Chapter 76: Noah's trial

Noah released his sword qi and slashed all the incoming attacks. He then focused on the Lava Plumes and charged at them without wasting any second.

The lava plumes noticed that he was coming closer and began charging up for a strong attack.

However, Noah anticipated that he would be quicker and could interrupt them before they finished charging up their attack.

He had covered half the distance when suddenly, the Ice Troll raised a massive Ice Wall ahead of Noah and also launched some Ice Shards at him.

Noah had to stop for a second and jump away before proceeding towards the Lava Plumes.

This time though, two Earth Hands emerged and suddenly grabbed his feet.

Before Noah could use his Sword Qi to cut them apart, the Earth Hands threw him towards the Lava Plumes.

Noah grew serious as he was actually going towards his target. He controlled the trajectory of his body and used the Heaven Rending Stance in mid-air.

Just as he was about to launch the sword slash, the Lava Plumes raised his head and spouted a torrent of flames that enveloped Noah.

These flames then suddenly burst apart, sending Noah in the opposite direction.

Noah's body soon touched the ground and he raised his head, staring at these Elemental Essences.

Noah changed his target and immediately launched at the Ice Trolls.

The Ice Trolls awaited Noah and then suddenly used the 'Ice Floor' skill to freeze the ground.

Noah's footing slipped and his little body was struck with multiple punches from the Ice Trolls.

Even though he was punched so badly, Noah grinned.

"Quick Draw Technique!"

Noah quickly drew his sword and attacked the nearest Ice Troll to him.

The power of his Sword Skill wasn't to be underestimated. He was using it while empowering it with his Sword Qi so it was quite strong.

The Ice Trolls though remained emotionless. The three of them nearest to that Ice Troll immediately used a skill to counter Noah.

This skill was a rare Ice Technique called "Absolute Zero Defense!"

This skill required the three Ice Trolls to lower the temperature of their ice and created an unbreakable defense.

Noah's sword struck against that Absolute Zero Defense but other than creating a crack, he couldn't move his sword any further.

Before he could attempt another skill, another Ice Troll approached him and punched him away as if he was a rag doll.

When Noah looked up, he was shocked to see that ahead of him were the gnomes.

Taking a quick decision, Noah launched his swords at the gnomes ahead of him.

His attack was quite swift and through this, he managed to take the head of two gnomes.

However, one gnome actually caught his sword using the Earth Palms.

His sword stayed frozen in those Earth Palms no matter how hard he attempted to recall it or employ the Sword Qi.

"Be quicker," Noah muttered himself as a gigantic Earth Hammer struck his body.

This time, he was thrown in the Lava Plumes' direction.

Because Noah no longer held his sword, he had to resort to using pure Sword Qi.

But he didn't target the Lava Plumes. In fact, he changed his direction to the Ice Trolls and launched dozens of sword qi at them.

The sword qi was incredibly quick. And before the Ice Trolls could raise their shields, their heads had all been pierced.

However, attacking the Ice Trolls meant giving up the defense against the Lava Plumes.

Those Lava Plumes didn't give up the opportunity to launch multiple fireballs and burn Noah!

Fortunately, Noah had kept just enough sword qi around his body to reduce the damage he received from the flames or else, he would have burned to death.

Noah's body soon touched the ground and he continued to roll because of the large momentum.

By the time Noah stood up, he noticed that the Ice Trolls had already regenerated. Also, the 2 gnomes he had killed with his sword were back to normal.

A forced smile appeared on Noah's face as he thought 'This is really difficult.'

Currently, he was best aware of his physical condition. Because of taking on all those attacks, there were multiple serious injuries on his body.

His skin had been shredded by the ice and earth strikes, resulting in serious damage to his body. And the flames had burned his skin badly.

He was now losing so much blood that he was unable to stay conscious.

Noah then remembered Azaroth's words, "I only have a single instruction for you. Do whatever you can to endure and continue fighting."

"Mysterious Qin Technique."

Noah began to absorb the Ardor in nature according to the cultivation formula given to him. As he entered his battle state, he concentrated on the cultivation formula while also observing the battlefield.

The Ardor around Noah continued to get sucked into his body as he launched himself at the Gnomes.

His priority was getting his sword back. Even though he was capable of using the sword qi, it was nothing compared to when he used the sword and sword qi together.

The gnomes were prepared for him and launched rocks at Noah.

Noah observed them all and used a movement technique named: Shadow Dance.

This movement skill allowed Noah to narrowly dodge the rocks and slowly make his way towards his sword. This movement skill wasn't for increasing speed or give the user speed bursts.

It was specifically used for combat so that the user can dodge whatever the opponent throws at him.

As the user of Enlightened Sword Heart, Noah could display this skill perfectly even though he was under such high pressure.

One of its main drawbacks was that it required a lot of Ardor. For a 1 Star Rank Warrior, that's a lot of Ardor.

Just after employing it once, Noah felt as half of his Ardor was exhausted.

But he didn't care. Because he had reached his destination.

The hilt of the sword was in his grasps.

Noah tried to pull the sword out of those Earth Palms but his strength was lacking. Even after training with the gravity arrays and increasing his strength greatly, he still couldn't pull the sword out.

Once he realized that strength wouldn't do the trick, Noah changed his approach immediately.

Behind Noah, the gnomes were also preparing to launch their attacks at him.

Noah strongly planted his feet on the ground and strengthened his grasp over his sword.

He controlled his breathing and waited for some moments.

At this moment, the gnomes had launched their rocks at Noah. Innumerable rocks and stones were tossed at Noah.

Noah remained fixated on his position for a second more before he suddenly whispered the name of the technique in his mind 'Heaven Rending Stance!'

His sword began to glow as it was strengthened by dozens of Sword Qi.

The Earth Palm that held the sword began to crack and in one swift movement, Noah cut apart the Earth Palm that held his sword.

However, cutting the Earth Palms wasn't his main objective. He had always been thinking of destroying the gnomes.

He continued to use the Heaven Rending Skill while turning his body towards the Gnomes.

The multiple sword qi was released from his Sword as it destroyed any rock or stone coming at him.

If a Swordsman had seen this scene, he would have surely exclaimed "Sword Domain" in excitement.

What Noah was using wasn't exactly a sword domain but it could definitely be taking the first step towards creating a sword domain.

Meanwhile, the sword discharged a slice towards the gnomes, overflowing with Sword Qi, thanks to the tremendous velocity he had acquired by rotating his body 180 degrees.

It appeared as if its power was increasing as it traveled more distance.

The Absolute Zero Wall suddenly appeared ahead of the gnomes, intending to protect them. In the distance, all the Ice Trolls cooperating to make the Absolute Zero Wall as strong as they could.

The Heaven Rending Skill and the Absolute Zero Wall clashed for a couple of seconds. In the end, it was the Absolute Zero Wall that won.

However, even though it had won, the Ice wall was badly damaged.

The Ice wall was badly damaged so the gnomes checked Noah's position.

Surprisingly, Noah wasn't at that spot at all.

The trail of blood seemed fresh and the gnomes turned their heads towards the Lava Plumes.

Noah had already reached the Lava Plumes' location and unleashed the fastest wide-range technique he possessed.

'Fleeting Cresent Slash- Horizontal!'

After activating this technique, Noah released pure sword force from his sword. It was a mixture of his Ardor and Sword Qi.

This time, Noah used a Horizontal Slash to sweep the entire area.

If it was against a single enemy, Noah would have used a vertical slash since it dealt more damage.

All the Lava Plumes vanished without leaving any trace.

Noah didn't remain on his spot for long. He had learned from that previous beating that he had to constantly be on the move.

Fortunately, because he had trained like a demon with those gravity arrays, the stamina wasn't much of a problem.

The Mysterious Qin Technique was recovering his lost Ardor and also healing him. By now, the blood had stopped flowing.

He had only fought for 10 minutes or so. He still had 50 minutes left.