Chapter 2708: Chapter 2708: Disrespect And Insult

Elizabeth had felt Zen running at an unimaginable speed.

He was moving as fast as she was when flying at full speed. This Latent Theurgy was truly amazing.

Five minutes later, Elizabeth sensed that Zen had come to a stop.

She then reached her slender fingers out and wrapped them gently around the armrest of the throne.

A pattern of a bright star formed on the armrest, and the entire Divine Lair began to vibrate. The Sun Crows roosting around the lair jumped up all at once, causing a violent rumble. The space above Elizabeth's head was torn apart again, and a glowing sheet of light covered her body.

A shadow separated itself from Elizabeth and floated to enter the space crack above her.

Meanwhile, in the Mountain Viewing Province, the terrain to the west was getting flatter and flatter.

The cloud of mist looked as if it fell from the sky and continued to speed along the ground.

All creatures dispersed and scurried away on seeing it moving on towards them.

Eventually the mist stopped in a lush green grassland and drifted where the wind took it. Zen stood still and alone amongst it all.

“These two Latent Theurgies are really incredible...” he said, heaving a long sigh of relief.

The Latent Theurgies that the Nine Li race gave him were all quite extraordinary.

In particular, the Exhausting Power could enable him to increase his own strength by five times. Unfortunately, it would still not be enough. If he was as strong as the five-star Oneness Guards, he might be able to destroy Elizabeth's Illusory Projection with this added power.

It pained Zen to have used up two Latent Theurgies, but they had helped him to escape. So perhaps it was a necessary sacrifice.

But Gant's father and uncle were not so lucky. Zen dreaded having to tell him they had been killed by Elizabeth. He worried if he'd be able to handle that kind of horrible news, but then again, who could?

After calming himself, Zen remembered that he had to check his back. He wondered if the Shade Stone would have had any effect on him when he absorbed it into his body.

Just then, No. 9527's voice rang clear. “Zen, look up!”

Zen raised his head and saw a shadow quietly taking shape above him.

“Here she comes again,” he muttered warily.

His face darkened and his eyebrows creased.

'Elizabeth really is as annoying as a mosquito, ' Zen thought to himself.

In the blink of an eye, a pair of huge wings appeared in the sky.

This time, the woman's momentum was a lot weaker than before, and her strength was not even equal to that of an ordinary demon woman in the Divine Lair.

Even so, Zen still could not defeat her yet.

“If you had come with me before, things would have been much easier. I'm afraid you'll have to suffer greatly now...” Elizabeth's icy voice echoed from the sky and rang in Zen's ears. ꭆ𝖆₦𝘰ＢЕ𝒮

She couldn't pull Zen back to the Divine Lair, but she could do all in her power to keep him here. The Sun Crows would then do the rest and bring him to her.

Zen stared her down, flashing through his mind for ideas on how to hold her off; she was an enemy he had no ability to match up to.

At that moment, a faint figure appeared behind the woman, blurred but somehow Zen knew it was on his side, and powerful too.

Zen's eyes widened and his jaw dropped in disbelief.

The woman was perplexed by Zen's odd expression; she asked, curious and angered, “Why do you wear that look on your face? What's going on? What sort of trick are you planning? Or... do you have any other special Latent Theurgies?”

As the figure behind the woman came into view, Zen discovered it to be a middle-aged man with a long beard and fine features.

Somehow, the woman had not even sensed his presence. What kind of special theurgy was this person using?

Only once he was close enough to touch her did the woman sense him behind her.

Her pupils contracted and her broad wings pulled in, rapid and like thousands of golden blades of feathers. Her reactions to defense were impressive even if delayed.

The middle-aged man on the other hand, moved calmly and leisurely, even having the audacity to gently stroke her face before stepping back.

The woman's eyes burned full of hatred and an intent to kill. Her curled wings lashed out, slashing those sharp knives of feathers at the man.

The man was unfazed and surprisingly flexible, moving like the wind and dodging every attack to perfection. The woman only missed by a hair's breadth.

He dodged and dodged and then came in close once more, even pinching her chest. The middle-aged man laughed and said, “It's said that the skin of a demon woman is better than a human woman's. It seems the rumor is true!”

This was total nonsense of course. The woman before him was merely Elizabeth's Illusory Projection and not her physical self.

The woman could not seem to lay a feather on him and so resorted to all she had left. She activated her divine flame in a frightening burst.

With a slight fizzle and spark, her whole body was engulfed in divine flames.

The man could make fun of Elizabeth for sure, but even he knew the divine flames of Sun Crow race were not to be trifled with and so was forced back in retreat.

He slowly descended to land beside Zen.

“Master Athemar,” Zen greeted him with cupped hands.

“You recognize me?” Athemar asked both astonished and abashed.

“I recognized you by your voice,” Zen replied honored.

Zen was confused at first. Who on earth would tease and dare to humiliate the most noble woman of the Sun Crow race?

But as soon as he spoke, Zen recognized him. He had heard Athemar's voice in the Lofty Sword.

“Human beings are indeed scum. I'll kill you!”

Elizabeth was above all else in the Sun Crow race; she had never been disrespected like this before and she hated the feeling.

Athemar curled his lips and said, “Your appearance and your language... and even the divine flames you use come from human beings. Why do you look down upon us?”

“Shut up!”

she snapped as she charged head on for Athemar.

The woman was infuriated. Her body covered in flames and charging down looked as if a sun was plummeting towards them.

In terms of pure strength, Elizabeth, the leader of the Divine Lair, was slightly stronger than Athemar.

However, this was not the real Elizabeth. Moreover, this was her third Illusory Projection, which meant that this woman had only a small portion of Elizabeth's true strength. She was as powerful as the five-star Oneness Guards. Right now, how could she hope to be a match for Athemar?

Athemar turned slightly and moved his right hand.

He had drawn his sword so fast that even Zen, who stood right beside him, did not see how he had done it, just that it was now in his hand.

A faint shadow of a sword swept up 45 degrees, and Elizabeth's Illusory Projection was immediately shattered into pieces.

The cracking Illusory Projection even triggered a response of the Cage of Heaven and Earth in the Mountain Viewing Province, which turned into many space cracks to swallow up the shattered Illusory Projection and her divine flames.

“The mission to guard the Blue Cloud City should be very easy. But war is unpredictable. This time... It's my negligence,” said Athemar, looking up at the space cracks that slowly disappeared from the sky.

Zen was confused and was about to ask for clarity when Athemar raised his hand and stopped him before he could speak.

“Wait a minute!” he said, deeply focused on something else.

He listened carefully with squinted eyes. He then stretched his left foot out and stomped down hard.

“Boom!”

The ground trembled all around them.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Three explosions went off not far beneath them, unleashing three forces out of the ground leaving three large holes. At the mouth of each hole lay a massive demon mouse bleeding to death.

It seemed that Athemar had forced them out and killed them.