Chapter 538: 538. Rats

The shockwave continued to spread through the sky of the eastern coast, Noah's group could only feel its weakened effects.

Yet, that made them able to imagine the insanely powerful force that had caused that phenomenon.

"What is happening?"

Elder Pansy asked in a loud voice, her words struggled to reach her companions through the trembling air.

No one answered her question, the rest of the group was in the same situation after all, the only clue they had was the blue pillar that still shone in the distance.

Elder Hope picked her inscribed notebook and tried to contact Elder Austin and Elder Julia.

Yet, the obelisk in front of them began to shine at that point, runes spread from its tip, and created a brilliant halo that attracted the gazes of her group.

It was evident to everyone that the halo resembled that of a teleportation matrix.

"Run!"

Noah shouted through his consciousness, his dragon instincts sensed the imminent danger before his mind could, he was sure that something powerful was coming.

Yet, just as he turned to escape, a barrage of brown runes appeared in front of him and spread to surround even his companions.

'Fuck!'

Noah cursed in his mind as a pair of black sabers appeared in his hands, and his skin began to cave in.

The injuries on his internal organs had healed during his flight, there was no danger in activating the secret art.

The air shattered as he slashed with his sabers, two fuming black lines appeared on the barrage of runes and tried to force the blockade.

However, the runes simply endured the attack, not even a crack appeared on their surface.

A series of wind blades crashed on the area attacked by Noah, Elder Hope followed Noah's example and tried to force the blockade with her attacks.

The rest of the group did the same, a huge fireball, a fiery slash, and a torrent of flames focused the spot already attacked by Noah.

Nevertheless, even the joint attacks of four heroic cultivators were unable to pierce the encirclement of the brown runes.

"Who would you be?"

A female voice resounded above them, the halo radiated by the obelisk dispersed, revealing a dozen figures that were staring at them.

'Rank 5 cultivator!'

Noah realized when he sensed the power of the woman in the lead.

She had golden hair and green eyes, and she wore a charred golden robe that was barely able to cover her body.

The torn parts of her robe revealed patches of burned skin and a series of deep wounds, it seemed that she had just come out of a battle.

The rest of her group was in a similar situation, wounds filled the bodies of the cultivators, some of them even missed a limb or two.

'They must have teleported back here after the blue pillar appeared, this obelisk was their escape route.'

Noah quickly understood what was happening.

The cultivators above him were the forces sent by the Utra nation to attack the Empire who had just returned from the battlefield.

'This is bad, there is nothing we can do against her runes.'

Noah evaluated as he searched for an item inside his space-ring.

He had two methods to destroy the blockade of a rank 5 cultivator.

The first one was the detonation of his rank 6 storage item, but the blast would surely kill him so he could only use its power as a threat.

The second one was the talisman that Chasing Demon had given him before his journey to the Granite abyss.

The brown runes affected his consciousness, Noah couldn't use the Warp spell, the talisman was his only way out of that situation unless the elders intervened.

"You must be Lady Edna, the reports don't do justice to your beauty."

Elder Austin's voice resounded in the area, and a series of fireball descended from the sky and fell on the barrage of brown runes.

The fireballs seemed to have liquid capabilities since they clashed with the runes and began to drip over the surface of the blockade.

The runes quickly melted under those flames, Noah and the rest of his group were soon freed from the encirclement.

However, they didn't immediately escape, they waited for Elder Austin's instructions before deciding their next move.

After all, they couldn't escape from a rank 5 cultivator even if they wanted.

"I've never heard of you though, it seems that the Elbas family must improve its investigations on the rats that plunder empty homes."

Lady Edna answered as she raised her gaze to the sky, her eyes sharpened when she realized that she couldn't pinpoint the elder's location.

Meanwhile, the cultivators behind her began to shot stares at Noah's group, whispers resounded between them when their eyes fell on Noah.

Then, one of them neared Lady Edna and politely whispered something in her ear.

Lady Edna's brows knitted together when she heard those words, her gaze went on Noah for an instant before returning to the sky.

"What is the Hive doing here? Are you working together with the Council?"

Lady Edna asked.

She had immediately linked the presence of the Hive with the betrayal of the Papral nation, the latter was the only force that could have leaked the information about the attack on the Empire after all.

"Questions, questions. Why don't we test each other for a bit? I've always wanted to see for myself what a Royal can really do."

Elder Austin's voice sounded again, and his figure appeared from the clouds in the sky.

Tongues of flames floated around his figure, they resembled red rivers ready to explode outward.

His shining green eyes radiated pure confidence, the morale of Noah's group rose as soon as they sensed his aura.

"Hold on as much as you can, Elder Julia is preparing a way back to the southern coast."

Elder Austin's voice resounded in the mental spheres of the cultivators of the Hive, he sent a mental message through his methods before shooting toward Lady Edna.

Lady Edna snorted when she saw his figure reaching for her, countless runes appeared in the air next to her as she prepared herself for the imminent clash, two rank 5 cultivators were about to fight!