Panic!
That was the first emotion that the cultivators felt.
The more than one hundred dragons were coming at them, they were all of a different kind, they resembled a scaled tide ready to engulf them.
Yet, David's team was composed of experienced cultivators, they didn't pass the test just thanks to their preparations.
"Hold your ground!"
David yelled as he cast a defensive spell, the cultivators behind him did the same, water walls, vortexes, lightning nets, and golems appeared between them and the dragons.
That situation was different from the first trial, there weren't only Sea dragons in the incoming tide, there was no point in trying not to hurt them during the defenses.
However, there were more than one hundred rank 4 beasts, that number alone was enough to make even a heroic rank cultivator falter.
The layer of spells was broken almost immediately, it couldn't halt the dragons' advance by even a second.
Seeing the drooling maws of the nearing beasts, there was only one thought that remained in the cultivators' minds.
'Retreat!'
The ninth trial seemed unreasonably hard, the cultivators could only form teams made of twenty persons, that difference in number alone made the trial impossible to pass!
Tokens began to appear in the cultivators' hands, they started to pour "Breath" in them to activate the escape mechanism.
Noah wasn't an exception, he took his token even before the rest of his team, his instincts as a lone cultivator kicked in as soon as he saw the tide of dragons reaching for him.
Yet, to the surprise of everyone in the area, nothing happened.
According to the reports, injecting even a small quantity of "Breath" in the tokes was enough to activate the teleportation ability inscribed in them, many cultivators that had escaped the Inheritance ground praised how quickly they were teleported outside thanks to said tokens.
However, the tokens didn't work which caused another wave of panic to sweep the cultivators.
A dragon's head was severed when it reached the panicked team but the beast following it managed to stab its fangs on one cultivator, ripping off its arm in the process.
Another dragon died under the joint assault of the calmest cultivators but those behind it thrashed their bodies on the left side of the group, a trail of blood was left on the dark floor as three cultivators died in an instant.
'F.u.c.k, calm down! There must be a way!'
Noah's situation wasn't that better.
Black smoke came out of his figure which prevented the faster dragons to focus him, the amount of danger radiated from his figure was enough to make the beast prefer the others in his group.
He couldn't care less about the cultivators around him, his life was in danger, it wasn't the time to hold himself back.
There was nowhere to retreat, the door behind them had completely disappeared in the darkness after it closed, only a black wall could be seen behind their back.
Also, Noah's spell forced them to avoid being near him, he was managing to scare the dragons away but the same could be said for the cultivators in his team.
'Think, think! The creator of the Inheritance ground couldn't have set this place up only to kill a bunch of cultivators in the human ranks!'
Noah's mind worked at full speed to find a way out of that situation.
The tokens didn't work and the door that led back to the labyrinth had disappeared, there didn't seem to be a way out of that trial.
Then, Noah remembered the aged voice and the contents of its phrase when the door closed.
'Don't fear the depths… Does it want us to advance?'
Only darkness could be seen behind the huge tide of dragons, there wasn't any insurance that advancing was the right move.
Yet, there wasn't any other option!
He could defend from the dragons' assault for some time if he was to enter the complete Demonic form but the energy contained inside his centers of power would only be quickly depleted.
There was also no hope in killing all the dragons, they were simply too many, even twenty rank 3 cultivators could do nothing in that situation.
Noah's conclusion was shared by the remaining cultivators, they weren't stupid after all, the only clue about that trial was the aged voice which resounded when they crossed the door.
David and the three solid stage cultivators charged ahead, their spells created wonders as they slaughtered their way across the dragons' tide.
Noah followed them, he ran between the empty spaces left after their attacks and the black smoke exuded from his body made the dragons unwilling to come close to him.
Of course, his spell also stopped any other cultivator from following him, the black gas left a trail which corroded anything that came in contact with it, Noah's companions weren't an exception.
Under normal circ.u.mstances, Noah's tattoo would stop him from harming his fellow disciples but his life was at risk, its restrictions were laxer when death was right behind the corner.
The other cultivators were forced to open a way by themselves but the dragons were too numerous, Noah stopped paying attention to them when the first dying cry resounded behind him.
However, even David's group of strong cultivators began to face some problems, there were simply too many beasts, others would constantly block their path no matter how many were killed.
'These are real dragons!'
That realization hit Noah's mind when he saw the corpses acc.u.mulating on the dark ground, the dangerous situation didn't allow him to pay attention to that detail until now.
Yet, he was forced to focus on his surroundings when he sensed that four dragons had disregarded the danger radiated from the black smoke coming out of his body and pounced at him.
Those were all rank 4 beasts in the lower tier, Noah could kill them rather quickly but the situation didn't allow him to waste time.
The world seemed to slow down in his eyes, his sabers appeared in his hands and two pairs of additional arms were created on his torso.
Even the sounds of the battle seemed to stop as he swung his blades, a swift but soft movement was performed as he put all his focus on that attack.
Veins bulged and turned black, Noah seemed to push his body to its limit to perform that blow.
'Third Form: Void!'