King Elbas' might was unstoppable. The sea of flames protected him from every attack, and his spells had the power to set fire to entire regions.
That was the prowess of a cultivator at the peak of the heroic ranks. King Elbas deserved his title of "strongest in the world".
Noah didn't let fear fill his mind at that sight. Every cultivator had limits, and King Elbas wasn't an exception. The only problem was how much the world would lose to exhaust that threat.
King Elbas landed on the ground while the sea of flames still surrounded his figure. The Copying Technique had never stopped creating armies of magical beasts, and attacks of various nature had continued to converge in his position.
As long as they forced King Elbas to defend, Noah didn't mind spending an insane number of resources to keep the Copying Technique active.
God's Left Hand and Great Elder Diana seemed to have accepted Noah's leadership after their brief discussion. They didn't complain about his behavior anymore, but he had to admit that there was truth in their words.
Great Elder Diana was right. She could have helped during Noah's sudden attack, and the same went for the other Matriarch.
Noah wasn't fighting alone, but his mind kept on making him believe otherwise. His ambition was too intense to let him consider others whenever he made a decision.
"Activate the traps," Noah whispered at his inscribed notebook, and the Matriarchs nodded. There was nothing else that they could do in that situation.
King Elbas had just landed on the ground when an earthquake filled the entire region. Cracks spread on the terrain before a detonation reduced the whole territory to a broken mess.
Countless explosions resounded in the area as the Instabilities hidden under the surface activated and engulfed King Elbas in their destructive might.
A storm of saber-shaped runes came out of the vast gray cloud that had covered the entire region. The whole area had fallen into chaos, but the golden light of King Elbas' flames never flickered even during that mess.
Noah had hidden hundreds of Instabilities in the sixth rank in that region, but their detonation didn't seem to affect King Elbas in the slightest.
The Copying Technique stopped to create magical beasts to make room for the platoons. The cultivators and hybrids started teleporting outside of the separate dimension again to launch attacks.
The new array of attacks dispersed the gray cloud and revealed King Elbas still protected by his golden flames. A storm of saber-shaped runes infuriated around him, but nothing seemed able to pierce his defenses.
The platoons' attacks suffered from the same fate. They burned as soon as they touched the golden flames.
Nothing appeared able to stop King Elbas, but Noah was fine with that. He was willing to sacrifice regions to make his opponent waste more energy. He had prepared other countermeasures in the sixth rank, but he wanted to deploy them only after the Royal showed signs of exhaustion.
King Elbas started to walk through the land. His goal was unclear, but the defenders didn't care about it. They only wanted to kill their target.
They didn't care about the damages that the world would suffer during the battle. They had an escape route settled, so they could push all their efforts into stopping King Elbas.
A series of dark lines began to shine after the Royal had walked for a few kilometers. A dense aura fell on his figure and tried to restrain his movements.
Yet, the sea of flames around him blocked most of the negative effects after a few seconds. King Elbas had promptly modified their structure so that they could stop that new trap.
King Elbas' flames became denser under the pressure's effects, but they couldn't move as freely as before. His overall defense had improved, but Noah and the others had already predicted a similar outcome.
"Start with the counters," Noah ordered, and the platoon replaced some of their members to make room for new cultivators and hybrids.
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Noah, Elder Julia, and Skully had prepared battle formations for every occasion, and the current situation required spells that had excellent piercing properties.
King Elbas' flames had become denser in exchange for maneuverability. That opened the path for specific types of attacks, and Noah knew that far too well.
A torrent of lightning bolts, massive ice-arrows, and spears flew toward King Elbas, who was still trying to understand how to destroy the formations generating that pressure.
Burning everything didn't always work, and King Elbas still had his curiosity to suppress. The expert didn't mind spending a few rounds of attacks studying the dark lines.
Noah had shown Thirty-seven part of the Death Area spell to create that defense. The pressure generated by the dark lines was only a consequence of the power blocked by the flames. Their real effects would typically weaken the bodies of any cultivator until they collapsed.
Yet, the flames protected King Elbas from the dark lines' most dangerous effects, making them almost useless.
King Elbas continued to advance as countless attacks kept on converging toward him. The formations couldn't stop him, and all the other traps containing Instabilities barely managed to slow him down.
"Should we deploy the heavy weapons?" God's Left Hand asked, but Noah shook his head.
It was too early. King Elbas didn't show any sign of exhaustion even after more than forty arrays of spells had fallen on him. He had also ignored the Instabilities and formations, so he was still too strong for the other rank 6 defenses.
"What are you waiting for?" Great Elder Diana asked. "Three regions have already become nothing more than fiery debris. Why should we lose more?"
"If we attack now," Noah said, "He will fend off our rank 6 assets with a wave of his hand. There is only us after those defenses, and we all know that we don't stand a chance."
"Most of those regions belong to the Hive," Great Elder Diana said.
"Let them burn," Noah replied.
Great Elder Diana had shown some concern for him and his organization, but Noah didn't want that. Regions and territories could heal, but the Hive wouldn't keep the world if King Elbas were to take it over.
Noah had decided to sacrifice the lands even before he saw how strong King Elbas had become. He didn't care about the regions in the slightest.
The Copying Technique and the platoons launched a long and incessant offensive that forced King Elbas to keep his flames active. Still, the Royal continued to march toward the opposite coast without showing any struggle in his expression.
Regions took fire, exploded, or crumbled during the exchanges and the activation of the defenses. The Hive's expenses and losses were already immense, but the other organizations weren't better off.
King Elbas would deviate at times. He would start walking through the territories of the Council before returning to the Hive's domain.
It was as if he was enjoying that situation. There was an entire world attacking him, but he could walk around freely, without ever being in deadly danger.
Noah and the Matriarchs had continued to stare at the screens, and hope eventually appeared in their vision. It was subtle, but the three of them saw a sudden change in King Elbas' skin tone. He seemed paler than before, and a comparison with a previous picture confirmed that.
The defenses were working. King Elbas was finally showing some flaws.
Noah glanced at the two powerhouses at that point, and they nodded to accept his strategy. They had understood each other immediately after they noticed King Elbas' limit.
"It's your turn," Noah said through an inscribed notebook, and King Elbas stopped his tracks when he saw a tall Ape walking toward him.