The Temple Master truly put on a valiant fight, surpassing the world's Grandmasters by a large margin. However, this strength came at the ultimate cost.
After just five minutes, the golden light dissipated, and the Temple Master disappeared from the world. He had not so much as inflicted a serious injury on the Treant, merely stripping away some of its bark, cutting off a large branch, and making some deep gashes.
The Emperor had told him before that the Temple Master had been able to kill three Mythical beasts in his first life, but this time he only killed two. From what Skymender interpreted, this was most likely because he had focused on inflicting injuries on the Treant over killing Mythical beasts.
The golden dragon, which had lost much of its luster, roared and charged at the remaining Mythical beasts from the three it fought.
They fought for just a few seconds, before the dragon killed it.
Then, the Treant attacked.
With its large body, the golden dragon was unable to dodge. Without the Temple Master, it was clearly much weaker.
It took mere moments for the golden dragon to be beaten to death by hundreds of roots.
This, however, had taken the Treants full attention for a moment, causing the Grandmasters to inflict hasty injuries on the Mythical beasts surrounding them, even if it caused them to be injured as well. As a result, two mythical beasts were killed right before the dragon died. This left only two mythical beasts and the Treant.
Skymender furrowed his brow. If there were nine mythical beasts, and two remained, why was there only one on the battlefield?
Skymender looked around. He looked at the Emperor.
The Emperor spoke, as if understanding.
"Among the Mythical beasts, there is one that is second to none. I call it the Reaper, though it has no official name."
He pointed his finger. Skymender followed it.
A small figure on one of the Treants' many branches could be seen. It was surrounded by a black mist, the only visible part being its red glowing eyes and the antlers coming from its head.
"Although the Treant causes the mass destruction of every location on the planet, there are always a handful of survivors. It is during the years afterward, where the Treant stays on the Mainland despite it being destroyed, that the Reaper takes action. It is not strong in one on one combat, but its methods are enough to kill even a Grandmaster. It is like an assassin, striking when you let your guard down. It is by luck that I managed to evade it in my first life. It is also responsible for the skeletons found on the island." The Emperor explained.
Skymender nodded. "Do you think I could kill it?"
The Emperor looked at him. "Are you sure you want to risk it?"
"Go ahead. Don't die." The Emperor said.
Skymender flickered into the distance at an extremely fast speed. He hadn't used his full combat power since rebirth. Even if he wasn't quite a Grandmaster, he was surely above any first rank Master, besides someone like Sword Grandmaster Shang when he was a first rank Sword Master.
He went unnoticed as he ventured up the Treants bark. A lightning strike would occasionally wane towards him, but he would dodge it. Nobody noticed the occasionally stray lightning bolt due to the constant wall of lightning attacking the Grandmasters as they bombarded the last Mythical beast.
This battle had already gone far better than planned. At this rate, all of the Mythical beasts would fall. It naturally had to do with the Emperor.
The Reaper only noticed Skymender when he was within a thousand feet. It turned its head towards him.
Its figure flickered, but Skymender raced to catch it.
In an instant, it turned into a chase.
The creature would turn invisible, but Skymender found that he could see it in two ways. One, through vibrations. Two, he could see traces of it due to the fact that he could see through the false world. It could disappear, but not from him.
Skymender continued to chase it around the branch of the Treant.
Meanwhile, the last Mythical beast, not including the Reaper, was killed.
The five remaining Grandmasters, the Ruler of the Scholar Region, Sword Grandmaster Shang, the Seeker, and two Grandmasters from the mainland, turned towards the Treant.
The Treants' previously sleepy eyes opened completely, staring at them.
The Emperor waved his hand. Smoke flew into the air from many locations, all of it red colored.
This was the signal of retreat for everyone besides the Grandmasters. They would only retreat when all hope was truly lost. Such was their pride.
Skymender saw it and gritted his teeth, forcing his body to move faster.
As he did so, he could feel the branch shaking heavily.
It only took him a few seconds to reach the Reaper. He swung his sword, but it went right through its body.
It turned around. Skymender could see mockery in its eyes as it moved away.
He hadn't brought a bow, but he took out an arrow.
He dipped it into a bottle on his waist, doing it as fast as possible, before launching the arrow with his arm.
It moved fast, passing directly through the Reaper. It once again turned around, the same mocking expression in its eyes.
Suddenly, its eyes widened.
Skymender didn't bother watching any more. He turned and left.
The Reaper would surely fall at the hands of his Deprivation poison.
He made his way towards the beginning of the branch, which connected to the Treants trunk. He took off his backpack. Inside were countless vials of Deprivation poison. It was all he could make with all of the material he could find.
Just making it was a dangerous process, but it was much safer after beginning to see through the false world.
This was because he had learned that the function of the Deprivation poison was connected to the false world.
It deprived what someone valued most, but to do this it interacted with the false world. He did not fully understand how. Perhaps he would understand in the future.