The headless quasi-rank 7 Eternal Snake fell onto a frozen region together with the remains of the storm. Its corpse was a mess of injuries and missing chunks of flesh, but Noah didn't feel at ease at that sight.
His instincts didn't stop sending warning signals to his mind even after the Snake lost its head. Noah began to consider an unthinkable possibility, and he sprinted toward the falling corpse to prevent that from happening.
Noah entered his dimension to reach the corpse, but a shockwave spread in the area and forced him to stop sprinting.
The environment had transformed in the short time that Noah had spent inside his dimension. Entire regions had exploded to create storms that surrounded the corpse and protected it from anyone trying to reach it.
More regions continued to explode. Noah felt eventually forced to retreat since a quarter of the world's frozen lands had begun to shoot their ice into the sky to create storms around the Snake's corpse.
'What is even happening?' Noah wondered as he inspected the event from a safe position in the sky.
The Snake didn't activate any ability during the fall since it was technically death. The ice had started surging on its own. It was as if the world had decided to help the creature.
'If only I were slightly stronger,' Noah cursed in his mind.
The storms carried the leader's power. They resembled proper attacks in the quasi-divine rank even if their might came only from the chunks of ice's hardness.
Noah would attempt to cross the storms if his body was on the same level as the leader. Yet, his physical strength was slightly weaker even with the empowerment of his ambition. He would be overwhelmed by the chunks of ice if he tried to reach the creature.
Returning inside the separate dimension appeared to be the best option since he couldn't predict what would happen once the storms quieted down. Still, Noah wanted to learn about the Snake's abilities.
Moreover, his ambition was still empowering his centers of power. Noah could fight while wielding the same prowess that had put the Snake in that condition. That situation didn't sign the end of his attempts to kill the creature.
Noah crossed his legs and sat in the air. He closed his eyes to expand his mind and call upon his power.
Snore slithered out of the fiendish armor and wrapped its body around Noah. Energy moved on its horns as it completed the preparations for its dark beam.
Night appeared and landed on Snore. The peculiar Pterodactyl was ready to fly toward the Snake as soon as it left the storms. The Blood Companion didn't even mind its behavior since it prioritized that hunt's success over its quarrels with the puppet.
The Demonic Sword began to tremble as it rested on Noah's lap. Dark matter began to leak from its shape after it stuffed its fabric with all the energy that it could contain.
Noah's ambition surged as he remained still. His individuality didn't go through any explosive boost. It slowly became more intense as it spread in the environment and empowered everything it touched.
Seconds lasted as if they were minutes. Noah waited for the storms to end as his whole being focused on a simple task. He had to kill the quasi-rank 7 Snake. Nothing else mattered.
Cracks opened in the air around him as his sharpness became more intense. Noah was condensing the entirety of his individuality to complete one task, and his aura reacted to his mindset.
His aura and mental waves became sharper. They destroyed the "Breath" in the area and filled the sky with primary energy.
A dark sphere appeared above Noah at some point. The Black Hole spell began to grow as it absorbed the primary energy accumulated in the environment. Noah also surrounded his figure with a sea of saber-shaped runes that imitated the other spell.
Copies of his fiendish armor slowly appeared next to him. Six of them formed and flew toward the Black Hole spell to wait to receive its energy.
Noah had called upon his entire arsenal for that battle. He didn't know how long it would take for the effects of his individuality to expire, but he would spend that remaining time without holding anything back.
Pieces of ice began to fall on the terrain as the storms lost some of their intensity. The world slowly stabilized, and Noah opened his eyes when he sensed a strong presence at some distance from him.
Noah could see the quasi-rank 7 Eternal Snake standing proudly on one of its frozen regions. All its injuries had healed during the storms. The ice had even rebuilt its entire head and all the missing pieces of flesh.
That wasn't everything. A thick layer of silver ice now covered the creature. Noah had already seen that ability, but the leader's armor appeared far more powerful than the poor-looking ones deployed by the pack in the past.
Noah had many questions. He had seen a magical beast coming back from the dead. His instincts had immediately told him that something was off, but that didn't change how miraculous that ability was.
The Snake didn't die even after it had lost its head. Noah didn't know if it could deploy that ability again or it had conditions attached to that unique feature. Yet, his mind stopped any thought that could divert his attention.
The truth was that Noah didn't care about the Eternal Snake in that situation. Part of him had accepted that he couldn't defeat the creature in that battle, so he only wanted to go all-out. He would be ok with any outcome.
The Snake sensed its peculiar mental state and roared to express that it viewed the battle in the same way. Noah was a worthy opponent in its mind, and it deserved to see everything it had.
Noah straightened himself before waving his hand. His fingers left a black mark on the sky that opened to become a portal. Then, he stabbed his sword inside it.
The Snake didn't understand what Noah was doing, but an unstoppable force suddenly flung him downward. A portal had appeared behind its neck, and the Demonic Sword had come out to launch its attack.
Noah didn't release the energy that it contained. He had revealed the Warp spell to get an idea of the armor's sturdiness, and what he discovered made his expression grow even colder.
The Snakes' leader was a quasi-divine creature. Its strongest techniques would strive toward the ranks beyond the heroic ones. The whole reason why it had reached that stage was that it had already taken a step into the seventh rank.
However, its body was average for a creature on that level. Noah could almost match the creature's physical strength, and that was unthinkable for a beast that was close to becoming a god.
The Snake's healing ability was incredible, but Noah had replicated it in no time. Still, that brim of divine power had to go somewhere, and Noah had placed his bet on the last skill used by the creature.
Those storms had revived the Snake and built an armor. The first part would already be enough to step into the divine realm, but it seemed that the second one carried similar properties.
The ice that made the armor surpassed the level of the leader. It was a proper divine material, which made its protection a divine item.