Noah's dark world wasn't a technique that rank 9 experts could destroy easily after his breakthroughs, but Heaven and Earth had sent many of them. His group saw Dinia and noticed three more privileged cultivators in the liquid stage together with twenty improved assets at different levels.
That massive display of power revealed how deeply Heaven and Earth cared about the non-world. The rulers' group counted nine cultivators in the liquid stage and fifteen in the gaseous stage. That force could reshape entire chunks of the stormy regions in mere seconds, but they stood among the void now, and Noah's team could inspect them.
"Why did Heaven and Earth send so many of you?" Noah voiced in a mocking tone that turned out to be quite effective after the recent events. "I thought they didn't want to sacrifice their precious assets over the non-world."
"We know that you act cocky to hide the fact that you are falling apart," Dinia sneered. "You have exploited the burst of power generated by your breakthroughs to fend us off, but we are in the void now. You have no energy at your disposal. How do you even expect to pay for the drawbacks that afflict your techniques?"
Noah's cold smile broadened, but he didn't answer. Dinia was completely right. An all-out battle against so many powerful experts would be challenging even under normal circumstances. He had no chances now that his body was in a frail state.
King Elbas raised his right hand, and golden lights flashed on his palm as he prepared a series of items inside his body. He was tense, but his face showed no fear. The expert had already understood his role in the imminent battle. Everything would probably depend on him.
Sepunia voiced a cute laugh as a pinkish aura left her figure and vanished among the void. She also prepared herself for the battle, and her body even grew unclear as she started to spread the power of her world.
The dragon couldn't do much. It limited itself to spit its dark liquid while raising its claws toward Heaven and Earth's cultivators. The creature knew that it was the weakest in the group, but its innate ability could still tilt the scales of the battle in its favor.
Dinia and the other cultivators inspected their opponents coldly. They clearly had the upper hand, but Noah's group had proven countless times how that wasn't enough to lead to a victory. Moreover, Heaven and Earth had already calculated that Noah and the others still had the dark metal, so the improved experts couldn't express their true power.
That would still leave Heaven and Earth's side with four privileged cultivators and twenty weakened assets. In theory, that was more than enough to deal with Noah's group, but risks still existed. The dark metal and King Elbas weren't assets that they could underestimate.
The dragon wasn't completely useless either. It naturally opposed Heaven and Earth's assets, and its innate ability made the dark metal potentially endless. Dinia and the others also expected Sepunia to have improved in that short period. It was virtually impossible to remain at the same level when Noah's dantian had reached the ninth rank.
Noah remained the greatest variable. He was strong, too strong, and his frail condition would still allow him to express its full power a few times. That was enough to cause serious problems, especially if he worked together with King Elbas.
Dinia saw losses no matter how he inspected the situation. Part of him wanted to fight to chase after his perfect self, but he had always known that Noah and the others would be able to match that level of power after stepping into the ninth rank. That event felt unreal but still feasible when it came to those resourceful experts.
Luckily for Dinia's group, Heaven and Earth had no interest in Noah for now. The non-world was the priority. The rulers would consider it a victory as long as their opponents didn't gain anything from the monster. After all, Noah's situation was already tragic, so being forced to do nothing would actually worsen his condition.
"Don't do anything stupid," Dinia threatened as he and the other privileged cultivators turned to approach the monster.
Noah's smile vanished as he glanced at King Elbas. The latter limited himself to nod before a series of techniques unfolded in the area. The dark world reappeared, and two different pulling forces absorbed the attacks launched by the improved cultivators. A series of shadows also came out of the technique and approached those twenty experts.
Dinia and his privileged companions noticed the attack, but they ignored the matter as they continued to approach the monster. However, a series of golden lines suddenly appeared on their path and created a barrier that left them no way out. Their expressions even grew colder when they saw that the formation was in the upper tier.
The shadows took less than a second to crash on the twenty improved cultivators. The five in the liquid stage launched different attacks that destroyed those masses of dark matter, but seeds came out of them after the higher energy dispersed. Roots immediately grew from them, and a corrosive aura filled the area, keeping those assets busy.
Meanwhile, the gaseous stage cultivators struggled to destroy the shadows flying in their direction. Still, their improved physical strength allowed them to finish the job once those masses crashed on their figures. Those attacks appeared devoid of traps, except for once since it released a dark figure that cut the expert nearby in half.
The gaseous stage cultivators saw a vertical cut opening through her figure before a series of injuries materialized on both pieces of her body. Noah's destruction detonated without requiring additional attacks, and the expert turned into nothing more than dust in an instant.
The sky sent a white pillar through the void to rebuild the dead expert, but the light bent the dark world enhanced the two pulling forces inside it. The dust left behind from the cultivator also fell on the technique and let the dark matter absorb it.
A series of dark beams followed. Snore didn't come out of the dark world, but it directly attacked the improved cultivators, but they performed evasive maneuvers. Yet, Night used that chance to take another one by surprise and kill him on the spot.
Noah continued to absorb energy from the white pillar until Heaven and Earth decided to stop sending power into the void. It was clear that nothing could reach their assets with the dark world, Shafu, and Duanlong hindering the process.
Two gaseous stage improved cultivators had died in a few exchanges. The other thirteen were busy retreating to avoid falling prey to the dark beams and Night. Instead, the five liquid stage experts were still busy dealing with the threatening roots since dark metal appeared on their sharp tips whenever they were about to shoot forward.
That outcome would usually satisfy Noah, but King Elbas disagreed with his performance. He applied a few final modifications to the barrier before adjusting his crown and turning toward his leader to ask a simple question. "Are you done?"
"I will still take part of the energy even if I let you handle the battle on your own," Noah replied after understanding what his companion meant with his question.
"You say that as if you had other options," King Elbas chuckled before raising both his hands.
An army of puppets with different shapes and levels of power quickly came out of King Elbas' figure and filled the entirety of the cage.. Dinia and the other privileged cultivators approached his position, but a blinding light suddenly filled the entire area and prevented them from proceeding forward.