Ryu took a deep breath as Esme landed by his side.
As expected, the Unique Grade daggers his wife had given him as a birthday present on that faithful night were indeed the bane of these Mountain Barbarians.
The ability to directly attack with Spiritual Qi was already a shocking one and was enough to make this pair of daggers a treasure rarely seen in the world. However, it was especially useful in a battle where the Mental Realm was a severe weakness of the opponents.
At the moment, Esme had a strong mental capacity due to Hecate's refinement method allowing her to maintain some of her awareness even after death. But, compared to a living, breathing human, Esme's Mental Realm couldn't possibly match up to them. The only reason she was even close was due to the fact she was a Mental Realm Master before her death.
However, against the Mountain Barbarians, this weakness hardly mattered since their minds hadn't seen any improvement since their birth. With a medium like the daggers in combination with Ryu tying the down, it would practically be like slaughtering a group of chickens.
Even Ryu couldn't cut all the way through the bodies of these barbarians. If it wasn't for Esme, he would likely still be in battle. But now…
Ryu made a mental note to also adjust some of his formulas to find a way to strengthen the Spiritual Qi Esme could store before jetting down the pathway.
He came across several groups, but just as easily, he took them down. The combination of himself and Esme was unstoppable.
…
In another tunnel, the others were struggling much more.
Annette was able to paralyze the movements of the barbarians. As monstrous as they were, they weren't able to use qi and also had enough organic body parts remaining for it to work. However, the step of actually killing them were too difficult.
Often times, the group ended up simply crippling them as best they could and rushing past. As Giveon had said, speed was of the utmost importance.
The twin Tree Folk brothers ran their hands along the cave walls, strong surges of natural qi flowing out from them.
Strong vines blooming with flowers began to grow along their forward root, wrapping around the Mountain Barbarians as they barged past.
What the twins didn't notice, though, was that as they rushed past, the sprouts began to accumulate on their vines one after another.
…
'So what do you want to do about the seal?'
Compared to the struggling Team, Ryu was having a leisurely enough time that Ailsa actually thought that this was the best time to ask such an important question. Ryu, though, couldn't help but chuckle.
"If you didn't spend the last few weeks avoiding me, we could have talked about this a long time ago."
'Who was avoiding you?! This Big Sis here just was just afraid of her perverted Life Partner taking away all of her innocence. A woman is never safe in such a cruel world.'
Ryu almost choked on air. Wasn't she the one who kissed him? How had it become the other way around all of a sudden?
Ryu had always thought that Elena and Ailsa were quite alike. And truthfully, they were in a lot of ways, especially their confidence when it came to most things. But, it seemed they deviated when it came to matters of the heart.
Elena could talk the talk and walk the walk. Ailsa, however, was just a big talker. If she wasn't swept up in her emotions, who knew if she would have ever taken the initiative to kiss him.
Ailsa pouted. 'That's not fair! The situation back then was different! How do you know she wouldn't have reacted the same way in any other situation?!'
Ailsa thought these words to herself and didn't project them to Ryu. But, unfortunately for her, Ryu had gotten into the habit of peeking into her mind, so these thoughts hadn't escaped him.
Ryu thought for a moment. Ailsa wasn't exactly wrong. That night, knowing how well his wife knew him, Elena would have definitely seen that there was something off about his behavior. Her allowing him to do as he pleased was definitely a possibility given the circumstances.
But eventually, Ryu shook his head. Imagining Elena, the woman who practically forced him to become his fiancée by appearing in his bedroom completely nude, suddenly becoming scared of intimacy…
He shook his head again. Definitely not. He had been with Elena long enough to know that she wasn't bluffing.
"As for the seal, since we know it exists, I don't think it's necessary to ask for outside help. There's nothing special about the Truth Pupils, at least in regard to undoing seals. Just rely on me and we'll figure it out."
'You know,' Ailsa chuckled, 'The reason her Pupils are so much more powerful than yours is because she's definitely already undone more than 9 seals. If I had to guess, she's probably already undone two or three dozen, maybe more if she's still hiding even that.'
Ryu nodded. He had figured as much. As good as the Truth Pupils were at deceit, Ryu wouldn't have been so easily outplayed if it wasn't for the fact Sarriel was further along her Immortal Grade evolution than Ryu was.
"I'm sure you have some ideas, though?" Ryu probed.
'Mm… I do. There are some basic rules all seals follow and Sarriel gave us the clue we need.'
"Extreme Yin?"
'Extreme Yin.'
The two nodded at once, not needing to exchange anymore words. Even if they didn't share a mind, they would understand each other implicitly without a doubt.
Sarriel made it clear that whatever this seal was suppressing, it was a power of great Yin, disproportionately so especially for a Cultus Faerie.
Every Seal followed the same basic laws. If something of Yin attribute was being suppressed, it meant that something of Yang attribute was doing so.
What was the logical conclusion?
Obviously it was to use Extreme Yin to shatter it. And what better place would there be to do that if not the Tri Palace?
'We're here..' Ryu's gaze narrowed.