Noah had chosen to move toward north simply because he sensed more energetic shockwaves coming from that direction, he didn't care about the political situation of those territories at all.
Few rank 5 specimens remained in the pack of winged beasts, but all of them were busy fighting against beings on their same level.
The mountain chain at the center of the continent was still inhabited by powerful creatures that didn't migrate in the last months, and Noah was able to always obtain something from their battles against the reckless remains of the pack.
He mainly seized blood, but he managed to steal small body parts at times.
Of course, he never ventured too deep inside the continent.
There were even rank 6 beings there that the pack of winged beasts had chosen to avoid until its leaders returned to their peak.
Noah didn't dare to invade their domains.
Stealing from rank 5 beings busy in battles from a safe distance was one thing, but he couldn't even begin to imagine the feats that beasts at the peak of the heroic ranks were capable of.
After all, all his gains would become useless if he died there.
Noah continued to sprint through the lands, chasing after any exciting battle that his instincts or consciousness were able to sense.
However, his advance was soon forced to a stop since he encountered a group of rank 4 cultivators that looked familiar.
Almost two weeks had passed since the remains of the pack of winged beasts had launched their offensive on the coastlines, and Noah had used that time to plunder more than ten battlefields that featured rank 5 beasts.
The powerhouses of the four nations didn't seem interested in intervening so soon in that battle, and Noah guessed that they were limiting themselves to observe the behavior of their underlings in those days.
He didn't mind that choice since it gave him more time to run freely through the territories near the western coast, and his march ultimately brought him in the mountains inhabited by snake-type magical beasts where he encountered cultivators of the Papral nation.
Noah recognized Faith and the escorts that had appeared when they were hiding underground, but his presence wasn't revealed to that group.
He was on the ground, hiding among countless battles between rank 4 beasts, while they were in the sky, hunting down every winged beast that they found.
Noah could just turn around and leave, but a massive figure suddenly appeared in the distance and slammed its body on the surface of one of the mountains.
The figure belonged to a big rank 5 snake that was crushing the small body of a rank 5 winged beast with its physical strength.
The winged beast was almost dead, but the snake didn't seem satisfied and continued to slam its body on the mountain where its enemy was.
Noah directly shot toward those two creatures at that point.
He knew that he could steal that body, and those rank 4 cultivators didn't scare him.
Also, he could already think about a few excuses to justify his presence there, so he didn't hesitate to act.
The rank 5 snake repeatedly clashed with the surface of the mountain until the body of the rank 5 winged beast was reduced to a pulp.
Only then the snake seemed satisfied and spread its maws to eat the remains of its enemy in one bite.
It didn't notice though that black flames appeared in that spot and teleported away even the drops of blood that had tainted the terrain.
The snake delivered its bite anyway, but it roared in anger when only the rocky terrain of the mountain entered its mouth.
However, no matter how angry it was, it couldn't understand where its prey had gone.
Noah stored the broken corpse of the winged creature as soon as it came out from the black flames that had appeared next to him and began to escape at high speed in the air.
He had sensed that the group from the Papral nation had noticed his presence when he used his spell, so he purposely rose in the sky to let them follow him.
\"Noah Balvan, is that you?\"
\"Demon Prince, you can't steal in the territories of the Papral nation!\"
\"Noah Balvan, is the Hive not afraid of the power of the Council?\"
Faith and the other cultivators in her group gave voice to those questions as they chased after Noah.
Noah revealed a cold expression when he turned toward the five rank 4 cultivators behind him and released a loud snort before adding a few words.
\"Hmph! I've saved the life of your envoy, and you thanked me by letting the Empire and Utra nation blaming me for the death of the Eager Titan! Now, after I've spent months underground, you even accuse me of being a thief! Just report this matter to my Patriarch, he'll love to hear about the shamelessness of the cultivators of the Papral nation.\"
Black flames surrounded Noah's figure after he spoke those words, and the five cultivators from the Papral nation couldn't find any reason to stop his teleportation.
Noah had spoken the truth after all, Faith's escorts had really ignored everything else when they managed to retrieve their envoy.
\"Wait, where is June Ballor then?\"
Faith asked when she realized that something was wrong.
\"Maybe he left her underground.\"
\"But he was flying just now.\"
One of the cultivators said, but Faith was immediately able to find a flaw in that explanation.
The more they thought about that matter, the more they realized that the Demon Prince had probably tricked them.
\"Do you want to send a formal complaint to the Patriarch of the Hive?\"
Another cultivator asked, but Faith shook her head.
\"He would just ask for compensation for the events concerning the end of the meeting. Also, we couldn't have seized that corpse anyway, let's just forget about this matter.\"
The cultivators in Faith's escort agreed to her words and resumed hunting the remaining rank 4 winged beasts in the area.
Meanwhile, Noah had reappeared over the plain inhabited by the yellowish moss and had begun to fly toward the forest of White woods.
He had gained far more than enough in that situation, he was quite confident that his body could reach the fifth rank with all those materials.
So, he simply hurried back toward the territories of the Hive.
The forces of the Council had seen him, so the news about his return would soon reach the Shandal Empire and Elbas family.
The Royals would surely begin to bother Chasing Demon about June at that point, which would ultimately force him to send her back to her nation.
Nevertheless, Noah didn't regret exposing himself to obtain an almost complete rank 5 corpse.
That period with June had been one of the happiest in his life, but Noah knew that it was something temporary.
'Only power can allow me to ignore political bindings and fulfill my desires without fearing for the consequences.'
Noah thought as he increased his flying speed, he knew that June was eagerly waiting for the promised spar.