Chapter 1541: 1541. Defenses

The negotiations ended quickly. The Rat King couldn't refuse Noah's conditions after exposing its willingness to sever its ties with the Crystal City.

It turned out that the Crystal City had numerous castles situated past the edges of the human domain. Noah had already guessed that, but he didn't expect the Rats to be aware of that feature.

Still, they only knew the location of one of the castles, which was the new home of the fanatics who had survived the assault of the Legion.

The Rats weren't aware of the full power of the Crystal City. They only knew that the new location had multiple defenses capable of fending off any investigation.

'This should work in my favor,' Noah thought after assimilating that information. 'The Crystal City must have set powerful defenses for fear of a second assault. Losing the Snakes shouldn't be a problem once the battle starts.'

The Rat King appointed one of its underlings in the middle tier to lead Noah's group toward the new castle. They didn't hesitate to leave the Land of the Fallen at that point. The Snakes couldn't waste time anymore, and even Noah couldn't wait to face a rank 8 cultivator.

The journey didn't take much. The middle tier Rat even led Noah's groups through paths that wouldn't alert the Crystal City or its allies. Those creatures could only benefit from the destruction of that organization, so they tried to help Noah and the Snakes as much as possible.

In a little more than a few years, Noah and the others found themselves in front of a large forest that featured a tall palace at its center. The environment didn't have a single magical beast. Only the distant structure featured powerful entities.

"My task is complete," The middle tier Rat said. "Good luck in your battle."

The creature left the group to return to its pack. Only Noah, his underlings, the Foolery, and the Snakes remained in the area.

"What are we waiting for?" The leader of the Snakes quickly asked. "Why don't we simply charge ahead?"

Noah didn't answer. His mood worsened as he inspected the environment. He couldn't sense much from his position, but his instincts told him that the area had countless defenses.

'No clear way in,' Noah concluded. 'We can only barge into the castle. Many of us will be unable to reach the insides of the structure.'

It had taken Noah a lot to reach that secret place. He had also trained for a long time, but he still couldn't feel sure about the success of the assault.

"Can you handle the many defenses along the road?" Noah asked the leader of the Snakes. "They are quite scary. Even my instincts fear the forest."

Noah had chosen his words carefully to make sure that the Snakes would take the bait. He wanted a diversion, and only those creatures were strong enough to attract the entire attention of the Crystal City.

Their pride was the only flaw that Noah could exploit. Telling the Snakes how powerful the defenses of the palace were only made them want to charge ahead.

"What will you do if we charge ahead?" The leader of the Snakes asked.

The creature didn't let its pride blind its decisions. It knew that Noah was smart enough to understand his situation. The Snake didn't doubt that he was aware of its plan to attack him as soon as Shandal died.

"I will attack from above," Noah replied. "My pack doesn't have your healing ability. Most of us will die if we charge ahead."

"I don't believe your words," The Snake said. "How can I be sure that you won't use this chance to escape?"

Noah couldn't gain the Snake's trust in those short seconds. Words were also useless against that smart magical beast. Still, he didn't lie when he said that his pack couldn't handle the defenses.

The memories of his imprisonment in the Crystal City slowly surged inside his mind. Noah recalled the helplessness felt in front of his dying friends and the hatred gathered after Shandal's betrayal.

His aura expanded and conveyed those emotions. Intense anger and hatred enveloped the group of Snakes before taking the shape of two faces. One of them depicted Madame Canson, while the other represented Shandal.

The Snakes understood that those feelings weren't a lie. Noah's hatred ran deep into his existence. It was even more intense than their grudge against Shandal.

The leader of the Snakes remained speechless. It had never considered Noah worthy of attention, but he acknowledged him when it sensed his feelings.

After a moment of hesitation, the peak middle tier Snake nodded and gave voice to a loud hiss that made its entire pack charge ahead.

'This dumb creature!' Noah cursed in his mind at that scene. 'It didn't even let me prepare!'

Noah quickly roared before shooting toward the sky. His pack and the Foolery followed him, and they quickly reached a spot from where the forest was nothing more than a faint dot.

"It's time to go all-out," Noah said in his human voice.

His message was for Fergie. He was the only one who had suffered more than him during the events with the Crystal City.

"I can't wait," Fergie replied while Noah inspected his army.

Noah had spent entire millennia with some of those creatures, and all of them had grown in that period. Many of them had been nothing more than lower tier magical beasts at the beginning, but they stood near the peak of the upper tier now.

Even Fergie had an impressive growth. He was a fully-fledged solid stage cultivator now. His body had also advanced in the upper tier during their journey back to the human domain. Nothing of his weak past self had remained in his existence.

The Foolery also counted many upper tier creatures. They had thrived during the journey across the magical beasts' domain, and they had silently decided to follow Noah anywhere he went. They were already part of his pack, even if they had yet to realize that.

"Let's go," Noah said before diving toward the palace.

His pack followed him, and they all started to unleash their abilities to prepare for the imminent battle. Noah did the same, and his ambition ended up covering his group during the descent.

A draconic armor covered Noah's figure, and his centers of power reached the peak of the seventh rank. The dark world expanded, and the workshop activated, providing him with four additional arms and an army of six-armed dragons.

The sky darkened as the group descended. Noah's influence dimmed the white light and created a falling dark cloud. Still, the cultivators inside the palace didn't have the time to focus on them.

The Eternal Snakes slithered through the forest, releasing their silver liquid into the environment. Ice covered the terrain and the trees, but defenses suddenly activated.

A series of explosions happened. Traps placed underground detonated, shattering the ice and reducing most of those creatures into pieces. Even the specimens in the eighth rank suffered severe injuries.

The ice healed the Snakes and rendered those detonations useless. The traps wouldn't achieve anything as long as those creatures remained able to use their innate ability.

Pillars made of purple light eventually shone inside the forest. The trees and ground morphed inside that radiance and took the shape of tall golems with power in the eighth rank.

The strongest Snakes separated from the pack and clashed with the golems. The impact destroyed them, but the purple light quickly forced the environment to fix their bodies. Yet, that gave the Snakes enough time to freeze everything.

Once the golems transformed into frozen statues, the Snakes continued their advance and triggered another series of defenses. Beams of purple light shot out of the palace and pierced the incoming magical beasts.

The ice fixed their injuries in seconds. Nothing seemed able to stop the Eternal Snakes. Even the defenses of one of the strongest organizations in the human domain were useless against those nigh-immortal creatures.