Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

***

Meanwhile, with the group of Karmen, Olivia, and Harold,

"Just hold on" Karmen said as she swung Executioner at the large broadsword that was been wielded by a statue warrior which had suddenly risen out of the Tomb floor.

The one her words were directed toward was Harold who was holding on to the edge of a deep pit.

Her words were backed with the convincing and urgent tone of her active suggestion and actually helped Harold get an even tighter hold of the edge as he tried to pull himself out.

As she spoke, Olivia descended from above, the tapered fog of her fiendish bloodline targeting the statue warrior's head but in an impressive show of alertness, the Statue pulled its head back and swung its arm, which had now morphed into a large and spiked club, at her.

Olivia's eyes widened slightly but she was quick to surround herself with a combination of cosmic energy and her fiendish fog.

It helped lessen the impact the club had on her but the club hit still caused her to groan in pain before she hit the ground and rolled closer towards the edge of the pit Harold was at the moment holding on to.

The moment she was close to the said pit, she felt weak... Unable to muster any bit of Cosmic energy. Even her fiendish bloodline seemed out of reach for her.

The trap was that potent...

It was clearly a powerful formation ingrained in this part of the tomb floor and was restricted to act within that region alone on account of how effective and hence scarce and difficult to set up it was.

She was rendered to the lowest level of physical strength her current body size, as well as age, should permit... In other words, she was no more powerful than an uncultivating mortal of her age and body size should be.

Not to mention that being rendered weak made the exhaustion she should have felt from batting the nine-foot-tall statue warrior even more prevalent.

As she stood to her feet, she found herself weakened and barely able to stand and thus fell back to the ground. Attempting to pull a considerably large-sized man out of a pit was impossible.

Also, had she been hanging off the ledge of the pit as Harold was at the moment, she would have known first hand that the situation was even worse than simply having been rendered to the base level of strength because the pit was releasing a suction force...

... A force that pulled at Harold from underneath.

It was a gentle sort of force... One that Harold knew he would no doubt have been able to resist had he had his Cultivational strength but was more than enough to make pulling himself up even more difficult.

Had Olivia been in such a situation, she would have long been pulled down... Not because she was weaker than Harold but because she was more exhausted.

From the moment the statue warrior made an emergence, the pit had opened right underneath Harold and he had been hanging for dear life ever since.

The pit was dark and been rendered incapable of mustering any bit of Cosmic energy, there was no way he could attempt to see what was in store for him... Not that he wished to see anyway.

Looking down would only make it harder to pull himself up, and he was barely holding on as it was.

Had it not been for his body reacting instinctively to Karmen's suggestive tone, he would have probably lost his hold long ago.

That said, even though he was not giving up, he did not actually see a way to pull himself up and felt he was certainly doomed unless someone pulled him out.

The problem with this, however, was that anyone who stepped into that region, especially someone already involved in a battle, would be rendered too weak to offer assistance.

Also, attempting to reach out or even think about offering any form of assistance with cosmic energy or otherwise was difficult with the Statue still attacking fiercely.

*Boom!*

Karmen destroyed the statue's club arm with a cosmic attack imbued with a phenomenon but had not even had the time to indulge in the win that the arm reformed... Instantaneously.

As Karmen dodged attack after attack while Olivia tried to crawl out of the weakening region she was in so that she could regain the strength of her cultivation, Karmen was thinking of possible ways to defeat her opponent.

The statue was a construct and not a living being.

It was a construct that had been built to attack and destroy all trespassers into the tomb with extreme prejudice which meant it had to have a power source... Something that made it capable of all it was capable of.

Since this was a tomb (and she did not wish to consider that there was someone within it controlling the many traps and functions of this tomb because that would make the situation somewhat worse), the power source must be finite.

Their first obstacle had not had this sort of impressive regenerative abilities and had been faced with a more direct approach (hack and hack until it is done and finished ) and she had not actually needed to think this hard.

Not only did Karmen have to think hard, but she also had to think fast if she wished to save Harold.

Not because she cared what happened to him (The only one present here she truly cared about was Olivia) but because who knew what danger was up ahead?

Harold was capable, having higher cultivation than both Karmen and Olivia and past this point, he could prove useful.

Her desire to save him was thoroughly based on how useful he could be to them in the long run.

Flicking her wrist, she retrieved a long Lenght of rope from her Spatial ring and she only kept hold of about three feet towards one end of the rope as she tossed the rest towards Olivia who grabbed on and managed to pass the rest of the length to Harold.

Harold stared at the rope but found himself unable to grab it.

The very thought of letting go of the edge, which he was only barely holding on to already crippled him with fear.

He could not spare half of his hold on life to grab at the support that was right in front of him in the form of a thick rope reinforced with Runes to strengthen and make it capable of binding Cultivators up to a certain level.

*Bang*

Out of necessity, Karmen released the rope for the time being as she leaped out of the reach of the statue's broadsword.

it cracked the tomb floor and the statue pulled it back as quickly as it had swung without noticing the entire sword length had been stamped with numerous Runes drawn on rectangular Rune sheets.

The mindless structure whose only purpose for existing was to strike down trespassers, simply raised the sword for another hit when it exploded...

*Boom!!!*

... And somewhat set off a chain of recurring explosive blasts that constantly pushed the statue warrior back and unable to attempt a strike due to lack of balance and the blasts lasted long enough for Karmen to grab the rope and attempt to pull it stop when she noticed Harold had not yet grabbed on.

Stretching out Cosmic energy, she sought to assist him but found her attempt dissolving once it got into the region they were in...

... Showing that the region nullified all forms of Cosmic energy use and rather than try with her Fiendish fog, she yelled out to Harold with a suggestive tone,

"Grab on, you idiot!"

It gave the man the courage he needed to release one hand off the ledge and then grab the rope as fast as he could.

At this point, the statue warrior finally regained its balance and moved in once again but Karmen leaped to the side, pulling both Olivia and Harold out of the region nullifying Cosmic energy and back in an area and position that would allow them to join forces with her and show the statue who was boss.

Feeling the strength flooding her body, Olivia's eyes turned blood red as and made use of the Fiendish blondish bloodline and summoned Executioner.

Harold, as per Karmen's suggestions ignored the change and summoned his cosmic Armament while letting his cultivation blast to the limit in a show of his seriousness.

Karmen smiled confidently before she retrieved a scroll from her spatial ring and activated it to create a wall of Opaque Royal blue Astral energy.

The wall was between them and the region nullifying Cosmic energy. A foot of space before the region actually started.

It was meant to stop them from ever returning there and the sight of it filled Olivia with even more confidence than before as she prepared to charge at the statue warrior with Karmen and Harold by her sides.

Surely, with all three of them, there was no way they could lose... Right?

Alas, it seemed this was only just beginning.

*ROARRRR!*

The roar came from behind them.

From behind the Array wall that had just been formed.

*KLINK!*

*KLINK!*

*KLINK!*

*KLINK!*

*KLINK!*

There were the unmistakable sounds of metal clashing with metal before the newly erected wall was shattered to reveal an absolutely horrific monstrosity...