The eagle-headed creature, it must be said, had seized an excellent opportunity. The moment Sarugaki made his move, it struck from behind, preempting him and nullifying his spatial abilities. Furthermore, it positioned Sarugaki in front of itself, ensuring that any attacks from other mutated beasts and zombies would hit Sarugaki first.
However, Sarugaki's attack was already in motion, colliding with the assaults of the mutated beasts reaching for the World Imprint below. It wasn't that he hadn't sensed the eagle-headed creature behind him; his movements were simply too swift and ferocious to halt.
*Boom!*
A fierce explosion erupted, and a powerful wave of energy instantly burst forth, making the very space around them seem to vibrate! An energy more terrifying than a nuclear detonation swept outwards, rolling back towards Sarugaki.
"Hahaha, monkey, thank you for taking this blade for this divine son!" the eagle-headed creature boomed with laughter, its massive wings poised to snatch the World Imprint.
"You damn your ancestor!" Sarugaki roared, his silver fur bristling, his eyes turning blood red. To be used as a human shield? As a divine son, he had never experienced such humiliation!
But seeing the terrifying energy fluctuations about to engulf him, Sarugaki immediately unleashed his spatial ability, vanishing into the void. His vanishing was one thing, but he inadvertently dragged the eagle-headed creature holding him into the void as well!
Eagle-headed creature: ???
"Hahaha, you dared to use this divine son as a shield? Now look, no one gets anything!" Sarugaki roared with laughter.
"I'll eat your monkey brains!" The eagle-headed creature, enraged, trembled with fury. This damn monkey deserved to be flayed a thousand times over.
...
Meanwhile, outside, affected by the powerful energy storm, the World Imprint was flung into the air. Just then, a claw shot out and snatched it.
"Holy crap, how are there so many spatial mutated beasts?" Yuan Ye's eyes widened in disbelief. When did spatial abilities become so common?
"Kill!" A group of half-beasts shouted. Since the World Imprint wouldn't disappear, they just needed to stick close, and it would reappear eventually.
But what happened next made all the mutated beasts and zombies stare in astonishment: the World Imprint's glow vanished upon entering the void? The entire void seemed utterly ordinary!
"This... how is this possible?" many mutated beasts exclaimed. How could the World Imprint's celestial phenomenon disappear? Yuan Ye was also bewildered. Where did it go? How could one make such a phenomenon disappear, something that even the void couldn't conceal?
All the mutated beasts and half-beasts were utterly confused, standing still for a long time without seeing the phenomenon reappear.
Within the void, Wang Luo breathed a sigh of relief. The Eternal Space could indeed conceal the World Imprint's phenomenon! He had harbored some doubts before, worried that this method wouldn't work and the phenomenon would pierce through the Eternal Space. Of course, if this path truly failed, he would have had no choice but to confront them head-on!
As for that claw, it was merely to confuse the other mutated beasts and zombies. More than that, he was wearing a blood-stained half-beast uniform to evade pursuers, as those guys were also troublesome.
"Heh heh, being the 'sixth man' feels pretty good!"
*Roar!*
Outside, a zombie roared at a group of trackers. Their massive, fleshy noses began sniffing the air, and within moments, they located Wang Luo's hiding spot.
*Whoosh!*
Instantly, dozens of giant axes tore through the air, breaking space and slicing towards Wang Luo's location. Simultaneously, the mutated beasts converged on the area where the trackers were attacking; the zombies' coordinated assault meant they had clearly pinpointed the enemy's position.
"Such annoying pests!" Wang Luo snorted coldly. A divine ring of spatial laws appeared behind him, and he instantly vanished from his spot, reappearing tens of thousands of meters away in the void. He then retracted the half-beast uniform into the Eternal Space, completely obscuring his aura, and after several more void traversals, he arrived behind Yuan Ye, who was still searching for the World Imprint.
With Wang Luo throwing the half-beast uniform into the Eternal Space, the trackers completely lost his trail.
"How did the World Imprint's phenomenon disappear?" Wang Luo asked proactively, now standing behind Yuan Ye.
Yuan Ye jumped, startled. Seeing it was Wang Luo, he said, "I don't know what happened, but the World Imprint's phenomenon was somehow concealed!"
"Concealed? What could possibly conceal the World Imprint's phenomenon? I clearly saw you moving in the void earlier!" Yuan Ye's face flushed, feeling incredibly foolish. It was like he had been running around naked!
"I don't know! Who knows what method they used!"
"Could it be that your underground deities bestowed some hidden techniques upon their offspring, or perhaps those so-called Seven Emperors and Twelve Kings have some secret methods?" Wang Luo asked deliberately.
"While that's the most likely explanation, I still find it unlikely!"
"Why?"
"If it were some divine method, there's more than one divine offspring here, so why do the others seem oblivious? As for the Seven Emperors and Twelve Kings? The divine children of those races are also present, and they don't appear to be in the know either!"
"However, the underground world is vast, and it's not impossible for some miraculous methods to exist!"
"So, what do we do?"
"We'll wait and see. If there's still no sign of the phenomenon, we'll have to leave!"
At this moment, all the zombies and mutated beasts were waiting in place, while some were searching the surroundings, hoping for a discovery. But in the end, they were disappointed. Everything seemed to have returned to peace, with nothing further happening, leaving only the ongoing battles between zombies and mutated beasts.
Before long, Sarugaki reappeared, holding half of the eagle-headed creature's wing. However, the creature had still managed to escape back to the underground world.
"Don't let me see you again, or I'll kill you every time I do!" He was truly infuriated today. Twice, he had been so close to success, only to fail in the end!
"Where is the World Imprint?" Sarugaki asked, bewildered. How could it have vanished after his fierce battle?
"What? It was taken by a spatial mutated beast, and it also masked the phenomenon?" Upon learning the truth, Sarugaki was stunned. How could such a thing happen?
"Damn it..." Sarugaki cursed again and directly swallowed the wing in his hand to vent his frustration!
After a long while, the mutated beasts began to disperse. Without the World Imprint, there was no point in them remaining here! Killing zombies wasn't their objective. Yuan Ye also sighed and left. He had anticipated a major battle, but he hadn't foreseen such an outcome, nor that it would end so quickly!