Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Yaana's expression turned an icy shade of cold. It was the kind of expression she had gotten far too used to making ever since she had stepped into this so-called martial world. And, the words of Zech only infuriated her all the more. Even among Necromancers, the individuals who wouldn't let even a corpse go were among the most disgusting and vile experts they had to offer.

Yaana instantly found herself going from being assaulted by a dozen individuals to the amount doubling then tripling in an instant. Corpse puppets of all shapes and sizes charged toward her from all sides. Some were armored beasts, others were pale-faced humanoids, and the last were entirely made of bone, brandishing the very same bone spears that had almost impaled her a moment ago.

Though Yaana had joined the Necromancy Guild and she was told that that her Mental Realm talent was exceptional, she had never refined a corpse puppet for herself, much to the helplessness of the elders who were quite fond of her talent.

However, just because she didn't choose one of the many paths a Necromancer could, didn't mean that she had no means of defending herself. In fact, there was a reason these dozen disciples had only dared to target her after gathering a dozen of themselves together first.

Yaana's expression warped. She was already so close. She didn't want to be delayed in this place. But, she also didn't want to kill.

The gap between herself and these youths was too great—in her favor. Even though she was only at the 3rd stage of the Immortal Ring Realm and all of them were at the 9th at worst, she still felt that one on one, not one of them stood a chance.

Yaana was reserved and rarely fought. The only reason these youths had this level of caution against her was because of one incident that happened half a century ago, not to mention the records she had broken purely for the sake of bettering herself and growing stronger.

However, her senses were sharp, sharp to the point that even without having a pair of Heavenly Pupils to herself, it would almost feel like she did. She could easily see through the gap between herself and these fellow disciples… It was just that…

Yaana's body seemed to twist and vanish. When she appeared again, she struck out a palm at the back of a skeleton corpses head. Once again, without a sound, the target was left with nothing more than its bottom half, a cut as smooth as a mirror marring its bony hips.

Yaana hardly remained in her position for a moment before she vanished again. The delicate tips of her toes landing upon the back of an armored bear with empty eye sockets.

Just her gentle step caused another ripple to form. This time, a hole was torn through the bear's back right between its shoulder blades. The impact was deathly silent as it always was, and yet the damage didn't just stop there, even tearing a hole through the snowy grounds beneath the corpse beast.

Yaana's body only became more ethereal as she fought, her hair becoming a mass of black fog that seemed to embody the canvas of deep space, sparkling like twinkling stars and forming a massless depth that left one in awe.

In the blink of an eye, half of the corpse puppets the group had sent out were left in crumbled heaps, many of which hardly had many of their body parts left. Yaana's actions all seemed more nonchalant than the last. She moved silently, killed silently, and left death in her wake without so much as disturbing the peace of the forest around her.

It only took those few moments to cause solemn expressions to coat the faces of the youths. They had known that Yaana was powerful, but how could it possibly be so exaggerated? What were those ripples? How did she vanish and appear like that? Was that a Heaven Grade movement technique? But that was impossible, an Immortal Ring expert couldn't possibly use such a technique. And, even if by some miracle they could, they shouldn't be able to do so in such quick succession.

Yaana didn't even look like she had broken a sweat, causing many to suddenly realize that what should have been a sure victory might quickly become a life and death struggle unless they could change something right this moment.

"Stop holding back!" Guido roared.

At that moment, the group had to split their attention between Yaana and the snow beasts that kept appearing. Due to their number, the snow beasts responded in kind, spawning at faster rates and with greater numbers.

They had all thought that they could just focus on keeping the snow beasts from growing too much in number while their corpse puppets dealt with Yaana, but the result was far outside of their expectations.

It had to be remembered that the greatest strength Necromancers had was being able to control corpse puppets that were far more powerful than themselves. Of course, this was only possible for the best geniuses amongst them, but who were they if not among that demographic since they could be sent into this world?

Even the weakest corpse puppet Yaana had just killed was at the Half-Step Path Extinction Realm. How could they have possibly expected for things to reach such a level.

They soon realized that Guido was right. Who among them didn't have a special corpse puppet they took special care of? However, they had never expected that they would need to use them so soon. How could they not hesitate?

"What are you hesitating for?! The madame needs us to stop as many people as possible from reaching the mountain! We can't waste so much time here!"

After he spoke those words, Guido immediately took the lead. He knew well that amongst a group of geniuses, each one with their own goals, just getting them to gang up on one person like this required someone as powerful as the Madame, let alone expecting them to listen to his words just because. He had to lead by example or else they would just think he was trying to weed out competition.

At that moment, yet another armored bear appeared out from a swirling black portal. But, this one was completely different from the last.

It had fur a pristine white that could almost match Ryu's hair. Its eye sockets seemed empty at first glance, but upon another, one could see a dark gold flame flickering within, containing an ominous and ancient aura.

This dark gold flame perfectly matched the armor the bear wore from head to toe, each plate of which was etched with a complex, ancient rune that exuded a majesty that was hard to stand in the presence of. Despite being a corpse, the bear almost seemed to be alive, radiating outward with a domineeringness.

The bear rose to its hind legs, billowing out with a roar that shook the canopy of the ice tree forest. At its full height, it was 20 meters tall, its body rippling with an endless strength.

Seeing Guido take the lead, the other geniuses set down their reservations, unleashing their trump cards all at once.

A skeleton corpse with black tattoos etched directly into its bones rose.

A grey skinned corpse puppet with real gems for eyes appeared, wielding a saber twice the size of its body.

A skeleton python with a length of over a kilometer coiled around the surroundings, shrieking as though to mask the creaking of its bones. Tongues of blue flame erupted around its shell, becoming corporeal to the point it seemed to form a layer of scales over it all.

Yaana's expression grew serious. Many of these corpse puppets had auras well into the Path Extinction Realm. However, Yaana never even got the chance to take action.

At that moment, a tempest of tangible raise rose into the skies. The fury was so palpable that space itself shattered. For an instant, Yaana, who had always taken space to be the friendliest to her, almost didn't dare to meld with it right now.

The geniuses were shaken, but there was absolutely nothing they could do before pillars of violet flame lightning began to manifest from what felt like thin air.

Everything in its path was completely incinerated. Not a single soul was able to flee. Whether it was Guido or Zech, they finally learned what true despair was. Their final thoughts were about how this Legacy World could possibly allow someone so powerful in… It wasn't fair…

The only one who was untouched by it all was Yaana herself who didn't really know how to react. Why was this person so angry? She didn't even have a scratch on her… And, even if she was forced to fight their trump cards, she wouldn't have necessarily lost either.

It was then that someone suddenly appeared before her. He was so much taller than she was, casting a shadow over her petite frame and forcing her to look up to meet his gaze. But, when she saw who it was, she couldn't help but be stunned.

First she felt a welling up of excitement before she began to panic. This wasn't because she was scared to face Ryu, but because of what she saw when she faced him.

He was crying? Ryu was crying?! Why was he crying?!

Yaana trembled when she felt a palm caress her face. She fell into an embrace every bit as warm as she had always imagined it, her soul suddenly entering a state of calm it hadn't experienced in centuries.

She was hugging him… She really was hugging him…

Yaana couldn't help but cling to the robes at the small of Ryu's back, burying her head into his chest and flooding his fabrics with tears.

But, her moment of peace only lasted for a moment.

"Nuri… You're alive… This is good… This is really good…"

Ryu's hoarse voice drifted to Yaana's ears, but Yaana herself had frozen stiff.

What Ryu didn't realize was that he only didn't recognize Yaana because he had spent the childhood of his second life as a blind boy…

As for Yaana…. Her grandfather didn't call her Little Nunu because Nuri was her real name… He called her that because it was her mother's name.

Why was Ryu calling her that?