"Iuno, are you sure Noah told me to lead everyone from Septimont away from the Hunting Ground, the farther the better?"
Augusta frowned tightly, her mind racing.
What exactly had happened that would make Noah make such an arrangement?
Reason told her that following Noah's instructions was the right thing to do. However, no matter what happened, she should not let a guest they had invited face it alone.
With that thought, she immediately gave the order:
"Iuno, you lead everyone away. I will go to the Earthrend Wedge to provide support and help Noah as much as I can."
"No way, Augusta. Don't even think about leaving me behind. I'm going too!"
"You… fine."
As long as it was a decision made by her close friend, no one could change her mind.
Time was tight. Augusta gave up on trying to persuade her and instead looked toward Elder Falco not far away.
Among the people here, aside from herself, this elder held the most authority. It seemed that the task of leading everyone away from the Hunting Ground could only be entrusted to him.
...
Cartethyia had already been teleported away. Inside the Terminal loop domain, only Noah and the god-king continued their fierce battle.
The long blade clashed with the bone blade, producing piercing vibrations.
Almost at the moment of impact, the Authority of the Crown's Thunder shattered into countless fragments, slicing the god-king's body into countless pieces of Dark Tide.
As the blade fragments recombined into a longsword, that Dark Tide also wove back together into human form. Ovathrax let out a piercing voice of admiration:
"Using electromagnetic force to turn a broken weapon into one that only attacks and never defends. I have lived countless years, yet this ingenious use of ability is the first I've seen. Noah, you truly are the crystallization of human wisdom."
"You're not bad either. You're the gallstone of human wisdom."
After being rebuked, Ovathrax was about to argue back but paused upon reflection, realizing that what Noah said wasn't wrong.
Threnodians were originally born from the dark side of civilization. Calling it the gallstone of human wisdom wasn't inaccurate.
"Sharp-tongued."
It snorted coldly. Several Dark Tide dragons continuously bombarded the newly repaired gilded Terminal loop domain, quickly creating more broken gaps:
"Have you not noticed that your weapon's frequency is getting weaker and weaker? If you use that move a few more times, your weapon will probably shatter completely into powder."
At that point, a weapon reduced to powder wouldn't even withstand a casual swing from Noah, let alone deal any damage.
"You want to stall me and prevent the Dark Tide from flooding out. Heh, what a naive and laughable idea. You still don't understand who is actually stalling whom?"
As if to prove Ovathrax's words, large amounts of Dark Tide sprayed out through the gaps in the Terminal loop domain, roaring and surging in all directions.
It wasn't Noah stalling it. It was stalling Noah. Not only did it prevent the latter from repairing the Earthrend Wedge, it also tried every way possible to break the seal and release the Dark Tide.
Seeing this, Noah's gaze sharpened. He switched to Cartethyia, and the spatial authority immediately reversed the gravity in the area.
"Hahaha, you want to stop me? Dream on!"
Seizing the moment Noah was distracted, Ovathrax swung its bone blade like a rapid whip, forcing him to redirect his attention back to the god-king.
When Noah sidestepped to dodge the whip's attack, that Dark Tide whip suddenly expanded into a full human form. Ovathrax used this Dark Tide to instantly close in, its bone blade thrusting toward Noah.
"You fell for it!"
"Wrong. You fell for it!"
A spatial prison formed by the authority firmly sealed the god-king.
Reversing gravity and pretending to be distracted were merely feints. When he switched to Cartethyia, he had been continuously charging the power of Separation, waiting for Ovathrax to walk right into the trap.
The fully charged Separation authority erupted. The chaotic mixed frequencies inside the god-king's shell were frantically stripped away. Its aura continuously weakened.
It worked! The god-king was getting weaker!
Noah was overjoyed. He pressed the advantage without mercy, fully activating the Separation authority, determined to strip away all of the god-king's frequencies.
At the critical moment, Ovathrax actually swung its blade to cut itself, shattering its own body into Dark Tide and escaping through the gaps in the spatial prison.
"Separation authority, huh? Interesting."
Ovathrax landed back on the Dark Tide:
"Unfortunately, have you forgotten that this body was nurtured by the Dark Tide? And here, the Dark Tide is inexhaustible!"
Sure enough, endless Dark Tide frantically poured into its body. The frequencies that Noah had painstakingly stripped away were replenished in an instant.
"How about that?" It let out a disdainful laugh. "Any other moves? Bring them all out."
"..."
Even the Separation authority had no effect.
The ground beneath his feet had long been completely submerged by the Dark Tide. Noah could now only stand in mid-air using spatial authority. He took a deep breath, feeling a surge of rage that he could no longer suppress.
The enemy before him was undoubtedly the most troublesome one he had ever faced.
An undying and unkillable body, an endless supply of Dark Tide, combat instincts that had turned slaughter into instinct, and noisy mockery...
"So annoying!"
Intense killing intent bloomed in his eyes:
"I don't care about any cost now. Today, you must die here!"
Character switch: Iuno.
A circular moonbow appeared in his hand. He outputted massive amounts of anchoring Resonance power without regard for the cost. The treasure blue arrow, compressed with anchoring power, shone dazzlingly brighter and brighter.
As he poured out Resonance power, he felt his body becoming lighter and lighter, as if something was dragging his existence into chaos.
But he ignored it all and continued pouring in power.
More and more Resonance power finally caused a qualitative change through accumulation, turning into anchoring power that even Ovathrax was moved by.
Its originally relaxed mindset faded, replaced by a strong premonition.
If hit by this arrow, even it would be anchored.
"What a joke?"
It finally moved. Its speed was like lightning, leaving behind afterimages:
"There's no way I'll let you succeed!"
The Dark Tide whip swung from the bone blade mercilessly lashed toward the moonbow. A full-powered strike—if it hit—would definitely destroy the bow and arrows.
Facing this strike, that person would either abandon the attack and suffer the backlash from interrupted Resonance power, or force the shot at the cost of destroying the moonbow. But it had also prepared to dodge.
Time seemed to slow down. Every movement became clearly visible.
Seeing the Dark Tide whip about to hit the moonbow, Noah threw the moonbow forward heavily. Upon seeing this, Ovathrax was overjoyed—he had indeed chosen to abandon the attack.
Then next, he would have to endure the backlash from forcibly interrupting the output.
The expected backlash did not come. In mid-air, Noah leaned his body back, dodging the Dark Tide whip's attack. At the same time, one foot stepped on the grip of the moonbow while the other split into a straight line in the air, pulling the bowstring to a full moon.
"This is my resolve!"
"What!"
He was actually shooting the arrow with his foot!
Just how many more times was this guy Noah going to shock it?
Ovathrax was greatly alarmed. It had never expected things to develop this way!
The arrow fully charged with anchoring power shot out sharply. It radiated brilliant宝 blue light, like a bright moon traveling unstoppable along its destined path until it reached its target.
The god-king's shell was accurately struck by the arrow.
The heart-piercing pain was transmitted clearly into Ovathrax's consciousness for the first time from its Dark Tide body, making it taste the flavor of pain after so long.
"How is this possible!"
Looking at the arrow in its chest, Ovathrax instinctively tried to turn its body into Dark Tide to nullify the damage.
But the massive continuous anchoring power pinned it firmly in place, making it completely unable to merge into the Dark Tide.
In an instant, Ovathrax's mind shook violently!
If it couldn't merge into the Dark Tide… it simply couldn't beat Noah!
Retreat. It must retreat!
Thinking of this, Ovathrax suppressed its inner panic. Instead of pulling out the arrow in its chest, it laughed loudly:
"Useless! Your anchoring power has no effect on me!"
Hearing this, Noah gritted his teeth, his face turning extremely ugly.
After condensing so much Resonance power, he still couldn't anchor it?
Dozens of Dark Tide dragons tore toward him. Noah switched to Augusta, slashing apart the Dark Tide dragons while carefully watching for any sneak attacks from Ovathrax.
However, after everything calmed down and Ovathrax still hadn't appeared, he looked at the now-empty Earthrend Wedge plateau and finally realized:
"Ovathrax ran away!"
Before, it was his tactical retreat. Now it was Ovathrax's tactical retreat. How the tables had turned!
The War Threnodian had clearly been anchored, yet it still pretended to be fine to fool him, then threw out a smoke bomb and escaped.
"You dared to mess with me!"
He opened the panel, opened the [Data Bank], selected Tacet Discord False Sovereign, and clicked Track.
As long as it was a Tacet Discord he had seen, it could be recorded in his Data Bank. From then on, its entire "clan" could not escape. Although the Data Bank did not record Threnodians, it could record the False Sovereign.
"I'll see where you can run!"
...
Temporary camp.
Augusta and Iuno had already set off on the road to find Noah. Elder Falco had taken over command of the group and was about to lead everyone back to Septimont City.
"Elder, listen to me." A high-ranking member of the Senate stood beside Falco, offering advice with shrewd light in his eyes:
"Think about it. Why would Augusta leave us behind to go find Noah by herself? She said Noah was in danger, and you believed her?"
"First, someone as strong as Noah couldn't possibly be in danger. Second, if we hear that Noah is in danger and immediately run away, what impression would we leave on him?"
"Think again about who left with Augusta. It was the genius priestess Iuno. If there really was danger, would she be able to go? Take a closer look. Savor it."
Elder Falco pondered carefully. The more he thought about it, the more he felt the person made sense.
Could Augusta be trying to win over Noah's favor before the Senate?
How dare she! What a move by Augusta. He had almost fallen for that woman's trick.
"Everyone!"
Elder Falco turned around on the spot and commanded the group:
"Follow me to the Earthrend Wedge to support Noah! Full speed ahead!"
...