Chapter 1043: 1043. Traitors

The underwater rocky wall at the continent's base didn't seem to have anything special, but both Noah and Dreaming Demon could see that something was off.

There was no sign of inscriptions, but they noticed how certain rocks appeared sturdier than others. The wall didn't emit any aura at all, and Noah could barely see laws in its fabric.

"Do you want to knock or?" Flying Demon asked when he understood that they had found something.

Noah glanced toward Dreaming Demon, but the latter shook her head before explaining herself. "I can't crack it open silently."

Noah shrugged his shoulders and stepped forward at that point. His fist quickly landed on the rocky wall and made the entire area shake.

To the trio's surprise, the wall didn't crumble, and even the seabed under it remain intact. Noah risked to create large fissures if he didn't control his strength when he walked, but those rocks didn't budge even when he used his real power.

'They are good,' Noah thought before launching a relentless offensive. His fists never stopped crashing on the wall, and countless shockwaves spread through the sea.

The rocks began to show cracks only after Noah had punched them for a whole minute, but the first breach started a chain reaction that made the entire wall fall apart in a matter of seconds.

The trio saw how a large entrance to an underground structure appeared once the wall crumbled. Many shining lines covered the tunnel that led inside the continent.

The world lost its light for a second as Noah launched a wave of black flames inside the underground structure. Most of the shining lines went dark after the fire ravaged their surface.

The entrance had been able to stop Noah for a whole minute, which hinted that the defenses inside could threaten existences at the peak of the fifth rank.

Noah had decided to use his flames to take out some of the defenses beforehand, and Dreaming Demon had the same thought. Her mental waves spread inside the tunnel right after the fire dispersed, and the remaining shining lines went dark at their passage.

"It's clear," Dreaming Demon conveyed, and Flying Demon took the lead of the group. White flowers grew inside the tunnel as he moved forward, and ice spread from them, stopping any function of the materials used in that place.

Dreaming Demon and Noah chased right after him and repeated the process whenever inscriptions reappeared in their view.

Noah didn't fear for himself. He had taken a bite of the Hydra along the way, and his dark star was quickening the healing process. His skin still carried some wounds, but they were closing quickly.

On the other hand, some of the most potent defenses in that place could be deadly for the Demons. They felt astonished that rank 5 experts had built such a dangerous structure, but the other world saw many exceptional inscription masters in its regions.

Moreover, the group didn't want to trigger any self-destruct mechanism for fear of wasting time. They felt sure that something was happening on the surface, but they had decided to prioritize the researches.

The trio crossed a series of large but empty halls. Noah and Dreaming Demon could sense that someone had been inside them recently, but they didn't find any trace in the corridor.

Any expert inside the underground structure had left hours before they found that place, and it seemed that they had managed to clean it up thoroughly.

"Get out," Noah conveyed through his consciousness. The sea's water had invaded the place after he destroyed the entrance, so he had to use his mental waves to communicate. "I'll rush through it."

The Demons nodded at his words and retreated. Noah waited for them to send him a mental message before sprinting through the structure's remaining part, uncaring that shining lines appeared again.

Strange and metallic sounds resounded inside the structure as Noah swam past the inscriptions. Various puppets appeared in his view, but he headbutted them as he moved forward.

More empty halls appeared in his view, and more defenses activated at his passage. Noah saw beams made of different elements, noises that aimed for his sea of consciousness, and an endless amount of puppets with various functions.

The tunnel had become crowded as Noah triggered all the defenses that he found. His flames and his body's prowess took care of them most of the time, but he had to summon Snore for a few of them.

'It's hard to believe that no powerhouse has helped to build this,' Noah thought as Snore landed the finishing blow on a giant made of light that radiated the power of a being in the sixth rank.

His consciousness suddenly sensed the presence of a group of cultivators coming from the last hall. Noah's speed increased at that moment, and he crashed on the walls of that room when he felt that their auras were becoming fainter.

Noah didn't even look at the faces of the experts. His attention went on the teleportation matrix that illuminated their figures and was about to bring them back to that structure.

The Demonic Sword shot forward before he could even order anything. Snore's head appeared and froze the floor to slow down the accumulation of "Breath" required for the teleportation.

Noah's weapon roared as it landed at the experts' feet and released a claw that destroyed the diagram's center. The weaker cultivators on the teleportation matrix died when the corrosive smoke enveloped their bodies, but those in the fifth rank managed to get out of the black cloud.

The light dimmed until it vanished entirely, filling the hall with darkness and silence. However, Noah steps soon resounded inside the structure, and the cries of his assets added pressure on the trembling experts.

Snore coiled around them as hissing noises came out of its mouth. The Demonic Sword growled while it circled them and pointed its sharp edge on their faces.

Noah neared the group of experts, but his eyes fell on those wearing the dark robe of the Hive. He didn't recognize anyone in the group except for one of them.

"Luke," Noah said as he stared at Nina's grandson. "Why?"

Luke had become a rank 5 cultivator after the secret deal with the Shandal Empire. He was only an expert in the gaseous stage, but any existence in the fifth rank had the potential to become important in the Hive.

"You gave us freedom," Luke said as he lowered his head, "But peace didn't reach our hearts. I dishonor my grandmother by betraying you, but I couldn't live in the same world as Shandal anymore."

Noah stepped forward, and the group of cultivators retreated until they reached the back of the hall.

"I-I wanted him to stay away forever!" Luke continued to explain. "He will always be in my head unless I place the boundless void between us!"

The group opened a path for Noah as he walked toward Luke. Nina's face appeared in his view, but he spoke with his usual coldness. "You are going to tell me everything you know. Then, I'll kill you."