Killing a rank 4 magical beasts all by himself was a hard task.
Noah's dantian was still in the gaseous stage, it couldn't inflict heavy damages on creatures in the fourth rank and the "Breath" inside it wasn't enough to completely exhaust the beast.
Yet, Noah had the Demonic form spell which dealt damage over time and increased his physical capabilities.
That, added to the ability of his Yin body, gave him some sort of confidence in his battle prowess. Also, the fact that the Excavating worms were generally considered weak beasts further raised his hopes.
However, Daniel's group had changed the situation.
Noah couldn't use his large stash of potions or his "Breath" blessing to engage in a protracted battle with the leader, he would just attract the attention of the other cultivators in the lair.
That's why he decided that he had to be the first to meet the rank 4 worm.
'I need to accurately determine the strength of the leader and plant some evidence near it. Luckily, I have everything I need for that.'
If his strength wasn't enough to kill the worm, he needed to cooperate with the other three cultivators, Noah wouldn't just give up the Bloodline inheritance because the situation didn't favor him.
Noah began to run.
Echo's head came out from the back of his neck to better inspect the area behind him and it used its scanning ability continuously, sending vague images of the area to Noah.
Noah also raised his concentration to the peak, he couldn't allow being caught unprepared in that situation.
He was fast, he crossed tunnels in a few seconds and directly flew down the vertical ones that he found.
His advance was much faster than the other cultivators in the other parts of the lair.
'The halo is becoming clearer.'
His target was, of course, the pale light coming from the bottom of those caves.
The light became stronger until he could finally understand what caused it.
Noah was in a narrow tunnel when he noticed a shiny crystal emitting the same light that came from the deeper parts of the lair.
'That's an Obsidian Credit! Of course! The halo must be radiated by a large accumulation of fully formed Credits!'
Noah realized and didn't hesitate to dig out the crystal from the wall.
It wasn't circular like the currency used by the cultivators, its shape was uneven and sharp, yet it was still a Credit!
'This should be enough to create two hundred Credits, I believe that its value is a bit lower though since it has to be shaped correctly.'
Noah continued in his march and dug out each crystal that he found.
He knew that those minerals belonged to the Royal family but he simply couldn't care less.
'If they really wanted me to refrain from taking them, I'm sure that Thaddeus would have told me that.'
His relationship with the Royal family had always been complex and it was founded on benefits.
Noah believed that since no one prohibited him from taking the Credits, he could freely gather them.
As he went deeper, the tunnels began to lose their rocky composition and turned into proper passages made of shiny crystals.
'This is quite a sight.'
Noah thought as he stabbed his hands in the walls, digging out entire chunks of Credits.
He didn't have effective methods to gather all that wealth so he simply took handfuls of crystals whenever he had the chance.
He also didn't want to slow his advance, that's why he limited himself to those random chunks.
The tunnel led downward and Noah jumped over, smoothly landing in a large shiny area with the help of his wings.
'Is this the center of the lair?'
The room was almost transparent since it was entirely made of Credits, which allowed Noah to see the layout of the lair even from behind the walls.
'There aren't any more tunnels leading downward, it seems that I've reached the deepest area.'
CRUNCH CRUNCH
A low noise arrived at Noah's ears which made him turn abruptly toward one side of the room.
There, he saw a giant Excavating worm calmly eating the crystals of the room.
The Obsidian Credits were a hard mineral but they didn't seem to hider the worm's meal in the slightest.
'Found you.'
Noah smiled at that sight.
The worm finally noticed something and interrupted its meal to turn toward the unexpected presence.
When it realized that it was a human, it released a low screech and straightened its body, using its lower body to stand vertically in the room.
Only then Noah could make out its exact features.
'Six meters long and one and a half meters thick. Its skin is completely red, probably due to the large number of Credits eaten over the years, and it is strangely silent, which should be caused by its intelligence. This is definitely the rank 4 specimen.'
The leader of the pack stood still, quietly observing the cultivator in front of it.
'Is it studying me? I bet it's surprised that I managed to arrive here without being noticed by the pack.'
Noah had hidden his presence for more than a day, forcing the weaker beasts to focus the other three cultivators.
Then, he ran at full speed toward the bottom of the lair, the pack simply didn't have time to notice him.
'I should make my move now.'
Noah slowly waved his hand and took out hundreds of items from his space-rings.
The corpses of the worms that he had accumulated since he entered in the Bare Dungeon were casually laid on the transparent ground, tainting its brilliance with the remaining blood in them.
Also, Noah took out Phoebe's spear and Manuel's sword and threw them in two opposite sides of the room.
The weapons rolled casually on the ground, showing their dented shapes under the light of the terrain.
Of course, Noah had created some fake marks on those weapons in order to fool future investigations.
From those dents, it wasn't clear if the two cultivators had fought against a human or a magical beast.
The leader became enraged and released a loud cry that resounded through all the room and echoed in the various passages.
The battle had started.