Noah's awareness sent mixed messages as he flew above the surface of the sea. He was in the areas west of the new continent, and he would reach the eastern coast of the old one if he continued in that direction.
According to God's Left Hand's map, the tunnel was somewhere in that part of the sea. The fall of the piece of Immortal Lands had changed the seabed's layout, so Noah had to explore a bit.
His consciousness couldn't quite perceive the amount of danger hidden in the depths of the sea. The fauna there had innate hiding capabilities, and the dense waters at the bottom helped in covering the presence of powerful creatures.
There was a chance that Noah wouldn't be able to sense certain species specialized in ambushes, but his instincts would cover for most of the fauna. He was still a hybrid. There weren't many creatures capable of catching him by surprise.
Noah dived inside the sea and ignored any magical beast that he found on his way to the bottom. That area wasn't the hunting zone of any known rank 6 creature, but it didn't hurt to be careful in such a mysterious environment.
The seabed was rocky, and deep ravines appeared from time to time as Noah's exploration continued. He ventured in the gorges that his consciousness couldn't fully cover, but they were mostly empty or inhabited by magical beasts' packs.
Noah spent days exploring the bottom of the sea. His "Breath" allowed him to remain underwater basically endlessly, so he didn't resurface at all during that time.
A small cavity eventually appeared in his view. It was narrow, but it stretched for kilometers, and it seemed to lead toward deeper areas.
'This fits the description on the map,' Noah thought as he analyzed the entrance further. In the beginning, the rocks were of the same color as the rest of the seabed, but they became darker in the deeper areas.
'Lava?' Noah guessed when he saw that feature. There was bound to be a scorching core at the center of that world, so it wouldn't be strange if the tunnel reached the layers of magma.
Noah's cultivation level had reached the point when he could walk on fire and endure the fall of mountains. He didn't fear those calamities. The only issue was whether he could remain trapped underneath the rocky layer above the magma.
Noah was still analyzing the entrance when his consciousness sent warning signals to his mind. He quickly hid inside the tunnel and remained in wait to see the cause of that sensation only to see a massive lizard-like creature walking at a few hundred meters away from his spot.
God's Left Hand's map gave a general description of the seven rank 6 creatures inhabiting the sea, but none of them resembled that giant beast.
The lizard had the head of a crocodile, but it had long legs and a muscular body that showed only a few patches of scaled skin. Its teeth laid outside of its mouth when it kept it closed, and a dark substance came out of them, leaving a black train where it passed.
Noah didn't recognize its species. It probably was one of those ancient magical beasts that the world had mostly ignored since it lived in the sea.
The creature was a beast in the sixth rank, but it didn't seem able to sense Noah. It didn't even try to hide its presence and walked through the seabed as it looked for prey.
'Eight confirmed creatures,' Noah noted that beast in his mind. He had to prepare for when his body reached the sixth rank, so he had begun to make a list of the possible prey that could satisfy his hunger once he was at that level.
Noah relaxed after the lizard disappeared and resumed his analysis of the area. His consciousness couldn't reach its end, but the temperature rose as he went downward.
Tremors suddenly spread, and the dangerous sensations from before reappeared in his mind. Noah stopped moving and focused on hearing to understand whether the lizard had returned for a specific reason.
The tremors caused by the walking beast converged in the area above the tunnel before silence fell again. Noah could feel it. The lizard was right above him at that moment.
Noah condensed his consciousness and retracted his "Breath". He tried to conceal his presence as much as possible so that the creature above him wouldn't create a mess in the area.
His eyes moved left and right as he waited in silence, and they eventually noticed that some of the black substance released by the lizard had entered the tunnel.
When the substance entered in Noah's field of view, the intensity of the dangerous sensation inside his mind exploded and forced him to act.
Noah quickly jumped backward, and a giant mouth pierced the rocky seabed, destroying the tunnel in his previous spot. The lizard had directly stabbed the terrain, but it had kept its maw sealed.
The lizard spread its mouth, and Noah saw how the tunnel began to crumble as a large hole formed there.
'It works as a sensor!' Noah thought as he kept on retreating. The lizard's attack had been too precise for it to be a lucky guess, and the only variable in the area was the substance released by its teeth.
It seemed connected with the creature's mind, and it used the substance to scan the area as it looked for prey.
More hypotheses appeared in Noah's mind. He could guess how the creature's speed was only average among its peers, so it needed to sneak on its enemies to make up for it.
However, all those ideas were mostly useless at the moment since Noah had no chance to fight a being in the sixth rank. Those were just pieces of information that he noted because he expected to hunt the beast at some point.
Noah continued to run along the tunnel while the lizard lifted its head to stab another spot.
The creature's giant mouth missed Noah by a few meters, but only because he had resorted to his movement technique at the last time to sprint away. The lizard had calculated where he would be. Its only mistake was not knowing Noah's actual speed.
Noah felt lucky to see that the lizard wasn't resorting to any innate ability. The dark substance seemed the only skill in its possession, but he didn't take that for granted.
The temperature rose as Noah descended. Smoke appeared as the rocks around his became utterly black.
A red environment eventually appeared in his view. The lizard had stopped its offensive because its head couldn't reach Noah's position anymore, but he had continued to explore since he didn't dare to go back anyway.
Noah crossed the tunnel's exit only to find himself flying above a sea of magma that had a few floating rocky platforms on its surface.