Noah's world suddenly became white as the noise of the detonation of his disposable weapons spread in the area. He didn't remain still though and quickly used the Merging spell to sprint away from the Albino Snake's attack.
The beast's attack was quick, but Noah had his fuming armor and had acted in time to dodge most of the destructive power of the white beam. Only the left side of his protection got destroyed as he escaped from the area of effect of the light.
A series of hisses of pain followed that attack, and Noah heard even the Albino Snake's cry among those sounds.
The detonation of his inscribed weapons had spread chaos in the pack. Almost all the creatures in the human ranks had died in the explosions. The few of them that had survived had suffered grave injuries too since the disposable weapons were items in the fifth rank.
The shockwaves that they had created were enough to kill anything in the human ranks.
The Albino Snake had suffered only some minor injury, but the explosion had forced it to stop its light beam and focus on protecting its body. Noah had predicted such an outcome, and he had already prepared himself to launch another series of attacks.
Noah executed the second form of his martial art again as soon as he came out of the beam. A fissure appeared among the light still lingering in the environment, and more deep wounds formed on the curled body of the Albino Snake.
Then, Noah attacked again and again, taking advantage of every second that the Snake was giving him to inflict as much damage as possible.
Noah managed to launch only three attacks before the Snake reacted. Angry hisses sounded in the area as the beast lifted its head again and threw another light beam.
Noah couldn't face the beam head-on. The Albino Snake was at the peak of the fifth rank, and its attacks could injure him gravely if he were to let it hit him directly.
The difference between the strength of their bodies was enormous even if they were both in the upper tier of the fifth rank, and Noah was a hybrid. He couldn't compare with a magical beast that had almost stepped into the last part of the heroic ranks.
However, Noah didn't need to get close to the creature, and the fact that it couldn't fly allowed him to take complete control of the flow of the battle.
Noah would dodge whenever the Albino Snake launched one of its beams and throw disposable weapons to force it to stop its offensive and give him time to attack.
The Demonic Form prevented him from suffering any injury, and the Snake saw wounds piling on its body as the fight kept going.
That was the difference in power between a cultivator and a magical beast. The Albino Snake was far stronger than Noah when it came to basic abilities, but he had the wits to choose the battle style that gave him more advantages.
The fact that it couldn't fly also helped a lot in the matter. The Snake was unable to face Noah as long as he stayed in the air.
Still, the peaceful behavior of that species was just a natural consequence of their calculative minds. Albino Snakes weren't on the level of intelligent beasts when it came to their thinking ability, but they came quite close to them.
Also, Noah's target was unique, so it wasn't a surprise that it could resort to simple tactics.
The Albino Snake's body was a mess of blood and cuts after it exchanged multiple attacks with Noah. Still, it could keep fighting at full strength since the stamina of a beast at that level was nigh-endless.
Yet, it began to escape toward the area of influence of the Empire, breaking every small hill that it found along its path.
Noah chased after it and felt forced to shorten the distance between them to keep pressing it with his offensive.
The Snake was slower than Noah since it didn't have spells, and there were many hindrances on its path. However, it could reach the central territories alive if Noah didn't continue to attack it at that pace.
Nevertheless, the Albino Snake suddenly leaped, and its massive body twisted mid-air so that its head could reach Noah in an instant.
The action of the Snake had been too sudden and quick for Noah to react in time. Less than a second before, he was chasing after the creature and launching as many black lines as he could. The instant after that, he was inside its throat, being pushed down by the contracting muscles of the beast.
It became evident in his mind that the escape had been just a trap, and Noah had fallen for it.
Noah had no idea that the Snake could jump so far up in the sky. After all, he had been at a few kilometers from the ground during the chase.
Yet, the massive physical strength of the beast allowed it to shoot relatively high if it managed to coordinate its body.
Noah didn't panic though. He was shocked that a magical beast could prepare such a trap, but he saw that as an opportunity to affect its internal organs.
The muscles kept on pushing him along its body, but Noah released a wave of flames and waved his Demonic Sword like crazy to launch as many black lines as possible.
His flames didn't manage to hurt the creature, but they weakened the layers of muscles and gave a chance to the black lines to seep through them and reach for its internal organs.
The Albino Snake hissed in pain at that point. Its scales began to shine again, and white light accumulated where Noah was.
Noah continued to attack even as the light surrounded him. He knew what was coming, but the only thing that he could do to stop it was killing the Snake before it completed the ability.
The Snake hissed at the sky and released another beam of light while Noah was still inside its body. The light running through its throat destroyed the Demonic Form and exposed Noah to its destructive force.
Nevertheless, Noah ignored the pain and focused on reforming the four additional arms with his corrosive smoke.
The situation wasn't ideal, but Noah managed to materialize two of them right in the middle of the storm of light and launched a weaker version of the second form of his martial art.
The attack cut the beast's throat and opened a path toward the internal organs, and Noah didn't hesitate to keep his offense going.
The battle had become a matter of attrition now. The first body to give up would become the other's prey.
Noah's slashes eventually managed to pierce through the Snake's body, creating an opening where he could escape. Still, he continued to attack the creature from the inside until he cut away an entire section of its body.
When that happened, Noah's bloody figure reappeared in the open.