54 54. Snake valley

Noah landed on the pack of magical beasts.

The snakes were already awakened by the noise coming from the wall and immediately attacked Noah.

A two meters large head with the mouth open came in his direction but was instantly cut in two halves by a vertical slash.

The snakes grew restless when one of their pack died and madly pounced at Noah that was forced to block the incoming blows.

He was sent flying on the wall where he came from and brutally crashed on it.

He could not waste any time as the rank 1 snakes were jumping at him from the holes above and the rank 2 ones were encircling him.

Generally speaking, a group of rank 2 magical beasts could not hurt Noah in a normal situation.

However, he had to jump straight in the middle of their pack due to the fall and the snakes were already prepared for his arrival.

There was also the problem with the type of magical beasts they were.

Snake-types magical beasts were usually very resilient and had a strong body with few weak points, they were considered among the most dangerous kind of magical beasts.

In the case of the Earth snakes, their bodies were extremely tough and had immense strength, yet they could not secrete poison from their fangs.

'Killing the rank 2 is quite easy even if troublesome, but the rank 3 is problematic to handle in this mess.'

The rank 3 snake was in the rear of the group keeping its eyes on Noah while the rank 2 attacked him, it seemed to study his movements waiting for the right moment to strike.

Noah pushed the snakes in front of him back by launching six wind slashes at them, he completely ignored the rank 1 jumping at him from above.

The slashes hit their bodies, leaving deep wounds, but they didn't seem to care and began to charge again.

Noah dodged this time and ran toward the right part of the valley madly slashing at anything that came near him.

'They are too many and I'm not even at full strength. I should escape.'

The concentration of "Breath" on his right was slightly lower than on his left, so he chose that direction.

'Magical beasts will prefer a higher concentration of "Breath", so it's safe to assume that the beasts within the areas with a lower concentration will be weaker.'

Snakes kept trying to encircle him, but he would simply slash forward, carving a path through their bodies.

Dark-red blood rained on him as he forced his way through the blockade of beasts.

When he reached the edge of the pack, the rank 3 beast decided to pounce.

Its massive body reached Noah's position in an instant and it shot at him with its mouth wide open.

Seeing the four meters tall head coming from behind him, Noah jumped in the air and blocked the snake's fangs with his two sabers.

The clash flung Noah away from the pack and made him crash heavily to the ground.

'Peak rank 3!'

Noah thought as he stood up inside the hole he created.

He was lightly injured from the previous attack but he had managed to get away from his disadvantageous position.

Noah didn't look back and ran at full speed following the decreasing concentration of "Breath".

The snakes chased after him but could not catch up, their speed was below the average for beasts of the same rank.

The chase continued for an hour.

Noah had to face the continuous assault of other snake-type beasts that appeared in front of him while escaping.

'Fire snakes, Horned snakes, Two-headed snakes, why don't they straight up call this place snake valley?!?'

Noah cursed in his mind while relentlessly slashing at any new beast that appeared in his sight.

'If it weren't for all these magical beasts hounding me I would have shaken off the rank 3 already! Luckily they are all rank 2.'

Corpses kept accumulating on his path, and red blood continued to flow on the river at the center of the valley.

At some point, an imposing figure appeared in front of him.

Its body was eighteen meters long and four meters thick, it had three horns on its head and from its fangs dripped a violet dense liquid.

'Rank 3 Horned snake!'

Behind it, a handful of rank 2 horned snakes were coiled together looking in his direction.

The rank 3 Horned snake wasn't looking at him, but the rank 3 Earth snake was following him, and there seemed to be hatred in its eyes.

Realization dawned on Noah looking at the Horned snake's expression.

'They must have fought for the spot with the highest concentration of "Breath", and the Horned snake lost! That's why its pack is smaller. I can use this.'

Noah went in the direction of the Horned snake with resolution.

The beast was enraged by the small human trespassing into its territory and shot out violet liquid spheres from its mouth.

Noah dodged them and sensed that when they hit the ground they corroded it instantly, leaving deep holes.

'To think that at rank 3 it can use its venom as a ranged attack.'

He kept on running and passed the Horned snake jumping straight in its remaining pack.

The rank 2 snakes attacked him but he simply shot out more wind slashes making sure only to wound them, they were his precious helpers after all.

He continued his escape without caring for the events happening behind him.

The rank 3 Earth snake had met with the rank 3 Horned snake and engaged in a furious battle.

Meanwhile, the pack of Earth snakes arrived and were about to overwhelm the Horned snakes when Noah got too far away and could not sense their fight anymore.

He ran for another hour to be sure that he was outside of their patrol area.

As he ran, the quantity of rank 2 magical beasts diminished, being replaced by rank 1 beasts, while the concentration of "Breath" began to resemble that of the cavity he was in.

The beasts there seemed to be afraid of him as none of them tried to attack.

Noah looked around for a bit and found a small cave inhabited by a few rank 1 fire snakes.

It was quite hidden and there weren't any holes on its walls so he chose to rest there.

He cleared the beasts inside it and laid on the ground to rest.