'Its cry is different from the other worms.'

Noah judged in his mind as he saw the rank 4 creature jumping on him.

Two sabers appeared in his hands as he prepared himself for the imminent collision.

'There seem to be some emotions behind it.'

After that last thought, Noah shut his mind and focused completely on the battle.

The Excavating worms didn't have any special attack or peculiar ability, they only relied on their bodies to fight.

Their strongest part was the mouth where the circular rows of teeth were, that's why they usually pounced directly on their prey.

The worm in front of Noah wasn't an exception, it performed a jump of over twenty meters before hitting the exact spot where Noah was.

Noah stood still, enduring the might of the beast without the usage of martial arts or spells.

THUD!

The power of the leader was too much for him to handle and he was flung away, slamming on the crystalline wall.

Noah felt pain in his arms and even his back seemed to have suffered some slight injury.

However, his expression was one of joy and excitement.

'I can fight it!'

Until that moment, he still had his doubts about the actual strength of his body.

No matter how many rank 3 beasts he had fought, he still wasn't completely confident in his abilities.

Yet, after successfully surviving the attack of a rank 4 creature and suffering only some minor injury, he was finally able to assess his strength.

He could finally battle a beast in the heroic ranks, that thought made him incredibly thrilled.

Noah landed on the ground and unfolded his wings.

The injury on his back had already begun to heal and it wasn't a hindrance to the battle, he was ready to fight back!

Noah shot toward the worm, executing the First form of the Ashura at full strength.

In the eyes of the beast, the human became immediately more dangerous!

More than twenty ethereal sabers were created around him which assaulted the worm without hesitation.

The sabers slashed the worm all over its body, leaving superficial wounds whenever they managed to hit it.

Yet, the worm didn't retreat nor did it instantly attack, it waited patiently, fixing its gaze on the human at the center of the storm of blades.

Then, it suddenly attacked!

The worm was using its superior body to endure Noah's attacks and kill him!

'Fuck!'

Noah cursed in his mind and redirected most of the ethereal sabers in front of him to slow the leader's offensive.

Wounds appeared everywhere near the worm's mouth who continued in its attack, hitting Noah's true blades.

THUD!

Noah was once again flung away by the impressive strength of the rank 4 creature.

'It didn't panic and waited for the right moment to exploit the weakness of the First form, impressive.'

Noah analyzed in his mind.

The First form of the Ashura was able to multiply his attacks even if in a slightly weaker version, yet they were useless if they couldn't manage to heavily hurt the enemy.

The opponent could simply jump straight in the middle of the blades and focus the cultivator that created them.

'I never thought that it could discover the weak point so quickly, a beast with a Bloodline inheritance sure is scary.'

The rank 4 creature waited for Noah to attack again, it stood still among the corpses of the beasts in its pack, warily inspecting him.

'It doesn't even have the usual recklessness of the other magical beasts, I bet that it's waiting for its remaining pack to arrive, the battle cry from before must have had that meaning.'

Noah was a bit hesitant.

The strength of the leader was fearsome but he had yet to reveal his strongest attacks.

However, if he exhausted his energy and didn't manage to kill it before the weaker beasts arrived, the situation would become dangerous.

'What a careful worm you are.'

Noah mocked the beast in his mind as he assaulted it again.

That time, the leader didn't wait for the sabers to multiply and stab its body, it retracted its upper body inside itself and then it shot at an incredible speed toward Noah.

'Has it imitated a metal spring!?'

Noah felt an intense sense of danger coming from the nearing beast which made him resolutely activate the ability of his body.

His veins bulged and turned black, momentarily empowering its physical abilities.

The leader was too fast, it clashed with Noah's sabers before he could even activate the First form of the Ashura, only his two pairs of ethereal arms aided his material weapons in defending from the beast's attacks.

THUUUD!

Noah felt an unstoppable strength crashing on his arms and throwing him away.

He crashed on the walls for the third time, digging into the crystalline surface until the power of the attack was dissipated.

Noah felt his bones cracking while part of the skin on his back had been torn, the leader had managed to inflict some serious damage at that time.

However, the liquid "Breath" in his veins was already aiding his recovery, fixing the small cracks on his bones and repairing the torn muscles.

'This thing has invented a technique!'

Inside Noah's mind, there were no traces of wavering due to the pain but only amazement due to what he had witnessed.

'This beast has actually managed to exploit the proprieties of its body to create an attack that surpasses its limits!'

The body of the Excavating worms was soft, it could be compressed and stretched easily, that's why it didn't have much value as a material for the creation of weapons.

Yet, the creature with the Bloodline inheritance had managed to use that quality to increase the power of its assaults.

Compressing itself before pouncing an enemy largely increased the power behind its attack, just like a metal spring.

'Such a weak type of beast can achieve something like this with a bit of intelligence. The bodies of the magical beasts are indeed on another level.'

Noah finally gave up on trying to fight the leader without using any spell and prepared himself to exit the cavity that his last impact with the wall had created.

However, at that moment, a voice sounded above him.

"Vance, is that you?"