Chapter 100: Total Annihilation and a Shocking Sight

Following its evolution, Firefly could now exert its charm ability without the need for eye contact. This allowed it to instantly plunge the crimson-red giant bird into a brief state of loss of control, leaving it to be easily torn apart by the evolved Anoss Eagle.

The Anoss Eagle was a rare totem beast with superior talent. After evolving, it possessed formidable strength far exceeding that of ordinary totems; its speed had doubled, and it could now launch its feathers like concealed weapons.

Meanwhile, Moonchild lunged at the strange, fish-like monster, while the Anoss Eagle dived down, the two joining forces to surround the creature.

As for the monster that had burrowed out from underground, it was blocked by a bizarre tortoise that had manifested before Charles. This was the evolved form of the Mani Tortoise, now known as the Iron-Tail Tortoise. Following its evolution, its body radius exceeded three meters, transforming it into a massive behemoth. While the rest of its body remained largely unchanged, the most striking feature was its tail, which had grown several times in size. It was covered in a layer of black armor, resembling a thick iron whip, and was further adorned with a layer of gruesome barbs.

Suddenly, the tortoise began to spin at high speed like a top, rushing toward its opponent with a whistling sound.

The totem beast did not dodge or retreat; instead, it lowered its head, relying on its heavy armor to charge forward like a furious bull.

Boom!

The two collided with a dull thud. Their strength was evenly matched, but the Iron-Tail Tortoise’s thick tail lashed out, striking its opponent’s back and leaving a deep depression. When it retracted the tail, the barbs hooked into the scales, tearing away a large patch of seemingly indestructible black armor to reveal the tender pink flesh beneath.

Then, under the influence of Firefly’s charm ability, its opponent stood dazed for less than a second, giving the tortoise the opening to bite down on the creature’s throat.

Though the throat was also covered in thick scales, the tortoise’s long fangs pierced through. Its massive iron tail lashed out incessantly, ripping the opponent’s scales off piece by piece. Blood flowed like a torrential stream, and within moments, the creature fell into a state of weakness, its life slowly drained away.

In the battle on the other side, the strange, fish-like creature was no match for the combined onslaught of Moonchild and the giant eagle. Even though the two masked men in black summoned two wolf-like totems, they were killed by Moonchild in the blink of an eye.

These totems of Charles were not newly evolved novices; he had invested a massive amount of evolution points into them, attempting to push them toward ultimate evolution. Even though he had not fully succeeded, they had grown significantly stronger, nearing the level of ultimate-form totems.

"My apologies, but you all seem a bit weak. Now, can you tell me who sent you?" Charles shrugged, staring at them with icy eyes.

He had always believed in one philosophy: those who kill must be prepared to be killed. To avoid being killed, one must become strong—strong enough to far exceed the enemy's imagination, thereby easily turning the tables.

The enemy had not anticipated that he possessed two evolution-grade totems, the giant eagle and the Iron-Tail Tortoise, which had led to their misguided belief that they could easily finish him off—a mistake, as it turned out.

Charles needed to know exactly who was targeting him so he could follow the trail to their lair and cripple them. This was his plan; from the very beginning, he had no intention of letting them go, nor the forces behind them!

"Damn it!" The two men in black saw their main totems suffer heavy damage or be killed, which caused their mental state to weaken significantly. Forcibly summoning two black wolves, they abandoned their own totems, which were on the verge of death, and desperately tried to flee into the forest.

Under Charles’s remote command, the giant eagle and Moonchild temporarily abandoned their opponents and swooped down upon them. The giant eagle let out a long cry, and its feathers shot out like lightning, turning one of the men into a pincushion and killing him instantly.

The other man was blocked by Moonchild, who struck him with a single blow. He went flying, snapping several bowl-thick trees along the way before finally coming to a stop against a giant boulder.

However, the protective light surrounding him had not yet shattered. The strange fish-like totem hurried over to save him, but was intercepted mid-air by the giant eagle. The eagle’s sturdy claws sank deep into the creature's back, and with a flap of its wings, it dragged the beast high into the sky, only to drop it from several hundred meters up. Upon hitting the ground, the totem burst like a ripe watermelon, disappearing as it died completely.

Stripped of the triple protection provided by its master's totem and reeling from the mental trauma of its master’s death, the man was easily captured by Moonchild, unable to escape any longer.

On the other side, the gray-robed man who had appeared behind Charles also tried to escape, held in the arms of a massive black ape as it leaped through the trees. Just as they were about to get away, a white shadow shot out from behind him, crossing over a hundred meters in a flash to block his path.

A blade of light emitting a soft white glow suddenly appeared, viciously slicing across the giant black ape’s right arm, severing it at the root as if cutting through tofu!

Awoo!

The giant ape let out a heaven-shaking scream. Having used its right arm to grab a branch in preparation for a leap, it tumbled to the ground. Another crescent-shaped light blade appeared, severing its remaining left arm, and a third blade easily decapitated it, killing it and causing it to shatter into fragments and vanish.

Then, Firefly landed in front of the man. Purple light swirled within its eyes, and the man was instantly enchanted.

Snap!

After a long struggle, the Iron-Tail Tortoise finally overcame its opponent’s resistance, biting through its throat. The creature’s head hung limply, and its body shattered and disappeared in an instant.

Totems are semi-ethereal creatures; they do not leave behind corpses upon death, but instead return to a somewhat illusory state within their master’s sea of consciousness. Once sufficient resources are provided, they can be resurrected. This was the advantage of totem creatures; ordinary injuries can be quickly repaired to restore combat effectiveness.

Charles walked toward where Firefly was, scooped it into his arms, and petted its little head as a reward. Then, he looked at the man in front of him and said softly, "Tell me, who sent you?"

The man, his eyes vacant, replied obediently, "I am from the Clemence family. Tony, whom you killed earlier, was the son of the family head..."

So that was it!

Charles had heard of this family name—a prominent, well-known clan in Morent with a Level 3 Spirit Master at the helm, functioning as an affiliate force of the Academy.

Three days ago, Charles had received a mission to hunt down a fugitive. In reality, the man hadn't fled at all; he was living as decadently as ever, as if nothing had happened, and Charles had easily killed him in a tavern. Later, Charles discovered that this was a trap set by other law enforcers who were unwilling to offend the Clemence family to capture the man.

As it turned out, the man was "accidentally" killed by Charles. The family head had come directly to the law enforcement team demanding an explanation, but Bean and the others had forcefully rebuffed him, indifferent to his threats. After all, the law enforcement team had the backing of a Calamity-level divine beast, along with five Level 3 Spirit Masters; why would they fear the threats of a mere Level 3 Spirit Master?

Since a frontal confrontation failed, it was only expected that the family would resort to assassination.

The two men were naturally killed by him. Charles watched his evolution points soar by 40 and felt quite pleased. He only hoped for more of these "evolution-point-delivering" enemies.

As he returned, Charles inadvertently noticed fragments of clothing in a nearby clearing. Curious, he stepped closer, and when he saw the face of the corpse lying on the ground, he froze in place.

The corpse was none other than Leslie!