"You are asking for it!" the silver snake emperor said with a beastly growl.
His qi exploded, destroying Vesa's attack.
"Ah, the worm finally chose to come out."
Vesa grinned, showing her fangs as the silver snake emperor transformed into his beast form.
A huge silver snake with four pairs of wings on parts of its body.
It made him look like a snake dragon.
His jaw opened, shooting out acid like a water cannon.
But Vesa was not worried upon seeing this attack.
Her fingers danced in the air, drawing a rune.
The fog started coalescing, gathering in one spot, then clashing against the silver snake emperor's attack.
At this moment, a figure came out from the fog.
Luca looked at Vesa for a moment, then toward the giant snake.
Her eyes glinted with coldness; she leaped forward without any hesitation.
Her sword slashed through the silver snake's scales easily, piercing through his flesh.
But his size was too large to feel it like any kind of attack.
For him, it was like being pierced with a needle.
Luca frowned, but she still didn't give up.
With half the sword still embedded in the giant snake, she started sprinting toward his head.
The snake emperor's eyes flickered.
The place Luca cut quickly healed after she moved away. It didn't really damage him, but it pulled away his focus.
Seeing this, Vesa used the opportunity.
Part of the fog turned into a huge chain; it then shot out, engulfing the snake emperor's neck.
This did lower the amount of fog clashing against his attack, but it was still enough to hold him down for a moment.
His head was slammed toward the ground as the crimson fog engulfed his body.
Vesa's body then started growing larger.
Her mouth opened wide, creating a huge suction at the snake emperor.
Luca jumped down, landing on the ground.
A moment after, Emily came out from the red fog, seeing the giant Vesa eating the snake emperor.
His body was already half-engulfed in her mouth.
The process was slow as the snake emperor tried to fight back, but then the crimson fog also began to get sucked in by Vesa.
The moment it did, the process quickly became faster.
The snake emperor was completely gulped with no trace remaining.
As Vesa's body started shrinking back to its normal size, Luca asked, "What happened to that snake? Did you kill it?"
"No, Mother Queen. I moved him to Edonia.
The place is quite peaceful now without any danger; I think he will provide a good challenge for them to fight."
Luca frowned upon hearing this.
"So you're gonna let him live?"
"That will depend on the king's decision, but I am sure he will be happy to get a living specimen at this level."
"Then make sure to give him enough pain."
"I will make sure of it, Mother Queen."
"Vesa, where is my brother?" Emily asked.
At this point, she had already grown numb from any surprise related to her brother.
An enemy outside her comprehension that had given her despair was easily eaten by Vesa.
Vesa didn't hide any information; she knew Alex would want his family to know where they were.
Emily didn't understand what he wanted to do, but Luca got the gist.
"I see… Then why did you come here, Vesa?"
Actually, she wanted to ask more about the silver snake emperor, but since Emily was here, she decided to change the topic.
Luca didn't want to remind her daughter of the trauma she had just faced when she almost got killed.
Vesa told them how Alex had ordered her because he felt something bad was happening.
Hearing it, Emily felt warm inside.
But she felt puzzled. "How could Brother know, though? Didn't you say the place is isolated?"
"Well, it does, but the rune makes the isolation not 100%." Vesa then flew closer to Emily, looking at the rune on her forehead.
"Oh yeah, before I forget..."
She put her finger into the rune, refueling all the used life force.
Vesa also drew a few more, enhancing it to raise the capacity and add some more countermeasures in case something happened.
"All right, now that this is done with, I need to take the blood flower."
"Blood flower!?" Luca asked.
"Yes, Mother Queen, it's the one responsible for creating this fog.
This flower was created as one of the experiments from the noble vampire.
My old master took a liking to it, used the data, and then enhanced it even further.
I thought it had already died or was lost somewhere, but to think it's still here."
"This blood flower, isn't it a plant?
But Uncle showed it to me before, it's like a creature."
Emily told Vesa in detail what she had seen from Kane's projection.
"Interesting. I don't know the details, but this flower does have a unique trait.
It can absorb life force from a creature and then take on its traits.
In the example you saw, it's probably acting like some kind of parasite.
As of now, this flower seems to have grown even further, eating away at cultivators' souls."
Luca then remembered how Kane had told her that after his old enemy died, he started losing control of the artifact.
"Can you bring us to where the flower is?"
"I can, Mother Queen, but what do you plan to do with it?
It will be very dangerous."
"Don't you already have control over it?"
Luca remembered how Vesa could easily control the crimson fog as if it were her own.
"That is only because of my mastery of blood and life force energy.
This fog is created by a mix of both; hence, I can easily manipulate it."
"So you mean anyone with the skill will be able to do it."
Luca wanted to see it just out of curiosity; hearing it now, she felt it was better to just leave it to Vesa.
"In that case, Vesa, can you send me and the others out of this place first?"