As soon as Wert rushed at Andrea, the armored woman unleashed [Warring Sun Battle Art: Molten Landscape].
With a powerful upward slash, a massive wave of molten material was summoned, reaching up to 150 meters in height. However, Wert, as he had done until now, just tackled the attack head-on, using a fist technique to blast the molten wave apart.
What he hadn't noticed was that the arena was now filled with loads of superheated material, and almost the entire ground was covered in molten metal.
First, Andrea received his attack head-on in a giant collision that made even the dense material ripple like a wave.
Wert expected Andrea to be blasted flying again since this attack had gathered his momentum, but to his confusion, Andrea just took five steps back. Not only that, but she quickly reacted and delivered a strike with her halberd.
Wert quickly jumped back, avoiding, and then counterattacked.
Andrea blocked his fist, brandishing the halberd and trying to bypass Wert's defense.
The range difference was soon noticed as Wert went completely into a defensive stance.
'What happened?'
He blocked a strike that created a loud sound of metals colliding and felt his arm being pushed back by the strength of the strike. Moreover, as more and more attacks arrived, the difference in strength between them felt as if it was shrinking.
'No, it's not a feeling.' A sense of danger suddenly reached him as an attack he almost missed approached from the right.
He hastily placed his arms before himself and intercepted the quick strike. However…
BANG!
His arms were blasted open as he took more than ten steps back. His eyes opened wide and he looked at the more beastly-looking draconic knight. Her heavy breathing came out distorted from the helmet, sounding like the breathing of a beast.
Then, Andrea's deep voice reached him. "Give your all, or you'll regret it. [Sun Explosion]."
Wert felt all his cells send danger signals to him as the enormous sun in the sky ballooned and fell onto him.
"AHHHH!!!"
He shouted in fury and punched upward with such force that even space slightly fluctuated.
BOOOM!
The sun burst into a shower of molten meteors and a massive nova of energy.
First, the nova arrived, hitting Wert squarely. And, for the first time, Wert screamed in pain at the sensation of his body burning.
Then, the meteors fell.
Reacting as quick as he could, Wert sung his fist and moved across the entire arena as Andrea looked with predatory eyes.
He dodged frantically and managed to block most of the attacks, only to feel someone appearing behind his back. 'H-How? It is as if she is controlling the battle situation from beginning to end.'
And, to his credit, he was correct. Battle Intent didn't just strengthen the user's power over time; it also allowed the cultivator to gain a deep understanding of the battle situation.
The second Andrea realized that she could block the onslaught of the beast human at her weakest, she had already thought of a battle plan.
While she would receive a beating for a while, with all her defensive measures, bringing her down would be more difficult than it looked. Then, thanks to [Solar Body], [Battle Intent], and [Perseverance Intent], her strength would only increase as time went by and her skills all kicked into gear.
Now, as the final skill to finish the battle, Andrea used her third innate skill.
[Molten Sun] and [Solar Body] were direct attack skills. However, [Sun Devourer] was something Andrea used as a cultivation resource more than combat.
However, she learned not too long ago that [Sun Devourer] was not only a cultivation skill but a combat one as well.
Andrea activated it, and a dark aura spread from her, resembling a giant maw that devoured everything around it.
However, nothing fell into the dark maw other than heat and energy.
Wert's body was already filled with dangerous burn marks all over his body, and the environmental heat Andrea produced was enough to make him, a Mid-level Epoch Core, sweat crazily.
It was to the point that there was a constant stinging feeling on his skin.
But to his surprise, Andrea's new skill didn't increase the temperature of the inferno around him even more. On the contrary, Wert could feel the heat decreasing.
Still, he didn't become happy. How could someone get rid of their most powerful assets without anything in mind? Thinking something absurd, like her energy was running out, was also not in Wert's mind. They've been fighting for a while, but not long enough to reach energy depletion levels.
As he thought of that, it came.
Andrea took a step forward from the blackness, entirely surrounded by white flames as their heat reached extreme heights.
At first glance, she looked like a dark goddess that had swallowed the Sun and come down to a mortal plane to bring death to everything.
The draconic armor, the swirling flames, the molten cape, and the giant halberd created such an impactful show that it left Wert speechless for a moment.
Andrea did not speak as her body leaned forward, and then, she stomped the ground. "[Sun Chasing Steps], [Sun Obliterating Charge]."
Wert's pupils shrunk as the absurdly quick acceleration that couldn't even be compared with the first [Sun Obliterating Charge] approached him. 'Ha?'
BOOM!
His body was launched backward like a shooting star with a large burnt patch across his chest. Wert gritted his teeth as his body didn't respond as he wanted. 'When did I become so tired?'
He hadn't realized that Andrea's heat didn't just try to cook one alive. For the cultivator to keep up and not be burned by Andrea's aura, they needed a constant expenditure of stamina.
So, after several minutes of fighting, something that should've been a piece of cake for a body cultivator, Wert was starting to feel fatigued.
From then on, what happened was a unilateral beating. Now that Andrea was stronger and her skills filled the battlefield once more with molten materials and infernal temperatures, Wert could only last one more hour before our heroic woman ultimately defeated him.
"Done! Andrea wins!"
Andrea stopped attacking and quickly jumped backward, looking over to the person who appeared out of thin air.
The winged man nodded at Andrea. "I'm the judge of this combat. Well fought, Andrea."
Andrea nodded and asked, her voice filled with tiredness. "Can I return to my team's side?"
The judge nodded and quickly approached the fainting Wert.
While Andrea returned, she stored her armor and breathed a sigh of relief. Her lips arched, and she chuckled to herself. 'I almost got caught. How much more time would I be able to fight with all those skills? 20 minutes? Perhaps 40 if I forced myself…'
The heroic woman shook her head. 'Mid-Level Epoch Cores are really strong, sigh.'
The sequence of her lover fighting a high-level Epoch Core in the sea flashed in her mind for a second, making her dazed. 'She can already fight some high-level ones, though. Even if she explained to us that she was likely to lose that confrontation, the fact that there was a chance of winning is already insane.'
When Andrea arrived at the waiting place, a soft and fragrant voice fell in her arms. By now, Andrea had stopped asking her lovely dragoness not to hug her after the fights because she sweated a lot.
"Sniff, sniff. Sniff, sniff."
Andrea laughed. 'Does she really like my scent-'
Sniiiiifff
Andrea speechlessly looked down at the wagging tail and patted Yasenia's plump butt. "Love, shall we sit?"
Yasenia sighed a moan. "A bit more, darling~."
Andrea sighed and hugged her dear tightly. The feeling of the enormous breasts pressing on her body was enough to make her have trouble controlling her rising lust, but, as if her lovely dragon wife wasn't satisfied, she was actually rubbing her entire body on herself.
'I-I'm in trouble…'
Yasenia blinked as she felt the hard and erect member touch her through Andrea's clothes and smirked. "Darling~, do I release you?"
Andrea coughed. "Not now. Later, love." To change the subject, Andrea looked sideways and asked. "How was the battle?"
Cecile nodded. "Good. You slowly tired the enemy and managed to remain the winner."
Kali looked up and down at the sweaty Andrea and commented. "Although, I can see that you were at the end of the rope. A bit longer, and the tides would've reversed."
Andrea didn't deny it. However, Yasenia, intoxicated by Andrea's scent, snorted and denied it. "Never, Darling would win even against a God~."
The girls felt their eyelids twitch. "She is too far gone."
"She will probably defend Andrea against anything now."
Andrea smiled awkwardly as she patted the lovely creature between her arms.
Cecile commented. "Well, I'm next."
The girls looked outside and saw the same Ethereal Light of before, writing Cecile's and her opponent's names.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the four remaining people placed their leader on a recovery bed that was previously built with heavy looks.
One of them finally spoke. "That was insane."
Another tsked their tongue. "What kind of monster was that? Did you realize she wasn't that strong at first?"
The only woman from the group of five muttered. "Who in heaven's name gets stronger as they fight? Isn't the opposite supposed to happen?"
The vice leader gathered their attention. "Now we know how strong they are. We don't know if all of them are like Andrea and can become stronger as the battle goes on. Therefore, aim for a quick resolution."
The vice leader looked at the man who was about to step into the arena and spoke. "We know that the silver winged woman is a ranged attacker, and that the fox woman with chestnut colored hair is someone who can manipulate plant life to a certain extent."
The man asked. "What about the other two?"
The vice leader frowned. "Honestly, Yasenia Dravory is just a super offensive attacker. Her defense is also extremely sturdy. Moreover, if she transforms into her dragon form, her might increase several times without losing much but a bit of mobility because of the size increase. If you are facing her, go in with the intention to kill, or you'll be done for before you realize it."
Finally, he pondered and spoke. "About the last one. Honestly, I'm not sure. Some say that she is part of that maid squad that follows Yasenia Dravory everywhere. Others say that she is a rogue cultivator who recently joined. Regardless of her origins, she is strong. I honestly felt a chill of fear when I looked at her for the first time."
With that, Cecile and another man from the Dolur race jumped down from the spectating place.
As soon as they landed, Cecile and the other man heard the same voice as before, which now they knew was from the judge.
"The match will start in 10 seconds."
"10…"
"9…"
Cecile and the other man started unleashing their auras one by one, and soon, the second battle started.