Chapter 426 - 426. Orders
The underground organizations were the true rulers of the archipelago and they were simply labeled as Hive by the legal organizations.
Yet, the Hive had many branches as well as a hierarchy.
The Chasing Demon sect was already one of the strongest branches of the Hive before the Chasing Demon had his breakthrough, it could be easily considered the strongest one now that it had a rank 6 entity leading it.
The other ones though weren't weak, especially when the human assets were compared.
The underground organizations had suffered heavier losses than the legal ones in the separate dimension but they could be still considered stronger than them, their heroic assets and the cultivators in the second rank had been unaffected by the trials after all.
Noah wasn't aware of the reasons that led the elders of his sect toward the creation of the battle plan but he knew that they had considered the other underground organizations in it.
On the third day, Noah led again his team to battle.
He had to secure the islands with a valuable geographical position that day, these islands didn't belong to just one organization but their control was shared between the three powerful nations of the continent.
Of course, Noah had been tasked to take care of the most important one.
Yet, even if Noah expected for more than twenty rank 3 cultivators to be in its defense, his group only featured five captains and a few dozens of disciples.
"Are you sure about this? My hallucinogenic abilities can't affect that many of them."
Alison asked as she followed Noah through the narrow streets between the poor-looking buildings, she was aware of the number of soldiers stationed on that island and she couldn't help but have some doubts about the plan.
Noah didn't turn toward her, the smoke of the Demonic form countered the hallucinogenic gas released by Alison's body so he was able to see her real form, he would rather avoid looking at her unless it was necessary.
He didn't need to answer though since a group formed by thirty rank 3 cultivators and more than one hundred rank 2 cultivators appeared in their sight when they reached a small square.
The cultivators wore gray robes and had proud expressions, Noah couldn't help but accept the fact that they really came from the central part of the continent.
They were the members of another underground organization called "Resistance", it was formed by cultivators that had managed to escape from countries conquered by the Shandal Empire in its unceasing expansion.
The Resistance aimed to destroy the Empire and to free all their enslaved companions but the presence of a God, no matter how weak it was compared to other beings in the divine ranks, was enough to put a stop to that dream.
The countries near the Empire had benefitted from how freely techniques and nourishing methods were handed by the Empire, giving birth to many strong cultivators.
Yet, they had still been unable to defend themselves when they were attacked, the majority of the cultivators that had survived the war were enslaved but some of them had managed to escape in the archipelago, forming one of the branches of the Hive.
The Resistance was quite strong in the archipelago, it was considered a match of the Chasing Demon sect in terms of power.
Of course, that was before the Chasing Demon reached the sixth rank but this news seemed to be known only to few people.
One of the members of the Resistance stood up and neared Noah's group, he was an elderly man with white long hair and a long beard of the same color but that had its ends tied together with a red ribbon.
He directed his gaze toward Alison and bowed slightly before speaking.
"I'm Willis, I'm the leader here. I wanted to make sure of a few things before helping your sect in the conquest."
Alison smiled when the man gave her attentions but she quickly returned to reality and coughed before pointing at Noah with her gaze.
Willis was confused, he had gone to the cultivator with the highest level in the team but she had actually indicated the weakest one instead of answering!
"Are you already thinking about retreating? I didn't expect that from someone trying to dethrone a God."
Noah shook his head as he spoke, his inscribed notebook appeared in his hands and he swept through its pages, preparing himself to send a mental message.
Willis didn't like Noah's tone but he had orders too, he politely bowed toward Noah before explaining the meaning behind his previous words.
"No one spoke about retreat. I just wanted to make sure that your sect will keep its part of the deal."
Noah shot an uncaring gaze toward Willis before continuing on his way, he spoke as he surpassed him, waving his notebook in the process.
"What's the point of asking? We in the human ranks have no part in these decisions. I have orders and so do you, I will simply contact another organization if yours isn't willing to help in the conquest of the archipelago."
The others from the Chasing Demon sect began to follow Noah as soon as he moved but Willis stood still, slowly processing his words.
Noah was right, he had orders by the higher-ups of the Rebellion, his questions were simply the personal doubts of a curious and cautious man.
Yet, he didn't expect such a resolute behavior from a cultivator in the gaseous stage, he was beginning to understand that Noah wasn't in charge because of some sort of social status.
That was further proved after he followed Noah with his group and fought the battle near the teleportation matrixes of the island, the legal organizations had understood by then that those formations were being targeted.
The soldiers were set on protecting them but they didn't expect Noah to suddenly warp inside their formation and launch a barrage of Instabilities before hiding inside Heilong's body and warp away.
The chaos of the battle didn't allow them to keep track of every cultivator and they didn't expect someone in the gaseous stage to have that amount of firepower.
However, that ended up being a fatal mistake!
Without the matrixes, the soldiers from the legal organizations couldn't be provided with reinforces and were crushed by the joint force of two underground organizations.
The battles on the other islands were a success too, the third day ended with another series of peripheral islands falling on the hands of the Chasing Demon sect.
Also, differently from the previous days, Noah's feats began to spread.