Chapter 1119: 1119. Gian

The metal radiated meanings when it took those shapes. Noah recognized sharpness when he saw blade-like structures, brute strength in massive boulders, and calm in a tall pillar that had risen from the ground.

He didn't recognize some meanings, and the most complicated shapes even had more than one of them. Still, they all felt incomplete.

Moreover, all the shapes shared a faint hunger. That was the representation of what King Elbas had said before. Those were raw laws with the purpose of finding a meaning.

"Will they attack?" Chasing Demon asked as he blinked his heavy eyes. A thin rocky layer covered his eyelids to protect them, but the continuous use of that ability made them tired.

"Only once they feel your individualities," King Elbas answered. "We can't avoid them. I've tried and failed already."

The battle was mandatory, but the experts quickly overcame their hesitation. That was better than spending more years swimming aimlessly through the magma.

King Elbas waited for everyone to prepare proper offensive methods before walking toward the shapes together with the rest of the group.

Noah was the only one who didn't take any inscribed item or special protection, but he probably was the most at ease in that situation.

Since mental waves could barely exist in the open, Noah was the only one who could express most of his battle prowess without relying on inscribed items.

The same went for True Speed, even if he had other issues. His mind was too weak for that land, and he had to keep part of his attention on not losing his individuality.

Of course, the Royals wouldn't have any problem there either since their creations covered every field of the cultivation journey. As for the others, Noah couldn't be sure.

The group didn't fight together. Powerhouses were usually independent, and those there represented four different organizations.

Many would like to see some of their allies fail to move past the army of strange shapes. The only one who was remotely crucial in everyone's eyes was King Elbas, but his companions only worried about not losing his tracks.

Noah felt at home in that situation. The smell of betrayal lingered among them, and everyone watched their back in fear of a sudden backstab.

That was his environment. His time as a human cultivator wasn't any different from that situation. The stakes and his power had only increased in ways that very few could define.

King Elbas was the first to clash with one of the shapes. The others had to be close to witness his battle, but they remained a bit behind to see how those types of fights unfolded.

The Royal wielded a yellow spear that disappeared inside the magma as he waved it at a construct that was half humanoid and half spiked mass.

The spear landed at the center of its strange body and stopped there, unable to pierce its rigid material. However, King Elbas' arrogance surged and flowed through his weapon to end on the shape.

The figure destabilized as King Elbas' individuality affected its internal structure. The laws exuded by the Royal made the shape grow until it became too unstable to remain in one piece.

King Elbas' opponent crumbled right after becoming seven meters tall. The pieces of black metal fused with the landmass when they landed on the ground, and no more shapes formed in that spot.

The two Princes and one Princess decided to imitate their Father. They picked three different shapes and waved fire-resistant inscribed weapons at them.

Their weapons couldn't pierce their metal, but their arrogance surged when they established that contact, and the forms grew before crumbling a few seconds later.

King Elbas inspected his underling's battles. Second Prince's opponent had become six meters tall before falling apart, while the other two Royals had only managed to push the shape's height to five meters before they crumbled.

Noah felt that he understood something watching their battles. The meanings carried by the three's individualities were complete, but their intensity determined the height that the shapes would reach.

King Elbas nodded at Second Prince before choosing another opponent. He completely ignored First Prince and First Princess, who could only reveal ugly expressions before throwing themselves into another battle.

The other experts gained some confidence after seeing the trio succeeding in defeating those beings at their first try, and they picked opponents to test themselves.

Everyone obtained different results according to the meaning that they poured into the shapes.

Chasing Demon's opponents multiplied and gained humanoid features before falling lifeless on the ground and fusing back with the landmass. Great Elder Diana's meaning made them shrink until they were nothing more than small puppets.

Elder Julia turned them invisible, Flying Demon's influence stopped their movements, and Dreaming Demon's shapes transformed into copies of her before crumbling.

Elder Regina's opponents transformed into different creatures before falling apart. Everyone was quite successful at the task, but some struggled at that.

Elder Paul's puppet didn't fuse back to the landmass even if it absorbed his meaning. Bulging masses appeared on its already strange body, but it remained intact as it chased after the Elder.

True Speed was the same, but he had quickly found a solution to the issue. His meaning made the shape tremble and blur without succeeding in killing it. Still, he kicked it repeatedly until he could go past it.

Instead, Elder Paul felt troubled. The ugly shape followed him, and he had no real way to fend it off. The construct eventually touched him, and his complexion paled as he felt his individuality slipping away to fuse with the form.

The Elder screamed, but there was a limit to how much his companions could hear in that situation. Moreover, they had their battles to handle, so they ignored the vibrations spreading through the magma.

Only Noah saw the scene and decided to test himself on that horrid thing. He reappeared on the side of the shape and placed his hand on it as he poured his ambition.

What followed startled everyone on the scene and gathered the attention on him.

Noah wanted to test himself. Saving Elder Paul was a favor that Council would surely repay once returned to the surface. Yet, he didn't expect the shape to have a violent reaction.

The construct didn't change form when Noah poured his ambition. It directly exploded with violence that created an area devoid of yellow magma for a few seconds!

Even the radiations suppressing the mental waves went away in those instants. It seemed that Noah's ambition was too much for those shapes to handle!

Elder Paul's defensive item had activated to protect him from the explosion, and Noah's robe did the same. His clothes didn't have great overall defenses, but they endured that detonation.

The Elder quickly stood up and remained close to Noah. He had understood that he couldn't deal with those shapes, so he would follow Noah for that part of the mission.

Noah began to charge at every puppet that he found. His simple touch was enough to set off loud explosions that created empty areas.

True Speed eventually joined Noah too. His kicking tactic had worked for some time, but the shapes had surrounded him at some point, and he had luckily escaped that encirclement before it was too late.

Everything went well for a few days. The group made their way through the army without encountering any difficulty, and even King Elbas thought that they would be fine if they continued like that.

The four guardians had never truly threatened the group because King Elbas had taken care of leading the experts and showing them how to deal with each hindrance.

His first voyage cost him countless resources and investigative items invested in uncovering the path through the magma and the forms' weakness.

Nevertheless, that land could still surprise him. On the fifth day of peaceful and safe destruction of the forms, a massive mountain rose from the ground and took the shape of a humanoid giant.

The giant radiated the meaning that King Elbas and the others had poured inside the previous forms, but it didn't contain Noah's ambition.

As if wanting to announce that it was different from its smaller companions, the shape slammed its massive fists on a spot among the surprised group.