Chapter 397: 397. Layers

'Ghostly claws spell, power up to the fifth rank, limited to the darkness element. The caster launches several ethereal claws that can pass through any kind of matter and inflict a limited amount of damage.'

The description of the spell ran through Noah's mind as he saw the lines of blood coming out of the inscribed cultivator's mouth.

Noah's new spell wasn't spectacularly powerful but it was extremely troublesome to deal with.

First of all, the claws were ethereal, they could pass through any kind of defense or material, specific methods were needed to defend against them but they were hard to find and consumed a large amount of mental energy.

His Mental tremor spell was the same, both the mental shockwave and the ethereal claws were mainly made of mental energy, it was obvious that only a defensive method mainly composed of mental energy could block them.

Also, the claws didn't necessarily have a straight trajectory, Noah could control them at will and avoid eventual defenses that his enemies deployed.

In that situation, the Ghostly claws were only slightly affected by the ice layer and maintained most of their power when they hit the internal organs of the cultivator.

'This spell is a proper long-range attack that I've always lacked. Its consumption is even quite low considering that it is a spell of the darkness element.'

Noah quickly evaluated the effects that his new spell had in an actual battle.

Spells of the darkness element usually had explosive effects capable of great might, the Demonic form and the Mental tremor spells were a perfect example of that.

Yet, the consumption of "Breath" and mental energy for the activation of such spells was extremely high, a sort of balance was enforced by the fairness of Heaven and Earth after all.

The Ghostly claws, instead, lacked the usual power of the spells of the darkness element but they expended far less energy to be created.

Also, their ethereal form made up for that lack of power, Noah could just focus on the sensible areas of his enemy when he attacked.

That was exactly what had happened in the battle.

Noah had launched his new spell which passed through Heilong and the ice layer, crashing on the internal organs of the inscribed man and inflicting some damage.

'Being able to attack while defending is nice but my opponent has deeper reserves of energy since he is in the liquid stage, the dimension made a perfectly lifelike copy of him, it's safe to assume that even his dantian contains the proper amount of "Breath".'

The inscribed man's battle style was quite straightforward: He would create the ice layer when attacked and use that moment to launch ice spears.

Also, the ice shards that accumulated on the battlefield could be used to empower his spells which, coupled with his deeper reserves of "Breath", favored him in a long battle.

Another round of spears crashed on Heilong's body, the pain endured by the Blood companion was shared by Noah but his mind couldn't be bothered by that, he was completely focused in finding a way to end that battle quickly.

His attention went to his companions, Nate was suppressing his opponent but the other three seemed on a stalemate, their power seemed evenly matched.

'Nate will likely defeat the liquid stage in front of him and help the others but I don't know if we will be given time to rest after this battle, it's better to let them preserve their strength.'

Noah thought that he could just passively defend and wait for his teammates to help him but he didn't know what kind of trials they will face deeper in the mountain range.

The strongest assets in his team were the solid stage cultivators, it was better to let them preserve their energy.

Also, he wanted to see if he could really defeat a liquid stage cultivator on his own.

'Complete Demonic form is a no, I'll just risk disrupting the other battles. The partial one has to be enough.'

Noah decided his approach and waited for the barrage of spears to end.

That was already the inscribed man's fifth attack, more than thirty sharp spears were created and launched toward the black dragon defending the human with its body.

When the last of the spears hit Heilong's body, Noah absorbed the intact part of his puppet and shot in a straight line toward the inscribed man.

Shockwaves resounded under his feet as he sprinted at full speed, it didn't take him even an instant to cross the ten meters dividing him and his enemy.

The man watched Noah raising his sabers to attack but his expressionless face didn't even flicker, he simply waved his sleeve, shattering the layer of ice in front of him.

Noah hadn't expected such a move but his reaction time wasn't slow, Heilong's body engulfed his figure as soon as he saw the sharp white shards nearing him.

Some cuts appeared on his body, Heilong had blocked most of the attack but some shard still managed to hit him.

Also, ice began to spread from his wounds, Noah felt a piercing cold sensation that tried to affect his movements.

Black smoke immediately came out of his body, the Demonic form destroyed anything except for its user, the ice soon stopped spreading and was quickly devoured by Noah's corrosive smoke.

The liquid "Breath" in his circulatory system was expended at a fast pace to heal his injuries, the ability of his Yin body kept Noah battle-ready in any situation!

'Fuck!'

Noah cursed in his mind when he saw that another defensive layer of ice was forming right between him and the inscribed man, according to his calculation, his sabers wouldn't be able to reach him before the shield was formed.

Heilong roared as it bit downward, another layer of ice appeared right over the man's skin, preventing the dragon's fangs from stabbing deeper, only some superficial wounds had been inflicted.

Meanwhile, the ice-shield continued to form, it began to envelop Heilong's figure and even Noah felt a cold sensation trying to affect his mind.

Noah's face appeared at the bottom of his companion's throat, his eyes were bloodshot as a mental beam was shot from them.

The Mental tremor spell successfully hit the sea of consciousness of the inscribed man, his sphere trembled violently as it tried to defend against the piercing force that was making its way on its walls.

The man's focus was finally disrupted and the two layers of ice crumbled as he stopped providing mental energy and "Breath" to them, Noah had finally broken through his defenses!