As he was leading the trio further forward, trouble surrounded them in the shape of cultivators.
"Halt!"
The people who were surrounding them were nine times four. Lee and the trio paused their sprint and stood on a building's roof, and they were surrounded from all sides. Three cultivators were airborne and were levitating, which indicated that they have stepped into the immortal class.
[37 cultivators wielding swords, spears, sabres, katanas and staves. One Monarch Immortal, two Immortal Grandmasters, three Immortal Masters, seven Soul Manifestation, seven Soul Transformation and the remaining are below them.]
The blade appeared in his hands, and the trio took it as an indication of preparation, and pulled out their weapons. The katana, longsword and the twin hatchets were gripped tight and their guard was raised.
"We have no intention to fight. But if you show resistance, we will have to first kill you then take your body."
The Monarch Immortal cultivator spoke and a faint wave rippled from him. An and Mia were stunned as the aura went past them. Lee looked through the corner of his eyes, and saw their hands slightly trembling.
"Why do you want us?"
Lee wanted some answers from them, and tried to give the trio some time to recover from their fear.
"Not all, but you alone. The quest reward has been raised to 50 gold coins, for an individual."
Saying this, he gave a gesture to the men with lowest cultivation to close in on them. Every cultivator below Soul Manifestation followed the command and moved closer on them.
"Can you fight?"
Lee looked over his shoulders, at the three. There was determination on their faces, and he was glad that they resolved their mind. As the enemies kept slowly closing in the distance, the trio dashed forward and vigorously defended, and showed their skills.
Turning to the Monarch Immortal, Lee activated Flight, and rose into the air. The cultivator was stunned for a moment, and so were others with him. For a second, everyone had their eyes on Lee, and An swiftly used this timespan to cut down two Elemental Binding realm cultivators. Her sword's extended length gave her an advantage over the opponents' short and common swords.
Mia was swift with her katana. The training from Dnekewy paid off, as she began to pick up speed by a little bit. Her cultivation might have been stagnant for a while, but the agility and strength had increased slightly, through practice. She was constantly changing her positions and thus was dealing confusion with her opponents. Once, one of her opponents slashed his sword but ended up cutting his fellow cultivator.
Tera was not doing great with her hatchets, and was slowly being pushed back. An and Mia came for help and the three joined hands and formed a formidable force. Their triangular formation was defending and dealing damage simultaneously. Tera had learned how to use her hatchets as a ranged weapon, which eventually comes into her hand, like a boomerang.
Lee saw them dealing damage through the Map, and was happy as he could now fight without any distraction. His opponents had already made their move, but Lee was simply untouchable. When they flash forward and close the distance, Lee would appear behind them and would give a teasing pat.
The pat was simple at a glance, but a lethal dose of poison was penetrating the bodies of the immortal class cultivators. Due to their higher cultivation, the poison was taking a lot of time to take effect.
Flames danced with fury and ice spikes followed Lee like a homing missile. The wind blades were not dangerous to Lee anymore, as they dissipated the moment they touched Lee's skin.
'Okay fun is enough.'
Lee converted a hundred Essence to Qi, and empowered his body with the Qi. The cultivators fighting him felt the presence of Qi from him and frowned. They had no idea that Lee had Qi affinity.
Before they can even realise what is happening, Lee went past them all, like connecting the dots of an incomplete picture. After feeling a slight touch in their backs, they got electrocuted.
The absolute affinity of Lightning was difficult to defend against, especially if you don't have any immunity. The cultivators lost their footing, and were falling towards the building roofs. Lee took this chance to pick them all to his EsGen storage, to be productive.
[Mia is hurt.]
Right after a sword brushed past her shoulder giving a small cut, Lee was informed about the incident. His speed quickly skyrocketed, and he approached the trio. They were exhausted from the continuous fights.
Mia was not severely wounded, as the cut was only recognisable from up close. Lee decided to not let them fight anymore, as they could collapse at any moment. His humongous Dexterity showed the potential, the cultivators disappeared.
*huff*
The trio was breathing roughly, as they were not reserving their strength against the horde of opponents. Lee let them sit down and rest for a few minutes, and their conditions became normal.
A few bottles of water were created by Lee using the Workshop, and he passed them. The water instantly disappeared into their tummies, and a sense of relief was evident on their faces.
[Lee, do you sense anything from the southern direction?]
Lee was about to continue his mission,as he spotted the beacon at the same location. Then D asked this spooky question. Lee quickly turned around and peered at the aforementioned direction. His eyes failed to spot anything uncommon or suspicious in the direction.
Actually, what D felt was a gut feeling of unavoidable tragedy and death. Gauthama sprang up from his seat in the System Space, and alerted D that something dangerous was approaching.
'Nothing.'
The fact that Gauthama shouted out alert made both Lee and D extremely vigilant.
After a couple of seconds, something did appear at the horizon like a dot. The next instant, it disappeared from the position and Lee felt his body thrown backward.
'The hell?'