Hearing Ryan's confidence, Xuefeng raised his eyebrows. With seventy opponents, Ryan had to kill more than one person per second and it was quite a feat. If one didn't have an area of damage abilities or at least multiple target ones.
Xuefeng could obviously kill all Cultivators in a second if he used his Elemental Bracelet but without his Godly Artefact, even he would struggle. He would have to exhaust his Ether Qi while teleporting from one enemy to another and kill them all with just one strike.
"Everyone! Group up! We can only survive if we work together!"
The Cultivators didn't hesitate to connect their forces while Ryan simply watched from afar.
"You are running out of time," Nuwa pointed out, causing Ryan to laugh.
"Haha, don't worry Miss," Ryan assured politely. "I just realized a minute is too much so I'm going to wait a moment."
'Even I would need at least a minute if I didn't use my Blood Arts…' Wuying pointed out as she squinted her eyes with interest. 'How strong is he?'
'I only saw him fight once and he didn't even fight seriously,' Xinyu reported. 'From what I heard, he defeated all top ten rankers on Dragon Steps but no one has seen those battles. They just admitted they lost to him in public so he automatically climbed the ranking.'
While Ryan was casually stretching, his opponents were gearing up, some creating Fate Qi weapons for themselves while others preparing to launch their offensive abilities. All of them were Fate Holders, adding some difficulty to the challenge.
Too bad, the individual strength didn't matter as long as their positioning sucked balls.
Seeing how they all stuck together, Xuefeng wanted to roll his eyes. Wouldn't that make it so much easier for Ryan to kill them? It wouldn't be a challenge if Ryan could just kill them all with a few strikes.
Tianshi only confirmed his thoughts.
'This is over. I can see them all die within seconds.'
Xuefeng could already see the future before she even said anything and he didn't like it. Thankfully, Nuwa already found a quick solution.
"If he doesn't kill you in the next forty seconds, you are all free to go," Nuwa called out before giving Ryan a side glance. "Still confident?"
That message caused the Cultivators to change their tactics entirely.
"Spread out!"
They all ran in different directions while Ryan's smile twitched. He didn't seem to expect a sudden change of plans but that didn't stop him.
"Of course! That's just a minor inconvenience," Ryan replied as he finally launched his offense. "Now I have to go all out."
He chased after the nearest Cultivator while undergoing transformation. They thought he would be turning into a beast but something unique happened. A second horn grew from his head while his scales expanded and covered all of his body.
'Half-beast!' Drakos exclaimed in surprise. 'He can enter the third form!'
Everyone got interested but Ryan didn't give them a chance to question as he suddenly struck. A thin three-meter-long sword appeared in his hand and he cut the first cultivator in half before he could react.
Swoosh!
Multiple Qi bullets launched in his direction but Ryan didn't even move to dodge it. He took it all on his face as he pushed through.
Bang!
Flames and smoke covered Ryan after the explosion but he got out right after, cutting at another Cultivator. He was completely unharmed as if the Qi Bullets were too weak to break through his defenses.
'He seems strong but at this speed, I don't think he can kill them all,' Wuying pointed out. Although Ryan was fast and already killed three opponents in quick succession, there were sixty-seven left, all running away from him.
'You are wrong.' Drakos was the first to disagree as he stared at Ryan in admiration. 'You will soon see the true power of the Half-beast Form.'
Just as Drakos spoke, Ryan stopped chasing after his third victim and put his sword away. He gazed at his targets and closed his eyes while only having less than thirty seconds to spare.
'What is he doing?' Xuefeng wondered only to witness multiple spikes growing from Ryan's shoulders and back.
He hunched up before the spikes shot out in all directions. They completely missed all the targets and instead pierced into the cavern walls. Everyone was confused until Drakos gave them a clue.
'He is using his Beast Ability!' Drakos called out as he flew down towards the ground. 'We better get on the ground else we will be trapped with them.'
Tianshi acted just as fast as Drakos, pulling Xuefeng and Yiren down with her. The rest followed closely behind while watching the show. Xuefeng was already annoyed at how Drakos was still yet to explain what was going on.
"It is time to end it!" Ryan called out while straightening his back and pulled out his sword once again. "There is nowhere you can run now!"
Snap!
He clicked with his fingers and the spikes in the walls buzzed. Thin lines of Qi burst out from the spikes and connected together, creating a cube-like net that caught all the Cultivators inside. The net filled with more Qi and transformed into a thick barrier that grew smaller and smaller.
The Cultivators immediately launched attacks to break through but they couldn't even create a crack.
"Oh!" Xuefeng exclaimed out loud, quite impressed with the method. 'Is that his beast ability?'
'Yes! Being in the Half-beast Form, he can use both his Beast and Human abilities simultaneously. One can only do that if they have two Bloodlines which is extremely hard for any Beast,' Drakos explained excitedly. 'Even if one of his parents was a human, they would still only inherit the beast's bloodline because it's more dominant. This guy found a way to possess both Human and Beast Bloodline before mixing it. You don't realize how insane that is.'
As he spoke, Ryan was going rampage. The trap was tightening, giving the Cultivators no place to escape. No matter what was thrown at him, they couldn't harm him in any way. Multiple Beast Materializations attacked him but Ryan cut them all with ease, killing their owners right after.
'Damn, I need to harass him to reveal how he did it,' Drakos commented as he stared in awe. 'I was thinking of achieving an imitation of the Half-beast Form when I finally complete my body but he is the real deal.'
'Wouldn't his abilities be stronger if he was in his Beast Form?' Xuefeng questioned curiously, thinking Drakos' reaction too explosive. Katherine didn't seem as excited as Drakos was.
'Maybe a little, but if he entered his Beast Form, he wouldn't be able to kill them all with his sword. Doesn't matter if you are in a Beast or a Human Form, both have advantages and disadvantages. The Half-beast Form takes advantage from both sides and creates an ultimate predator,' Drakos replied while jumping uncontrollably.
"I'm done! What's my time?"
A moment later, the barrier broke and Ryan flew down together with countless bloodied corpses that painted the ground red. They all noticed that Ryan lost both of his horns as well as his scales, turning completely into a human.
"My friend! That was awesome!" Drakos called out full of smiles as he patted Ryan on the shoulder. "Welcome to the team!"
He behaved as if the two were best buddies, causing Xuefeng to snicker.
"You took more than a minute but since they are all dead, it doesn't matter anymore," Nuwa pointed out, causing Ryan to sigh.
"If they didn't scatter everywhere, I would end it much sooner. Technically I still killed them under one minute since I started late," Ryan defended himself before looking at Xuefeng. "Did I pass the test?"
Even though Drakos accepted him, it was obvious who was the boss of this team.
"Sure," Xuefeng nodded casually. "For now I'm convinced that you won't slow us down but I got a question. How come you are in your Human Form now?"
The whole idea of a Half-beast was quite interesting, to say the least. Right now Xuefeng only had the Elvish Bloodline since his Human Bloodline was dominated completely. Even if he wanted to recover it, there was no way he could become a human once again.
"Oh, I have to balance my Bloodlines. Whenever I use my Half-beast Form, I lose most of my Human Bloodline. If I use it for a moment it will return back to normal," Ryan explained simply.
"I see, just as I thought," Xuefeng nodded. "If I wanted to create a Half-beast Form, what do I have to do?"
Drakos' eyes brightened when he heard the question and listened intensely.
"Just so you know, I only have a Royal Elf Bloodline right now," Xuefeng added. Since he overused the Elvish Bloodline, his Human Bloodline was gone.
"It's easy. All you need to do is collect two Bloodlines, one Beast while the other Humanoid, that can coexist with each other and then activate both at the same time. For you, it will be hard since Royal Elf Bloodline is quite dominant. Unless you find an equally dominant Beast Bloodline, it will be hard to mix them."
Xuefeng already expected such an answer. His only choice is to find another Beast Bloodline that would suit him. The image of a Dragon appeared in his mind. Having a Dragon Bloodline would be perfect for him.
"Unfortunately, I can't help you find a Beast Bloodline but I tell you how to extract a Human Bloodline for yourself," Ryan mentioned as he glanced at the Beasts in their group. "All you need to do is—"
Bang!
A sudden explosion cut him off. Ice shards flew out in all directions as someone broke through one of the exits. When Xuefeng saw the face of that person, his eyes widened in shock.