Chapter 1768 - 1768. Dragon

The entire surface was falling apart. Cracks stretched as far as Noah could see, and they spread deeper into the underground world to reach hidden areas of the higher plane.

The world was crumbling right in front of the army's eyes. Noah and the others couldn't do anything to stop that event. Most of the regions weren't under their control, so they could only stare helplessly as the apocalypse unfolded.

"We must return to the Legion's domain," Noah roared in a low tone before shouting, "Now!"

A wave of dark matter enveloped all the weaker experts and forced them to gather into a dense black sea. The dark world then took the shape of a massive six-armed dragon that shot forward as soon as its structure stabilized.

King Elbas and the other powerful experts sat on the dragon's back while the creature speeded forward. Noah activated Isaac's ability and made the dark matter gain a suction force that gathered the energy in the environment.

The surface was crumbling, and the ground was releasing massive waves of "Breath" into the sky, so Noah could gain a lot from deploying a suction force with the entire dragon-shaped dark world.

Noah needed that suction force to keep the dragon-shaped dark world and Isaac's ability active. He was carrying thousands of divine experts and empowering his power at the same time. His consumption of darkness and mental energy was massive.

The world continued to shatter while the massive dragon flew across the sky, but something slowly changed in its behavior. The largest boulders escaped the pulling force and gathered in multiple spots to give birth to giants that started to fight each other.

It seemed that Heaven and Earth weren't happy with simple destruction. They wanted to be thorough, even if they had to force their very world to fight against itself.

"This is crazy," King Elbas commented while studying the environment under the dragon.

Boulders flew everywhere as the giants fought against each other. The ground that made them shattered and released its energy back into the sky before flying higher. Heaven and Earth were trying to get rid of the entire higher plane, and the sight was breathtaking.

Confused packs of magical beasts appeared from time to time. The creatures that couldn't fly fell endlessly toward the depths of the shattering higher plane and disappeared from Noah's vision, but the other remained afloat while trying to avoid the dangerous giants.

Most of those giants radiated peak rank 8 power. Some of them even touched the limits of the ninth rank, but their level quickly fell as they kept clashing with their peers. Heaven and Earth didn't care about creating powerful puppets. They only wanted to make that energy disperse.

"Come with us!" Noah roared when he saw a group of flying wolves led by a middle tier specimen.

The creatures hesitated for an instant, but Noah's pride soon took control of their actions. The wolves timidly flew toward the massive dragon and pierced its dark matter after Noah roared a few reminders.

The same scene happened multiple times. Noah welcomed every flying pack of magical beasts inside the dragon while forcing the dark world to expand. The effort became too taxing for his centers of power at some point, but the black hole sent energy to compensate for that stress.

Still, Noah's condition continued to worsen as the journey continued. He kept taking every pack of magical beasts on his path inside the dragon, and he even flew to save some of the falling creatures that had managed to remain attached to the giants.

King Elbas and the others shot worried glances toward him when they saw sweat falling from his forehead. They had seen Noah in worse conditions, but that situation was different from a battle.

"You don't have to save everyone," The rat king announced while adjusting its crown and stabbing its short nails on the dragon's back to endure the high speed. "A true leader knows when to sacrifice troops."

"I'm not saving anyone," Noah snorted. "Heaven and Earth want to get rid of the products of a flawed system. Ensuring their survival is only a method to make the rulers' plan fail."

"But you can't burn yourself just to insult them," Wilfred commented.

"True leaders do whatever they want," Noah laughed as calculations happened in his mind.

Noah believed that the Legion's domain was still in one piece since it was too big to fall from the cracks opening in its surrounding areas. The transformation had also been more thorough there, and the many dispensers placed by King Elbas had made his influence nourish the surface for a long time.

The Legion's domain probably had the toughest terrain of the entire higher plane. Its depths still belonged to Heaven and Earth since Noah had preferred to move most of his influence toward his troops on the surface, but there was a high chance that the mutated landmass was surviving the apocalypse.

The Demonic Deduction technique couldn't help Noah with those calculations. He wanted to understand if his power would last long enough to reach the Legions' domain, and his conclusions didn't seem to give positive answers.

Yet, Noah could still push his speed forward. He didn't initially activate his ambition due to the poor duration of its effects. Still, that feature wouldn't be a problem if he reached his destination before his potential depleted its power.

'I'm still looking at months of travel,' Noah cursed in his mind. 'I can't keep my ambition up for so long. I need to wait as much as I can.'

The shockwaves released by the clashes of the giants tried to land on the dragon, but Noah's companions took care of fending them off. They couldn't help Noah with his technique, but they didn't hesitate to use everything they had to improve his situation.

Noah's mind grew heavy even if the black hole was diverting most of its energy toward that center of power. It was hard to manage the dragon, keep Isaac's ability active, and recruit the sparse packs of magical beasts on the road at the same time. He was reaching his limits, but his eyes never stopped looking ahead.

The suction force flowing out of the dragon gave Noah the entirety of the gathered energy, but his centers of power kept on growing empty.

Even the massive waves of energy taken from the environment weren't enough for that feat. Noah was depleting too much power too quickly, but he didn't have other options.

The black hole couldn't do miracles. It tried to increase the efficiency between the output and consumption of power, but Noah's situation remained grim. Still, his calculations told him that everything would improve soon. He only had to cover enough distance.

'Now!' Noah shouted in his mind at some point during the flight, and his aura intensified.

His ambition skyrocketed and gave the entirety of its potential to the techniques involved with his journey. The dragon accelerated, the amount of energy generated by Isaac's ability increased, and the condition of his centers of power improved.

The ambition was taking the weight of part of that insane quest, and Noah would have to pay the price later on. Yet, he didn't care for now. His mind could only think about returning to the Legion's domain.

The dragon was too fast to let the packs of magical beasts on the road enter its structure willingly. The dark matter stretched whenever a lifeform appeared in its range and seized it before trapping it into its insides.

Noah gave voice to roars from time to time to submit the trapped magical beasts, and the dragon inevitably grew crowded even if he kept enlarging its size.

Then, a black landmass covered by a blue halo eventually unfolded in his vision. Noah mustered his strength to cross the last kilometers that separated him from the Legion's domain. He almost fainted during the process, but he remained in control of the dragon until it reached its destination.

The creature of dark matter shattered at that point, and Noah's vision went dark. Everyone fell from the sky, and the various experts ensured that the non-flying magical beasts landed safely.

As for Noah, Snore materialized among the sky and let him lie on its back before reaching the black ground.