Knowing Her Might

Boom!!!

Duar!!!

Series of explosions erupted as dozens of buildings belong to the invaders were caught on fire and turned to rubble. Horrifying screams and shouts also resound in the air as the consequence of the massacre of many low-level rankers from the invaders' side.

The same exact scene has been going on for almost half an hour.

After the formation array protecting the island was destroyed, Arguna military had launched a continuous bombardment by missile and artillery strikes that successfully dealt a large number of casualties among the enemy. Another thing that makes the matter even worst for the opposite side; both Ramon and Mary have been circling around the entire coastline of Eerie Island as well, wreaking havoc to the enemy's ranks, adding more salts to their wounds.

Of course, those two can only execute their attack from afar. The enemy still possessed adequate anti-air defenses, which, although wasn't enough to be a lethal threat, were still able to pose some difficulties to the two.

"Any sign of movement from the enemy leaders yet?" Ramon asked Mary beside him.

Both of them have stopped their harassment temporarily. Using this moment to assess the situation.

Mary shook her head, "Nope… Those guys were cautious."

Ramon frowned slightly. Their main job was to lure the enemy leaders from the island so that their mistress and The White Sage can eliminate those dregs in a direct confrontation. It's imperative for them to do that, concerning that the elimination of the leaders was of utmost importance to the overall strategy.

But somehow, their efforts have failed. Even after the destruction caused by the bombardment and the harassment, the enemy still won't show any movement.

"I can't be sure, though. But I got the feeling that they're waiting for something. I'm not surprised if vampires can be patient, but there's no way for the devils to do the same. After all, not retaliating while being harassed is basically a humiliation for them." Mary gave her opinion in her perpetual serious mode.

Ramon nodded silently, he agreed to Mary's words. Devils were notorious for being arrogant, brash, and hot-headed. They were easy to anger and would not take any form of mockery kindly. Thus, it's strange for them not to respond to the harassment but had opted to stay passive instead.

'Unless… just like Mary said, they're indeed waiting for something… But, what's exactly they're waiting for?' Ramon wondered.

'Star-class!!!' Ramon's eyes widened after he recalled that the enemy was supposed to be led a Star-class powerhouse allegedly from the Vampire race. But even now, there was no sign of that powerhouse's presence within the island.

Still, that doesn't mean the info wasn't exactly true. Ramon speculated that the powerhouse might still be in another location, and was currently rushing here. That's why the enemy leaders have chosen to be patient, and merely waiting for the arrival of their real commander, so that by the time he or she arrived, they could finally mount a counter-offensive.

As Ramon thought about it further, the more it makes sense. After all, the enemy had a teleportation device that capable of opening up a door to another world, allowing anyone to be sent over through it.

And this speculation made Ramon restless. He felt that he must inform this to the mistress immediately.

"I think I know what the enemy is up to…" He said while looking extremely cold and serious.

Mary glanced at him doubtfully, "Really?"

Ramon lightly nods, "I'll tell you about it later. I need to report my assumption to mistress first."

Mary didn't say a word, she merely gazing at her colleague calmly even though she was actually curious about what's on his mind.

***

"What are your thoughts on this?" Helena asked the White Sage, shortly after she received Ramon's report and told the old sage about it.

Hearing that, the White Sage's face was filled with hesitancy. Inside his heart, fear also starting to grow. Ramon's assumption was extremely make sense to the current situation.

There's no doubt that the enemy had chosen to be passive because they're waiting for something. In this case, it's for the arrival of their true commander; a powerful Star-class powerhouse!

The old sage's hope for the tip he had received a few days ago was nothing more than hearsay has been utterly crushed by this assumption.

He sighed heavily, and replied with a tired voice, "I don't know, Lady… We're talking about a Star-class ranker as an opponent, which is something that we don't have the power to resist. Even if the rest of my peers are here and we combined our strength, we still couldn't fight that kind of existence."

There was an insurmountable gap that stood right between Diamond-class and Star-class. No matter how powerful a Diamond-class ranker was, it will be impossible to best even the weakest Star-class ranker. And this was the fact that cannot be defied nor denied.

Each of them, even the weakest one, possessed heaven-defying talents, myriads of high-level skills or techniques, top-notch intuition, and combat awareness. All in all, they have command over the power that simply beyond the imagination of lower-level rankers.

Only the most talented amongst the sea of geniuses that were able to rose to Star-class. This cultivation realm represents the apex and true overlord within Heavenly Tower's 1st layer. The old sage has heard that even in the 2nd layer and beyond, Star-class rankers were still considered as powerhouses.

The old sage lamented the horrendous fate that was about to descend upon Gaia. A single Star-class ranker was enough to destroy everything that this planet has.

Looking at the old man next to her, Helena had a calm expression on her face.

But soon shifted her gaze back toward the island. She knows what kind of thoughts running inside the sage's mind, and she did not have the same worry as him. A Star-class opponent would be absolutely problematic if Helena was to face it with her old strength. This time, the outcome will be different as she was confident of her newly-gained power.

Although she just had her breakthrough yesterday, Helena already accustomed to controlling her current cultivation. This wasn't the first time for her being in Star-class, let just say she was extremely familiar with this cultivation realm's in and out.

As long as the enemy's Star-class ranker still merely in birth-stage, there would be no problem for her to gain victory.

'As far as I know, Vampires have three Star-class rankers as the leaders of their race, one of them is already at fusion-stage, she's dub as the Unholy Empress. And she can't be the one who will arrive soon. So that leaves the other two, Lycidas and Alaric. But which one is it?' Helena wondered.

"Before I went here, I tried to contact 'the Princess' to see if she's willing to cooperate with us, but I couldn't reach her at all. Even Camellia Kingdom won't relay my message to her and they don't want to reveal her whereabouts either. In our world, only her who has enough power to contend against a Star-class existence… If only that she is here, everything would be smooth for us." The White Sage spoke in grief.

Hearing the sage's complaints, Helena's mind wandered once again, 'Her, huh?'

She understood clearly who was 'the Princess' that the sage mentioned. Publicly, that person was the only Star-class ranker that Gaia had. Also, the first Gaia-born ranker who managed to reach the unattainable realm.

She and Helena possessed similar disposition, in which both of them were extremely elusive and secretive. Just like Helena, 'the Princess' also wasn't a part of the Gaia Association, she mostly operating independently and never seems to like to meddle with things outside her interest. But she did have an extensive connection with one of the nations within Gaia, the Kingdom of Camellia.

Everyone knows she was an ultimate genius who has been nurtured by that kingdom, and there was a rumor that she was actually a member of the Camellia royal family. But beyond that, her personal life was completely shrouded by mystery.

Even Helena had never met her face to face to this date, she only heard about some stories and nothing more.

To be honest, Helena never cares about that person. She didn't have any sort of relationship with that woman, so Helena hardly gave some thoughts about her.

"That woman is probably lollygagging in the 2nd layer, just like she always does. It looks like it would be difficult to bring her here since she seems to be disinterest with everything related to Gaia except for her kingdom." Said Helena in a slightly indifferent tone.

Damian smiled wryly, he judged from Helena's tone, she seems to hold no favorable impression towards the Princess.

He explained, "You misunderstood her, Lady. The Princess used to be really active in the past, especially when she wasn't a Star-class yet. But it all changes after she climbed to the higher layer. It makes sense, though. There wouldn't be any good things happen if a Star-class always unnecessarily meddling with the matters in the 1st layer, particularly their home-world. Not to mention, the 2nd layer and beyond are the true playgrounds for powerhouses, it's more beneficial for them to go there and compete rather than staying in the bottom layer. However, considering our current situation, it's true that we could use her help."

Helena merely shrugged in response. Then, she spoke again, "Anyway, we don't need her. I'm alone is enough. As long the opponent is a birth stage Star-class ranker, I believed I could beat some sense into them."

Furthermore, she also leaked a bit of her true power.

The White Sage immediately sensed a subtle but overpowering pressure emitted from Helena's body. It feels strong, overbearing yet calm and steady at the same time.

'This feeling?!?!' He exclaimed inwardly, shocked by what he felt.

An unmistakable sign of Star Core!

The thing that every genuine Star-class ranker have!

Damian's eyes were fixated on Helena, with fear and astonishment mixed within his gaze.

"Y…Y-you!!!"