Chapter 520: 520. Trap

Noah had always known that the Demonic form spell was his strongest asset.

However, there were many ways to counter the incredible power that his spell carried, especially when he was against experienced heroic cultivators.

His enemies could just stall for time and wait for his "Breath" or mental energy to be depleted, its excessive consumption of energies balanced the higher power of the complete Demonic form, Noah would always end up exhausted before his enemies if he weren't able to defeat them quickly.

Also, the Demonic form spell was his signature move, his identity would be easily discovered if he was to activate the armor made of corrosive black smoke.

Once an experienced heroic cultivator learnt his identity, it would activate the necessary countermeasures, leaving his powerful body as his only hidden ability.

That was the reason why Noah hadn't activated his most powerful spell before being right in front of the woman from the Papral nation, he needed for his enemy to understand his identity only when it was too late for her to exploit the weaknesses of his spell.

Truth to be told, the woman had suspected Noah's identity since he had used the Ghostly claws spell, but the fiendish form that had appeared in front of her gave her the last confirmation that she needed.

"Noah Balvan, the reports said that you were a promising human cultivator, I know now that they had underestimated you."

The woman's voice resounded from behind the blue flames, her spell and Noah's black smoke fought each other in the air as they tried to overwhelm each other.

Noah saw how his black smoke was pushed back by the combination of the woman's spell with her inscribed torch, she seemed to be able to drain all the fire still lingering in the sky to fuel her attack.

The spears behind Noah vanished as their flames were being drained to fight the Demonic form, the blue fire slowly burned the black cloud around Noah.

'I can't beat her.'

Noah realized when he saw that even his most powerful attack wasn't enough to defeat that heroic cultivator.

'Yet, I don't have to directly kill her to win.'

Noah thought as he raised his right arm in the sky.

The pressure radiated by the blue flames hindered his movements, Noah knew that he wouldn't be able to perform his martial art in that situation.

However, he had already decided to leave the killing to something else.

Noah stored his weapons as he lowered his right arm, his hand closed into a fist as it ran through the sea of flames to reach the woman.

The black smoke around his arm was burned as Noah punched through her defensive spell, that punch carried all the physical strength that his body was capable of.

A hybrid's body near the peak of the middle tier of the fourth rank, a secret art that brought the capabilities of such a body to its limits, and the Demonic form spell that further increased Noah's strength, there were very few beings in the fourth rank that could match such sheer power.

Noah felt the skin around his knuckles burn, the protection of the black armor had dispersed in that point, and the blue flames were consuming more of it as his fist continued to descend.

Then, Noah's fist connected with the woman's shoulder.

He had initially aimed for her head, but the obstruction of the blue flames had altered the trajectory of his attack, making it land on her left shoulder.

The heroic cultivator from the Papral nation had been initially confident against that attack, she believed that her defensive spell would deplete most of its power.

Yet, that confidence fell apart when she felt the power that assaulted her body.

Her shoulder directly exploded due to the impact, and the left side of her chest was torn apart by the might of Noah's physical strength, only part of her waist kept her linked to her lower body.

Other than that, she felt an immense force pushing her downward, her fiery figure was thrown toward the grassland where she crashed, creating a deep hole in the terrain under the yellowish moss.

She was still alive even when half of her torso had been reduced into bits, her survival instincts made her reach for the drugs inside her space-ring to stabilize her injuries, but she didn't expect the moss on the grassland to move and cover the remains of her body.

The moss engulfed her in its embrace, and she struggled as she felt her body being slowly eaten by those numerous magical plants.

Traces of flames began to reappear around her body, but, at that moment, she felt a stabbing pain coming from the remains of her low-waist.

The connection with her dantian was severed after her low-waist had been ravaged, she didn't have any method to escape that dangerous situation without her rank 4 "Breath", she could only use her fading consciousness to see what was happening above her.

She saw the moss in the area around her quickly converging in the pit and a human figure staring the scene at a few meters in the air above her.

Before darkness enveloped her mind, she understood that she had fallen for Noah's trap.

Noah watched the yellowish moss devouring the remains of the woman's body and left only after he sensed her death.

Blood stained the corners of his mouth as he flew toward the forest of White woods, he had dived toward the grassland as soon as the woman crashed into it to retrieve her dantian before retreating at full speed and eating it, he couldn't let go of her center of power.

'It's a pity that I couldn't retrieve her space-ring… Well, I should be happy to be alive.'

Noah thought as he flew back to the teleportation matrix of his organization, his consciousness analyzed his body to assess the damages that he had suffered during the battle.

'Forty percent of my skin is burned, and the muscles on my right arm are mostly gone. Also, I need some time to completely recover from the continuous usage of my secret art, I've never felt so weak after becoming a hybrid. I've reached the peak of the middle tier at least.'

The dantian of the heroic cultivator had pushed his body toward the peak of the middle tier, but the other nourishments were focusing the wounds that filled both his muscles and skin.

Noah took a large piece of one of the magical beasts inside his space-ring and began to eat it, he needed to recover as fast as possible and break through the upper tier since there was a high chance that more battles on that level were waiting for him.