In the underground room, puddles of blood were everywhere on the ground.
Noah was sitting among them, quietly cultivating to aid his recovery.
He had just vanquished the assault of the Excavating worms and had used again some of his potions to refill his centers of powers.
'There were rank 1 and 2 specimens this time. I'm getting closer to the leader.'
He thought.
The last ambush featured weaker beasts, which meant that the number of rank 3 specimens had been drastically reduced.
'Maybe this is another trap though, I don't really know how cautions I have to be against something with a Bloodline inheritance.'
The knowledge about that rare case was limited, something like that had happened only a few times for it to be successfully studied.
'I should dump part of the corpses somewhere, I don't really have any use for them. Also, I have four space-rings to inspect. I should probably go deeper in the lair before doing that.'
He had fought twice in that underground room, the traces of battle had become too evident.
He wasn't afraid of the other cultivators in Daniel's group, if he met them, he would simply kill them or lie.
Yet, he was sure that the pack of worms was planning another assault.
'I don't know if the rank 4 creature thinks as a beast or as a human. It's obviously trying to probe me but I don't know if its plan is to exhaust me or something else. I should probably spend a day or two hidden in a small cave to recover with my potions, using the "Breath" blessing now would be too dangerous.'
He had initially thought that the "Breath" blessing was his biggest advantage in that environment but he had to reconsider that idea.
He didn't expect for other cultivators to arrive, using that mineral would expose his position to them and facilitate their regroup.
'The worms aren't a problem but I don't think I can win against two cultivators as strong as that woman, especially if Daniel is one of them.'
The battle against Phoebe made him realize that his real advantage was still his Demonic form.
His technique was slightly superior to hers but he couldn't achieve a fast victory with just his martial art.
He was dealing with nobles older than him after all, they were powerful and well equipped.
'I need to save my mental energy and the liquid "Breath" in my body for the fight against the rank 4 beast. I've already spent too much of the latter.'
The mental energy recovered while the cultivator rested, it wasn't affected by the external environment.
However, the liquid "Breath" in his body depended on his dantian which was struggling to refill itself in the dungeon.
Luckily for Noah, he had a large accumulation of potion and pills which could help in any situation.
'Let's find that cave and rest.'
He thought, enveloping his figure with mental energy and moving toward a deeper part of the lair.
Meanwhile, a young man was running at high speed in one of the tunnels.
He was in a pitiful state: his robe was torn and broken, he was sweating profusely, and some open wound still dripped blood on the ground as he ran.
About forty rank 3 worms were behind him, they were faster than the cultivator, the dungeon was their territory after all.
'Fuck! If only Lord Daniel or Milo were here! Damned beasts, why are they so accurate in their ambushes?!?'
That man was Troy who had been separated from the rest of his group.
He had been lucky, he had managed to enter one of the tunnels as soon as the floor broke, suffering only some minor injury.
Yet, all his stronger companions had fallen deeper in the lair, leaving him alone in the upper parts of the dungeon.
Initially, he had thought about finding a way out and call for help, yet the magical beasts never allowed him to do so.
They began to assault him, never allowing him to rest or recover, forcing him to dive deeper into the lair to escape their attacks.
After almost half a day of continuous fights, Troy was exhausted.
His protective robe had been destroyed, his centers of power were almost empty, and his body alone wasn't enough to deal with those beasts.
Ten or so worms appeared right in front of him, blocking his path.
'Dammit!'
He cursed in his mind and stretched his hand toward the beasts.
A fox made of fire came out of his arm and jumped toward the worms, engulfing their figures in a raging fire that destroyed them immediately.
Troy jumped through the curtains of flames and continued his escape, yet his complexion had worsened even more.
'That was my last spell, I need to find somewhere safe to recover or I will die.'
Troy knew that without the aid of his spells, he would be overwhelmed by the high number of beasts in the pack.
Then, the wall on his side broke and tens of rank 3 worms fell right over his figure.
Troy didn't have time to dodge and was submerged by the tide of magical beasts.
'Is this the end?'
He thought as the worms began to bite his body and tear his flesh.
However, at that moment, wind slashes ran through the room and severed the heads of many worms, killing them on the spot.
Another cultivator appeared, jumping directly in the middle of the group of beasts and sending even more attacks on them.
He wielded two knives that he waved without hesitation, inflicting fatal wounds on each beast.
He walked unmatched among the worms, those rank 3 creatures couldn't even touch him.
"Milo!"
Troy smiled happily seeing that one of his companions had arrived in his help and struggled to defeat the worms that were still attempting to eat him.
Milo arrived in his position and killed the beasts on him before turning and sending tens of wind slashes on the remaining beasts.
In just a few minutes, those forty or so magical beasts had been killed and Troy had been saved.