"Wow this place is big," Noah felt forced to admit walking down a well-lit underground tunnel.
Its surface was solid stone, and there were flaming torches hung on both sides of the tunnel making it well-lit.
Erolia walked closer to him, and her eyes could not hold any more fear than she revealed. When she suddenly blinked to find herself within the underground hideout, a scream had almost left her mouth.
However, being the smart and proactive person she was, she had covered her mouth immediately after she saw Noah's face.
However, she didn't seem to have the same confidence she had in his presence before, even if they had not encountered any of the bandits just yet. Sooner or later they would.
And soon the sound of men yelling orders and hard soles connecting with the ground reached their ears.
Panic spread on Erolia's face, but a wide smile appeared on Noah's instead. The girl saw this and moved closer to him.
Noah continued to walk as if nothing less than seven men in the middle stage weren't heading for them since that tunnel led to the open area that featured the hole and ladder out of that place.
Someone finally burst into the tunnel.
The man's eyes widened as he tried to alert his colleagues, but his world went dark, but literally, since Noah had snuffed out the light of the torches, and figuratively since his head had been bashed before he could speak.
The individual died on the spot. All he had seen was a golden flash before his death.
In quick succession to the first person, Noah moved forward to bash the heads of the second third fourth fifth, sixth and seventh person.
He had unfolded his consciousness, so their figures were as clear as day even in the darkness.
The sickening thud of metal crashing into the bone beneath walls of thick flesh resounded in the tunnels close to that one, and the faces of those coming went cold.
Noah finished off the seven and stored both their cores and bodies before creating light with a ball of condensed sparks.
Erolia had been left in her position and she took a few steps back when all she could see was the yellow ball of energy. It got brighter and Noah's face appeared calming her down.
"Come on," Noah called out in a hushed tone. "Our presence has already been noticed by them. We're moving to the next phase of the plan," Noah explained as she ran toward him, then tier figures disappeared.
Noah was quick. Far quicker than those bandits could follow so what should have been a fight turned into a massacre.
Middle-staged cultivators in the third tier were being killed like ants, and they never even saw the person who killed them.
Noah carried Erolia in one arm while the other left a trail of dead bodies which further left rails of orange light as the cores of the cultivators shot Toward Noah and he stored them.
Cultivators stopped appearing when Noah ad killed about twenty in number. Most had been middle-staged individuals while some had been lower-stage.
"I expected more," Noah muttered coming to a halt due to the higher leveled threat he had sensed.
It would seem they had reached their target which was at the end of the tunnel they traversed.
Noah could see a series of bars and sight movement from within them.
However, he could also sense the presence of someone within the higher stage of the third tier, but at its peak.
The person felt ready to burst into the next stage of power. But something was holding them back.
"Who are you?" A male voice echoed in the tunnel causing Erolia to flinch ad hide behind him.
Why have you come and killed most of my underlings," the person sounded furious about that event, but he could only talk from a spot in the tunnel.
Noah remained silent while his consciousness worked overtime to find the person.
The entire hideout appeared in his mind at that point, but other than the cluster of individuals In the bars before him and the series of experts hiding at different locations within the other four tunnels but weren't at the level he sensed, there was nothing.
"Why are you hiding? Come out and ask me that question," Noah replied allowing his mental waves to carry his voice to every part that they reached.
Noah watched closely for any movement, but only the bandits within the lower stage now existed, so he could simply cause bolts of lighting to strike them.
And he did. Noah killed exactly eleven experts in the lower stage, and had their cores shot toward him from the different positions of the bodies.
He could only manage that display of power due to his higher comprehension level, and also thanks to far wider mind.
His action seemed to have spark incredible anger from the leader of the bandits. After all he had effectively wiped out all of his underlings, at record timing.
"You bastard," the voice sounded closer than before.
Noah's eyes sharpened as he finally found out he position of the expert.
'Slimy bastard,' Noah exclaimed inwardly turning to pull Erolia closer to him, after whi8ch he raised his hand and the rest of the tunnel fell into chaos.
Noah had unleashed nothing less than fifty bolts of lightning containing higher stage prowess. The very walls and ceiling couldn't help but cave-in as a result.
Right before he had poured energy into his attacks, Noah had caught sight of a figure just about to reach Erolia's figure when blinding yellow light followed by the roaring of mighty thunder shook everything.
Noah dashed backwards with Erolia in his hold.
He saw that the tunnels ceiling would collapse on them no matter what, so he was forced to crouch and take the full brunt of the event, even if it did nothing more than annoy him.
Thankfully the event hadn't reached the caged people or else he would have killed them.
Noah felt his instincts tingle when he shrugged the heap of charred debris that had tried to bury the both of them.
He threw Erolia towards the safe areas the raise his hand to grab hold the spikes that had aimed for his head.
He felt pain trickle into his mind however, when he realized that seven other spikes that embedded themselves in his body. Or at least they had tried to.
Their pointy structures had only gone past his skin, leaving superficial injuries.
Noah clicked his tongue and shrugged the spikes, but a fist appeared from the cloud of dust.
He caught it, and with a series of quick movements shattered the mans entire arm, before allowing erratic sparks travel down that limb.
An explosion of sorts happened at that point, but Noah felt the man's arm slip out of his grip.
"You fucking bastard!" A voice dripping with murderous intent exploded in front to Noah, and the event was quickly followed by a river of water which buried Noah in its moving current.