Chapter 330 330. BANDITS

The group of four spent the next hours engaging in a few light talks, nothing too serious, only to pass the time, after which they all slept. Noah remained mostly to himself even in that casual situation. It wasn't that he wasn't in the mood, he simply didn't fancy those talks too much.

Unsurprisingly, there wasn't any need for a watch, since they all could keep their consciousness unfolded in the environment. And there were also magical protections on the short wall they built that became a dome-shaped barrier.

The night needless to say went by fast, with no disturbances during the night. They picked up a few wild auras but those auras never went past a certain point. It seemed the destruction they had caused in the afternoon still kept those beasts on edge.

Noah woke up first and went deeper into the forest to train. It had become a habit to train each time he rose from sleep.

His group members soon rose one by one, but there wasn't much to do that they had not already done. So each of them could only eat from the supplies they had brought with them, while they waited for hours to pass. No one interrupted the others as they just did their own things while remaining within the range of the walls.

This was without a doubt incredibly boring for those experts, but they really had no choice but to wait for their tier 4 elder.

Noah returned to the group at some point and his arrival caught their attention. However, none of them questioned him.

"I found a few packs of magical beasts not too far from here. They all have power within the middle stage, and not even their leaders are higher stage," Noah announced in a suggestive tone. His words piqued the interest of the others who had been bored out of their minds staying there.

However, Williams raised an objection.

"We should stay back. I know we haven't had anything interesting to do in a while, but we have to follow orders and stay." He shook his head sweeping his gaze on them.

"Besides those packs aren't hurting us in any way, there's no need to kill them," he added putting a smile on his face. Unfortunately, no one seemed to agree with him, at least based on their blank stares.

"Well you can stay back I'll go wipe them out," Noah announced turning to approach the exit. His words caused a frown to appear on Williams' face.

"Look Aiden, I know you're strong and all, but that doesn't mean you can do just whatever you want," he called out expressing his displease.

"Who's gonna stop me?" Noah frowned glaring at the young-looking man.

"Look, I'm not willing to fight you. I hate to admit it but you're in a league of your own, but we should band together. Anything could happen in this woods," Williams explained, his words stunning Noah and even the others.

A sigh escaped Noah's lips at that point, he prepared to speak words, when his eyes suddenly sharpened.

With reflexes that the others were barely able to follow, Noah turned and caught sight of a speeding object.

'An arrow?' he wondered in confusion when multiple auras suddenly took life around them. The others were already on alert, as they didn't hesitate to draw their weapons.

Noah unfolded his consciousness, but something smashed into it and pain reached his mind when his mental waves crumbled. An astonishing event.

The sound of shouting men reached his ears at that point followed by their figures.

"We found him, sir!" A group of five men all clothed in garments that blended with the foresty environment entered the visual range of the group. "He has a group!" one of them yelled and more than ten figures appeared to encircle their camp.

At this point, Noah had already drawn his daggers, while a rain of arrows dived towards their position. But the barrier stopped their advance.

"Bandits," he whispered, more stunned than not. Their group was under the attack of bandits.

In less than half a minute, more than fifteen figures had surrounded the walls of the camp, unable to advance.

The group of four banded together at that point since the cultivation base of all of them stood within the range of tier 3.

A standoff occurred at that point, both parties waiting for the others to attack, or in their case, Noah waited for them to attack again. The rain of arrows had been easily taken care of. But they were capable of spells.

"A strong group I see," A deep voice rang out, shattering the silence that had enveloped both parties.

A cold expression appeared on the faces of all of them when they caught sight of three individuals casually walking toward them.

Two of the masked figures held power within the higher stage, while the person that had spoken radiated absolutely no aura to them. No matter how hard they tried they couldn't sense the man's power.

"Tier 4," Liam whispered the obvious to the group. Noah clenched his teeth under his mask. How were they even supposed to deal with that powerful force?

"What is a group with such fine experts doing out here in the depths of the Crossgrove forest?" The masked expert sounded amused as placed his leg on the short wall of stone and wood.

His hand reached out to cross the open space on the other side of the wall, but a series of red lines and a transparent blue wall appeared on his palm's path.

"This isn't a barrier made by an amateur. This is top levels shit," he announced while a wide smile bloomed on his face beneath his mask. However, he suddenly dug his fingers into the barrier before closing them into a fist. Cracks appeared on the dome-shaped barrier before everything shattered into motes of blue and red light.

"Gang it seems we've stumbled upon high-level goods here," a laugh escaped his mouth while he advanced.

Noah and the three were silent in front of that display. He already had ways that could lead him to escape, but they would only work if he was alone.

"What is it that you desire?!" Williams panicked seeing as the man proceeded to cross the wall.

His words met silence while the man continued to advance.

"We are from the great guild Divine Lightning. Surely there's something that you want that we can see to. No one has to get hurt," Noah suddenly spoke pulling all attention to himself.

The man halted his footsteps at that point and an eyebrow rose on his face.