Heaven, Earth, Me

Chapter 848: Kali's Efforts Bearing Fruit!

Kali rushed forward and clashed with the two-meter-tall, bulky-looking tribulation soldier. Right before the clash, she called one of the nature spirits she had summoned and fused it with her sword as she traced a beautiful arc.

The nature spirit was used to activate [Nature Spirit Sword Strike], a powerful sword strike that consumed the spirit to create a massively powerful blow.

The collision of weapons created a large explosion, sending a powerful shockwave to the surrounding areas. Kali felt the weight of the Heavenly Tribulation Soldier's attack and took several steps back while her sword and arm trembled. 'Strong.'

Her lips curled into a confident smile. 'This one is strong but not impossible to beat,' she thought, her eyes never leaving her opponent.

So, while her army took care of the other three in a brutal melee that was decimating Kali's army numbers, she fought the fourth one.

The attacks flew one after another while Kali cleverly used her [Ironbark Slicer], [Spirit Severing Sword], and [Nature Spirit Sword Strike].

[Ironbark Slicer] was a heavy cut that focused on pure offensive power. It could slice through most defenses and create large wounds. Against the Heavenly Tribulation Soldier, which was much more solid than she expected, it worked wonders in creating weaknesses.

These weaknesses were then exploited by her quick [Spirit Severing Sword]. The attack was meant to attack souls more than physical bodies. Yet, the Heavenly Lightning Solider had an energy that kept it together, acting like something like a soul.

It was a creature created by the heavens, so it was naturally much more complex than your average summon.

Finally, when she had the chance, [Nature Spirit Sword Strike] would be unleashed, dealing devastating damage.

Adding to all of the above the fact that she had several aura and enhancing skills that she could use on herself, the fight that started being somewhat even became one-sided once Kali was fully strengthened.

The three-tailed fox swung her sword one time after another, smashing the Heavenly Lightning Soldier backward. After a while of fighting back and forth, she managed to land a decisive blow that blasted it into pieces.

Right after that, she turned around and observed the battle situation. The three other Heavenly Lightning Soldiers had been highly weakened by her army at the cost of more than two-thirds of the creatures she had summoned.

Without a single moment of rest, Kali joined the fray, whittling them down with quick and decisive blows.

After dealing with them, Kali didn't even need to look around to know that she had to summon before the four above descended. So, she unleashed her skills and began another round of summoning.

Her life energy spread around and used the corpses of the plants, similarly opening the ground to grow more creatures.

However, she didn't manage to refill her entire army before the remaining four Heavenly Tribulation Soldiers swooped down. Kali realized that these were faster than the previous four, making her frown.

However, she quickly calmed down and controlled her one hundred dryads to face one of them while she ordered the ones summoned by her innate skills to fight another.

Then, she sent the rest of her army to fight the third one, and finally, she went forward and fought the fourth one by herself.

The attacks thrown everywhere were creating wide arrays of destruction. Of all four of them, the one fighting the common creatures was slaughtering them with relative ease.

The fast sword rumbled as it moved, summoning lightning arcs that destroyed the creatures between itself and Kali.

The 100 dryads were having trouble keeping theirs in check, but thanks to the passive skill Valeria used and adding Kali's auras, they could somewhat keep up.

Meanwhile, the powerful and varied creatures created by Kali's innate skills were doing relatively well. Although their roles were completely random, their individual strength was high enough that they could resist the onslaught created by the Heavenly Lightning Soldier.

Meanwhile, Kali was having more trouble with this last soldier, receiving injuries in their exchange.

Kali was slowly getting pushed back as she tried to deflect the quick sword strikes, creating a cacophony of explosive sounds. 'Even at my peak strength, I'm being pushed back?'

Suddenly, she saw an opportunity thanks to a combination that ended in her side taking advantage after the exchange.

She quickly took a few steps back, creating distance, and then stomped the ground. The floor cracked as several thick roots exploded from the ground and coiled around the Heavenly Lightning Soldier.

She took advantage of this to rush forward and use [Ironbark Slicer]. Her wooden sword hardened as the edge was covered with an extremely thick layer of energy, while Life and Wood energy enveloped the weapon and strengthened it.

The combination of energies and technique made the edge of the wooden sword release a flash of light from its sharpness, and she swung it diagonally.

The Heavenly Lightning Soldier reacted, blocking its way haphazardly. But that was not enough.

Kali's verdant green eyes shone as her sword sliced through the lightning creature's sword and landed on its chest. Then, with a brutal and thundering sound, her body flashed forward while leaving a bisected Lightning Soldier behind her.

However, Kali couldn't rest because the Heavenly Lightning Soldier fighting her common summons had similarly dealt with them and was rushing at her. Kali quickly checked her energy levels, but her face became serious. 'Even after all the pills, I have a little less than an eighth of my energy reserves left.'

Her body was feeling heavy after so much continuous fighting and commanding her creatures. Her robes were sliced in several sides, blood dripping through them, and her face was smeared with burn marks that some lightning arcs had created when spontaneously jumping from the Heavenly Lightning Soldier's weapon.

'How are the other two groups doing?'

Kali looked around for an instant before focusing on her next opponent.

Her Dryads had been reduced to around 60 units, with more than sixty percent of the frontline being destroyed. The remaining melee dryads were also in their last leg, as many of them had lost limbs and had their weapons broken by the Heavenly Lightning Soldier fighting them.

Thankfully, the Heavenly Lightning soldier fighting them was not doing much better. The several attacks made it look much less energetic, a clear sign of an about-to-die Heavenly Lightning Soldier. 'Perhaps they can win? Well, I've spent a lot of energy fortifying both the dryad and innate skill groups. If they couldn't do this much, it would be a disappointment.'

Speaking of the innate plant creatures group, they were doing better than the dryads. While they lost half their numbers, the Heavenly Lightning Soldier was clearly on the verge of expiring. The reason was the compatibility between groups. While the Dryads used tactics and proper army-style fighting, their individual strength was weaker than theirs, so the Heavenly Lightning Soldier could slice through them with relative ease.

Compared to them, the innate plant-creatures group had a lot of individual strength, which they didn't cherish as they were summons, so they used quite literally suicide attacks to whittle down the being.

The second tactic proved to be better as a last-fight resort. 'When they finish it off, they can help be dryad group, and then the remaining ones can come and help me. I'll play defensive against the one charging at me.

Her body burst with energy as the [Three-Tailed Nature Fox Aura] was regenerated around her, and several [Living Nature Wall] appeared in the Heavenly Tribulation Soldier's way.

The soldier only knew forward, so it clashed against the walls one after another, as a bolt of proper tribulation lightning would, and closed the distance at a quickening rhythm.

Kali was not afraid as her feet sent energy waves toward the ground to continue summoning different defensive methods, including walls, entanglements, and some quick summons that lacked general strength.

However, these summons were cheap and could hold back the soldier for a few tens of a second, which was something.

Like that, Kali constantly retreated around the arena, waiting for the other two battles to conclude. Thankfully for the fox, they went as expected, and with a total of 21 damaged creatures left in total, both Heavenly Tribulation Lightning Soldiers were defeated. Their bodies were marred with cuts and burns, and their figures looked energyless.

Still, their summoner was ordering them to come, so they did, and rearming themselves with the energy leftovers inside of them, and they rushed forward.

Kali, similarly at the edge, rushed toward them after creating another ten walls and managed to regroup.

From then on, it was a battle of wills.

Together with the remaining 21 creatures, Kali attacked and used them as bait. While she didn't really want to play such battles, she had no other choice at the moment.

20… 17… 13…

The number of creatures quickly decreased as the powerful Heavenly Lightning Soldier sliced through one after another. The flashing blade of the creature was dreadful as it passed several times close to Kali's neck, and others even managed to hit her on her chest, waist, and three tails, creating deep wounds.

With her body at its limits, Kali swung her sword as if it were made of a super dense material. Even moving the shoulder and arm to make the movement needed tremendous effort.

Using her remaining seven creatures, she launched them all at once at it, and then she threw herself a beat later.

The Heavenly Lightning Soldier, filled with cracks and looking exhausted from the faint lightning bursts, gathered energy and slashed at a ludicrous speed seven times, dividing every single creature into pieces.

Kali's face tightened as she saw an eighth swing coming her way, and she quickly changed her footwork, dodging sideways.

The lighting sword slashed down at the place where she stood, but Kali didn't look at it.

Her face warped with effort and pain, and she spun her body, gathering every single bit of energy inside of her toward her sword.

"AHHHH!"

With a loud scream, Kali released a massive sword strike that landed on the Heavenly Lightning Tribulation Soldier cleanly.

"DIE!"

BOOM!

The creature exploded into particles, and a torrent of winds surged from Kali's sword swing.

With her energy and stamina depleted, Kali's legs trembled as she almost lost balance. However, when she was about to fall, a profound surge of energy burst from her core.

The energy around her rushed toward her like a hurricane, creating a large torrent of Life, Nature, and Wood energies.

Kali's eyes opened wide as a surge of energy filled her dry insides and spread around her body.

A large part of that energy gathered in her chest, right below her heart, and created the [Epoch Core]. Then, even more energy rushed into her soul and entered her Beast Core, transforming it into a [Legendary Beast Core].

This process was gradual and didn't happen at once. Moreover, during this time when her Spiritual, Body, and Beast paths were breaking through, Kali felt a surge of bloodline power coming from deep within her marrow.

She controlled her energy with impressive mastery and filled her bones with it. Kali could see how her bones became blackish as they secreted impurities.

The medicinal effects of her pills activated here, and they covered her bones from the inside, aiding all the impurities to be cleansed from deep within and expelling them through her skin glands.

This gave her a somewhat unpleasant look, as black goo that had a really strong odor was slowly secreted from her body.

However, no one present cared and looked on with serious expression.

The process lasted for a week, and by the end of it, a gorgeous fourth tail had appeared by the side of the other three.