Birth of the Demonic Sword

"Boos Van and his guild are outside, waiting to ambush you," Noah explained when he saw that Divine Demon intended to leave right away. "Does this place have a secret exit?"

"Yes," Divine Demon exclaimed, "But we won't use it. Our enemies have come for us. It's only normal to show them our gratitude."

An intense aura seeped out of Divine Demon's figure after he said those words. Excitement, battle intent, and a tinge of defiance filled the violent mental waves that spread in the underground hall.

The membrane crumbled when it touched Divine Demon's consciousness. He had prepared himself to leave without asking Noah more about the army waiting for him on the surface.

"I will take care of Boss Van," Divine Demon said. "You will handle the others."

The guild had six cultivators in the liquid stage and a few hundred gaseous stage experts. They weren't a force that Noah could take lightly, especially since he lacked experience in battles at that level. He had only fought against Lady Lena since he had reached the liquid stage.

"Can't we plan something?" Noah asked. "We can easily take them by surprise if we use the membrane and some technique."

"We can," Divine Demon replied, "But we won't do it. We will face our opponents head-on and defeat them with our superiority. Stop wasting time unless you want to see the dragons in the upper tier."

Noah's eyes lit up at those words. Divine Demon had access to magical beasts in the upper tier, and that made his hunger awaken.

"Don't even think about it," Divine Demon said after he noticed the changes in Noah's expressions. "I value my dragons. If you want food, you have enemies waiting outside."

Noah felt quite startled at how quickly the situation had evolved. He had come there with Chief Ash and Boss Van less than a day ago, but he was now cooperating with Divine Demon.

"Can you handle Boss Van?" Noah eventually asked when he saw Divine Demon jumping toward the corridors.

"Of course!" Divine Demon exclaimed. "I wish I could face more of him at the same time. These experts who have never experienced the lower plane can't compare themselves to monsters who had overcome every obstacle on their path."

Noah felt speechless once again. Divine Demon appeared confident, and no trace of fear tainted his expression. The expert had decided that he would fight, so he had already prepared his mind for the imminent clash.

"They told me that you deal with multiple organizations," Noah said as he began to follow Divine Demon, who had left to enter a tunnel.

"Many organizations indeed," Divine Demon replied. "The inscription masters in the higher plane are laughable, and the various forces are also quite poorly handled. Most of their members believe that having a rank 8 cultivator in their ranks will save their lives. Pathetic."

Divine Demon felt angry to see that those cultivators weren't doing their best to improve. That went against every fiber of his body. He couldn't forgive cultivators that didn't make use of their natural gifts.

His aura was a mess. Noah could sense an intense desire toward something that he couldn't understand. Divine Demon's individuality appeared quite complicated, but it was completely obscure to Noah's eyes.

"Stop staring," Divine Demon said at some point. "My individuality is the law of the challenge. It allows me to overcome obstacles even when a situation appears doomed. I get stronger by winning basically."

"Why are you telling me everything?" Noah asked, concerned that Divine Demon had already revealed his individuality to certain forces.

"I am the ancestor of the Demon Sects," Divine Demon said. "I have divided the Papral region into two sides, and my disciples have ended up ruling the whole world. I know how to handle these secrets. Still, reaching the top after the whole world has learnt about your abilities sounds like a good challenge."

The flaws of his individuality had already become visible to Noah's eyes. Divine Demon needed challenges to advance, and he made his situation harsher on purpose before a fight.

Noah did something similar when he wanted to quicken his growth, but he would never take his challenges lightly, especially when they could kill him. Divine Demon didn't seem to apply the same carefulness. He charged directly at his enemies once he assessed their power.

"Does your individuality apply only to your battles?" Noah asked. He wouldn't hold back his questions since Divine Demon appeared willing to speak about that topic.

"It applies to everything," Divine Demon replies. "I can overcome challenges even in the inscription field. How do you think I came up with the Copying Technique and Divine Deduction technique? I had to overcome the difficulties of that task."

'He is a maniac,' Noah concluded in his mind. 'Even more of a maniac than June.'

The duo moved through the underground structure and climbed a tunnel that brought them to the surface. Noah inspected his surroundings before peeking out of the terrain, but Divine Demon directly shot in the sky to search for his opponent.

"Van! I know you are here!" Divine Demon shouted after he rose in the sky and found no opponent waiting for him.

Noah ignored Divine Demon's behavior and used his robe to hide among the trees. The expert needed a challenge to improve, but he couldn't force Noah to take the hard path on purpose.

"Fine then," Divine Demon said before bringing his hand to his mouth and whistling.

The air began to tremble after that gesture. Faint soundwaves spread through the sky and fell on the ground as that noise made the fabric of the world shake.

Noah started to run at that sight. He didn't want to end in the middle of an attack cast by a solid stage cultivator. He was strong, but he couldn't survive something at that level.

Craters opened on the ground as that soundwave spread. Divine Demon's dragons came out of the terrain and rose in the sky to inspect the area. They even launched flames to destroy pieces of the forest that enemies were using as a cover.

The flames landed on the terrain right after Noah escaped from the range of the soundwave. Pillars of fire filled his figure and tried to burn him, but his body was too strong for those attacks to have any effect. Only the two dragons in the upper tier that had appeared behind Divine Demon could hope to damage him.

The dragons transformed the whole forest into an inferno of scorching flames, and most trees burned under those attacks. Those beasts even coordinated to take down the stronger magical plants on the ground.

The flames uncovered large patches of the ground. A dark-blue charred ground replaced the forest as the dragons' offensive continued. Those trees were simply between Divine Demon and his challenge.

A shadow eventually shot out of the forest. Boss Van revealed himself and approached Divine Demon without daring to get too close to him. He remained at some distance as he began to converse.

"I have finally found you," Boss Van said. "Today is the day you die."

"You only needed to send me a message if you wanted to fight," Divine Demon replied. "Petty tactics won't open the path for the eighth rank."

Divine Demon's aura became a bit more intense after those words. He had won that exchange of lines, so his power had increased.