Chapter 289: 289. Escalation

Gasps, astonished expressions, surprised shouts, those were the reactions of the soldiers of the Empire after witnessing Noah's actions.

They have seen how a cultivator in the liquid stage had successfully barged into the enemy lines and killed tens of blue cultivators before beheading the red one that had come to stop him.

Defeating a cultivator in a higher stage but in the same rank was not an impossible feat, many geniuses in the past had succeeded in such an act.

However, Noah's actions were smooth and fast, the red cultivator wasn't even able to attack before he was killed.

They had no doubt that Noah was in the liquid stage, they knew about the terms of the agreement between the Odrea nation and the Empire after all.

That meant that his amount of "Breath" was limited, they could surely overwhelm him with their sheer number.

Yet, Noah's actions made one thing clear: taking him down would come at a heavy price!

That's why no one wanted to make the first move.

The soldiers of the Empire simply stared at Noah collecting the corpse of the red cultivator as they encircled him.

They were waiting for the moment in which he resumed his offensive, their focus was reaching the peak as they stared at the hooded figure.

Nevertheless, Noah didn't charge at them.

Instead, he began to run in the direction of the Odrea army.

His Demonic swords were unsheathed and the First Form of the Ashura was performed as he made his way back to the allies' ranks.

'Is he running away?'

That was the first thought of the soldiers around him, they couldn't help but be slightly relieved by that course of events.

"What are you doing!? Chase him!"

A loud shout resounded right behind them.

Two cultivators with red robes were running at full speed toward the escaping Noah, their eyes were filled with anger as they crossed undisturbed the crowd of blue soldiers.

Everything became clear in the soldiers' mind, the Empire had decided to double its efforts in taking down the hooded cultivator.

The soldiers began to chase Noah but he was already far away in the distance, no one dared to stand in front of him after seeing his battle prowess, they simply limited themselves to attack his sides.

Yet, the smartest of them had realized something from that turn of events.

'He has escaped before we could perceive the arrival of the red soldiers, what exactly is the level of his sea of consciousness?'

Noah was in the liquid stage after all, it was normal to think that his mental sphere must have just crossed the threshold for the second rank.

The reality though was different, Noah had begun to escape right before the reinforcement came, his timing was too perfect to consider it a coincidence.

Meanwhile, Noah was returning at high speed toward his allies.

The soldiers of the Empire didn't dare to block his path, he basically never used his inscribed sabers while returning to the Odrea army.

The area where the battle was held came into his field of view, the valley didn't allow for all those soldiers to fight each other at the same time, the battles were limited to where the two armies clashed.

'It should involve red and black cultivators as the night approaches.'

Noah knew that blue cultivators were only cannon fodder, just those few cultivators in the third rank were enough to vanquish all of them.

'I should just lay low till the end of the battle, I don't believe that the Empire would leave another red soldier unguarded.'

He had done enough in that battle, he didn't want to expose himself too much for a nation that had basically imprisoned him.

'Let them fight their war, I only need to collect red cultivators.'

Noah saw an opening in one of the battles in the front line and hastily jumped toward it.

One of the soldiers of the Empire had his head severed from behind his back as Noah passed him and returned inside the allied army.

That small battle was then won by the soldiers of the Odrea country, they were more experienced after all, that small advantage given by Noah had allowed them to inflict fatal damages on all their opponents.

The soldiers that watched his retreat looked at him in disdain, they weren't aware of his feats behind the enemy lines so they simply thought that he wanted to find a safe position where to hide.

Yet, they were focused on the war, they didn't have time to care about one deserting soldier.

From his safe position, Noah could calmly recover his mental energy and pay attention to the continuation of the battle.

The soldiers of the Odrea nation had the advantage from the beginning, they slowly pushed back the army of the Empire.

Time passed and the number of battles won by their side rose, the casualties on the side of the Empire increased at a fast pace.

The Odrea army would substitute the wounded and exhausted soldiers even during their battles, they were doing their best to limit the deaths as much as they could.

The Empire, however, was using that situation to skim their ranks, they would simply let the soldiers in the front die before sending reinforcements.

"The numbers are completely on your favor this time. You lost only around twenty soldiers while we have suffered losses for more than one hundred and fifty cultivators. I think it's time for the red ones to join the battle."

Seth spoke and whispered some words on his token.

The one hundred and ninety-nine red soldiers of the Empire immediately joined the front lines, their actions were fast, they were ready to move a long time ago.

However, before they could reach the defenseless blue cultivators of the Odrea nation, the red cultivators of that side had already moved to intercept them, Lisa wasn't taken by surprise by Seth's quick decision.

The battles escalated, every fight had blue and red cultivators fighting together from that moment on, the waves of energy released in each of those fights made even Noah wary.