There were a few seconds of silence in the underground room.
The rank 4 worm was in the middle of the room, warily watching the four humans in front of it.
Noah had his eyes on the beast, he was doing his best to recover from the previous injuries, expending the liquid "Breath" in his body to do so.
Daniel, Milo, and Troy alternated their gazes between the worm and the weapons on the ground, they seemed to be struggling internally about what to do next.
"What are you doing here?"
Daniel broke the silence to ask Noah a question.
"I am a hunter, I hunt. What about you all?"
"I have a mission from the academy. Why is it not attacking?"
"It's probably waiting for the whole pack to converge here instead of fighting when outnumbered. This beast is quite smart."
Noah didn't mind revealing some partial pieces of information.
'The less they think about it, the more they will consider it as a smart beast rather than one with a Bloodline inheritance.'
Noah was being as careful as he could about that quality.
However, he was overthinking.
The appearance of a Bloodline inheritance was an event so unusual that most cultivators wouldn't even consider it, many didn't even know about the existence of something like that.
Also, Daniel's group was too focused on their dead companions to evaluate the intelligence of the beast.
Crawling sounds began to resound in the area which made the cultivators turn their heads to find the source of that noise.
Many Excavating worms in the human ranks could be seen nearing their position from every direction, the walls were transparent after all, it wasn't hard to notice hundreds of magical beasts coming to them.
'Will they run away or will they fight?'
Noah was waiting for their reaction to decide his next move.
He wasn't afraid of the swarm of magical beasts, they were weak after all, only a small part of them was in the third rank.
However, the rank 4 worm has revealed itself quite challenging, Noah didn't have the slightest confidence in killing it, and that without adding the hindrance of the weaker beasts.
Noah had chosen to fight it because of its supposedly weak battle prowess but the reality was different.
'I need their help to kill it, I just need to wait for the right opportunity in order to have some claims on its body.'
"Vance, can you fight?"
Daniel spoke again to Noah.
"Yes, but I need some time to recover."
Noah answered as his eyes shone with a cold light, everything seemed to work as he had planned.
Also, due to the situation, it seemed that Daniel's group still hadn't realized that he had clashed with a rank 4 creature and was still alive.
'I will probably be forced to reveal the power of my body though. I don't know Daniel's actual strength but it can't be that far from mine and Troy surely doesn't have a rank 4 body. I guess it will be up to the other noble to make up for the difference in power. Yet, I don't know if that will be enough.'
Noah had seen many rank 4 beasts die thanks to his hunting group.
They were fearsome creatures, having a seemingly endless endurance.
It took careful planning and the joint efforts of six cultivators with a rank 4 body to safely kill one, while they were short both in numbers and strength in that situation.
Daniel nodded to his companions and jumped in the area where the leader was, Milo and Troy followed behind.
"Milo and I will fight the leader. Troy, you take care of the pack until Vance can come in your aid. Our power is not much but the Excavating worms are weak, we might have a chance to avenge our friends if we fight together."
Daniel ordered and wielded his sword, Milo stood at his side and put himself in guard.
Troy gulped and turned himself to face the incoming pack of worms, his seniors needed to focus completely on their battle, he had to prevent any beast from interfering with them.
The leader stood still, its pack was arriving and the superficial wounds that Noah inflicted had healed by then, it was back at full power.
Also, all the intruders had gathered in one place, it was the perfect moment to use the full power of its pack.
Then, the battle began.
Milo slashed the air with his knives, creating fast and precise wind slashes that flew directly on the head of the leader.
'That's the rank 4 Nails of the Kamaitachi!'
Noah recognized the martial art from his safe position, he was staring attentively at the battle to decide if they had any chance of defeating the beast.
Daniel executed some complex forms with his sword which shone with a white light that created sharp lines in the air.
He then stopped and slashed one last time to launch those lines toward the leader.
Transparent wind slashes and white lines crashed on the body of the rank 4 worm, inflicting many superficial wounds through all its body.
The damage they were capable of matched Noah's one.
"I need to use my spells if we really want to kill it."
Daniel said.
Milo was still a rank 1 mage, his spells could only match the might of his martial art or being slightly weaker, it wasn't worth wasting mental energy for them.
Milo understood the meaning behind his words and went in the vanguard position, launching even more wind slashes toward the leader.
However, the rank 4 worm was done waiting.
Once it tested the power of its opponents, he compressed its body like a metal spring and shot toward them at an incredible speed.
Milo's eyes widened seeing his attacks being destroyed by the worm's assault as it jumped in his direction.
Yet, as the two were about to clash, a ball made of white light appeared between them.
The ball then exploded, releasing a shockwave that sent back the worm for a few meters and created many deep but small wounds all over its body.
Milo, on the contrary, was unharmed and turned himself to look at the cultivator behind him.
Daniel smiled at him as he ate a pill to hasten the production of his mental energy.