Seconds before Irana screamed, Athven sent a warning message to Darian. But he just nodded cheerfully, not ordering any interference.

Moments later, the ground beneath the army cracked open like it had exploded. The moment Irana shouted, everyone focused their attacks in the same direction.

*BOOM!*

The ground shook, and then they all saw something serpentine, glowing with a metallic shine, twisting through the soil and escaping.

At that exact moment, they felt the enemy moving underground... and then simply vanishing. But the sense that it would launch another sudden strike was overwhelming.

Everyone broke into a cold sweat. That enemy was like a fish in the sea, moving around without causing much disturbance. It didn't have a fully solid body and could go ethereal, avoiding detection until it was right about to strike.

Immediately, all the Spiritual Guardians stopped attacking the beasts ahead.

It didn't take long for Barod to instinctively realize where the next strike would come from.

"BEHIND US!" he roared, and the wolves in that direction roared too and rushed forward.

The ground split open again. But this time... the enemy emerged and then spat out a red mist reeking of blood. It spread fast through the middle of the army.

"Poison!" they shouted in warning. Everyone instantly held their breath and stepped back, pulling pills from their spatial rings.

Still, part of the black mist managed to reach them. The moment it touched their skin, it felt like being burned by molten iron. But it didn't stay on the surface — it actually seeped right into their souls.

"Hahaha, now they're doomed!" the Risen dwarf laughed from afar.

Clekul was focused on controlling her earth elemental. That was the summon of her blessing, and she was considered the most powerful user of that blessing to ever exist. That's because she created something mutant and abnormal.

Her elemental was a terrifying earth serpent. Since it wasn't fully physical, it could blend into the ground and launch sudden attacks right in the middle of enemies. It could also fight head-on, fully channeling the power of the earth, becoming an unstoppable tank. Or... it could use a soul poison to kill the trickiest enemies.

There were no real weaknesses. If Clekul wasn't reached directly, that serpent alone could destroy armies. But if someone did reach her... they'd find out she was anything but easy to kill.

"Move out, we need to win before they pull something weird."

The Risen dwarf gave the order to the Spiritual Guardians and their Summoners. They nodded, activated their blessings, and silently approached the battlefield.

With the enemy army being sneak-attacked by the earth serpent, these people could move through the beasts quietly and get very close. Their power was way higher than the beasts', so they could cause real chaos.

At the very least, they wanted to steal the sprouts' weapons. The sprouts were too innocent, holding the weapons awkwardly; killing them might be hard, but disarming them wasn't impossible.

"Everyone, fall back!"

Darian shouted the order, but he clearly wasn't panicking. Even with the poison, it wasn't a real problem. That's because everyone already had pills prepared for that kind of situation...

...yeah, Darian had asked Veyle to create antidotes for poisons that affected the soul — exactly like the serpent's.

Knowledge was everything. And unfortunately for Clekul, she was too famous. Irana knew the main powers across the universe well, and that meant she knew all the details of Clekul's mutant blessing.

Weaker and mid-level Spiritual Guardians usually hid their blessings as much as possible, exactly to avoid this kind of situation. But someone as high-profile as Clekul, coming from a massive planet, made a point of showing off without holding back.

As soon as the poison hit them, everyone grabbed and swallowed the pills, purging the stuff from their bodies and souls.

Even though their lives weren't in danger, there was still a moment between being poisoned and being cleansed. That gap seriously weakened their combat ability, and they could be killed by a physical strike from the serpent.

Knowing that, Clekul made the serpent release its poison at full power, covering a huge area in seconds and swallowing up the people who were running. After pouring it all out in just three seconds, the serpent would attack and kill a bunch of them in one go.

Right then, Darian turned to Udynes and Athven.

Udynes nodded and pushed their blessing to the max again, calling forth a raging storm. Athven, meanwhile, was wrapped in the power of wood, and all the soil on the battlefield pulsed with their roots.

Athven could've used it all to block the serpent — but didn't. Because Darian wanted the enemy to strike.

The Risen dwarf was smiling brightly when... his expression changed like he'd seen a ghost.

"NO WAY!" Clekul's eyes widened as she roared, stunned.

The fierce winds swept up the poisonous mist and hurled it straight at the Spiritual Guardians and the beasts on the battlefield.

That poison couldn't just be pushed around with wind. It was a super strong spiritual toxin, and Clekul had a certain level of control over it. But... the World Tree carried a lot of pure wood energy, thanks to Darian's white power.

Its roots in the ground released natural energy that purified part of the poison, weakening it a bit—but also breaking Clekul's control over it. Then came Udynes' blessing, the one who ruled over wind and space, to finish the dirty work.

*Wooosh!*

A powerful gust wrapped around the scarlet mist, turning it into a twisted cyclone that shot toward the far-off enemies.

"AHH!"

Summoners, beasts, and Spiritual Guardians screamed in panic. The winds were fast and hit them instantly, leaving no time to react.

Soul poison was known for immediately invading the body, painfully dissolving the victim's soul. The weak ones died on the spot... but the stronger they were, the worse their death would be.

The worst part? Once that poison touched you, getting rid of it was almost impossible. With insanely expensive items, it was possible to slow it down and stop it from eating everything too fast—but removing it? Never. Plus, no one could live long with constant pain in their soul.

The beasts had it "better": they agonized for about three seconds, then dropped dead in silence. But the Summoners and Guardians fell to the ground, screaming like monsters.

After one minute, the poison vanished. But that only happened because everything had been consumed—or disappeared into someone's body...

Countless beasts died all at once, along with the others who'd been ordered to sneak-attack. Now the sprouts just stood still, facing forward, with no enemies left to fight.

"You bastards, you'll pay for this!" Clekul roared, completely losing it.

Among the people that the Risen dwarf had ordered to attack were many from her own planet. Now, none of them were Spiritual Guardians anymore—and when she returned to her universe, she—their leader—would have her name dragged through the mud.

"You idiot, if you've got the guts, come at me. What's the point of screamin' like a bitch?" Niara yelled mockingly.

The battlefield, which had been total chaos just moments ago, was now empty.

Everyone who had "retreated" was back in place with smug looks on their faces. Almost half of all the beasts had been wiped out—with some helpful support from the enemy side.

"Trying to run? Barod, now!" Darian suddenly shouted.

Barod and the two Zroots roared in sync. They placed their hands on the ground, and metallic lines shot out in every direction like a net, digging deep into the earth.

Clekul narrowed her eyes. Everything was happening too fast, and her earth serpent didn't even have time to move. A cage formed by the Zroots' metal control blessing completely trapped it.

"Die!"

The ground trembled a little, light shining through the cracks. Then the earth serpent was completely obliterated.

That happened because the serpent was in its ethereal form, moving underground without being detected. In that state, it didn't have strong defenses—but at the same time, it was basically invisible to enemies...

All the enemies got it now. Darian's shout to Barod was because he knew exactly where the serpent was, and Barod just had to attack straight below, with help from his two allies.

At that moment, the Risen dwarf swallowed hard, stunned.

Thanks to the unbelievable power of the World Tree, Darian had known the serpent's location the whole time, tracking its every move. He had set all this up from the very beginning, just to use the poison against them.

That Risen Chief, way above average and hundreds of years old, for the first time in his life felt like a fool. He was being played—hard. And the worst part? He knew it... and had no idea how to stop it.

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