Chapter 1265: 1265. Battle formation

The effects of Noah's flames were devastating for the weaker creatures. His innate ability surpassed the level of power of normal middle tier creatures even without the help of his ambition.

Noah had fused two different organs into one. That didn't only add another feature to his flames. It also empowered them.

The fusion didn't double the flames' power since the Eternal Snake's glands weren't as strong as his lungs. However, the many precious metals and the wills he had used during the procedure raised his final product's overall level by a lot.

His lungs were an inscribed weapon now. It was only normal for their power to go beyond their structural limits. The wills that Noah had forged together with the other material made them surpass what a simple fusion could produce.

Without the empowerment of his ambition, his flames' level of power was in the upper tier. His body alone could almost match magical beasts in the last part of the heroic ranks, so his new ability could go beyond that.

Once his individuality raised the level of his centers of power, Noah's flames could match spells launched by solid stage cultivators. They had become useful again after the fusion, and Noah could only rejoice as he learnt about their features.

The power of his innate ability had surpassed his predictions. The incubators made of dark matter had improved part of the new features and had adapted them to Noah's existence.

That was the reason why they could fix even internal injuries. Noah's healing ability had surpassed its source. He now wielded a superior version of the silver liquid, which also had a destructive effect in his case.

The weaker specimens had retreated after they tasted the power of Noah's flames. The lower tier Snakes that had survived that attack had suffered severe injuries, and the situation of those in the middle tier wasn't any better.

Large patches of charred skin filled the weaker creatures. Some of them had directly lost pieces of their bodies among the flames. After the attack, the only ones that had remained unscathed were the four leaders and the Snakes hidden behind their ice.

'I don't even lose their energy if I happen to burn them,' Noah thought as coldness came out of his reptilian eyes.

Noah would usually avoid destructive abilities when it came to creatures that he could eat. He didn't like to waste resources that could improve his body.

Yet, his innate ability gave him the energy contained in the burned flesh. Part of it would disperse while his flames defeated his opponents' innate defenses, but that loss wasn't too significant.

Noah still obtained the majority of the energy contained in what he burned. That alone made his innate ability more valuable and ideal for every situation.

A chill ran down the leaders' spines when Noah's coldness reached them. They understood that the invader could kill all of them if they let him act freely.

A few roars came out of their mouths, and Noah's eyes widened when he heard them. The cries carried precise orders directed at the weaker creatures. The leaders were rearranging them to deploy a battle formation!

'How can they know this?!' Noah shouted in his mind.

He had already accepted that the Eternal Snakes were almost intelligent magical beasts. Still, that formation was something that only creatures of the caliber of the winged beast could use properly.

Noah didn't know how the Eternal Snakes could know that battle formation even if they didn't classify as intelligent beasts. Still, he obtained his answer as soon as he saw the packs deploying that technique.

The four leaders retreated and began to fill the environment with silver liquid while the other creatures advanced. The middle tier Snakes occupied the group's external spots, while the lower tier ones remained in the center.

The sky soon froze, but the ice shattered and converged toward the weaker creatures. The leaders didn't stop spitting silver liquid, so more frozen layers appeared in a few seconds.

Noah could interrupt that procedure, but his interest in the magical beasts' field didn't allow him to charge ahead. He wanted to see what those creatures could create when they deployed their techniques.

Armors made of ice-shards took form around the group of weaker Snakes. Most of them covered the middle tier creatures, but they didn't leave those in the lower tier unprotected.

That was a proper platoon made of Eternal Snakes. Noah and Skully had used the hybrids in the same way against King Elbas, but those creatures were pulling that off without having a single intelligent beast among them.

'They must have seen their divine leaders doing it,' Noah thought when he understood how the Snakes had managed to come up with that battle formation. 'They are replicating what they have done in the Immortal Lands.'

Noah had understood those details from the flaws in the battle formation. The armors weren't complete. The ice-shards had left many vulnerable spots, which meant that the four leaders' control wasn't perfect.

It was clear that Eternal Snakes in the heroic ranks couldn't express that technique's real power. They could arrange themselves in an orderly formation and imitate annoying strategies, but they couldn't perform them perfectly.

Yet, that strategy could still improve their overall prowess. The weaker Snakes would become useful now that they wore armors ready to heal them.

Noah could understand the power behind that battle formation in an instant. The Eternal Snakes wanted to use their nigh-infinite endurance and their healing abilities to exhaust him.

The ice created by the leaders would defend against most abilities, and the weaker Snakes didn't need to hurt their opponents to make them waste energy.

That was a technique that made use of the qualities of their species. Noah guessed that the Eternal Snakes had improved it multiple times until it had reached its current form.

'Truly spectacular,' Noah thought as he analyzed the battle formation.

Noah felt glad that he had let the Eternal Snakes complete their technique. He had learnt an important detail about the fauna in the Immortal Lands in that battle.

Generally speaking, the weaker specimens in a pack would be nothing more than cannon fodder against a powerful opponent. However, the creatures in the Immortal Lands turned their underlings into weapons that could put even strong enemies in danger.

Noah didn't know which species could deploy a similar technique or even make use of their weaker specimens. Yet, those abilities wouldn't surprise him anymore once he reached the Immortal Lands since he had learnt about their existence.

'It's time to end this,' Noah thought when he saw the group of armored Snakes charging toward him while ice-shards followed their figures.

Those techniques could work against magical beasts that found it hard to defeat the leaders' ice, but Noah had yet to show his real power in that battle.

His ambition surged, and an armor made of dark matter appeared around his figure. That layer of protection took a fiendish shape once corrosive smoke started to come out of his skin.

Second Prince had given him the chance to go all-out, and Noah wouldn't hold back as long as the golden net shone above his head.