Chapter 1819 - 1819. Branches
Noah"s eyes sharpened when the centipede showed its strange innate ability. He could see the rest of the creature"s body still immersed in the layer of thicker laws, but another head had grown out of its body and had become ready to fight him.
The centipede didn"t let Noah prepare his attack. It shot forward, and that branch of its body stretched as it flew toward its opponent at an unfathomable speed.
The creature would take no time to reach Noah. Its fast movements would resemble a teleport if it weren"t for the immense body standing still behind the branch.
Noah didn"t have the time to launch a slash, but he didn"t need moves in his current state. His bloodl.u.s.t spiked, and a ma.s.sive crack suddenly opened on the side of the creature"s head.
The ambition could make attacks happen even if Noah didn"t perform actual techniques. He only needed to think that his law was enough to activate the ability, and the blow would land.
Black shards flew everywhere in the environment and dispersed among the storms, and the attack threw the centipede out of its trajectory and made it miss Noah by mere meters.
The ma.s.sive creature crashed on the ground and slid through the sand to stop its incredible momentum. Noah saw the giant exoskeleton moving next to him, and his power increased as the fiery dark matter burnt part of the creature"s insides and black shards.
Noah couldn"t get enough of the sensations that he felt. The energy of a rank 9 creature was incredibly pure, and the power that it carried could make every rank 8 existence feel as if they were swimming among a sea that they had no hope to absorb.
Of course, that didn"t apply to Noah due to his insane requirements. He felt ecstatic after his injuries completely healed, and his body could absorb the acc.u.mulated energy. Yet, a tinge of helplessness soon vanquished those feelings and filled his mind.
Noah had realized something that would make most experts give up on the cultivation journey during the absorption. The energy contained in the centipede was incredible, but his body only took it as the best meal for its level. It didn"t go through any sudden increase in power.
It felt hard to accept that rank 9 creatures had become nothing more than excellent food. Noah had hoped for something more, but his hopes had shattered in no time.
Luckily for Noah, he had a target ready to endure his venting, and he didn"t mind losing himself in the battle. His arms rose as he wielded the cursed sword with both hands.
The storms seemed to stop when Noah"s arms fell. He performed a simple slash, and the world held its breath for a second after he completed the technique.
Everything started to move again when a huge black pillar appeared on the centipede"s back. Fiery dark matter and sharpness gave birth to a wave of energy that shot upward whenever the exoskeleton successfully blocked part of their power.
"Down again," Noah ordered in his mind, and the energy acc.u.mulated on the pillar fell toward the centipede.
The creature tried to turn its head, but the branch of its body dived deeper into the red sand every time the pillar sent the energy back on its exoskeleton.
Noah"s attack appeared endless. The energy blocked by the exoskeleton remained part of his technique and fell on the creature whenever he gave the order. Moreover, the dark matter spread his influence in the area, and some gales inevitably fused with its structure to intensify the blow.
Noah didn"t need to wave his cursed sword again. Loud explosions resounded among the storms whenever the pillar fell on the creature. Injuries appeared on his torso multiple times due to the weapon"s drawbacks, but the energy burnt by the fiery dark matter fixed them in no time.
The process continued until ma.s.sive cracks opened on the exoskeleton"s branch and left the way open toward the creature"s soft insides. The effects of Noah"s attack became devastating at that point. A large chunk of the centipede"s organs turned into dust once Noah"s energy spread through them.
The creature eventually pulled back its branch, but only half of it returned to the main body and transformed into a cracked spike. The other half remained next to Noah, and he didn"t hesitate to store it inside his separate s.p.a.ce before shooting back toward the denser storms.
Finding his companions in that environment would normally be a harsh challenge, but they were deploying their best abilities against the centipede. Noah could see flares and multicolored explosions seeping past the dense storms and giving him a path back to his group.
A terrifying scene unfolded in his vision when he reunited with his group. The centipede had created seven branches that were fighting his companions separately. Its main head remained behind and inspected the situation in the meantime.
The creature seemed on the verge of shooting ahead due to the intense hunger that it felt, but it showed its self-restraint in that situation. The centipede didn"t send its main body forward and limited itself to prepare for the exhaustion of one of the experts.
Noah"s appearance made the centipede create another branch, but he didn"t let it complete the activation of its innate ability. A piercing slash came out of the cursed sword. The attack landed on the spike that was transforming right in front of his eyes.
The branch appeared weak during the transformation since it would lose part of the exoskeleton"s protection for a while. The centipede"s soft insides were in the open, so Noah"s piercing attack ended up having incredible effects.
The whole transforming spike exploded after Noah"s fiery energy seeped inside its fabric. The creature gave voice to an angry screech, but the group could barely hear it due to the storms raging around them.
Sword Saint and Alexander were the first to free themselves of the centipede"s attacks.
Sword Saint covered the entire branch with silver sharpness that slowly devoured the exoskeleton and reached its soft insides. Everything fell apart at that point, and the creature"s head shrunk until it returned to its previous form.
Alexander deployed multiple innate abilities at the same time. His third eye allowed him to predict the incoming attacks and deploy accurate counters, which created an array of ethereal skills that could seep past the tough exoskeleton. That seemed to be the only flaw in the creature"s power.
The branch fighting against him eventually collapsed and transformed back into a spike. The other experts slowly managed to succeed in getting free or destroying their branches. The group could finally move forward now, but they opted to set a plan before charging recklessly.
"We were already planning your successor." King Elbas mocked Noah after restraining the creature among fiery arms.
"I don"t know if destroying the main body will help," Noah explained, "But we should at least try that out before fighting against every spike. I"ve seen its body. It"s quite immense."
"I"ll open a path then," Sword Saint announced as the ethereal silver blade in his hands stretched.
"Let me join," Robert commented as his corrosive substance landed on the main body and expanded to create a ma.s.sive purple sphere that enveloped the creature.