Fifty or so Excavating worms came out of the tunnels in the walls.
Noah waved his sabers without hesitation, sending tens of wind slashes flying in every direction.
Blood and heads fell down from the holes before the worms could even exit them completely.
In just one attack, more than fifteen worms had been killed!
Having a rank 4 body not only improved all his attacks but also removed the limit that he had on his martial art.
The Three forms of the Ashura was a rank 4 martial art, logically speaking, it had to match the might of a rank 4 magical beast!
However, Noah's centers of power were too weak, they could not allow him to express the true power of those forms.
Yet, now that he had a rank 4 body, some of that power could be unleashed.
Noah seemed to have six arms that relentlessly slashed the air, four of them though were still ethereal and could only express part of their true strength.
'My martial art is almost mastered!'
Noah thought as he jumped left and right to finish off the beasts that had encircled him.
Rank 3 creatures had never been a problem for Noah, yet that was thanks to the incredible power of his Demonic form.
With a rank 4 body though, he could kill as many as he wished without tiring himself too much.
Endurance had always been one of Noah's weaknesses since his battle prowess came from the Demonic form spell which expended a huge amount of mental energy, yet, with his body in the heroic ranks, he could show the results of his constant training.
Martial arts were weaker than spells after all, they did not have the same destructive power but they consumed far less energy.
Also, they depended on the ability of the cultivator.
Noah, that had fought for more than ten years with a saber in his hands, could finally show the difference in his ability!
Fifty rank 3 bests weren't a threat for him, in ten minutes, they were easily killed.
'Once my mind and dantian reach the third rank, I can aim for the complete mastery of my art.'
He concluded in his mind, forcefully slashing with his weapons to remove the blood on them.
'This makes about one hundred worms in the third rank, they know my position by now.'
Noah neared one of the tunnels but he could not see its end.
After inspecting a few more tunnels and gathering the corpses, he became certain of one thing.
'Here is where the lair begins.'
It was at that moment though that something unexpected happened.
The floor of the underground room began to tremble and a loud crawling noise resounded in the area.
'Is this an ambush?'
Noah was surprised but still calm.
He came in the dungeon to test his strength against a rank 4 magical beast, defeating waves of rank 3 creatures wasn't a big issue.
However, no worm arrived.
The floor continued to tremble until deep cracks appeared on the terrain before it finally broke completely.
The ground crumbled, showing tens of worms that were eating the terrain below, creating tunnels that disrupted the stability of the entire structure.
'The fuck is that?'
Noah's concerns weren't aimed at the broken floor nor at the astute trap of the magical beasts but rather at the environment that became visible below him.
Hundreds of tunnels went in every direction in the terrain, it resembled the structure of a hive with many bigger tunnels that divided every section.
Also, in its deeper part, a pale halo shone, illuminating the intricate underground structure in which the beasts transformed the lower layers of the Bare Dungeon.
Echo's wings tore Noah's clothes and began to flap at his will and small black circles appeared under his soles from time to time, keeping him in the air while he inspected the situation.
'This isn't the usual layout of a worm's lair. The magical beasts have precisely dug passages over the years and created this. Did they inspire themselves to the previous structure of the dungeon? But that would require a higher intelligence than what they are capable of, unless…'
Noah remained at the same altitude over the huge numbers of tunnels and caves at a hundred meters below him.
All he could see were some random worm appearing and continuing in its excavation, it seemed that the beasts had given up on him when they saw that he could fly.
'Bloodline inheritance!'
That assumption echoed in his mind, creating waves of shock that assaulted Noah.
'This is incredible! It makes sense though, this is the perfect environment for the birth of a rank 4 creature with that quality.'
A bit of greed was exuded from Noah's eyes as he stared at the illuminated bottom of the lair.
'I have to kill it, I can't let go of this chance.'
A beast with a bloodline inheritance was a magical beast that had developed its sea of consciousness.
The sea of consciousness was, after all, the representation of the thoughts of a living being.
Beasts acted on instinct, they had not proper thoughts, leading them to have a vague imitation of the humans' mental sphere that could not be trained, they were even unaware of having it.
However, nature always found a way.
They were beings that relied on their bodies for everything, their blood contained their will even if it was so weak that it could be disregarded.
Yet, in the proper situation, that will could be empowered and passed down to their descendants or to those that ate them.
Little by little, that blood would accumulate and create a proper center of power, giving to a specimen a higher intelligence.
'Two thousand years of periodic extermination, forced to eat their own kind to survive, hating the humans that always left some of them alive. That hate has grown and accumulated over the years, carried by the blood of each beast in the pack until a rank 4 creature was born with a sea of consciousness that contained the hate of tens of thousands beasts. That hate is the inheritance passed down by the previous generations of these creatures, which ultimately gave birth to an intelligent magical beast, a miracle.'
Noah's expression broke into a smile.
'A miracle that I can eat.'