Four figures flew past the rocky wasteland filled with rivers of lava, they flew east, along the southern coastline.
Vegetation began to appear as the group from the Hive crossed the explored areas, their gazes though didn't linger too much on the environment, their consciousnesses were searching for other targets.
'They can't sense us, Elder Julia's methods are amazing! Well, she is a rank 5 cultivator after all.'
Noah thought as he flew alongside his companions.
Packs of Ape-types magical beasts had appeared on the terrain below them, but they didn't seem to notice the presence of the cultivators in the sky, even a rank 5 specimen that had appeared seemed completely unable to sense them.
Elder Julia was escorting them during that mission and was using her methods to hide their presence, Noah knew that she was somewhere near them, but he couldn't even sense a faint trace of her aura.
They would still be spotted if they entered the field of view of one of those creatures, but their auras were wholly concealed, sneaking on them wouldn't be a problem at all.
Of course, their mission didn't concern the magical beasts, but the heroic cultivators of the Utra nation, ambushing the latter would obviously be a bit harder.
Small trees and magical beasts filled the area after the rocky wasteland, lifeforms began to appear often as the group put some distance from the lava lake.
They flew slowly and took many breaks, Elder Hope was tasked to inspect their surroundings, and her investigative methods took time.
Yet, no one complained, their priority was to maintain their anonymity, they couldn't risk being spotted by an enemy before they had completed their preparations.
Days passed, the group continued to fly along the southern coast without encountering any sign of the forces of the Utra nation, it seemed that those areas had yet to be explored by humans.
However, after three weeks of careful exploration, Elder Hope finally found a trace.
"Someone is flying at one day of travel ahead of us. I don't hear anyone else, we should have found another lone explorer."
Elder Hope spoke as she removed her hands from her ears, she had used the same investigative method from when they were traveling above the sea around the new continent.
Noah and the others nodded at her words before descending on the terrain, Elder Julia's methods hid their presence but not their bodies, they still needed to hide to ambush the explorer.
The group carefully walked across the land, avoiding any pack of magical beasts that appeared on their path, they didn't want to reveal their position by battling with those creatures.
It took a bit more than a day for the cultivators of the Hive to locate the position of the explorer, but, in the end, they saw the lonely figure flying in the air and analyzing the environment below it.
The cultivator was an old man with a long white beard and no hair, he was at the peak of the gaseous stage of the fourth rank, but it seemed that time had negatively affected his power.
He radiated a soft aura, but his consciousness seemed fragile, his mental waves could analyze the ground below him only for a few seconds before they dispersed.
"He is going to die in a few years anyway, this kill barely counts as an achievement."
Elder Pansy spoke when she saw the state of the cultivator, her evaluation was on point, the explorer would only be able to live for a few years unless he increased his power.
Of course, Noah didn't care about how honorable his actions were.
He completely ignored Elder Pansy's words as his gaze went on the emblem on the robe worn by explorer, he recognized that symbol.
"Shosti family."
Noah murmured when he recognized the origin of the explorer, his companions could clearly hear his words and shot questioning gazes in his direction.
"Large-size noble family of the Utra country."
Noah explained in a few words, and his companions nodded when they understood that they had found a suitable target.
Each one of them quickly prepared for the ambush.
Noah wielded his Demonic swords, Elder Hope took out her peculiar knife, Elder Pansy laid a long iron stick on her shoulders, and Elder Jason tightened his grip on his sword, they were ready to attack.
The heroic cultivator from the Shosti family continued to fly, he was unaware that four assassins were hiding under the trees below him, waiting for him to reach a specific spot in the sky.
Then, all of a sudden, four black lines appeared around him and formed a shining rectangle that encircled him.
He felt weak when the light of the spell hit him, it took a good amount of his concentration to repel the weakening effects that were assaulting his body.
A blue light shone from his body, which seemed to improve his complexion temporarily, he quickly moved to escape the area of the rectangle when a sharp sound reached his ears and destabilized his concentration.
The heroic cultivator from the Shosti family lost the foothold under his left leg when his concentration was broken, he was about to cast another spell when more than thirty fireballs shot from the terrain and crashed on him.
A loud explosion occurred, and a gray cloud formed in the sky, a fuming figure came out of the smoke and loudly coughed as it tried to straighten its position.
The heroic cultivator had survived, but most of his robe had been burned, and even his beard didn't survive the attack, anger could be clearly seen on his expression as he shouted to the ground below.
"Who dares!?"
His question though wasn't answered by words but by the appearance of black flames from behind his back.
The cultivator from the Shosti family sensed that threat and turned to block the attack.
A small blue shield appeared in his right hand, and a harpoon was wielded in his left one, he raised his shield to defend from the assault but his eyes widened when he saw the face of his assassin.
Long black hair, shining icy-blue eyes, and soft edges, he knew that youthful aspect too well to be mistaken.
"Noah Balvan! How?"
Noah's sabers clashed with the shield as he spoke those words, he wasn't able to pierce it without the activation of his secret art, but cracks still appeared on its surface due to the immense strength behind Noah's slash.
The noble was about to speak again, but a sharp pain on his back forced him to suppress his surprise and use all his focus to try to survive that situation, desperation began to fill his mind when he saw that a stick and a sword were aiming for his head.