large trucks with special containers on them.
’’I think someone in the auction house tipped these guys off about our purchases.’’
It made sense in a way.
To anyone watching, they would’ve looked like nothing more than a group of wealthy university students.
After spending nearly five hundred million dollars in a single afternoon... they’d become the perfect target.
’’Stupid idiots,’’ Owen chuckled loudly. ’’Can’t believe they thought they’d get away with that.’’
Lyra nodded beside him right away.
’’They were really weak for Gold Cores too,’’ she said slowly. ’’Neither of mine used a single Gold Core spell at least.’’
’’Same here,’’ Jim said, raising his hand.
Iris quietly nodded.
’’Mine had one,’’ she said. ’’But it wasn’t anything super impressive.’’
Theo nodded slowly.
Out of all four Gold Cores he’d fought from start to finish, only one had actually used a Gold Core-level spell against him.
’’No artifacts or high-grade weapons either,’’ he muttered. ’’They were stronger than Silver Cores, but nothing compared to real Gold Cores.’’
Just like with beasts, they’d really started arriving at ranks where the difference within was quite large too.
For humans, that gap was probably even larger. Powerful spells and artifacts simply cost too much.
’’So just a bunch of second-rates, eh?’’ Owen said, letting out a deep sigh. ’’How unfortunate...’’
For a brief moment, silence settled over the group.
Most of them were still processing what had happened.
Suddenly, Jim glanced towards the city.
’’Looks like the local Hunter Association finally noticed,’’ he said, letting out a low whistle.
Several figures were already rushing towards them from the distance.
Some wore the Hunter Association’s uniforms, while others appeared to be city guards.
Owen stretched his arms above his head before letting out a long yawn.
’’Well...’’ he said. ’’I don’t know about you guys, but I suddenly feel exhausted.’’
Lyra laughed softly.
’’Shouldn’t have blown all your mana on showing off.’’
Theo couldn’t help but shake his head as he watched the two mess around.
Finally, he let out a deep sigh as he stood up.
’’Now that we’re all back,’’ he said. ’’We should hurry to Petra as soon as possible.’’
Just like Theo had before them, each of them had spent nearly a full day inside their summoning dimensions.
That didn’t leave a whole lot of time before the actual enemies would arrive.