Chapter 1349: 1349. Violent battle

Black smoke flowed out of Noah's figure as his ambition empowered his centers of power. The two layers of fiendish armor formed, and the dark world expanded.

The dark matter couldn't cross the room. There was an invisible barrier that divided the staircase and the secret area, but Noah couldn't sense it with his mind.

Something told him that he had to enter the room to affect its insides. That test wouldn't allow any cheat or tactic. It wanted Noah to fight the puppet on an even field.

'Fine then,' Noah concluded before cutting away any useless thought.

The puppet was a creature in the middle tier. Its materials made it stronger than an average magical beast, but its power was within the range of Noah's prowess.

The light coming from inside the puppet intensified when Noah entered the room. The invisible barrier didn't affect him, and it didn't even hurt the abilities prepared beforehand.

A flash of white light filled the room and blinded Noah for an instant. The puppet began to move after that event, and screeching noises resounded in the area as it stretched its metallic body.

The puppet's eyes lit up and white lines formed on its body. The creature then turned toward Noah, and its beak opened to release a high-pitched scream.

Everything around Noah trembled when the soundwave reached him. His dark world absorbed part of those vibrations, so his fiendish armor managed to remain intact. However, he became aware of the puppet's power when its scream landed on his abilities.

The puppet seemed to stand on the line that divided the stages. It was too strong for any gaseous stage cultivator, but it was one step away from entering the realm of liquid stage experts.

Noah itched to see if he could defeat such a creature. His muscles tensed as he crouched to prepare a sprint. However, the puppet acted before him.

A shadow ran through the room and pierced through the dark world. The area was less than twenty meters wide, so the clash happened in an instant.

Noah instinctively raised his sword, and a reptilian head also began to form in front of him when he sensed the arrival of the puppet. An immense force then landed on him, and he lost his foothold as he flew backward.

Blood flowed in Noah's mouth when he crashed on the dark-yellow walls. He suddenly noticed that the passage to the staircase had disappeared after he entered the room. He had to defeat the puppet if he wanted to survive.

Noah sensed something moving again, but he slashed before it could reach him at that time. The Demonic Sword grew during the attack. It had transformed into a massive blade when it crashed on the puppet.

A massive force landed on Noah's arm as the puppet tried to fend the blade back. A draconic roar came out of his mouth as his dark matter flowed inside his black vessels to improve his physical power.

A high-pitched scream resounded in the area as Noah completed the slash. A crash followed his attack. The puppet had slammed its back on the opposite wall.

Noah and the puppet exchanged a glance. The creature's shining eyes seemed able to pierce the dark world to stare at his vertical pupils.

When facing a magical beast or a cultivator, Noah would understand part of the emotions that filled his opponent's mind. However, he couldn't feel anything when he sensed the puppet's gaze on him.

That creature was a mindless weapon. It felt no pain, and it wouldn't stop attacking until it had destroyed its opponent.

Noah spat a wave of black flames as he shot forward. The puppet screamed before charging at him, and a clash soon happened at the center of the room.

The puppet waved its long claws, but Snore's head bit on its arm before it could finish the attack. Noah slashed at the creature's head, but its free hand blocked the blade before it could land on its metallic skin.

Noah's leg shot toward the puppet's stomach, but the creature lifted a knee to stop his attack. It then tried to stab Noah with its beak, but a cut appeared on its pointy mouth and deflected the attack.

Violent dark matter gathered in Snore's mouth while it restrained the puppet's arm, and the Demonic Sword began to tremble as it accumulated energy. Night dived back toward its mouth in an attempt to destroy its beak.

The puppet slashed with its free leg, but Noah used his foot to stop the attack before it could reach him. More flames then came out of his fiendish mouth and filled the room with his threatening innate ability.

Snore launched its beam, and the puppet screamed as the attack ravaged its left arm. Yet, it didn't try to retreat. It used its immense physical strength to dig through the Blood Companion's body and get closer to Noah.

Its beak broke at that point, but the damage didn't seem to faze it. Cracks opened on its left shoulder as it tried to create a path through Snore's body, and the dark beam eventually consumed its arm.

The puppet used that chance to stab its cracked shoulder in Noah's chest. The two layers of armor prevented it from digging too deep in his flesh, but it still managed to pierce his lung.

Snore bit on the creature's head at that point, and Noah threw punches at the cracked shoulder to pull it out of his body. The Demonic Sword began to launch slashes that slowly dug through the puppet's hand, but its claws managed to damage the blade's structure.

The battle appeared slow in Noah's eyes, but only a few instants had passed since the two of them had begun to fight. He and the puppet were throwing everything they had at each other in the hope that their opponent would fall first.

There was no need for tactics or strategies in that battle. Noah couldn't use his speed on that small battlefield, so he had to overpower the puppet with his abilities.

On the other hand, the puppet didn't care that its body suffered damages as long as it managed to injure Noah. It was a selfless charge that disregarded everything but its opponent.

Noah's cultivation level continued to grow as he remained entangled with the puppet. His physical strength had initially been lower than his opponent, but it was slowly reaching it under the effects of his ambition.

His desire to defeat the creature and the power generated by his survival instincts made his ambition more intense and revealed what his divine individuality could really achieve.

Roar and screams echoed in the room. The Demonic Sword eventually cut the puppet's hand, but the creature used its remaining claws to stab Noah's abdomen.

Cracks appeared on the puppet's neck as Snore launched another dark beam while it kept its head inside its mouth. Still, the feathers on the creature's body stood up and allowed it to pierce the Blood Companion.

The puppet crashed on Noah, and its sharp feathers pierced his armors before stabbing his body. Waves of dark matter flowed out of his injuries while small cuts opened on the creature's body.

Snore reformed to bite at the creature's waist. The Blood Companion didn't care that the feathers pierced its body. It only wanted to relieve Noah of some pressure.

Noah slashed at the puppet's head multiple times. The Demonic Sword never stopped falling on the creature, and it slowly managed to pierce that sturdy metal.

Night helped wherever it could. It had the power to sever part of the puppet's fabric, so it enlarged all the damages that its companions created.

Noah eventually let go of the Demonic Sword and stabbed his clawed fingers on the puppet's damaged head. A vertical crack began to open on the creature as he pulled with all the physical strength he could muster.

The feathers stabbed in his body enlarged his injuries as the puppet struggled, but Noah didn't care. He only wanted to rip the creature in half.