The inscribed man was expressionless, his face didn't change even when his mental sphere trembled violently.
Ice shards fell everywhere, his body became completely exposed and Heilong's fangs finally managed to dig deep into his flesh.
Black smoke came out of its fangs, the defenseless flesh and muscles of the cultivator could only be consumed under the assault of Noah's corrosive spell.
Noah, on the other hand, was about to directly attack his opponent when the latter's mental sphere stopped trembling and he recovered his focus.
A torrent of water engulfed the man, Heilong and Noah were flung away by the explosive power of the spell.
'Another defensive method!'
Noah cursed in his mind as he controlled Heilong's wings to stop himself mid-air, his gaze was fixed on the inscribed man as he quickly landed on the floor, ready to assault him again.
However, he was surprised to see that all the ice-shards on the battlefield were gathering around the man, surrounding him and forming a big block of ice in his position.
'What kind of spell is that?'
Noah tried to guess the effect of the spell but he could only sense that a large amount of "Breath" and mental energy were being converged in the inscribed man's position.
It took only a few seconds for Noah to decide his next move, large amounts of mental energy and "Breath" were expended as more than ten Ghostly claws were created.
The claws flew through the air, entering the block of ice and looking for the man's body.
Noah shared part of the sensations of the claws, that sharing wasn't as accurate as with his Blood companion but it was better than blindly attacking the spell nonetheless.
The ice composing the big slab was white, sight couldn't reach its insides.
Also, the arena had the same proprieties of the walls of the labyrinth, mental energy couldn't be relied on.
That's why Noah immediately used the Ghostly claws spell, he didn't know the purpose behind the man's spell but, from the amount of energy gathering around him, he knew that he didn't want to face its effects.
Ethereal claws entered the block of ice and searched for the internal organs of the inscribed man, the chunk was about six meters large, a grown man didn't have many places where to hide inside it.
Soon, the claws hit something soft, Noah's eyes sharpened when he felt that vague sensation and commanded the remaining claws to attack that position.
Then, he summoned even more claws and launched them in that position, ice shards and ethereal claws converged on the chunk of ice at high speed.
Noah didn't stop, he continuously activated his spell, it was only when more than forty claws had been created that he started to feel some kind of tiredness.
His mental energy was nearing depletion!
Yet, when the thirty-eighth claw stabbed itself on the soft spot inside the chunk of ice, a change occurred.
Cracks began to appear on the white surface of the block and the shards flying in the air stopped their tracks and fell on the floor, shattering in hundreds of small fragments.
The cracks on the block enlarged, large pieces of ice separated from its body and fell on the ground, shattering in the process.
White chunks continued to fall on the floor, the spell of the inscribed man was dismantling itself and it had also stopped absorbing energy.
Then, the pale face of Noah's opponent appeared among the ice, a large amount of blood had come out of his mouth, eyes, and ears, it had formed red frozen stains on the white world inside the spell.
His eyes were still open but, to Noah's relief, his figure soon vanished and the ice all around the battlefield evaporated into nothingness.
Noah's opponent had been defeated!
Noah heaved a tired sigh as he sat on the floor, his hood had flown away after the torrent of water appeared, allowing him to rub a hand on his short hair as he supported himself in the process.
Heilong was by his side, it supported Noah with his scaled body and coiled himself around him in a protective manner.
Noah felt exhausted, he hadn't used much "Breath" nor his most powerful spell but most of his mental energy had been depleted in the continuous activation of the Ghostly claws spell.
'Maybe I could have obtained better results if I had covered the area with the corrosive smoke but that would have affected the other battles.'
Noah, as usual, pondered about the recent battle.
He was satisfied with the power of his new spell, it was an attack method that he lacked after all.
Also, he was extremely happy when he realized that his battle prowess was on par with liquid stage cultivators!
His opponent hadn't been weak, he had used four different spells that were even connected!
'Heilong has also played an important role, I don't know if I could have endured so many spears with the protection of the Demonic form.'
Noah patted the dragon's body as he thought of that before standing up to inspect the other battles.
The fights of his teammates had evolved as he had predicted.
Nate had killed the liquid stage cultivator in front of him and went to help the others.
He, Helga, and Cora were successfully suppressing their two opponents in the solid stage.
On another corner of the arena, David was surrounded by an army of beasts made of flames.
The temperature in that place was so high that Noah could feel warm waves reaching his face and dispersing some of the innate coldness of his body.
Also, David was wielding a flaming bow.
His opponent was cornered, fire-beasts recklessly assaulted her, exploding and dispersing scorching flames whenever they were destroyed.
Meanwhile, David shot fire-arrows from his bow, aiming for the defenseless spots on the body of the inscribed woman.
'David usually uses a greatsword, I'm surprised that he can handle a bow so well… Those two should be his new spells, powerful indeed.'
Noah judged from his position and decided to focus on recovering his energies when he saw that the outcome of the other battles was pretty much decided.