FAMILY ABOVE ALL: BATTLING AGAINST GODS

"How is my mother?"

"She is fine. But ever since you left, she rarely leaves the house."

"I see..." the voice sounded almost as a whisper and a feeling of melancholy could be heard from it. After a few moments of silence, the voice resumed:

"And my Dad?"

"..."

There was no reply for a moment, but soon after a sweet and soft voice resounded:

"He is the same as your mum. I seldom see him...in fact, I think the only time I saw him since you left was when we gave a few pointers to Miller."

"Miller?"

"That is right!" Tina pointed at Miller who was by her side.

Miller who had been gazing at Arlo with eyes full of interest stammered in excitement, "Hello! My name is Miller. I don't know if you still remember me, but we have already met before."

"...yeah, I remember you," Arlo replied after looking at him deeply. He had never seen Teacher Ari angry before, so how could he forget the person who made her furious to the point of going crazy? Miller left a deep impression on him after all.

"Hahaha! I didn't know you were master's son at that time."

"Master?" Arlo's lips twitched.

"Yes, since he taught me, he is my master."

"...but didn't he only teach you once."

"Yes, so he is my master."

Arlo shifted his eyes to Tina who didn't seem to find anything wrong with what Miller said. He was reminded once again why he couldn't have any friends before.

He turned to look at those around him.

Aside from Tina and Miller, there was Arianne, Joe, Ella, Rose, and Kai.

'No, I now have friends.' A warm smile lit his face.

'Dad, Mum, don't worry. I will get stronger to the point that I can protect you...' Arlo's eyes shone with resolve. He could still remember the scenes Old bro had shared with him. He wasn't in any hurry to meet his parents anymore after knowing that they had a dangerous enemy who could point his sword at them at any moment.

*Roar!*

*Roar!*

*Roar!*

The roars of several beasts pulled him out of his thoughts.

Nine beasts charged at the massive snake image slithering through the second zone.

The snake opened its mouth revealing nothing but darkness. But if one gazed intently at the darkness, they would notice the flickering light of countless stars hidden within.

The magical attacks of the nine beasts were swallowed before they soon followed after them.

Silence returned to the second zone as the huge snake image continued on its path, destroying any tree or other form of obstacle with its massive body.

Arlo waved his hand around, 'I wonder what this is.'

Immediately after stepping into the second zone, the entire area was shaken greatly. However, that wasn't the only change. The pitch-black snake coiled around Joe's snake summoned a massive snake image around itself before rising high into the sky. A few moments later, it fell back to the ground before swallowing them whole. But unexpectedly, instead of being consumed, they had merely moved directly to the mid-section of the snake image's body.

That was right.

Arlo and his small group were currently in the snake. While the snake's body appeared to be ethereal, it still seemed to have some substance as they were able to float within its body. Not only that, the massive snake was able to physically affect its surroundings just as it was destroying the area as it slithered at great speed. Unlike when they were in the academy, the massive snake had reduced its size to barely a hundred meters. Still, it was at least ten times bigger than the beasts in the second zone. The only downside was that the red ants were left behind.

'Well, the red ants can't compare to this snake.'

Arlo's party separated into three groups within the snake's body.

Arlo, Tina, and Miller conversed to get up to date.

While Arianne and Joe wanted to be with Arlo, they gave him the space he needed as they noticed Tina and Miller were still uncomfortable being around them. So both of them remained with Ella for the moment.

Rose and Kai also stayed together however, Kai merely closed his eyes as he gripped his Katana tightly with his left hand, while Rose watched Arlo closely.

Uncaring to the danger around them, Arlo and the others enjoyed their first moment of peace since entering the secret realm.

They were now able to appreciate the magical view of the realm. Most of them couldn't move their eyes away from the mountain floating deep with the realm.

After almost two hours of journeying, the huge snake image finally arrived at the lake separating the second zone and the third zone

None of the master realm beasts could pause its movement for even a second.

Arriving before the lake, Arlo and the others prepared to continue the journey on their own when their expressions greatly changed.

The massive snake image showed no sign of slowing down.

Arlo and the others quickly moved their eyes to the head region of the huge snake image. There, the pitch-black snake was resting calmly.

Rose's eyes shone.

Before Arlo could voice his thoughts, Rose beat him to it, "Hey you, tell your beast to stop now!"

Arlo looked at Rose with slightly narrowed eyes, but the latter merely smiled cockily at him.

After a short moment of trying, Joe replied with a pale face:

"It's isn't responding to my words."

Before the others could react to his response, the huge snake image dove into the misty lake.

Arlo and the others subconsciously closed their eyes.

But after a short moment of silence, nothing happened.

"What is going on?" Miller voiced the question plaguing the others.

They knew that to enter the next zone, they must undergo a mind trial. Only a beast in the secret realm could bypass this rule.

Of course, that was until the fourth zone. No beasts could enter the treasure area.

And even the other beasts didn't dare to cross zones as they didn't have sufficient cultivation. Doing so was the same as sentencing themselves to death.

Also, a beast couldn't help them cross a zone, and that wasn't even possible in the first place except if they were able to tame it.

They couldn't figure out why the pitch-black snake was able to break this rule.

The group passed through the lake in silence, as they stared with bated breaths at the terrifying fishes hidden beneath it.

Their bodies couldn't help but shiver at the thought of what would happen to them if they failed the mind trial.

Finally, after almost three days of entering the secret realm, Arlo, Arianne, Joe, Ella, Rose, Kai, Tina, and Miller finally arrived at the third zone. The huge snake image came to a stop after entering the most dangerous zone in the entire realm. It seemed even it had to act prudently in this region.

The same as before, immediately after Arlo entered the third zone, the entire ground shook greatly. At the other end of the zone, the barrier stopping one from accessing the lake slowly disappeared.

However, Arlo and the others didn't care about these changes.

Instead, they all had widened eyes as they collectively stared into the distance.

There, countless massive meteors were falling from the sky.

It was a rain of meteors!

"How...just how is this possible?" an unfamiliar voice pulled the group out of their reverie.

Arlo and the others simultaneously shifted their eyes in the direction of the voice, and yet again, their expressions changed.

Albeit this time, the emotions on their faces were entirely different.

It was shock mixed with fear.

The members of the beast race stood among several corpses. Except for Tina and Miller, the others could recognize the identities of the corpses.

It was normal...after all, the corpses were the dead bodies of their seniors. And mixed among them were the bodies of three males with pointed ears.