The arrows were fast, and their size didn't affect the speed that they were capable of. They were made of a pure blue light that left a shining trail wherever they flew.
Noah had sensed the danger thanks to his increased awareness, but he had understood its origin only after the arrows appeared. After all, his senses were screaming non-stop due to the many powerful cultivators fighting around him. There was a limit to how accurate his perception could be in that situation.
Also, he wasn't one of the targets of the arrows. They were aiming for the leaders of the factions.
Elder Julia saw the attack and retreated. Each arrow had the power of the peak of the fifth rank, and there were four of them targeting her.
Luckily for the Elder, the arrows didn't seem able to make sharp turns since they only managed to shift their trajectory slightly when she performed an evasive maneuver.
However, they were fast and massive. The shockwaves that they created flung Elder Julia in the distance, even if she had stepped away from their trajectory.
Noah's eyes widened at that sight, and he started to retreat. He wasn't worried about Elder Julia's state since the sudden attack didn't hit her directly. The problem was the enemy in the solid stage that was now lacking an opponent.
The man in the solid stage that Elder Julia had fought until then reacted as Noah feared. He analyzed the battlefield for less than an instant before diving from his higher position in the sky to help Icy Stare.
The fact that she was having trouble against Noah was evident. It wasn't hard for the solid stage cultivator of the Empire to choose who to help, especially since Noah's status made him famous.
Taking down the Demon Prince of the Hive would show how hard it was to defeat the Empire. That higher-up of the defending army couldn't let go of such a chance.
Noah didn't care about fame, and that battlefield wasn't the right place where to test how well he would do against an enemy in the solid stage.
He retreated without any hesitation and spewed flames on his path to hinder the charge of the cultivator hunting him. However, that only gave him a few seconds since Elder Julia's opponent used a defensive spell to cross the flames and launched an attack once he was close enough to his target.
Noah saw three metallic birds forming right in the middle of his flames. They started to flap their wings as soon as their bodies stabilized, and they shot at high speed against him, uncaring of the fire that surrounded them.
Noah could only think about his survival in that situation, which pushed him to let go of any restraint.
Black smoke started to come out of his body and took the shape of a scaled armor in a matter of instants. Four arms formed from his fuming torso too, and they wielded the copies of the Demonic Sword that had appeared while Noah cast the Demonic Form spell.
Noah executed the second form of his martial art and launched the Black Hole spell that had hovered above his head until then. After that, he turned to continue his retreat.
He didn't want to spread his corrosive smoke near his allies, but there was a cultivator in the solid stage against him. Noah wasn't going to hold back in that situation.
A fissure appeared among the sea of flames, but the metallic birds didn't disappear with Noah's attack. Cracks spread on their dark-silver bodies, but they kept flying toward him at a slower speed.
They met the Black Hole spell at that point, and an explosion happened. Still, even that attack couldn't block all the birds. Two of them fell apart during the detonation, but the last one used the metallic shards of its companions to protect itself and heal part of its body.
Noah stopped retreating when he sensed that. The spell of a solid stage cultivator was scary and powerful, but it seemed that he could handle it if he used his most potent offensive.
He felt ready to face him if necessary. After all, he knew that Elder Julia would soon rejoin the battlefield.
Four arms rose once again from his torso, but a dangerous sensation suddenly appeared on his right. The temperature around him dropped, and he noticed that ice was spreading in that area of the sky.
Noah didn't even have time to curse since dozens of icy-figures took form in the frozen sky and shot toward him. It seemed that Icy Stare had managed to follow him since he had stopped to launch his previous attacks, and she had cornered him in a challenging situation.
Another fissure appeared among the black smoke released during his escape. Noah didn't stop the second form of his martial art since the remaining bird was still the most dangerous attack coming at him.
As for the icy-figures, he spewed flames at them, hoping that they would gain him enough time to deal with whatever would come next.
The corrosive smoke had affected the structure of the metallic bird, and the slash destroyed it once for all. Instead, the flames wrecked the icy-figures and melted their shards, but they didn't manage to reach the frozen sky.
Noah saw more shapes taking form inside the ice spreading around him and sensed that the solid stage cultivator was about to cast another spell since he had caught up with him. The same scene was about to repeat itself, and Noah didn't know if he could handle it without revealing Snore.
However, a torrent of wind blades suddenly swept an area inside the black smoke and revealed the solid stage cultivator who used five metal birds to protect himself. Elder Julia reappeared on the battlefield too, and she nodded at Noah before shooting toward her opponent.
Noah's reptilian eyes became cold at that point. He could focus on his sneaky opponent now that the Elder was keeping the major threat busy. Also, he was already in his Demonic Form. He could worry less about his safety.
A horizontal fissure appeared in the army of icy-figures and turned them into nothing more than shards and maimed shapes. The second form of his martial art reached for the layers of ice too, and it pierced them without any problem.
Noah spread his consciousness when he saw that the ice had stopped spreading. His senses sharpened as he searched for the cultivator that had tried to trap him into fighting against the solid stage expert.
A tremor swept Icy Stare as soon as Noah found her. She had started to retreat when Elder Julia returned, but Noah had turned his attention toward his original opponent too quickly for her to escape the range of his senses.
It didn't take much for her to sense a pair of vertical pupils on her back. Icy Stare didn't need to turn to know that Noah was right behind her, trying to hunt her before she could return to her allies.