Chapter 384 - 384. Advance
It took an entire week for David's team to recover.
Most of the injuries on the mental spheres of the weaker cultivators were already healed after three days but David wanted to make sure that everyone was at its peak form before resuming in the exploration.
They would wander in the dark at some point, David couldn't afford to lose any of his companions if he hoped to pass the ninth trial.
Yet, he still chose to increase the speed at which they moved.
The best way to spare time was to run through the passages of the labyrinth and to spend a few hours to recover in front of the next test.
The layout of the labyrinth was almost completely mapped, it wasn't a problem to diminish the time needed to reach each trial.
The fourth trial was in a dark area of the labyrinth, no token was required for its activation, the cultivators simply had to step on a large dark square.
Darkness couldn't affect a cultivator's sight, especially when they had a rank 4 body.
However, the walls of the square seemed to affect the vision of the cultivators, coupled with the inability to use mental energy to scan their surroundings, it was as if they were deprived of that sense.
Of course, David's team was prepared for that.
David took out orbs that emitted a bright light from his space-ring, the features of the dark square were immediately illuminated by the five orbs that levitated in the air after he put some "Breath" in them.
That light allowed his team to see the Black dragons surrounding it and to avoid the incoming flame spears that had been launched.
The difficulty of the fourth trial was in its scarce visibility but that was countered by David's orbs, leaving the twenty or so dragons in the lower tier of the fourth rank in plain sight.
David's team quickly took care of the dragons, the test was fairly easy after the cultivators regained the ability to see.
Some of them were still hit by the powerful attacks of the creatures, those spears were fast and had high piercing proprieties after all.
The injuries were quite superficial though, everyone was relatively fine.
'To think that I would see again a Flame dragon and fight it, time surely has passed.'
Those thoughts hit Noah's mind when he saw the last Flame dragon vanish right in front of his eyes.
Flame dragons were the most common kind of dragons, their scales were black and they could change the shape of the flames that they created due to their innate ability.
Yet, what made Noah so emotional was that the dragons he had just fought belonged to the same kind as the one that had attacked Balvan mansion in his childhood!
Noah clearly remembered, he was just a newborn in his mother's embrace when one of those magnificent beasts attacked.
The void inside him was filled with an endless ambition that day, the image of Thomas' back as he fought the dragon in the air was still engraved in his mind.
Twenty-seven years had passed and he was now able to fight them, even an aloof character like Noah couldn't help but feel something.
"Are you ok?"
David noticed that peculiar behavior when he saw that Noah was staring at the floor where the Flame dragon had disappeared.
Noah simply nodded at that question and turned to join his resting companions, his cold gaze was hidden behind his hood.
'These were just bottom tier beasts, Thomas is a heroic cultivator, I'm still a child in his eyes.'
With that last thought, Noah suppressed again his emotions, he couldn't allow himself to be distracted in that place.
The fifth trial featured a floorless area, the aim of the test was to cross the void below them and reach the passage on the other side.
Flying wasn't a problem, David had personally chosen a rank 3 cultivator of the wind element with a spell that could carry all twenty of them.
Yet, dragons would randomly peek from the cavities in the walls at the sides of the area and launch lightning bolts aimed at the cultivators flying at its center.
A large number of lightning bolts were launched, nineteen cultivators did their best to fend off the incoming attacks in order to protect the wind mage.
David's group struggled a bit, lightning attacks had innate piercing proprieties and they were able to destroy everything on their path.
It took the full effort of all nineteen cultivators to safely reach the other side, they found themselves exhausted and without any energy left but they had succeeded in passing the fifth trial!
Some discord, though, began to appear on the expression of the weaker cultivators when they saw that Noah wasn't as tired as the others.
The other cultivators had long noticed that Noah wasn't using spells, he simply relied on his martial art and on his inscribed sabers to fight.
That wasn't a problem when that behavior was enough to safely pass the trials but the fifth one had almost completely exhausted them, they were annoyed to see that he wasn't doing his best to help them.
'Ignorance is a bliss…'
Noah thought as he avoided those angry gazes and focused on refilling his dantian.
The truth was that he had informed David about the dangers involved when he used spells and the Mental tremor couldn't affect magical beasts too much.
'As long as David is ok with that, the others won't dare to complain.'
He didn't care that the others thought that he was a dead weight, he knew that his moment would eventually come, he was doing his best to avoid injuring his companions after all.
Then, it was time for the sixth trial.
That test forced the cultivators in a harsh battle between the two kinds of dragons that they had met in the previous two tests.
Forty or so Flame dragons and Flash dragons attacked David's team in a wide area with some pits on the floor.
The pits only showed the void below the labyrinth, falling inside them would probably lead to death.
Also, a few rank 4 specimens in the middle tier were leading the dragons' assault, it wasn't a reckless charge like in the first trial.
The battle was harsh, many cultivators were injured and a lot of energy was expended.
Yet, David and the other three cultivators in the solid stage took care of the vanguard and slaughtered their way inside the enemy lines, beheading the dragons in charge of the battle formation.
It took almost an hour but, in the end, David's team succeeded in defeating all the dragons and passing the sixth trial.