Chapter 877 877. Leader
Noah had only needed one hand to stop the charge of the snake. His body was in the upper tier now, which matched the strength of the snakes. Yet, he had fused with a dragon, so his physical strength was slightly above that of his opponent.
Of course, Noah would overwhelm it in that field if the snake was only a magical beast. Still, the words that it had spoken made everyone realize that they were facing hybrids.
Also, that hybrid had used the language of the other Mortal Lands, which didn't leave many doubts about their origin. The god of the Empire had probably put them inside the separate dimension after they lost the war.
There was another possibility though.
None of the cultivators there knew how the Immortal Lands worked. There was a high chance that hybrids lived in the higher plane since two of the two known Mortal Lands had managed to give birth to those species.
It was only reasonable that such creatures lived up there.
However, Noah felt that their language couldn't be a coincidence since they had just won the war against the other world. It would have been a different story if they had used an unknown language, but Noah had already drawn his conclusion in the matter since that wasn't the case.
Moreover, Noah didn't want to overthink about their origin since he had made his mind to capture at least one of them!
His decision didn't come only from the possible information concerning that dimension in possession of those creatures. The Hive needed as many assets it could get and the experts in the fifth rank were hard to groom. Forcing at least one of those hybrids to join his organization could only benefit its power as a whole.
Noah smirked as he fixed his eyes on those of the panicking snake. The truth was that he had always preferred to fight against magical beasts because they allowed him to express the power of his body to its fullest.
Two pairs of reptilian eyes exchanged a long gaze before they decided to break that stalemate.
Noah stabbed his fingers in the scaled skin over the snake's mouth and tightened his grip to tear away a large chunk of its flesh. The snake's survival instinct kicked in at that point and activated its innate ability to put some distance from that threatening human.
Its body became ethereal until it completed merged with the environment. The snake completely disappeared, and Noah found himself unable to locate it anymore.
His consciousness didn't sense anything, and even the wound that he had inflicted didn't leave any trail. It was as if that more than fifty meters long creature had wholly vanished without leaving any track.
'Just as I thought,' Noah concluded in his mind when he saw that ability for the second time. 'The four of them are Ghostly Snakes.'
A series of information appeared in his mind as he reviewed what he knew about that species.
The main feature of the Ghostly Snakes was their ability to merge with the environment and suppress their presence. In that state, they would be almost invulnerable and could cross any material. They wouldn't be able to affect the matter either though, which they compensated with their powerful bodies.
Also, they had an earth aptitude, which was a feature worth considering since they weren't only magical beasts.
Noah's expanded his consciousness to its limits and let his instincts roam free inside his mind. Only his body could help him sense the presence of the snake once it entered that immaterial state.
However, even when he sharpened his senses, he could only sense a certain tension in the air and link it to a beast preparing an ambush. He couldn't pinpoint where the next attack would arrive, nor when.
He would only be able to sense it when it deactivated its immaterial form.
'I want to see if you dare to come then,' Noah's smirk widened, and a calm coldness invaded his eyes as strands of black smoke started to come out of his body.
Noah didn't want to scare the snake away. So, he let the smoke fly higher in the sky and disperse in the environment. That was a bait. He was trying to show part of his power to make the snake think that the corrosive smoke was his defensive measure.
Of course, such strategies wouldn't work against an actual cultivator. They were just simple tactics that exploited the instincts of the magical beasts.
Even an apex predator would find it strange if its prey were too easy to kill. So, Noah had to show that he was ready to struggle for his life if he wanted his opponent to attack him.
The snake was panicking and could only think about stashing food. When it saw the corrosive smoke coming out of Noah's body, it felt the danger that it radiated. Still, it also sensed that its body could withstand it for enough time to reduce the cultivator to a pulp.
Once it made those instinctive calculations, the snake neared Noah and spread its ethereal maws to surround his figure. Its body started to become material at that point, and it quickly closed its mouth to crush his prey in one attack.
Yet, the snake's vision suddenly turned dark, and a burning sensation filled its mouth. When the light returned to its world, the snake could see how a series of ethereal white flames were burning the internal skin of its mouth and throat.
Nevertheless, it didn't have time to focus on those flames since a dangerous sensation filled its mind and made it forget about the storm.
Noah had already activated the complete Demonic Form by the time the snake managed to move its attention away from its mouth. Four additional arms had raised from his torso to wield four copies of the Demonic sword.
The snake felt the need to run, but it was too late. Not even activating its innate ability could allow it to dodge that attack.
Time seemed to stop when Noah slashed, but the pain arrived far quicker than the snake imagined. When it turned, it saw a deep cut originating from the left corner of its mouth and ending somewhere in the middle of its body.
The snake felt relieved at the beginning. It seemed that the cultivator had missed all the vital organs.
Yet, Noah released a roar as he raised his six arms once again in the air and prepared to launch the second form of the Dragon's Claw martial art again. The cry carried a simple meaning, but the intense pride that only a hybrid in the upper tier could radiate backed it.
Noah's cry reached deep inside the snake's instincts, but its mental sphere translated that roar in human words nonetheless. "Surrender or die!"
The snake could only lower its head in fear at that point. Its instincts forced it to recognize Noah as its leader.