The elders shot grateful gazes toward Elder Austin, but Noah and a few others could understand the reason behind his action.
Rank 4 magical beasts weren't threatening for those lofty entities, the problem was their sheer number.
Dealing with more than a hundred magical beasts at the same time with ten basins to defend and less than twenty rank 4 cultivators was quite problematic.
Noah knew that those creatures would recklessly pounce the lakes made of "Breath", he was tempted to do the same after all.
The amount of "Breath" contained in all the basins could be compared to that inside the bodies of many rank 5 creatures.
The most appealing part though was that so much energy was harmless!
Anyone with enough power could just reach out and drink the shining water acc.u.mulated on the formations, the only threat in the area was the cultivators defending it.
Noah didn't know the specifics behind the formations, but Elder Julia seemed quite serious when she explained the plan, so he could guess that they had to prevent anything from interfering with the basins.
'The situation must be quite delicate for Elder Austin to intervene, it seems that not even a magical beast must be allowed to pass.'
Noah thought while he focused on the horizon.
He felt hungry beyond any limit, but his mind didn't falter and remained focused on the task.
Other packs of magical beasts appeared in the distance, they completely disregarded the charred corpses of the creatures of the first tide and charged at high speed toward the shining lakes.
Yet, there were only fifty or so creatures at that time, with only a handful of them in the upper tier.
They were mostly Saber-toothed tigers, but even a few ape-type magical beasts could be seen among those packs.
The elders didn't wait to see if Elder Austin would intervene again, those of them having long-range attacks at their disposal began their offensive.
Bullets, spears, and slashes of various elements crashed on the sparse group of beasts, killing almost all of them in the impact.
However, a few of them managed to survive and continued their reckless charge, even those that had only been injured struggled to keep advancing.
Noah slashed without hesitation when those creatures entered in his range, and his companions did the same, the beasts were soon defeated, and no problems occurred.
More magical beasts appeared on the horizon, all the creatures on the plain and those that inhabited the lands nearby felt instinctively attracted by the basins and migrated as soon as they sensed them.
Yet, now that the closest creatures to the border had died, only sparse packs and solitary powerful beasts neared the elders in the air.
Noah and the others unleashed another wave of attacks and vanquished those creatures, but more beasts appeared once again in the distance.
Hours passed with the rank 4 cultivators of the Hive continuously dealing with the seemingly endless magical beasts that tried to reach for the shining lakes behind them.
Even the creatures that inhabited the nearby territories made their way through the plain and pounced the elders.
Noah saw the Poisonous frogs that inhabited the area with the toxic rivers, the Giant sandworms from the desert, and even the octopuses living in the lake next to the forest of White woods.
Nothing seemed able to stop the hunger of those creatures, but the elders didn't falter and continued to launch attacks to fend off the beasts.
Eventually, an entire day passed, but magical beasts kept on coming.
Noah stared at the lakes behind him while he launched a few slashes toward a rank 4 Giant sandworm.
The lines of the formations kept on spreading on the terrain under him, the shining lakes fueled them and redirected the "Breath" toward the defenses previously deployed by Elder Julia and the others.
'This should be almost over.'
Noah thought when he saw that the lines of the formation were surpassing their position and encircling an area that spread in front of him, he knew that the process was almost over.
Then, a sandstorm filled the sky in the south.
Noah felt a huge threat coming from that direction and knew that the only being that could cause it was the rank 5 sandworm that ruled over the desert.
The massive figure of the rank 5 Giant sandworm appeared in the distance, it resembled a mall mountain that crawled toward the azure plain and destroyed everything in its path.
Elder Austin shot toward it without speaking any word, he knew that it was up to him to handle the situation.
A fiery hydra appeared in the air and clashed toward the beast, shockwaves spread through the plain and cracked the ground around the battle between the two massive figures.
Elder Austin showed his perfect control over the spell as he kept the Giant sandworm away from the area filled by the formations.
Pillars of flames and screeches filled the battlefield in the southern side of the plain, Noah did his best to keep part of his focus on the two rank 5 beings, but most of it was still on the creatures that kept on charging toward the shining lakes.
Even the appearance of a rank 5 magical beasts didn't stop their charge, their hunger had completely taken over their minds.
Yet, at some point, a change finally happened in the formations.
A thick shining line appeared on the terrain in front of the elders and separated the forest and the area with the basins from the rest of the azure plain.
The line encircled an area a few thousand kilometers wide before projecting its light in the air, an ethereal wall formed and covered part of the sky, creating something similar to an invisible dome.
The dome covered the shining lakes and part of the forest of White woods in its range, and the group from the Hive could immediately notice its effects.
The magical beasts still lingering near the blockade stopped their charge and showed confused expressions when they looked toward the forest, it was as if they had lost their target.
Even the rank 5 sandworm stopped attacking, Elder Austin patiently waited for its reaction before making his next move.
Then, the Giant sandworm suddenly left and returned to the desert, and the magical beasts near the dome began to fight each other for the corpses lingering in the area.
It took Elder Julia's voice to awaken the elders from their amazement.
"Clean this mess and recover the corpses, the formation and its defenses are finally complete. Now, the Hive can colonize the piece of Immortal Lands."