Chapter 596 596. CRATER
Noah remained on the outside of the location belonging to Earl noble family. Time continued to count in his head whilst he stayed outside silently. Waiting for the four minutes to elapse.
He teleported away from the Earl family's location to arrive before the Opoli family. Just in the nick of time, he saw the figures of Jenna and Josh departing from the barrier.
Everything still looked normal thanks to the illusions he had created, but only he and they knew that utter chaos existed on the inside.
The duo had returned and they were back to normal. No silver light came out of their figures and their powers remained at their normal level.
At the end of the day they needed to hunt down the tier 4 cultivators one by one until they killed them off.
Sure their wide-ranged attacks had dealt terrible damage to the environment, but to properly kill the experts, close combat had been required. At least to some degree.
"Aiden," Josh called out, looking weak. His clothes were charred and his skin possessed burnt patches. The sheer heat within the barrier had burnt him that much merely seconds after they lost the empowerment.
Thanks to her fire affinity Jenna was only pale.
Noah grabbed onto them with his mental waves, after making some changes to the barrier's functions, then streaked across the lands to arrive before the Uro family's location.
He had to wait a bit more before Davis and Jade emerged from the barrier. Their figures looked stained but they had sustained no injuries that did not heal right before their empowerment ended.
They exchanged a few words after which Noah made the same changes to the barriers.
They returned to the Earl family's location and continued to wait for Erolia, whom Noah could feel relief build up in her heart, despite the sadness she still experienced.
Still, before Erolia came out, Noah decided to take a look at the insides of the barrier. He brought those experts with him.
An expansive area unfolded in their eyes, but the first detail they all took note of was the fact that the entire area had become a massive crater!
The next would be the dark clouds up above them.
Terrible bolts thundered up there and it was astonishing how not a hint of that sound could be heard on the outside.
The crashing of thunderbolts was so loud that the ground never stopped trembling.
The next detail that would be evident was the huge masses of smoke coming from several points in the crater.
The air was hot as a result of the charred surfaces.
The battle had ended since the clouds did not discharge their sparks, opting to simply announce the power their creator possessed.
There remained not a single standing structure in the whole place. After all, that place was a big charred crater about 40m deep.
The last detail that stood very evident would be the shining cerulean, gold, and white light shining at the very center point of the dark clouds.
Several green lights floated around that light.
Noah's eyes could pierce the radiance to see that Erolia had remained in her human form, and the green lights around her were mana cores from the fallen experts.
The group of five suddenly felt a powerful gaze land on their figures. But Erolia knew Noah's aura far too well.
The light she radiated vanished as she flew towards them, fast enough to arrive there in seconds but slow enough to not have shattered the sound barrier upon initial acceleration.
"Erolia," Noah called out tilting his head to the side. He stared at her downcast gaze knowing exactly how she felt.
Still.
"How do you feel?" He asked, placing his hand on her head. Her features remained untouched by the world and its dirt.
"I want to rest for a bit," she replied, raising her head to gaze at Noah's eyes. His silver eyes locked with hers and he seemed to get lost in her master's thoughts.
Noah nodded and she lowered her head before her figure started to glow cerulean light after which she transformed into a streak that entered the white cracks on his chest.
"Time to go," Noah announced, leaving the area with the others, he made changes to the barrier before teleporting in and out of his cultivation room to arrive at the area he had left the others.
The event startled those experts, but they quickly calmed down.
They had spent less than 8 minutes waiting.
"It's time to return to the guild. We can decide to fly across the expanses, or just teleport." Noah addressed the group after giving them a few minutes to ask their colleagues how the event had gone.
"Teleporting will get us there faster, but I'm sure you all want to at least gaze at the world again," Noah explained even if he knew that was the opposite.
Who would choose traversing miles over nigh instantaneous travel?
The answer was simple. No one would. Especially experts who wanted to leave the city's perimeter as quickly as possible.
They caught a hint of Noah's intentions and gave awkward smiles and mumbled replies.
Noah nodded and ascended.
"I'll be back in a bit." He revealed, not waiting for replies.
He ascended a bit over 200m in the air before unfolding his mental waves to prevent words from getting out.
Noah contacted Elder Ezra and informed her of the completion. He even sent her images of the destruction the experts had wrought on the estates.
Needless to say, she had been pleased. Noah also told her how he had made the barriers allow access from the outside, but it would take a total of four days before their reserves ran out.
Of course, that was if someone powerful didn't come to directly shatter it.
He made that decision to allow their tracks to die off for a prolonged period. People would enter not knowing what they had stepped into. Only to find out they couldn't leave.
It would require at least a peak stage tier 4 expert, maybe two to destroy each barrier.
Noah returned to the ground after speaking with the grand elder.
He began the journey with the group after that point. Letting them fly individually since he wasn't in a rush.