Chapter 2118 - 2118. Bare
Noah couldn't be wrong. His instincts had started to send clear signals as soon as the Labyrinth teleported the dark world on the third floor, and those sensations had only intensified after the inspection of the green sea. There was something that spoke his language in those waters, but he didn't rush downward.
The energy saved inside the dark world continued to heal the experts. June was the first to recover completely, and the three cultivators followed. Noah had taken the biggest chunk of fuel, but his centers of power required far more than his companions, so he ended up being the last to recover.
Nothing happened while the dark world hovered among the purple sky. The third floor was almost identical to the second, with only the green sea instead of the thick flora. Still, the presence of lifeforms in the waters made everything more complicated, and Noah couldn't explain why they had let his technique be after his inspection.
Noah's senses, instincts, and short inspection had confirmed that the sea contained a numerous pack of magical beasts. He didn't manage to reach their leaders, but the feelings that he experienced told him that there was at least one upper tier specimen in the area.
However, Noah didn't know whether those creatures were part of the trial or not. The first floor had required a key hidden among the laws in the area. The second had wanted the defeat of the upper tier magical plants and the following extermination of the flora. The third was still unclear, and Noah wanted to gain a better idea of the area before meeting the pack.
After completing the healing process and dispersing all the drawbacks, Noah made his preparations to leave the dark world. The workshops created an army of powerful six-armed dragons, and the companions in his arsenal expanded their senses to be ready to support Noah.
Those inside the dark world could see through the black crystals as if they were transparent. Noah wasn't hiding anything, and June inevitably voiced a question at the sight of her preparations. "Are we going out?"
Noah knew what it meant when June's eyes shone like that. She had understood something, and the event didn't surprise him. June wasn't a hybrid, but she had gained access to a similar power in the past, and her current form placed her body near the peak of what cultivators could achieve. It was only regular for her instincts to be sharp.
"The sea is full of magical beasts," Noah revealed. "They are strong. I want to recruit them, but I need to check for eventual connections to the floor first."
"So?" June asked.
"So, I must go alone," Noah explained. "You know how magical beasts are. If they are as old as our three new companions, there is a high chance that they might take the presence of a cultivator as an insult."
Noah was speaking the truth. He would never stop June from getting into a potential fight, but the environments inside the Cursed Labyrinth were old, far older than him. The creatures and experts there didn't get the chance to experience the many changes suffered by the higher plane. Many of them believed that the three great factions were still fighting over the world.
Noah didn't fear an all-out battle against the pack. That was one of the possible paths toward getting new allies in the end. However, he would have to defeat the leaders for that, and those powerful specimens were his real targets. He didn't have the time to groom weaklings. Heaven and Earth were too close to the final fight.
June didn't like having to remain behind, but she understood that some matters needed touch that she wasn't able to provide. She rolled her eyes, shot toward Noah, and left a long kiss on his lips before resuming her cultivation inside the dark world.
Noah left the dark world, and his army expanded through the purple sky. Everything seemed normal. The separate reality had clear borders, at least in its upper part. Noah even pierced the fabric of space to inspect the dimension hidden under the area, but the latter was empty, devoid of surprises or secret opponents.
The lack of clues or unique features forced Noah to accept that the magical beasts could be a core part of the test. He didn't like that outcome, but he couldn't change the reality of the situation. After a second and thorough inspection of the sky, he began his descent toward the green sea, and the army of six-armed dragons followed behind him.
The green waters were incredibly cold. That temperature obviously didn't affect Noah's body, but it was low enough to make him experience some discomfort.
That detail was extremely odd. Noah didn't feel anything similar from the previous inspection of the six-armed dragons, and the same happened now that his underlings dived inside the sea. His disposable creatures experienced a drop in the temperatures, but the event was so faint that they barely perceived it.
'Does it react to my aura?' Noah wondered as he continued to dive deeper into the sea with his army.
Nothing attacked his dragons at that time. Noah couldn't even find lifeforms through his consciousness. The pack had gone into hiding, and he didn't know whether everything was a big trap or not.
Potential started to flow out of the ethereal blackness to enter Noah's body. It was far from smart to rely so heavily on his ambition after going through a heavy round of drawbacks, but Noah didn't care. His resilience would compensate for any stress that his reckless behavior forced his centers of power to accumulate.
A growl suddenly generated soft soundwaves that spread through the green waters. Giant bubbles also started to rise toward the surface from an area that Noah couldn't reach with his consciousness. Still, he didn't need his mental waves to recognize a warning. The pack's leader didn't want him there.
"I've come to talk," Noah roared, and his voice spread in every direction. Some of his soundwaves even left the sea to echo among the purple sky.
Silence followed his announcement, but Noah waited. Even his army stopped advancing. He was doing his best to show respect toward that pack, and his approach turned out to be correct.
Another soundwave spread from the depths of the green sea, and Noah recognized it as a summoning that carried various details. He had to leave his army behind and continue his descent alone. The pack's leader wouldn't accept other conditions for the meeting.
The black crystals sent waves of dark matter inside his body and created a series of new black vessels. The unstable substance started to flow toward them to bring his physical strength to its limits.
Noah began his descent after achieving his best physical form. His dragons remained behind, and some even left the sea to act as guards for the dark world. The technique didn't really need them, but they did it anyway.
The green waters grew clearer as Noah continued to descend. Except for the purple sky, the area lacked light sources, so Noah didn't understand the reason behind that brightness. Yet, the answers to his questions arrived as soon as he reached the seabed.
The sandy and rocky ground under the sea featured immense vein-like structures that flashed with a pale-green light every few seconds. That behavior made Noah think about an actual living being, but he had never seen anything so vast.
Finding that strange detail made Noah happy. Those veins seemed to have no connection to the pack, meaning that he could recruit the various creatures without endangering his chances to leave the floor. Of course, everything was still too vague to be sure, but Noah still considered that discovery great news.
"What brings a creature like you here?" A deep human voice resounded through the waters as a vast figure became clear next to the closest vein.
"I have entered the Cursed Labyrinth, and now I'm here," Noah growled as more details appeared in his view.
The vein appeared even more majestic in that form. It was one of the few sources of illumination in the area, but that was more than enough for Noah. He didn't need to see to study his potential opponents, but interest inevitably appeared on his face when his eyes fell on the leader.
As Noah had predicted, the pack leader was an upper tier creature that seemed to border the level of the four dragons. Still, he didn't expect it to belong to a species of giant turtle-type magical beasts.
"It's rare to have visitors here," The giant horned turtle exclaimed as the immense vein flashed at its side.
"You won't be able to eat any of us," Noah stated before the creature could say anything else.
"That we'll see," The upper tier turtle exclaimed before shooting forward.
The specimen abandoned the veins to perform a short leap. The leader was fast, but Noah had long since predicted something similar to happen. His arm almost moved on its own and let the creature slam in his hand.
An immeasurable force flowed inside his body, but the matter ended there. Noah had stopped the immense magical beast with his sole hands.
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Author's notes: I had to make this chapter longer for win-win.. The following two will be around the normal wordcount.