Noah's level was too low back then to understand the rank of the Albino Snake. He had needed William to confirm that the creature was a rank 5 magical beasts.
Yet, he could understand its exact level of power now that he looked at it from his position in the sky.
The Albino Snake had recreated the same environment of Twilboia Cliff. A swarm of snake-type magical beasts in the human ranks surrounded its huge body and took bites of each other whenever their hunger became unbearable.
As for the leader of that pack, it was a magical beast at the peak of the fifth rank.
'I just have to dodge its beam,' Noah thought as he let memories resurface in his mind.
Albino Snakes had the strong bodies usually seen in any snake-type creature, but their most threatening feature was their ability to condense light in their scales and release it in the form of a beam from their mouth.
As their innate ability suggested, they were magical beasts with a light aptitude. The records that Noah had reviewed before going into that mission even specified that simple protections wouldn't work against that attack.
Still, those same records described that species as a peculiar kind of magical beasts.
Albino Snakes didn't always exist in nature. Their species was the result of a mutation that happened in an extinct type of snakes called Dark-scaled Snakes.
The Dark-scaled Snakes were said to have an innate flaw since they shared some blood with the dragons. Their hunger and aggression would often go out of control due to the instability hidden inside their bloodlines.
That eventually forced the cultivators of the past to create massive hunting parties meant to exterminate the threat of Dark-scaled Snakes. They managed to do that without leaving even one of them alive, but they didn't predict that some specimens would develop a natural mutation to ensure their survival.
In the face of extinction, some of the Dark-scaled Snakes gave up on their connection with the dragons and evolved into the current Albino Snakes, which had a more peaceful behavior.
The new nature of the species allowed some of them to escape the extinction and thrive in danger zones that the humans rarely visited.
Of course, Noah knew that most of that story had probably a lie. It seemed more reasonable that the hunting groups had missed the mutation and ignored the new species because it had white scales instead of black.
It was only a few centuries after that clearing operation that a few experts had managed to find a connection with the now-extinct Dark-scaled Snakes species.
Noah now knew why such a powerful beast could conceive that training system. It was like the Albino Snakes to be less violent than other creatures and sleep for most of their time.
Yet, the fact that it was a relatively intelligent species didn't mean that the specimen in front of him wasn't unique. It would be impossible for another beast to feed only on newly advanced rank 4 creatures for who knew how long.
Noah's target was patient and could control its hunger, which was something that even he couldn't do.
Noah remembered how he didn't even have a dantian when he first met the Albino Snake. Its simple breathing had almost killed him, and he had managed to survive only thanks to the Body-inscription spell.
It felt only fated that the same creature would be the one allowing him to use that spell again.
'Hope you still remember how to snore,' Noah thought as black smoke started to come out of his figure to create a scaled armor. Four copies of the divided Demonic Sword appeared around him too, and four fuming arms quickly wielded them.
The white mountain on the ground began to move at that point. The Albino Snake's senses couldn't fail to notice the appearance of such a potent threat, and they awakened it from its slumber.
The ground and the surface of the mountains next to that valley began to tremble as the Snake moved, but Noah's attack landed before it could even show its face.
A deep red mark appeared on the massive body of the creature, and blood soon started to fall from that injury.
Noah had intended to cut the Snake directly in half, but it seemed that even his most powerful ability wasn't enough to inflict a deadly injury. His slash had been able to leave deep wounds on multiple spires, but it didn't reach the internal organs.
He wasn't surprised about that. The Snake was a creature at the peak of the fifth rank. Just one step forward would have made it enter the realm of the sixth rank, making it impossible for him to hunt the specimen.
However, Noah could still hurt it in that state, and the wounds weren't light either. He could kill it if he just invested some time on that hunt.
A loud hiss resounded in the area, and Noah felt the will of the Snake trying to affect his mental sphere. It was using the innate ability given by its higher level to take control of all the beasts nearby.
However, Noah's mind was strong enough to suppress the urges given by the pack leader, and the beasts belonging to different species felt the need to retreat rather than obeying it.
Noah knew the reason for that. The Albino Snake was asking to protect it with their bodies while it prepared a counter-attack. It wasn't a surprise that they left.
Also, they belonged to different species. The orders of a snake couldn't affect a dog, even if they came from a creature in the fifth rank.
Noah didn't wait for the Albino Snake to prepare a battle strategy and pressed on with his offensive.
A series of powerful inscribed items fell from Noah's position toward the white mountain that was finally starting to show its face. They were mostly Instabilities, but there were some Hidden Threats along with other disposable weapons that Noah had created while he was experimenting with the higher energy.
There was a significant problem in that hunt. The only ability that Noah could use to really hurt the Snake was the second form of his martial art. The others were powerful, especially after he had reached the liquid stage, but they still couldn't compare to the fusion of martial arts and spells wielded by a hybrid.
His physical strength was useless too since the Albino Snake was more potent than him. Being at the peak of the fifth rank put it on a completely different level.
Still, Noah had no intention to get close to the creature. Albino Snakes couldn't fly, which meant that Noah could stay in the sky and keep attacking it until it died.
Nevertheless, the Snake wouldn't go down without a fight. Its scales started to shine, and a white beam came out of its mouth when it opened its maw to aim at the fiendish figure in the sky.