NOVPUBWith a mighty swipe, the bear's claws sliced through the tail.
Blood gushed as the snake hissed in agony. The severed part of the tail dropped to the ground, still twitching.
The bear didn't stop there. Eyes burning with hate, it lunged and bit deep into the fleshy stump, snarling as its teeth tore into it.
But just then something strange happened.
In the next breath, the bear froze. Its claws stopped mid-air. Its eyes widened. Its body stiffened. A low, rumbling hiss came from the Verdant Elder.
Aksai, watching from a distance, saw it clearly. The flesh of the snaketail had a deadly poison. It wasn't ordinary venom.
It worked fast and without warning. The biting bear's legs shook, and its chest stopped heaving. Its jaw went slack as the poison spread through its veins like wildfire.
If the bear was in his regular state, he wouldn't have made this foolish mistake and let his anger take over him. After all, his senses were perfectly capable of detecting the venom if he had put his mind into it.
However, his berserker form clearly came with some disadvantages related to cognizance. It dulled his senses and filled his mind with uncontrollable rage, which robbed him of his real-time analytical skills.
The Verdant Elder's eyes flared.
A water-element Spirit spell burst to life between his front limbs. A long, sharp spear made of compressed water formed instantly. With a roar, he launched it toward the stunned bear.
The spear pierced through the poisoned bear's neck, cutting cleanly. Blood sprayed in all directions, and the bear collapsed like a falling tree.
Another one down.
The Verdant Elder dragged his massive body forward. His jaws opened wide, and he began devouring the poisoned bear. Flesh, bone, blood—nothing was left untouched.
As he ate, the green glow returned to his runes. His body began to thicken again, and the Spirit essence inside him churned like a storm.
He was hurt.
But with each bite, he was healing—growing—becoming something even more dangerous.
The battlefield was soaked in blood, torn soil, and the smell of burning fur. The clash between the Verdant Elder and the bear family had reached its last stages.
Despite his injuries, the Verdant Elder pressed on. His shell was cracked in places, his limbs bled from deep cuts, and his snaketail had only started to grow back.
But he didn't stop and kept on unleashing Spirit spells after the other to deal with the bear family.
A few minutes passed just like that.
With a sudden push, the Verdant Elder burst forward and slammed into one of the remaining three berserker bears. Before the bear could react, the Verdant Elder's regrown snaketail lashed out and coiled around its neck.
For Aksai, this was a repeat scene. The snake head opened wide and bit down with crushing force, snapping bones.
One had to say that the Verdant Elder had somehow managed to use the same techniques in different ways to deal with his enemies. This kind of repetition was ineffective against most Spirit cultivators who could counter his moves once they witnessed it.
However, just a bit of variation and change of pace in his attacks was enough for the Verdant Elder to deal with the bears. It also helped that the bears were in their berserker forms.
***
A few minutes later.
The last two berserker bears were still on their feet.
They roared as they charged toward him, glowing with the same red aura that had coated their bodies before.
Their muscles bulged, and their eyes gleamed with madness. They slashed at the Verdant Elder again and again, landing powerful blows.
But this time, the Verdant Elder didn't fight back right away.
He changed his strategy as if he had seen through something.
He tucked in his limbs and his head, vanishing into his massive shell. The sound of metal striking stone echoed through the dome as the bears pounded away at the hardened shell.
The two bears tried to jab into the six openings of the shell—the neck, the limbs, and the tail. But nothing worked. Thick vines and hardened wood blocked every gap. The wood-element vines and branches covered his shell as if they wanted to hide its presence completely.
The Verdant Elder had already cast a wood-element defense spell to protect his weak points. Every time the bears struck, they were met with stiff wood and thorny barriers.
Then came the counterattack.
Without showing himself, the Verdant Elder summoned his water-element Spirit spell. From small gaps in the vines, thin but deadly water spears shot out with precision.
At the same time, spikes of earth rose from the ground around his shell, aiming for the bears' legs and sides.
The bears howled in frustration and pain as they jumped back, their movements growing less sharp.
Only now did Aksai realize what was happening. There was a reason behind the Verdant Elder's turtle style retreat.
The Verdant Elder didn't need to fight them head-on anymore. He knew they wouldn't last much longer.
And just as he expected—after another minute—the red aura around their bodies flickered and disappeared. The berserker state came to an end.
Aksai could see the change right away. The bears' huge forms shrank slightly. Their breathing turned rough and uneven. Their muscles trembled and then weakened, as if something had drained all their strength at once.
The side effects hit hard.
Their skin sagged, and their powerful limbs looked thinner. Their Spirit essence was nearly gone. Their eyes, once filled with rage, now looked dazed and lost.
They could barely stand straight.
Inside the shell, the Verdant Elder continued to absorb the essence of the dead bears. His snaketail grew back fully, hissing and writhing again with life. The runes on his shell glowed once more, brighter and stronger.
The thick vines and wooden growth covering the Verdant Elder's shell slowly withered away. The green glow of the wood-element defensive Spirit spell faded, and the massive tortoise beast finally revealed himself once more.
His limbs extended outward, now broader and firmer. His head rose, eyes burning with a strange light. The long snaketail coiled behind him, restored to full strength, hissing as if hungry for more blood.
The runes etched into his dark green shell glowed like fireflies in the dark, brighter and more defined than ever before.
Aksai's eyes narrowed as he watched from the sidelines. His heart beat a little faster.
'This damn demon beast… he definitely is a mutated demon beast. His flesh-devouring ability is too strong. He… he has managed to use this battle as a whetstone to advance further in his cultivation.'
The Verdant Elder's aura had changed evidently and overwhelmingly.
It wasn't just stronger—it was fiercer, heavier, more refined. It felt wild and sharp at the same time, like the edge of a blade that had been honed over years and finally drawn from its sheath.
Aksai could feel it clearly.
The beast was only one step away from entering the 3rd Order of Spirit cultivation.
The pressure in the dome shifted. Even the air felt heavier.
Aksai clenched his fists.
'This… wasn't part of the plan. I can't fight a 3rd Order demon beast, can I? Even though I have my trump cards, I can't take such risks. Even if I could, will I be able to turn the beast's soul into my Aether Beast? It would be too difficult…. Too dicey.
I… I need to deal with him now. Before he had the possibility of advancing in his cultivation,' Aksai thought to himself.
From the moment the battle started, he had watched patiently, thinking the battle would wear down the Verdant Elder. The bear family was supposed to be his problem.
Their numbers, their rage, and their berserker forms were all meant to grind the tortoise down until he had nothing left. Aksai had thought the hard part would already be done for him by now.
But what he saw instead was the opposite. The Verdant Elder had fought to the edge of death—and climbed back stronger. His boldness and risk-taking attitude made him trigger an evolution within himself.
Add to the fact that the demon beast had awoken from his slumber and was ready to advance in his Spirit cultivation, it wouldn't come as a surprise if he managed to become a 3rd Order beast capable of challenging the Core Formation Lords.
The Verdant Elder hadn't just survived. He had used the entire battle as fuel, devouring every fallen bear, absorbing their Spirit essence, and growing closer to a breakthrough.
The mutated beast stood now, tall and proud, his eyes locked on the last two weakened bears as if they were already his next meal.
Aksai's throat dried slightly.
If the Verdant Elder devoured the two remaining bears, he would complete his evolution. He would break into the 3rd Order and become a truly terrifying demon beast.
At that point, capturing him would be nearly impossible.
'I don't have much leeway to choose the right time. Now's as good a time as any.'
