Noah slowly descended toward the forest near him.
That danger zone was called Ox Woodland due to the ox-type magical beasts that inhabited that place.
The oxen living there preferred to remain inside the borders of the vast woodland instead of invading the encampments of the Shandal Empire, its clearing operations were mainly limited to its peripheral areas.
Noah had seen it when he was escaping from the Utra nation, but the map in his possession at the time labeled it as a quite dangerous area, so he didn't enter it.
However, the challenge of the beast had attracted his attention, and he didn't hesitate to answer.
The crowns of the trees of those woods were quite large, but their trunks were slim, which left many open spaces between them.
Noah was quickly able to spot his challenger once he flew through the crowns of the trees.
He saw an eleven meters long and six meters tall ox staring at him and following his descending figure.
The ox had thick brown hair that covered the entirety of its body, four huge black horns, and was surrounded by dozens of corpses of beasts in the fourth rank.
'It has eaten them in the last months, they should have been part of its pack.'
Noah thought as he stopped his descent and hovered in the air at some distance from his challenger.
'Rank 5 Hairy ox in the lower tier. Earth element, can use its hair to launch long-range attacks and limit its prey's movement. It seems that its hunger has suddenly exploded, which led it to eat its whole pack.'
The information about the species of that creature immediately appeared inside Noah's mind, but he was mainly interested in the sudden outburst of its hunger.
The Ox Woodland didn't have a dense concentration of "Breath", it was barely suitable to sustain rank 4 creatures.
However, many living beings inhabited it.
'The leading pack has probably made up for the lack of "Breath" in the air by hunting often. The birth of a rank 5 creature in this area is an incredible event, but it's clear that it has already reached the limit of what it can endure.'
Noah became aware of the events that had led to that situation in a few seconds.
A pack of rank 4 Hairy oxen had ruled the forest and hunted as many creatures as it could.
Then, one of those specimens had managed to reach the fifth rank, but that danger zone couldn't satisfy its hunger anymore.
The hunts became more frequent, but that couldn't appease the mighty starving being, which began to eat the members of its pack.
That process had probably worsened during the last years, leading to a situation where all its pack was dead and only weaker beings inhabited the forest.
The rank 5 ox could only begin to look outside the forest for more nourishing prey.
'This was its last attempt, it would have left the forest afterward.'
Noah summarized when the situation became clear in his mind.
The rank 5 beast would have just tried its fortune outside the forest if no one answered its challenge, something that would have surely required the intervention of the higher-ups of the Empire to stop.
However, Noah was in the area and had decided to answer it.
Battle intent surged inside him as he studied the beast.
The ox was more advanced than him inside the lower tier of the fifth rank, but its species was far inferior to his!
'It's time to test my abilities fully.'
Noah smiled when he thought that and released a roar.
The ox understood the meaning behind his cry and released one of its own.
The hair around its body stood up and stretched to an unbelievable distance to reach for the figure in the sky.
Noah saw the strands of hair reaching for him and released a pillar of flames.
The white fire burned the hair and spread its flames until the ox that began to cry in pain.
The hair around its body fluttered to dissipate the flames, but the smell of burned skin began to fill the air during that process.
Noah's attack had been able to hurt a rank 5 beast!
However, Noah wasn't done.
He charged at the ox while it was busy defending against the flames and delivered a kick on its forehead.
The ox was kicked backward for a few meters, but it managed to tangle part of its hair on Noah's right foot during the clash.
Noah suddenly felt an incredible force pulling him toward the sharp horns of his opponent.
Zac appeared in front of him right before he crashed on the horns and managed to hinder the pulling force as its body was pierced.
Noah felt a stabbing pain coming from his torso, he could feel that the four horns of the ox had stabbed his abdomen and pierced his skin.
Yet, his muscles had stopped the horns from reaching for his internal organs.
The ox was slightly surprised by that outcome, it had used one of its strongest attacks against such a small figure, but it had only managed to inflict minor wounds!
Noah smiled at that sight and released another wave of white flames toward the huge figure in front of him.
A torrent of flames engulfed the ox, and most of its hair was burned in a second.
Large patches of charred skin could be seen among its burning figure, the ox was powerless to defend against the power behind Noah's attack.
Nevertheless, the fact that it couldn't defend didn't mean that it couldn't do anything about that situation.
Tens of thousands of sharp hair came out of its charred skin and shot toward Noah.
Those new strands of hair seemed to carry metallic properties and managed to endure the white flames as they reached for the opponent.
Noah's instincts screamed at that sight, he knew that he needed to dodge that attack.
His hand shot toward the right eye of the ox as he kicked the air under his feet to activate the Shadow sprint martial art.
A large amount of the "Breath" contained inside his dantian was depleted to match the physical power expressed by that form.
Still, the propulsion of his martial art made him suddenly disappear from his position and reappear at a few kilometers in the air.
The wounds on his abdomen had enlarged in the process, but Noah completely disregarded them.
The attack of the beast landed on the terrain since its target was gone.
Large cracks spread on the ground of the forest for a few hundred meters, and earthquakes began to fill that once quiet environment.
A battle between two rank 5 creatures would inevitably cause profound changes in any area.
The ox though released angry cries when it discovered that its right eye had disappeared.
Noah stored the bloody eye in his palm inside his space-ring and controlled the Liquid dantian over his heart to release its energy.
That last clash made him decide to go all out.