Chapter 2269: 2269. Environmen

A tense silence followed Snore's growl. The privileged cultivators who weren't involved in any battle eyed the giant snake, Noah, and the various creations to understand the limits of their power, but that wasn't an easy feat.

Snore appeared at the peak of its power, and the dark world's creations didn't have clear functions. They were the products of Noah's destruction, but that didn't define specific abilities or limits.

Noah even seemed to have reached a new level of understanding of his world, which naturally flowed into his creations. A few exchanges were needed to define the power of Noah's army, but the privileged cultivators didn't know how many of them would survive that process.

Snore moved its new wings a bit to get used to their power, but its reptilian eyes never left the privileged cultivators near Supreme Thief and Great Builder.

Meanwhile, the fiendish avatars voiced high-pitched noises that made the six-armed dragons and the array of swords turn toward the other platoon of privileged cultivators.

As for Noah, he remained among his creations and studied the two platoons. Seventeen privileged cultivators with power in the liquid and solid stage were against him, so he couldn't approach the fight recklessly.

Still, prolonging that battle would also have adverse effects. The final battle had yet to enter its last phase, and Noah couldn't let mere underlings tire him out.

'Why do I even bother?' Noah cursed in his mind before waving a hand.

Snore hissed as soon as Noah gave the signal and shot forward to fly toward its opponents. Noah's army did the same, and their dark figures seemed to fuse with the void as the space-time fabric churned and bent to improve their movements.

The privileged cultivators near Great Builder and Supreme Thief ignored their previous opponents to focus on Snore. The platoon relied on multiple movement techniques to materialize around the giant snake and prepare various abilities.

The nine experts who had chased Supreme Thief were all capable solid stage cultivators. They immediately set up a battle formation to contain Snore's destructive power and give them a stark advantage in the imminent fight.

Five of those privileged cultivators took place in the frontlines, while the others occupied opposite spots in the backlines. Those experts knew how to make the best out of their worlds, and they didn't hesitate to exploit their numerical advantage.

The experts on the frontlines exploded with power as their revealed their abilities. One expanded her figure until she became as big as Snore, while another covered his body with a scarlet liquid that shone with bright light.

The other three limited themselves to filling the area with their energy. Green, blue, and orange waves of power flowed through the void and surrounded Snore while they tried to support their companions.

As for the privileged cultivators in the backlines, they also summoned their auras, but they kept them limited to their surroundings. They even condensed their energy to prepare powerful but precise attacks to unleash at the right moment.

Snore didn't care that its opponents had surrounded it. It didn't even bother to try to escape that encirclement. The privileged cultivators had chosen to get in its range, which was exactly what it wanted.

The giant expert charged at Snore and wrapped her arms and legs around its huge body, paying attention to avoiding the disposable wings. Meanwhile, the scarlet expert approached those feathered limbs to cover them with his bright liquid.

The other three experts used their energy to take complete control of the area. The void around Snore lit up as waves of power tried to seal its abilities and influence. Those techniques weren't proper barriers, but they behaved in a similar way. They even felt more troublesome to deal with compared to average defensive abilities.

The cultivators' tactic was quite simple. They held the advantage both in terms of numbers and general power, but Snore had some of the best destructive abilities in the higher plane.

Containing Snore was a must in the cultivators' minds, but mere techniques would directly crumble under the sheer might that it was able to unleash.

However, the situation would change if they used auras that Snore could pierce relatively easily. A barrier would explode after too much energy accumulated in its insides, but something without a fixed form could break while forcing the opposing ability to deplete part of its power.

A smart approach to that containment would involve precise attacks capable of retaining their power even after piercing the auras. Snore would be able to target the sources of that energy like that and improve the trend of the battle.

Yet, Snore wasn't Night. Noah's violent thoughts also flowed through its mind and enhanced its innate abilities. Moreover, Noah's destruction was at its peak, which naturally influenced Snore's decisions.

The privileged cultivators initially thought that Snore was studying the situation since no attack arrived from its side. The giant expert didn't hesitate to add strength to her grasp, while the other released even more of his scarlet liquid.

Still, a faint high-pitched noise soon resounded and flowed into the various abilities. Black lines that radiated dark-red light slowly spread through the dense auras around Snore and on the scarlet liquid on its wings, and the strange sound grew louder as the seconds passed.

The privileged cultivators could quickly connect that event to the Cursed Sword, but they pressed on with their offensive. Suffering damage wasn't a problem as long as Snore ended up in a worse situation, but things didn't go according to their expectations.

The Cursed Sword could accumulate destruction to unleash it into a single attack, but things were different now under Noah's new understanding of his world.

The black lines picked up speed in no time and expanded all around Snore while taking the privileged cultivators by surprise. Even the giant expert saw her body filled with those marks, and nothing in her power seemed able to remove them.

Panic began to build among the privileged cultivators, who moved their tactic to the next step. The four experts in the backlines launched their dense abilities toward the wings' base in an attempt to sever them and stop their offensive. Yet, their attacks stopped mid-air.

The privileged cultivators couldn't believe their eyes. Four pillars of energy had converged toward Snore, but a net of black lines had appeared at their bases before they could get too close to the giant snake.

The whole area was filled with destruction, which had created something similar to a shield that the cultivators' abilities couldn't pierce without triggering its effects.

Snore didn't even give the privileged cultivators the time to inspect the situation. Two of its wings exploded during that moment of surprise, and the nine experts saw their mental waves vanishing from the void.

Only chaos, loud noises, and faint sensations remained in the experts' minds while they were still busy stabilizing their consciousness. They found themselves almost entirely in the dark, unable to unfold their mental waves. The situation was so strange that some believed that they had died.

Yet, once everything began to quiet down, the experts managed to send slivers of mental energy outside their minds to inspect the area, and what they saw left them speechless.

The ever-present void had ended in the backlines. It had turned into a mere background of the scenery created by Snore. Violent waves of destructive energy had filled everything else, giving birth to an environment that couldn't theoretically exist.

The surprise experienced by the privileged cultivators only intensified as more of their senses regained power. They slowly became able to see a ground, vague buildings, and a sky, but none of those images had a fixed form. Everything was made of violent energy.