Chapter 427: 427. Castle

When conquering and isolating an island, rumors would be kept inside the Chasing Demon sect, they couldn't reach the other organizations.

Yet, the sect had received the help of the Resistance on the third day, it was impossible to contain some of the most amazing matters a secret.

One of those was the fact that the Chasing Demon sect controlled and had isolated more than thirty peripheral islands by then, that matter wasn't a huge blow to the main branches of the legal organizations but it would surely affect them in the long-run.

The other one concerned Noah.

A rank 3 cultivator in the gaseous stage able to fight against solid stage cultivators wasn't a small matter, some of the witnesses to his battles still suspected that he couldn't maintain that power for too long but that didn't decrease the value of such a feat!

Also, Noah seemed in charge in the eyes of the cultivators belonging to the Resistance, that alone was already enough to raise his status.

It didn't take much for those pieces of information to spread to the other underground organizations, completely freeing the archipelago from the continent's control was something that the Hive had always hoped for but never had the strength to pursue.

However, the Chasing Demon sect had taken the first step and even managed to be successful in those initial days of battle, many began to suspect that the Inheritance had fallen in its hands.

That led to many other branches of the Hive to come out in the open and join the fight, the precise terms of the alliance between those underground organizations were negotiated by the elders, the assets in the human ranks simply saw more and more cultivators helping them as the battle continued.

Days passed quickly, the circle of siege and rest didn't give much free time to the cultivators but any successful battle provided incredible gains.

It wasn't just a matter of territory, a vast stream of resources was successfully stolen from the legal organizations and divided between the branches of the Hive that had taken part in those battles.

Of course, the Chasing Demon sect took the biggest share since they had started that war.

The battle on the seventh day ended, more than eighty rank 3 cultivators together with an army of cultivators in the second rank successfully conquered an inscribed castle that was created for defense purposes.

The battle had been harsh, the formations on the surface of the castle were intricate and the structure contained deep reserves of Credits, making it able to sustain the siege for a long time.

Yet, that huge number of strong cultivators, coupled with the joint pieces of information shared by the organization from which they came from, was enough to take the defenses of the castle down.

After the defenses went down, it was just a matter of overwhelming the few soldiers inside with their numbers, it was a simple and quick onslaught.

Many casualties occurred on the unorthodox organizations' side though, especially when considering the rank 2 cultivators that had been used as cannon fodder.

Noah read the reports as he sat on the battlefield surrounded by his troops, he didn't provide much help that day since the only way to take down the castle was through sheer power so he didn't need to hide and rest.

'Almost two hundred rank 2 cultivators lost and even one in the third rank has died, we definitely need to reorganize after today.'

Noah thought as he analyzed the losses suffered from his sect.

The battle against the inscribed castle had been the harsher one so far, many rank 3 cultivators had died under the counterattacks of the defensive formation or due to the attacks launched by the soldiers in its insides.

All in all, the Chasing Demon sect had suffered more losses than the other underground organizations: The sect had fought for seven days straight, deploying its human assets in many different islands to maximize the conquest speed.

Yet, that approach wasn't fruitless.

The sect now controlled more than fifty islands and had pillaged the valuable resources contained in them.

That type of control wasn't the hidden one that it was used to have, it was a proper rule over the islands, the captains stationed there were quite thrilled to openly rule on the surface.

'Together with the other underground organizations, the Hive now controls more than ninety peripheral islands, we can completely isolate the archipelago now. The legal organizations shouldn't attack too soon, their cautious nature will make them wait for the reinforcements from the continent which should give enough time for part of the copying technique to be set.'

Noah reviewed the situation in his mind.

He knew more details about the reasons behind the battle plan and knew why his next orders were to defend the conquered islands.

'I guess I can resume training for a period now. The sect wants me to stay on the surface and defend this castle once they set another defensive formation, I'll ask to prepare a suitable training room inside it then.'

Noah planned his next moves and was quite eager to go back in seclusion, he still had the strongest spells to analyze and he wanted to spend some time deducing cultivation techniques with the Divine deduction technique.

He quickly sent mental messages to Kate, the leader of the formations' faction, in which he illustrated the precise standards that his new training area must have.

Many gazes were shot in his direction, Noah was still on the battlefield after all, the forces belonging to other underground organizations paid a lot of attention to the sect that had started the war.

Of course, that attention was ultimately redirected toward Noah since he was the one leading the troops of the sect.

His identity had long been linked to that of Noah Balvan, he had fought for four days together with other organizations after all, it wasn't hard to link him to the criminal of the Utra nation when his aptitude was revealed.

Also, his exceptional battle prowess was something that further publicized his name, almost every member of the Hive was aware that Noah Balvan was in charge of the human assets of the Chasing Demon sect.

'I wonder who the Utra nation will send from the continent, I wouldn't be surprised if they learnt about me and were to use this information to their advantage.'

Noah worried as he stood up and led his troops inside the castle which was going to be his home for a while.