Chapter 1916 - 1916. Wrong

The sky disappeared as the swarm took its place. Winged cockroaches materialized around the rank 9 cultivator and filled every inch of the area. They were so packed that they struggled to move their wings freely.

The second army was far bigger than the first. Tens of thousands rank 9 magical beasts had appeared in the sky, and the experts trembled when they noticed the presence of a specimen in the upper tier among the swarm.

A force that rank 8 experts should never have the courage to face had teleported above them. That seemed too much even for Noah's companions, but none of them showed fear. Calculations happened in their minds as countless plans surged and shattered. They would continue to fight as long as the faint hope to win existed.

"You," The rank 9 woman announced while pointing at Sword Saint. "I'll give you the fight you want. Let the others fight with the others."

King Elbas' cold eyes inspected that interaction. It was unclear how much freedom the cultivators under Heaven and Earth had. Some appeared as complete fools, while others almost seemed to go against their leaders. King Elbas wanted to find an explanation for those differences and, if possible, generate a counter.

"I'll give you a chance to fight me if you survive the cockroaches," The rank 9 woman announced when she noticed King Elbas' inspection.

Sword Saint didn't say anything. He didn't care that the rank 9 cultivator saw her victory as obvious. He had lost interest in everything that didn't involve his sword arts after confirming that he had found an opponent.

King Elbas was different. He had never lost his instincts as a leader, and he relied on them often, even when Noah was around. The dogs were the flying cockroaches' targets, so their safety had the priority.

King Elbas stored his golden sphere before waving his hand toward the pack of dogs under him. The rank 9 woman showed a smirk toward him as she turned to fly past the vast army. Sword Saint started to fly after her, but he suddenly recalled something that his solitary life had almost made him forget.

Sword Saint turned to perform a deep bow toward King Elbas. That was the only thought outside of the sword arts that his mind allowed him to have before focusing on his task. The expert chased after the rank 9 woman right away, and the duo soon disappeared from the area.

King Elbas snorted as a wave of golden flames enveloped the dogs. A fiery sea appeared and quickly condensed into a small sphere that acted as a separate dimension for those creatures. The item then shot toward King Elbas and fused with his figure before he teleported next to his companions.

The magical beasts wanted to fight, but King Elbas couldn't let them play Heaven and Earth's game. Still, teleporting next to his companions didn't improve his situation too much. The experts were against one of the weakest species of magical beasts in the entire world, but the swarm had an upper tier specimen. That threat might be too much to handle.

"Do you have a plan, Xavier?" Divine Demon asked as his cold eyes inspected the immense army.

His question generated surprise inside his companions. Divine Demon was in his serious mode in the middle of a battle. That was a rare sight even after his mind had started to show signs of stability.

"Who do you think I am?" King Elbas snorted. "I have two hundred and seventy-two plans. The only issue is that some of us end up dying in most of them."

"How many where none of us dies?" Wilfred asked.

"Depends," King Elbas revealed before turning toward his companions. "How alive you have to be to consider yourselves not dead?"

"Very alive," Steven promptly answered.

"A handful of plans then," King Elbas commented. "Are you really certain that you don't want to rely on luck? I promise that only two of you will die."

"Die how?" Divine Demon asked.

"By detonation after overloading your laws and throwing you in the middle of the swarm," King Elbas explained, "In one of the cases."

"Give it up," Robert sighed. "Let's go with no deaths and an upper tier corpse as a reward."

"You have all become too greedy," King Elbas cursed before taking a deep breath. "Fine then. I need time to create a weapon. I don't care what you do or how you do it. Just prevent the cockroaches from affecting my inscription method. Focus your efforts on the upper tier specimen. I'll place something to help."

King Elbas waved his hand, and countless formations came out of his space-ring. The whiteness of the sky intensified by the winged cockroaches seemingly stuck in their position paled in front of the golden light released by the immense number of inscriptions stored in his device.

Layers over layers of formations gathered around the group and created connections even if they belonged to different structures. Those inscriptions went from the seventh rank and reached the lower tier of the ninth rank. They seemed the King Elbas' lifelong accumulation of defensive methods. He was using everything he had ever created.

The various formations fused to create a golden disk that had the group as its only empty spots. Golden lines eventually stopped flying out of King Elbas' space-ring and fixed the last flaws that the structure still carried. The inscriptions seemed to have a mind of their own as they strived to the best shape that they could obtain.

The defensive method released a humming sound when everything stopped. The experts' eyes widened when they sensed the structure crossing the limits of the lower tier and stepping into the middle tier. King Elbas had created something so powerful while remaining a simple rank 8 cultivator.

"This is so beneath my level," King Elbas commented while showing a disgusted expression whenever his eyes landed on a seemingly flawless spot of the disk. "That area needs a second refinement. That spot has a different shade. Look at that! It's even trembling. Following Noah is forcing me to be sloppy."

The experts around King Elbas exchanged a glance after they checked all the spots that he had pointed. They didn't see anything off. Everything seemed perfect, but they silently agreed not to say anything about the matter.

The cockroaches started to separate and give themselves enough space to flap their frail wings. They had finally freed themselves of the restraints caused by the teleport, but their timing made everything feel suspicious. It was as if they had received orders to start the battle only after the experts completed their preparations.

The experts didn't take long to link that delay to the upper tier specimens. Heaven and Earth's fairness had probably forced the army to give them enough time to prepare to balance the presence of such a strong creature.

"Remember, focus on the upper tier specimen," King Elbas ordered. "This awful formation should be able to handle the others even if they attack together."

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The rank 9 woman led Sword Saint in a part of the sky quite distant from the army of winged cockroaches. The storms only took a few instants to surround them, but neither cared about that hindrance.

"Aren't you curious about my actions?" The rank 9 woman asked when she stopped and turned to focus on Sword Saint.

"The explanation when it comes to divine existences is always the same," Sword Saint replied before waving his hand and shattering all the gales in the area. "Your law rules your actions, and that also applies to the copies created by Heaven and Earth."

"Correct!" The rank 9 woman exclaimed. "You aren't as stup-."

The woman couldn't finish her line since a silver slash crashed on her body and filled the area with intense sharpness. That power was so fierce that it naturally created an oval zone where the storms couldn't enter.

"It's useless," The rank 9 woman's voice seeped out of the silver energy as it shattered and crumbled to reveal her intact figure. "I'll tell you a secret. Your path is wrong. Heaven and Earth didn't even bother to create a counter because you'll never reach the ninth rank."