Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

It made no difference to him whether he wounded one or the other. Whoever fell would give his group a chance to survive.

Feeling the deadly cold of her opponent's gaze, Jane felt a chill as she looked to the side and saw that her enemy was so close to her.

Like most Spirit Masters, she had no experience in physical combat. Not only that, but given her tiny body and young age, she had no experience and no strength.

Jane's face drained of color, a cold sensation creeping over her as fear gripped her body. Her eyes remained fixed on the enemy's every move, a sense of paralysis rendering her unable to react.

The pounding of her heart matched the rhythm of panic coursing through her veins. As a dark cloud cast its shadow over the surroundings, the atmosphere grew even more ominous, intensifying her apprehension.

'What am I going to do?' she asked herself in the few moments she had before the outcome.

The right thing to do would be to call her two Spirits back to her. But that wouldn't work to stop this attack. Besides, her two Spirits were busy fighting three opponents.

Jane saw the blade strike 17 centimeters away from her when a deafening metallic sound came close to one of her ears. She looked back to see Mary holding a sword of her own, countering their opponent's attack.

"Huh?" The force that countered his movement surprised the man. Meanwhile, he felt an uneasiness in his fists that was hard to ignore.

Mary noted the actual situation, and a sly smile formed on her lips. With a step forward, she drove the enemy's blade down until she had her weapon against his neck.

"Shit!" the man screamed, but in the next instant, a deep gash appeared at the base of his neck, and arterial blood pulsed from it like a fountain spewing water.

He paled as he dropped his weapon, his eyes shaking with horror. Despite everything, he felt no pain. All he felt was an intense fear of the fate at his doorstep.

Right in front of him, death looked into his eyes and extended one of its hands, inviting him for a walk in the underworld.

He didn't want to accept; he was too attached to life.

But when death invites you, the only choice you have is to follow it!

Darkness covered the man's surroundings as, with no strength left in his body, he fell face first to the ground.

Swooish!

As two more Spirits exploded, a dagger came violently close to the beautiful blonde woman's back.

Mary quickly glanced over her shoulder, her heart pounding in her chest. The enemy's assault was imminent, leaving her with little time to evade. With a swift motion, she pivoted her body. As the enemy's attack loomed, she instinctively raised her arms, bracing herself defensively.

"Die, you blonde bitch!" the fourth of those men shouted, a 25-centimeter black dagger in his dominant hand.

To their astonishment, Mary, Jane, and he watched in awe as his blade glided through the air, closing in on her arms. The metallic sound of the blade slicing through the atmosphere filled the room, but when it touched, the blade abruptly change its trajectory, as if repelled by an invisible force.

The impact reverberated with a solid thud, a testament to the impenetrable defense that shielded Mary from harm. A wave of relief washed over them, sparing Mary from the worst likely outcome.

Mary's eyes opened as wide as her tormentor's, as experience taught her about her new defenses.

'Am I that tough now?' she asked herself, not overestimating herself, as this opponent wasn't exactly a benchmark for attacking power, but not underestimating herself, either.

The enemy's gaze grew increasingly repulsive, his eyes narrowing with anger. He had staked everything on this assault, positioning himself between Jane and Mary, ready to confront the more formidable of the two. As his plan crumbled, a sour taste tainted his mouth, fueling an urgent need to act.

Just then, Jane snapped out of her shocked and panicked state, rotating towards her adversary, his back exposed. Her eyes underwent a chilling transformation, shedding their youthful innocence with a chilling intensity, brimming with a murderous resolve.

Roots grabbed the man's wrists and heels, while a blade headed for the upper left side of his back.

"Die!" she shouted, fury in her eyes.

Just as everything was about to be decided for the fourth man in the enemy group, he let out a short "aaagh" of pain as one of his Spirits had just been destroyed by the Terraquatzal's bite.

He was weakened even more for Jane's attack, faltering against her at the worst possible moment.

"Aaaaagh!" he screamed again, this time feeling a pang in his heart as a blade pierced his back, slicing through his heart muscle with its tip.

Mary jumped back twice as soon as the enemy's attack grazed her arm and turned to face her last opponent, sure that Jane had struck a fatal blow.

Liam's woman spotted the fifth and final enemy in the area, who was already running in their opposite direction. She immediately frowned.

"Trying to run away after attacking us?" She clenched her fists and moved behind the man, bringing the Terraquatzal close to her while her demon finished helping Mary's Spirits destroy the remaining enemies.

The remaining man, unharmed and far from Jane, ran in desperation, his eyes red while his mouth was dry, as pale as his face.

He moved clumsily, stumbling over stones and branches on the ground, running for his life.

He was a confident man most of the time, but after seeing three of his companions die and one mortally wounded, he couldn't maintain a confident facade. He feared for his life and was certain that his enemies would show him no mercy. His only chance of survival was to flee!

'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!' he cursed his group's decision to deal with Mary, but also some of his own selfish thoughts from earlier.

The sharp, metallic sound of blades cutting through the air echoed towards him. With quick reflexes, he shifted his gaze, scanning both behind and to the side. He glided, tracing a zigzag pattern, aiming to disrupt his opponent's aim. He hurled weapons in her direction, adding to the chaos of the moment.

"Aaaagh!"

But as his Spirits were destroyed along with the rest remaining in the area, he stumbled, tripped over a stone, and fell hard to the ground.

Mary and Jane's remaining enemy stumbled and collided with a jagged stone, causing a sickening crack to reverberate through the air.

The enemy's motion ceased abruptly, leaving an eerie silence in its wake. Mary's gaze narrowed, uncertainty clouding her senses as she pondered whether the rock had shattered or if her adversary's skull had fractured. A surge of caution coursed through her veins, prompting her to decelerate cautiously while her newest Spirit companion took the lead.

Just then, Jane's voice sounded as one of her Spirits appeared beside Mary. "So? Is he dead?"

Mary ignored the girl standing next to a green demon and a human corpse and looked at the body in front of her. "No, but he's going to die. It looks like the fall caused him some brain damage... Anyway, we won."

With those words, she let her Spirit finish destroying the enemy's skull, crushing it with the large, sharp teeth of the Terraquatzal.

Jane sighed in relief as she sat down on a small log, her little heart beating hard in her chest.

"Next time you attack by surprise, give a signal first, Sister Mary. That would help a lot!"

Mary smiled bitterly. Unfortunately, she hadn't had time to arrange something like that with Jane. "I'm sorry. It all happened so fast... I wasn't expecting this attack."

"It's a good thing you hid your strength, Sister Mary. Otherwise, I'm afraid we would have died today." Jane looked into Mary's clear eyes, appreciating the improvement that came from adding a new Spirit at just the right time.

"Don't worry, I'll keep your secret... But does this have anything to do with Liam Porter?" she asked as she stood up, her two Spirits already back in her body.

"Yes, Liam and I are close—if you know what I mean. I would never betray him, so I can only stand against his enemies." Mary approached Jane after collecting the Arcane Crystal from the last enemy to die.

Jane did the same, collecting the crystals from two of the men she had killed, leaving the other two for Mary.

There were unwritten rules in the cultivation world. One of them was that when a cultivator went hunting, they always had the right to those they killed. No matter how the battle turned out, the belongings of those who were killed for their abilities were always theirs.

"So that's it..." Small as she was, Jane was not ignorant of the relationships between men and women.

"What now?" she asked. "Those men were members of the Emerald Owls, Sister Mary. We also killed five disciples."

"That's not true. We're in the middle of the forest. Who's to say we encountered them?" Mary smiled at her small companion. "Let's keep this incident between us. I'll discuss it with Liam and we'll figure out a plan. But for now, let's continue with our original intentions."

When she had finished collecting the Arcane Crystals and space storage items from the enemies, Mary suggested, "Let's leave this place. You're here to hunt Arcane Crystals for the sect, so let's complete your mission."

"Okay!"

They set off, leaving the bodies behind for the beasts to devour, with Jane again taking the lead, using her skills to find the best paths.

The two had already drunk recovery potions, so in the next few minutes they would return to peak condition and be able to hunt without worry.