Ambush

Noah crouched as he controlled his breathing as he hid atop a densely branched tree. The Crouching Tiger Breathing Technique he had learnt from the Norton house circulated as he controlled his breathing and gathered strength.

As an experienced veteran, he knew it was impossible to outrun his assailants as they were probably an entire Realm above him, so he would fight using his environment.

It didn't take long for two men to walk into the clearing below him. The two arrogantly displayed their Intermediate Realm battle power. Even their Battle Souls hung in the air behind them.

The lean one with a pair of daggers featured a small ape-like Beast Soul, hinting at an Agility-type Battle Soul master while the burlier one had a gorilla-like Battle Soul, an Assault-type Battle Soul master. 

These classification was used to better understand the path of a Battlesoul master. It was based on the Battlesoul's orientation. As an example, Noah's Overlord Sword Emperor Battlesoul was more geared towards close combat, making him an Assault type Battlesoul master. He also possessed the Silver Dragon Emperor Battlesoul which gave him different options to choose from, but as the only soul skill given to him by the Battlesoul was a support type skill and the only technique in his hands being a movement technique, he could only be classified as an Agility type Battlesoul master. This thus made him a hybrid Assault-Agility type Battlesoul master.

The two men released no elemental fluctuation, showing that their Battle Souls were the lowest of them all, Common Grade Battlesouls. But still, their strength was enough to decimate Noah ten times over.

The two sneered as they studied their surroundings. "Hehe, little child where are you? We'll be very nice. Your trail ends here so we know you're hiding. Just come out".

The lean man licked his lips. "Yes, come out. The money for your head is quite a lot, this boss needs a bit to visit some nice curvy women."

"Come out!" The burly man punched out, a ball of condensed air left his fist that sent a few trees to the ground.

Noah sneered as he heard their attempts to scare him. "Do these idiots think I'm a child that they are trying to scare me out with such threats?" 

He glanced at their location and nodded, feeling that their position was where he wanted them. 

His hands opened to reveal a glistening rock. This was something that could produce a small time explosion, created by normal human blacksmiths, similar to a grenade of his past life. It was an object used by human hunters alone as Battlesoul masters disdained such petty tricks.

But Noah wasn't an ethical Battlesoul master, he wasn't foolish enough to think he could defeat these two without a plan. He raised the stone to his eye level and took aim. It flew off with a moderate speed into a bush, creating subtle noises that were heard by his assailants.

The duo immediately dashed forth. They had reached it within an instant when suddenly, a burst of chaotic Essence exploded forth.

The two were flustered. Having the lowest rank of Battle Souls, they didn't possess a strong enough body to freely drive their Essence while its chaotic counterpart plagued them. Just like that, their battle prowess decreased by about 40%!

And it was at this moment Noah attacked He leapt off the branch while a dazzling silver dragon appeared behind him and his eyes shone with silver brilliance as he ran his Essence to activate Silver Dragon Eyes. He also circulated his blood Essence to increase his body's strength and defense while resisting the chaotic Essence in the air.

More importantly, his Blood Essence brought out a suppressing aura of an Emperor to lash out at the duo. Their battle prowess decreased by another 15%! The assailants were further frightened as they watched Noah's right hand morph to reveal silver colored scaled with sharp claws, increasing its mass by 30%.

Emperor Grade! This was the effect of Emperor Grade Battle Souls! They could manifest their Battlesouls, albeit a little, at the beginning of their cultivation while King Grade had to wait till the Overload Realm and common Grade couldn't even hope to see their battle Souls manifest throughout their lives until the Saint Realm, if it were possible to cultivate to that level.

Noah had reached them at this point. Behind him were his Twin Battlesouls, the Overlord Sword Emperor and the Silver Dragon Emperor. His sword shimmered with silver light, a manifested sword aura brought upon by the large Sword image behind him. The air of a Level 5 Novice Stage Battlesoul master was released into his surrounding as he began his attack.

The Overlord Sword Emperor flashed as he activated the first soul skill, Gravity Force! It was a skill that allowed Noah to increase or decrease the weight of his sword. Its downsides were its large consumption of Essence and its inability to allow him wield a heavy blade without affecting his movements. To counter these, he had to train to get used to activating the skill for split seconds.

The blade in Noah's hand shimmered as he sliced down with power. 

His target, the lean one of the two assailants, gave a dazed look not expecting to be the object. The man didn't understand. Don't most people usually go for the stronger looking one?!

If Noah could read his thoughts, he would sneer. Why would he unnecessary court death by attacking the stronger one and still end up on the losing end. He could tell at a glance that the younger, lean one didn't spend time training as much as the older one.

A panicked look appeared on the man's face as he quickly rose his daggers in a bid to defend.

But he had underestimated the weakness brought upon him by the chaotic Essence and Noah's suppressive aura. He discovered to his dismay that the Essence in his body seemed to move like a turtle. Hence, he couldn't properly coat his daggers when Noah's heavy sword had arrived.

There was no suspense. The burst of strength from the Crouching Tiger Breathing Art and the surprise of the attack overwhelmed the man. The daggers broke easily and the heavy sword slashed down at the lean man. The assailant, in that split second, grit his teeth and resolutely moved to the side. Because of this, the sword meant to cut him in half only managed to cut his arm off from the shoulder. 

But that didn't mean the pain would hurt any less. "AAARGH!!!" He screamed like a pig in a slaughter house, clearly he wasn't that used to the harsh concept of life called physical pain.

"Tch." Noah clicked his tongue. Clearly, while this guy fooled with women, he still didn't forget the basics of battle.

"BROTHER!!!" The other assailant clenched his fist, quickly coating it with Essence as he punched out. The wind seemed to condense at his fist before being launched at Noah's figure.

But, unexpectedly, the air cannon missed! The attack launched nearly at point blank actually missed someone who hadn't even touched the ground yet!

In truth, it didn't. Instead it was Noah that moved! At the last second, he had managed to execute the battle art he had been given by Luke.

Void Steps movement type Battle art! The First Step, Flicker!

Noah had teleported out of the attack's way, albeit, only a meter. Still that meter allowed him teleport to the weak point of the air cannon spotted by his Silver Dragon Eyes. And his dragonified arm was able to strike at it and redirect the cannon away from his body! He had been able to resist the attack of a being one stage higher than himself.