Half a day later…
As the evening hours approached, the afternoon light started to dim.
White steel battleships started to appear on the horizon one by one as they surrounded the small black island. Their thick cannons were aimed at the island and jets started to appear in the sky like a swarm of bees.
There were at least ten military satellites in the sky monitoring this nautical area.
Among the aircraft carriers, the largest white aircraft carrier was like a gigantic, notched, white log of driftwood as it positioned itself near an island in the deep sea area, aiming at the black island a distance away.
Surrounding it were at least tens of ships of various sizes.
Garen and a few high ranking captains stood at the ship’s bow, looking at the black island from afar. The evening light bathed onto them, giving off a soft luster as it reflected off their white uniforms.
Behind them were multiple aircraft carriers with jets preparing to take off. As its engine roared, the wind gusted strongly, causing people’s shirts to flap wildly.
Garen too was in a general military uniform. It was a unique ranking military uniform given to him by the country’s secret service to avoid being exposed during the military practice.
Surprisingly, Baldy of the Nighthawks and Tu Lan were among the high ranking officers.
“The surveillance aircraft has sent back its data on the details of the map. The aircraft carrier team in the area did not detect any submarines and not even a human figure,” the captain reported softly to Garen through the ear microphone. The jet’s roar was so loud that they couldn’t listen properly if they talked face to face.
“Are you sure there’s no sign of anyone?” Garen frowned.
“Yes. There’s no sign of human activity,” the captain responded personally as he knew that Garen and his men were not familiar with the fleet’s system as they were all outsiders.
“Prepare to fire all at once,” Garen took over the captain’s military binoculars as he looked at the island far away.
The island was completely deserted and was only filled with uneven surfaces of black rocks.
“Level this island,” Garen ordered calmly.
“Understood,” the captain nodded as he commanded his fleet through the ear microphone.
Soon, the ship at the very front started its bombardment.
Boom boom boom boom boom….!
Among the explosions of bombardment, the first cannon barrel recoiled instantly and white smoke constantly billowed from it. Then, the remaining cannon barrels on the ship fired off at the same time.
Following its lead, the other battleships fired off as well.
The series of bombardment shook the whole island as smokes, vapor, dust, and pebbles flew up in the sky. The black stones on the small island were instantly turned into dust. The small island was bombarded as if it was being hammered by a person with a huge hammer, flatting everything on the surface. With every bombardment, a huge amount of black rubble flew about everywhere.
Soon the whole island was engulfed in black smoke.
After a while, the whole island’s upper region was filled with white smokes and dust.
“Board the island!” Garen gestured his hands and he immediately started jumping from the battleship into the sea.
A small boat appeared out of nowhere and caught him coincidentally before heading straight for the small island at full speed.
Tu Lan and Nighthawks jumped down as well and, similar to Garen, were caught by the boat and went straight to the island.
Other than these three, no one else dared to get close the island. This was because Garen had arranged beforehand and stated that those who did not possess enough strength would die regardless.
Three boats raced towards the small island. Soon they slowed down as there were huge amounts of hidden coral reefs in the shallow region surrounding the island.
“Let’s go!”
Garen stood up, sprinted on the water surface and went straight to the island while the others followed from behind. Tu Lan was a natural at this and Baldy of the Nighthawks, who practiced the Shooting Shadow Secret Technique, had managed to learn this in the Holy Fist Palace.
The bombardment stopped and there were jets revolving the island, observing the situation below and feeding the latest intel to Garen and the other two.
After a few splashes on the water, Garen gently landed on a flat surface beside the black stone crater as he adjusted his headset.
“Be alert of the surrounding at all times. Notify me immediately as soon as you notice anything strange.”
“Understood,” a response was immediately sent through the headset.
Garen looked over the horizon and most of the obstacles on the small islands were flattened out and craters formed by the cannons could be seen everywhere. The whole area was a total mess.
“Come out Lion Mother. I know you’re here.”
He slowly walked to the center of the island but still, no one responded.
Without the slightest change in expression, he soon arrived at the edge of a normal looking crater with the other two as they scanned their surrounding.
Boom!!
He stomped the ground with all his might and the ground instantly exploded as if it was hit by an explosive, forming another crater that rivaled the crater formed by the cannon.
What was even more ridiculous was that the rubbles flying off from the newly formed crater didn’t even hit the other two at all.
The power he showcased with his leg made those crew members who had never witnessed the strength of the Holy Fist Palace stared with their mouths wide open.
After stomping out a crater, he gently jumped into the crater with the other two and stomped on the ground once more.
Boom!!
This time, rubbles didn’t fly out from the ground but a pitch black hole was formed underneath his leg.
“This is it!” Garen’s gaze changed a little bit. When he realized that he had found his target, he immediately jumped into the pitch black hole while Nighthawks and Tu Lan followed behind without any hesitation.
Inside the hole was a pitch black rugged tunnel. As the trio sprinted forward, they soon noticed a faint glimpse at the front.
It was the end of the tunnel and it was glowing blue.
They sprinted into the light and arrived at a huge and spacious cave lighted in blue.
There was an unimaginably beautiful naked woman with white hair standing calmly inside the cave’s flat surface. She had a black note in her hand as she calmly stared at the arrival of the trio.
“Lion Mother?” Garen was the first one to stepped forward and asked softly.
“Holy Fist?” the lady’s gaze was very calm. “I knew that I’d fallen into your trap and revealed my location when I heard the ruckus coming from outside.”
“You just didn’t have enough information to work with,” Garen said calmly. “If you knew that I could sense the Demonic Book’s location, you wouldn’t even allow your underlings to steal the Demonic Book.”
“That’s right…” Lion Mother sighed. “Come to think of it, this is the only item that is the root of this result.” She lowered her head as she looked at the Demonic Book in her hand with a strange, glazed stare.
“I have tried to destroy it but no matter what I do to it, the book would instantly turn into an illusion the moment it was hit. I couldn’t destroy it no matter what.”
“Regardless, I’ve already won.” Garen walked forward slowly and with each step he took, his body expanded slowly. The black and thick black smoke-liked aura started to spread out from his legs.
“That’s right… You’ve won…” the Lion Mother nodded and raised her head up. However, blood started to flow out from her eyes. “However, I would do everything in my power and correct the course of the world, even if it means putting my body into the abyss for eternity. Don’t you dare think that you can have it your way…!!!” Her last tone immediately turned from the usual calmness to a horrifyingly sharp tone.
In an instant, a wine red light, at a speed surpassing sound, shone onto Garen as if it was an actual light.
As the red light bathed onto Garen, his body started to twist and turn about.
“What is the world…?” he was stunned because even though he didn’t feel any pain from his body, the Demonic Book’s Soul Seed started to react rapidly.
In an instant, the world’s rejection force was multiplied by numerous folds.
Garen’s face immediately turned pale as he immediately retracted his body’s aura back into his body, keeping only the layer of black shadow on him. It acted as a black armor that protected his body from the rejection from the planet.
“The rejection… has been increased… This person!” Garen’s gaze turned sharp.
The red light from the Lion Mother kept bathing onto Garen as if it was endlessly emitting onto him while her body started to melt like a candle.
As the red light kept emitting onto him, the rejection force onto Garen kept increasing over time.
“Kill her!” Garen wasn’t able to move at all and could only shout in dissatisfaction. He couldn’t leave this place now as he still had a lot of things to do!
Before he even shouted, Tu Lan and Baldy had already sprinted forward. The twisted stream of water turned into a giant icicle but it was broken off by Tu Lan’s palm.
A huge boom was heard and a waist thick icicle flew out instantly, piercing Lion Mother’s body without much resistance.
Thud!
A huge hole was created in Mother Lion’s body. She moaned even though her face had melted to the point where it couldn’t be recognized. With that attack, her body melted even faster and after a while, she had completely turned into a pool of blood, lost her humanoid shape, and even the red light had stopped as well.
Boom boom boom!!
Garen took a few steps back and sweat started profusely dripping from his face. It was fortunate that he’d brought Tu Lan and Baldy along in case of emergency, but he didn’t expect that he would need them this early on.
Lion Mother was about to sense the planet’s rejection of his existence and she was attempting to hasten the process.
“Is she dead?” Tu Lan was in disbelief as the icicle pierced her bloody body. “Is she really the Lion Mother? Would she die this easily?”
She had prepared herself for a difficult battle since she was the most mysterious witch queen in history, but she didn’t expect her to be so easily dealt with.
“She had used up all of her life force in exchange for the rejection force to exile me,” Garen’s face was still pale as he responded. “You can say that she has no remaining energy to defend herself the moment you attacked her. She had no plan to live after this from the very beginning.”
Tu Lan and Baldy were in disbelief as the legendary Mother Lion was defeated this easily.
“Go and check around this place,” Garen leaned against the wall inside the cave as he gestured his hand to tell them to ignore him. He wasn’t injured but exhausted from the pure will of fighting against the planet’s rejection of him.
Both of them soon found a few ancient books, bamboo piece, stone piece and a large black crystal ball with a wing mark on it inside the cave.
“The Mother Lion should be proud of herself since she was able to give me this much trouble,” Garen responded as he felt that he only had a day left or two on this planet. He didn’t know what to feel about it.
A mere Death Apostle decided to use such a unique method against him. She must have realized that physical attacks were of no use against him before she decided to go about on this route. If she couldn’t kill him, she would rather chase him away.