Chapter 288 - 288. Red
Noah jumped right between the enemy's army.
The soldiers behind him crashed on the opposing side, attacking with their strongest blows or defending against the enemy's offensive.
The second clash produced more casualties, many soldiers of the Empire were caught unprepared by the momentum of the battle, they were simply too inexperienced to efficiently use their power in that situation.
After the first clash, though, the situation stabilized.
The soldiers formed small groups where personal or group battles were fought, killing a cultivator was hard, victory couldn't be achieved unless there was a big difference in numbers or strength.
The survival instinct of the soldiers from the Empire kicked in, the second line of their army did better than the second one, they managed to block the offensive of the Odrea army, stalling the advance of the army.
The battles in the vanguard position were messy and merciless, one mistake could cause death or a fatal injury.
The soldiers of the Odrea nation were relentless in their assault, they had been in that situation too many times, their cooperation and experience slowly made them win the small battles on the first line of the battlefield, the cultivators of the Empire were slowly pushed back.
Noah, however, was already among the enemy's ranks.
He had immediately killed the soldier previously destabilized with his spell and then continued to swing his black sabers inside the army of the Empire.
The First Form of the Ashura coupled with the Demonic swords showed its full potential in that situation.
The fuming ethereal sabers fend off any enemy that tried to approach him from his sides while his two real weapons cut unhindered anything that stood on their path.
Those soldiers weren't wealthy, their cultivation level came from the generosity of the Empire toward its citizens.
So, they weren't equipped with defensive items or inscribed weapons, only a small part of them had inscribed items in the second rank.
Yet, Noah's weapons were at the peak of the second rank!
They had been created with the sole purpose of cutting everything in their path, Noah's mind was imagining a saber dividing the sky when he imbued his will on the "Breath".
Their sharpness coupled with the destructiveness of the Demonic form spell made them able to easily sever anything weaker than them!
Swords, spears, shields, knives, all kinds of weapons were used by the soldiers to block his offensive and all of them were cleanly cut without any exclusion.
Noah's blades destroyed common and inscribed items as if they were cutting through butter, always ending on the astonished soldiers afterward.
A war was a messy place.
The soldiers didn't have time to actively change their fighting method, especially considering their inexperience.
That's why Noah's offensive continued to take lives without anyone able to stop him.
Those soldiers were either in the gaseous or liquid stage of the second rank of the dantian, their power was already barely enough to match Noah.
Considering the confused situation in the battle and their inexperience, they were completely unable to stop Noah.
Yet, not everyone was unaware of his actions.
Seth, Lisa, and her two protectors could clearly see how the hooded man ran in a straight line among the army of the Empire, disturbing their formation from the inside.
"What is that? Did you hide a cultivator in the solid stage below a blue robe?"
Seth angrily asked, he was ready to suffer some losses but the number of dead soldiers was increasing at an incredible ratio, a situation like that had never happened before.
"You know that I can't do that. Our agreement is clear, I can't use this kind of tricks or my dantian would explode."
Lisa coldly answered.
The agreement with the Empire was strict, the battles had to be fair and straightforward, both sides couldn't use any kind of ploy or trick.
Seth's eyes sharpened, Noah's figure was continuing in his killing spree, no one among the blue soldiers was able to stop him.
A token appeared in his hands and he softly spoke at it, he was communicating some special order to the troops below.
"The outsider you trapped this time has some talent, it's a pity that your nation managed to rope him in before the Empire could."
He loudly announced as his eyes shone with a cold light.
On the battlefield, Noah was still running in a straight line.
The First Form was used to defend from the attacks coming at him from other directions while his two sabers continued to claim many victims.
That kind of fighting style allowed him to fight for a long time without expending that much energy.
He was only using his martial art and the partial Demonic form after all, he could totally bear that expenditure of mental energy and "Breath" at his level.
That was also due to the fact that he was using those means only to defend, his real offensive power came from his blades that consumed virtually no energy.
Then, something changed around him.
The blue soldiers began to back off and a red figure could be seen running at full speed through their ranks.
'There you are.'
Noah smiled behind his hood at that sight.
'They have finally sent a cultivator in the solid stage to stop me.'
He knew that he was creating far too damage in the army of the Empire, they had to stop him.
Contrary to everyone's expectations, Noah didn't run away at the sight of that red robe but, instead, he jumped right at it!
A loud snort could be heard from the red cultivator, he felt that he was being underestimated by that simple blue soldier.
A difference in stage meant more powerful attacks and the ability to fight for a longer time, it was hard to overcome that hurdle.
However, Noah jumped at him without hesitation!
'Mental tremor!'
His vision blurred for less than an instant and a mental beam shot toward the red cultivator.
His opponent had a rank 2 mental sphere and an inscribed weapon, he was clearly stronger than him.
Yet, Noah's spell was able to destabilize him for a few seconds, making him unable to infuse his "Breath" in the weapon.
Noah's vein bulged and turned black, he had activated the power of his body and converged all his ethereal sabers in a single slash.
Under the incredulous gaze of the soldiers of the Empire, Noah's attack cut right in the middle of the red cultivator's weapon before it severed his head.