Chapter 1932 - 1932. Innate Defense

The skeletal cultivator was stable but not in the best mental condition. He pointed his hand at Noah when he refused to give a proper answer, and a sword shot out.

The blade was white and big. Its tip alone was three meters tall as it flew toward Noah and closed the distance between him in no time.

Noah's mind had never been sharper. It worked at full power and benefited from the anger inherited from Robert. It studied the might behind the cultivator's attack in Heaven and Earth's system, and black lines quickly covered the entirety of its structure.

The sword exploded before it could reach Noah. He didn't wave his hands nor move, but the attack detonated and released a storm of tiny shards. Some tried to land on him, but they melted and released dark-purple trails when they got close to his figure.

The expert was in the liquid stage, but the fall in his cultivation level had turned him into an existence that stood even below newly advanced entities. Noah wouldn't feel confident against a normal opponent at that level, but he saw a path toward victory there. Moreover, something didn't allow him to back down.

"Move aside already!" The skeleton screamed while raising his arm.

A giant sword materialized above Noah. The weapon started to fall as whiteness shone from its structure. Still, it vanished from his senses when the world in his vision transformed into an array of lines.

The skeleton's eyes flickered when he sensed a change in the structure of the world. He instinctively waved his hands backward, and a sword started to materialize behind him. Yet, sword-shaped roots landed on his right forearm and interrupted his attack.

The half-materialized swords continued to fly forward and triggered Noah's defenses. He had sprinted behind the expert, but he didn't manage to be quick enough to attack before him.

Black lines appeared on the unstable swords, but they crashed on the defensive aura that had started to surround Noah before his destruction could affect them properly. They shattered and melted during the clash, but shards managed to pierce that protective layer and fly toward his body.

Holes opened in Noah's figure. His body was basically in the ninth rank with all his empowerments, and it could even match magical beasts fairly deep into the lower tier. However, his opponent remained a liquid stage cultivator, and even his damaged attacks could hurt him.

The shards pierced Noah from side to side, creating holes in his chest, shoulders, and arms. Still, his gaze didn't waver. He continued to stare deep into the expert's white eyes while he let his roots go crazy.

His understanding flowed toward the parasite and empowered its corroding power. Noah had forced the plant to generate ranged attacks in the past, but the aspects of Robert's law had fused with that ability to give birth to a dense fluid that had both intense and invasive properties.

The dark-purple liquid released by the roots could instantly destroy everything unable to resist its power, but it changed its approach against stronger assets. The skeleton's innate defenses had the shape of swords piled onto each other to create an armor that hovered above its figure, but dark shades started to spread from the spot where the parasite had landed.

The parasite couldn't corrode it, but it managed to infect the powerful defensive method with its dark-purple liquid. The shard that had hit Noah tried to push him backward, but his insane physical prowess allowed him to remain in his spot, so the plant could continue applying its effects.

Noah even tried to dig his sword-shaped roots forward, but cracks opened on his weapon as he pushed the expert backward. He couldn't pierce the cultivator's innate defenses with his physical prowess, but the corrosive liquid eventually destabilized that armor of swords.

The cultivator was preparing a second attack, but Noah's weapon suddenly pierced his innate defense and landed on his bones. The parasite promptly made its roots grow, and they entangled themselves around the skeletal arm before the expert decided to jump backward.

The roots didn't want to let go of the expert, but the latter severed their connection with the parasite by making his figure release a wave of sharpness. Everything on his body shattered at that point, but he quickly noticed that his arm was no more. It had fallen during his retreat.

Part of the release of sharp energy hit Noah and opened multiple cuts on his figure, but that didn't stop him from charging ahead. Yet, his target wasn't the retreating cultivator. He stopped next to a spot that released dark-purple gas.

"You aren't even connected to your main body," Noah complained while picking the item releasing the toxic gas.

The parasite had learnt from Noah's destruction during the attack, so it had focused on the shoulder to sever the entire arm. Still, the small chunks of roots that had survived the sharp waves by hiding behind the bones had continued to consume the limb after falling on the ground.

Noah noticed how those roots mostly lost energy. They had no connection to the parasite, and they weren't big enough to contain that power by themselves. The bodies of the cultivators weren't too valuable, and that was even truer for that skeletal limb, but it remained a rank 9 material.

A wave of fiery dark matter came out of Noah and burnt the limb and roots to absorb their power. The energy contained inside the arm managed to close a few superficial cuts, and he could only sigh at that sight. He remained injured, but his condition didn't matter too much as long as he could destabilize the expert's mind even more.

The cultivator had grown angrier after inspecting that scene. Noah had actually managed to hurt him on his own. He couldn't let that insult go, but Noah acted before he could raise his free hand again.

The expert directly summoned a giant sword behind him, and Noah materialized there for an instant, but a crack that led to the void opened in that spot when he sprinted again. He reappeared in front of the cultivator's chest, and his sword-shaped roots landed on the part of the barrier that defended his rib cage.

"You won't have it eas-," The cultivator started to shout, but surprise filled his confused mind when he saw Noah's weapon piercing his innate defense in a matter of seconds.

The roots had required half of their previous time to overcome the defense. Noah had learnt more about that innate technique after piercing it once, so he could destroy it even faster. An array of black lines also spread further than the dark-purple liquid while the armor of swords continued to shatter.

The cultivator had to divert his attack toward the roots that landed on his rib cage. He couldn't let them apply their effects for too long, but he suffered injuries even if he retreated quickly and launched a sharp wave of energy that severed Noah's attack from the parasite again.

The expert landed in the distance, and his sternum fell apart once his feet touched the ground. His heart was in the open now, and only his ribs continued to protect his organs. He didn't know how it was possible, but Noah was actually defeating him.