June had been taken hostage under the gazes of ten heroic cultivators in the fourth rank!
Everything had happened in less than an instant, and Noah's actions had been noticed only when it was too late to do anything about them.
Of course, Noah's decision to use June instead of Faith wasn't random.
Faith would have undoubtedly struggled to break free from Noah's grasp, but there was a high chance that June would just play along with his act.
Luckily for him, June was able to read the situation and pretended to be unable to do anything to escape from him.
\"Release Lady Ballor at once! These actions can only worsen your situation! You mus-\"
One of the heroic cultivators from the Utra nation began to speak, but he suddenly stopped when he saw that a drop of blood fell from June's throat.
Noah had only neared his Demonic sword to her neck, but a cut had already appeared, the sharpness of his saber was simply incredible.
The two sides had reached a stalemate, but the situation of the escorts was far worse than Noah's.
Roars and cries resounded from the surface, it was clear that the environment of the new continent had yet to stabilize.
That fact made the escorts anxious, there was a limit to how much they could stay in that open position.
\"It's thanks to him that we are still alive! Andrew ignored his warnings and was swept by the power of the cry. He wasn't in the condition to follow us.\"
Faith was finally able to explain the situation to the newly arrived heroic cultivators, and ugly expressions appeared on the faces of the escorts from the Empire.
Even the three cultivators from the Utra nation knitted their eyebrows.
They wanted to take advantage of the situation to ask compensations from the Hive and even interrogate Noah, but he had reacted too quickly and was actually on the right side of the matter!
The roars of the beasts became more intense, Noah guessed that it wouldn't take much before the winged beasts stormed the area.
\"Threw away anything that the Royal family can use to trace your position.\"
Noah murmured those words to June's ear, and she removed a golden ring from her finger.
Noah tugged June when the ring began to fall to the ground, it had to appear that he was forcing her to do that after all.
The meaning behind his order was clear, Noah wanted to use June as insurance for his escape.
The roars became even more intense and forced the escorts from the Utra nation to take a decision.
\"You better return her alive, or the Hive will pay!\"
The leader of the three cultivators from the Elbas family shouted before leaving the area, and the other escorts did the same.
June's family had yet to fuse with the Elbas family, she was a promising asset, but there was a limit to how much those escorts were willing to risk for her.
Also, they could always blame Noah afterward if something was to happen to her.
The Papral nation had retrieved its envoy, and there was no reason for the forces of the Empire to linger there any further, so they simply left.
Faith shot one last gaze to the two envoys in the underground area before turning to follow the forces of her nation.
She didn't seem to believe Noah completely, but that wasn't the right situation to learn about other's relationships.
Noah waited for the cultivators to disappear from his sight before forcefully kicking the ground.
The floor of the underground area crumbled and its ceiling began to fall apart, it would be a matter of seconds before that room was submerged by azure debris.
Noah continued to use his kicks to open a path that would lead him further downward.
He didn't trust any of those heroic cultivators, and his position had been revealed, he had to go deeper if he wanted to make humans and beasts lose track of him.
June remained silent in his arms.
Noah had long removed the saber from her throat and had stored his weapons to use his now free hand to help in the excavation.
Of course, using his martial art would facilitate the excavation, but Noah didn't dare to release \"Breath\" since he was trying to hide.
'He is doing his best not to hurt me, I'm barely noticing that he is carrying me.'
June thought while Noah used his physical strength to reach deeper parts of the piece of Immortal Lands.
She could clearly feel that just a bit of his strength was enough to divide her body in half.
However, Noah was holding her with incredible control, he had even managed to avoid reopening the injuries that had healed during the previous day.
'Playing the damsel in distress is annoying though. I guess I can let it slip this time.'
June's wild character was still there, she really hated the part that Noah had forced her to play.
Yet, her performance was helping Noah, and she felt that she owed him too much to ruin his plan.
Also, she didn't exactly hate to be held with such care by him, she even felt that she could relax for the first time since the detonation of Eccentric Thunder's separate dimension.
Noah continued to dig, even the rocky terrain that would generally take spells to break crumbled in front of his attacks.
He stopped only when he reached a depth of a few dozens of kilometers since the ground under him had become too hard to break even with his body.
Noah began to excavate toward the south at that point, he intended to create a tunnel that would bring him directly under the territories of the Hive.
He didn't know what kind of fauna the underground of the new continent would have, but he was sure that it would be safer than its surface, especially during that crisis.
Noah's excavation continued for a few hours before he decided to stop and to make the tunnel behind him crumble.
He didn't believe that the heroic cultivators would follow him till there, but he didn't want to leave a tunnel behind him.
Then, he released his hold on June and let her feet touch the ground.
\"Thanks for sticking with my act, I can't allow myself to be a political prisoner.\"
Noah spoke as soon as he let June go, but a golden flash suddenly appeared in his vision.
Noah's hand shot and grabbed the flash, which turned out to be the inscribed spear that June was wielding when she reached the meeting.
June held the other side of the spear, and Noah could sense her irritation hidden behind her expression.
\"Sorry, I guess I could have released you sooner.\"
Noah apologized while continuing to keep the tip of the spear still.
'I guess some things never chang-'
Noah continued to speak, but his phrase was interrupted since June let go of the spear and jumped toward him.
His eyes widened when he saw June suddenly hugging him.