Chapter 163 - 163. Panthers
It's not that Samuel didn't have techniques or spells to avoid the attack but the surprise effect paired with the fear that he felt due to Noah's presence left him defenseless for a moment.
And that moment was exactly what Noah exploited.
The head of the noble dug the terrain and a faint trace of blood came out of it.
Noah raised Samuel's head from its hair and waited for his reaction.
"Why did you do this!? Who the fuck do you th-"
His phrase was interrupted since Noah smashed the head back in the ground.
He raised it again and waited.
"You better be care-"
Noah slammed it back in the pit and pulled it out.
"Wait! I'm sorry! I will never talk behind your back again!"
Samuel's face was covered with blood and terrain with some trace of tears in his eyes.
Noah released his hair and smiled toward him, lightly patting his shoulder.
"Was that so hard? Next time I catch you doing something like this, I will gladly test at what depth the ground becomes harder than your head."
Samuel shivered to hear those words, he knew that Noah wasn't exaggerating things.
"That won't happen again, I swear!"
Noah nodded at him and stood up, turning his gaze toward the other student that joined Samuel in his stories.
"I didn't know that juniors could make fun of their seniors."
Noah slowly walked toward the other youth, his gaze never left him as the distance between them shrunk.
The student trembled, he was petrified due to Noah's pressure focused on him.
He didn't even realize that Noah had already moved past him while softly whispering in his hear.
"Be careful of who you call a quack, one day the academy rules might not protect you."
As he said that, he left through the exit and went inside Arolyac forest.
The atmosphere in the group had greatly changed due to Noah's brief appearance.
The youth that favored Samuel fell on the ground, incapable of stopping his trembling.
Samuel stood up and left the area without even saying goodbye to his other friends, he had lost too much face that day.
The other male students had their heads lowered, they didn't dare to raise them for fear that Noah could notice them.
The girls, instead, had a dreaming expression, like they were captivated by what had happened.
Meanwhile, Noah was running at high speed toward the area in which the panthers had been seen, uncaring of the situation that he had created.
His wings unfolded and he rose in the air to pick up speed.
He wasn't doing it only because he would arrive faster at his destination but also as a form of training.
His flight technique was good but there were many aspects where he could improve, that's why he would rather use every free moment to train in it.
It took him a couple of days to reach the border with the Nerere continent.
He could have reached the area sooner but he preferred to do many different flight exercises along the way, without forgetting his usual training schedule of course.
He arrived at the border during the afternoon and calmly waited on one of the branches of the trees for the night to come.
The Night panthers came out of their hideouts only during the night, as the name suggested.
They were fast beasts with the ability to become momentarily immaterial.
It wasn't exactly the strongest beast to choose when creating another blood companion but what piqued Noah's interest were their body parts.
Due to their innate ability to enter an ethereal state, their bones and skin were highly adaptable to multiple treatments.
They were the perfect material for Noah's needs at the moment.
'Well, darkness beasts are not so common in this environment, I can always change it for a stronger one later.'
As the night arrived, the fauna changed and the nocturnal beasts came out of their lairs.
Noah waited until he found what he was looking for.
Thirty or so black panthers three meters tall slowly came out of the terrain.
'To think that they actually sleep in the ground during the day, there are sure peculiarities in this world.'
The Night panthers used the hours under the daylight to sleep but they never chose a fixed spot to create a den, they directly turned in their immaterial form and immerged in the terrain.
'Blood drain should be enough, I also want to see if I manage to learn more about the strengthening process.'
He had trained in his new spells so he was quite sure of their actual power.
His mental energy was expended and both his hands morphed into demonic claws.
His wings spread in the night and he jumped from his branch to fly over the pack.
The panthers were moving fast, looking for some prey, they were completely unaware that they were hunted themselves.
'Only two peak rank 3, they really seem weak though.'
Noah shook his head internally and dove on the pack.
His two claws stuck one panther each and immediately drained them of the blood in their bodies.
Noah felt a wave of warmth coming from his hands and accumulating on his back, right below his acupoints.
The other panthers finally noticed the intruder and pounced at him but Noah simply flew back in the air to avoid the assault.
He dove again as soon as he found an opening in their formation but, when he was about to stab his claw on the beast, it became ethereal and his arm hit nothing but air.
'I need to take them by surprise or expend their "Breath"'
Noah flew again and dove in another part of the pack.
That time though, a small black cloud formed over the heads of two of them, momentarily blocking their vision.
'Blind!'
Since the panthers could not see when the attack would arrive, Noah could easily finish them off.
The battle continued for a few minutes with Noah expending almost no "Breath" or mental energy.
At some point, when only five specimens remained, the leader of the pack roared to make them retreat.
Looking at the panthers running away, Noah nodded in understanding.
'So, it's true that it takes a lot for them to sink in the ground, it's not something immediate.'
Black flames covered him and, when he exited them, he was right in front of the escaping creatures.