The giants pierced the battlefield and stood behind the troops of the Empire wearing a menacing look on their emotionless faces. They were bald, humanoid figures with an ethereal body that radiated an intense light.
All the giants were identical, except for the fact that they shone with a different light and exuded "Breath" of a specific element. Noah was amazed to notice that the white and the black ones were made of "Breath" of the light and darkness element.
His amazement didn't stop there. The power of the giants was a problem since all of them had an aura that matched inscribed items in the upper tier of the fifth rank!
"Elemental formation!" A rank 5 cultivator of the Elbas family shouted when the giants appeared.
The other Royals seemed to understand something at those words, and their eyes widened in surprise when they recognized that formation. Curiosity and unwillingness soon appeared on their expressions, but they soon started to retreat without moving their eyes from the giants.
Their reaction confused the other heroic assets on their side who shot questioning looks at the experts from the Elbas family. After all, seven puppets in the upper tier of the fifth rank were threatening, but a formation still created them. There had to be something that they could do since they had so many experts in their army.
"We can't defeat it right now," The same Royal that recognized the formation announced to the entire army. "Let's retreat."
The heroic cultivators of the other organizations showed even more confusion at those words. The assault was going well all things considered, and they wouldn't mind testing the limits of the Elemental formation for a while to see if it was as unbreakable as hinted.
Preparation was everything. In the end, the sole reason why the invaders had managed to trounce the first three defensive measures was that the Council had tested them beforehand. However, the Royal was firm in his decision and ordered the assets of his faction to leave the battlefield.
It must be said that even some of the members of the Elbas family showed some unwillingness at that decision, but they still decided to follow their leader. The Council and the Hive felt forced to retreat too when they saw more than a third of their joint army escaping toward safe territories.
Noah didn't hesitate to retreat either. His mental energy wasn't in a critical spot anymore, but he was far away from having a full sea of consciousness.
Also, his relationship with the Elbas family wasn't friendly, but he trusted its judgment when it came to the various inscription fields. That was the kind of trust that he could give only to forces that he respected for their achievements, and the Elbas family had already established its value as an ally.
The seven giants didn't move at the enemies' retreat, and the forces of the Empire stood still too. It seemed that there was some kind of condition to trigger a reaction from the formation, and the Empire didn't dare to attack without it.
The rank 5 cultivators of the three invading forces regrouped in one of the central territories that they had conquered during the war and began to discuss the recent events. It was needless to say that their conversation wasn't peaceful.
"Why did you order the retreat of all of a sudden, Andrew?" An Elder from the Council asked the Royal that ordered the retreat. "We had the advantage, and we could have tested those damned things first!"
"It would have been a slaughter, Regina," Andrew Elbas answered. "I would normally agree with you, but we know what that formation does in this case, and I'm telling you that there are precise conditions to meet to break it."
Regina and Andrew Elbas were rank 5 cultivators in the solid stage of the Council and the Royals and were also the leaders of their respective armies. Elder Julia was the leader of the troops of the Hive, but she had just reached the solid stage and wasn't on the level of the other two.
"And what exactly are those conditions? How do you know that we couldn't meet them during the battle?" Regina pressed on with her questions, but Andrew remained calm and began to explain the specifics of the Elemental formation to the heroic cultivators gathered there.
It turned out that the Elemental formation was an ancient inscription that used seven types of "Breath" to materialize pure forms on energy in the shape of humanoid giants. Its lines were quite complex, and they needed seven cores where cultivators had accumulated large amounts of "Breath".
The most peculiar aspect of those cores was that only cultivators with that specific aptitude could fill them, which meant that the Empire had used cultivators of the light and darkness element to complete the formation!
That piece of information surprised most experts on the scene. After all, cultivators with those aptitudes were extremely rare, and only two of them had appeared in more than a century.
However, the Empire had lasted for millennia, and its political system provided cultivation resources to all of its citizens. It was different from the other forces where potential cultivators with rare aptitudes could remain commoners for the entirety of their lives.
That method simply gave the Empire more chances to find the carriers of those rare aptitudes.
Of course, it was very likely that the Empire had prepared the cores centuries ago and just used them now that it had to protect the traces left by divine beings. There was even the possibility that it had set them in the old continent in the past just to move them in the new one once a more valuable territory appeared.
"There is a fatal weakness in the formation though," Andrew Elbas raised his voice when his explanation reached that important topic. "The giants can be difficult to face even for experts in the solid stage, but they would crumble easily if we manage to gather cultivators with all seven aptitudes."
At his words, everyone on the scene turned toward Noah.
He was eating one of the legs of the Horned Horse as he listened to the conversation. Danielle was next to him, and she stared at the piece of meat in his hands with an intense gaze, but she struggled to keep her calm. It seemed that she took that as some form of training for her mental instabilities.
As for the other Elders of the Hive, their eyes sharpened when they listened to that last part.
It wasn't a secret that the Hive had a cultivator with a light aptitude in their ranks. After all, Amos Udye was right behind the Elders. Yet, the plan seemed to require both of their rare cultivators, which gave birth to suspicion and hesitation.
However, Noah cut the exchange of stares short as he gulped the meat in his mouth and spoke to Andrew. "Explain."