Chapter 1279 1279. Head
"This won"t do," Noah thought as he stared at the storm of ice.
Noah had confirmed that he owned stronger attacks. The quasi-rank 7 Eternal Snake couldn"t match his offensive. That was one of the fields where magical beasts inevitably fell behind cultivators.
Noah was almost able to match the creature"s physical might. The Snake didn"t have other attacks at its disposal, so Noah could overcome it with his sword arts, spells, and techniques.
However, Noah"s prowess had a fatal weakness. The power that he expressed during that fight wasn"t his real strength. His ambition made him reach that level, but that empowerment had a time limit.
Those limitations had become laxer after he reached the solid stage, but that feature didn"t vanish with his breakthrough. Noah would eventually go back to his real level, so he had to kill his opponent before that happened.
The Snakes" leader had a world"s worth of stashed energy. Except for the island made of divine ice, all the frozen lands were part of its innate ability.
Noah didn"t know if his ambition would last until the Snake depleted that energy. Still, that was only the back-up plan. His main strategy saw him killing his opponent before its ability activated.
"I should slow it down at least," Noah thought as he stared at the storm.
The world went dark for an instant. Black flames surrounded by a blinding silver halo had appeared in the environment when the light returned. Noah had decided to reveal his innate ability when he understood that he couldn"t kill his opponent quickly.
The black flames struggled to affect the storm. That ice carried the leader"s aura and power, so they couldn"t burn it unless it lost most of its energy.
Yet, there was plenty of extra energy in the environment. The world had even returned to a perfect state, so the flames could still be of some use.
Noah"s fire burned the "Breath" in the environment and the smallest ice-shards as they surrounded the storm. Small flames then separated from the main attack and converged toward Noah to transfer their energy.
The small damage suffered during the clash with the Snake healed in a few seconds. The extra energy remained inside the black hole, ready to a.s.sist Noah"s body whenever an injury appeared.
The Snake eventually made its move. The creature leaped through the storm and flames to charge at Noah, but Snore didn"t hesitate to launch another black beam in its direction.
The creature performed an evasive maneuver, and Noah created black lines on its path. More slashes then landed on its body, and Snore tilted its head to prepare its innate ability again.
The Snake could only call upon its ice again. One of the frozen regions under the battlefield rose before breaking apart and engulfing the creature in a second storm.
Snore launched its black beam, but Noah felt through the connection with the Blood Companion that the attack didn"t manage to touch the Snake. That exchange had ended up in the same way as the previous.
Noah knew that he would lose if he let the Snake continue like that. Yet, he didn"t have anything else at his disposal. He had already used his innate ability, slashes, and Blood Companion. There was only one last card to play.
The Eternal Snake came out of the storm again, and trails of ice followed the creature in its charge toward Noah. Snore launched a dark beam to force it to change direction, and Noah deployed his slashes again to interrupt its evasive maneuvers.
The creature didn"t hesitate to rely on its innate ability again. The storm that followed it fused with the ice that had surged from the terrain to heal and hide it.
Yet, a cry suddenly resounded from inside the storm, and Snore immediately aimed at the source of that sound. The dark beam destroyed everything on its path, and a second roar echoed through the sky once the attack crossed the barrage of ice.
Noah still didn"t have a clear vision of his opponent, and the storm hindered his mental waves. Yet, he acc.u.mulated his power anyway and prepared for the Snake to appear again.
He didn"t want to launch his strongest attack unless he was sure that he could kill his opponent. Normal injuries were useless against the Snake. Only a fatal blow could make a difference in that battle.
Nothing happened for a few seconds. The storm closed the hole made by the dark beam and continued to hide the creature, but a third cry of pain soon echoed through the sky and gave away the Snake"s position.
Night had followed the Snake inside the storm and had attacked it as soon as the ice hid it. The Pterodactyl didn"t have the power to kill the creature on its own, but it could counter the creature"s most annoying ability.
The dark beam could hit the Snake when Night forced it to reveal its position. The creature didn"t even expect the attack to arrive, so it wouldn"t perform evasive maneuvers in that situation.
The creature didn"t even want to come out of the storm because Noah"s slashes could reach it anywhere as long as he could lock his mental waves on its body. The Snake could only remain in a pa.s.sive position when Noah relied on all his powerful a.s.sets.
Noah"s excitement became more intense as he watched those exchanges. His instincts told him that he had a chance to kill the creature as long as he continued to fight like that.
The Demonic Sword began to tremble and leak dark matter once it stuffed its structure with energy. Noah was ready to unleash his strongest attack, but he held back from slas.h.i.+ng at the storm.
The Snake had already survived that attack once. Its ice had saved it, and Noah didn"t know for how long Night could create those opportunities. The creature would eventually become used to that fighting style and use the ice differently.
Noah had to kill the beast before that. He couldn"t waste his attack in another pointless destruction that would bring him back to square one.
Noah waited until a roar resounded from inside the storm again. Snore immediately spewed its dark beam at that signal, and Noah used that attack as the path for his slash.
The Demonic Sword descended, but nothing came out of it just yet. Noah straightened his blade and aligned it with the dark beam before pulling it back.
Then, when the dark beam was about to end, Noah thrust the Demonic Sword forward, and a sharp storm of dark matter came out of it.
Noah"s lunge used the hole created by the dark beam to fill the insides of the storm with his sharpness and destructive might. The attack enlarged the injuries created by Snore"s ability and made the creature release another cry.
Night continued its silent offensive while darkness spread inside the storm. The dark matter helped the Pterodactyl"s ability and allowed it to express more power.
Since the Snake didn"t stop screaming in pain, Noah and Snore could launch multiple attacks. Their offensive was relentless and precise, and pieces of the creature"s body vanished before the ice could even begin to heal the old injuries.
The storm stopped raging at some point. The ice in the air fell back into the frozen ground, and a ma.s.sive figure became visible among that debris.
Noah could see the Snake falling together with the chunks of ice. The creature had lost its head and many other pieces of its body during the last exchanges.