Noah had never fought for real against a cultivator.
His fights with William were only spars and against Orson's group, he was just playing a supporting role.
At that moment though, he was facing a real cultivator alone and that made him feel extremely excited.
'Finally, someone that doesn't die in one hit!'
The soldier from the Lansay family was initially stunned by Noah's smile but then focused again on the battle and charged ahead with his ax raised.
Noah didn't notice his own smile, all his attention was on the ax coming to him.
When the ax was a few centimeters from his head, Noah abruptly dodged on his left rotating his sabers in the process aiming for the soldier's head.
The soldier hid behind the metal handle and blocked the swing, yet a cut appeared on his cheek: the handle could not block the blow completely!
He retreated by some steps and resumed his posture, wary of the smiling kid slowly moving toward him.
They jumped at each other at the same time and exchanged a few blows before separating again.
This time a couple of light wounds appeared on the soldier's right leg.
Noah didn't choose his target randomly but picked the one who would suffer more from his fast attacks coming from two different directions.
The big ax the cultivator was wielding wasn't suited to block Noah's two sabers and, with his ability in deflecting and a rank 2 body nearing the peak of the rank, it was almost impossible to break his defense with only sheer strength.
Noah understood that he could not directly kill the soldier until he made a mistake and the soldier had his same thoughts so they charged at each other again waiting for one of them to commit an error.
Wounds kept on accumulating on the soldier's body as Noah pressed on attacking him everytime he tried to separate from the kid to resume a defensive posture.
After more than ten exchanges, the soldier's armor was almost entirely tarnished by its owner's blood.
However, Noah wasn't in a better situation.
Even though he had no wounds on him, the "Breath" in his body had halved and he didn't manage to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy.
The battle had become an endurance competition.
Noah attacked again slashing with both his weapons and the soldier raised his ax to block them.
CLINK!
Another clash occurred but the soldier became confused when he heard that only one of the sabers had hit his handle.
The other saber had momentarily vanished only to reappear in his face pointing at his left eye.
He hastily ducked but, in that moment of surprise, Noah had already slashed with his other blade on his chest area.
The invisible blade was dodged but the other one cut vertically his abdomen leaving a deep wound on it.
Noah didn't waste any time and quickly retreated on the roof of the carriage to replenish the expended "Breath", as for the soldier, he only had the time to look at his wound before his insides came out from it and he fell dead on the ground.
'As expected, the Snake-wrist form is too weak to consistently hit cultivators, at least it gave me the chance to end the battle sooner.'
What he had used was the first technique he had learnt five years ago by scamming guards.
He had never used it because the techniques he received after it were much stronger than an incomplete form of a rank 2 martial art, yet that didn't mean that he had forgotten it.
Seeing that the battle could have lasted for many other clashes, Noah chose to try a feint with the Snake-wrist technique and, even if it didn't fool the soldier, it was enough to create a decisive flaw in his defense.
'At least now I know where I stand compared with a cultivator. My techniques and their executions are above their average, but the flaws of not having a dantian are pretty severe.'
He understood that he could not fight prolonged battles on this level so he chose to rest and analyze the situation to find where his help would create the biggest results.
Meanwhile, on the mountain path.
Kevin was still immobilized by the water magic of the mage but was moderately safe since Irvin was assaulted by the horde of non-cultivators that came with him.
Nevertheless, the situation could not last for long since Irvin took out a whip from his back and randomly slaughtered the normal soldier that charged at him.
Kevin felt restless watching the fight in front of him and the cultivators attacking the caravan so he chose to use his hidden ace.
His skin became of a yellowish-brown color and his muscles swelled, his height too seemed to increase.
A roar came out of his mouth as he used all of his strength to break free from the water bindings.
The ground under his feet cracked and the strings holding his body still stretched until they couldn't handle Kevin's monstrous strength anymore and shattered.
Kevin was finally free!
When he was out of the strings his body continued to grow until he was three meters tall!
The soldiers around him froze when they saw the form he had assumed and even Irvin's expression became serious looking at the brown giant.
"You've mastered the ability of your body technique in the end."
Kevin didn't reply to Irvin's words and slowly walked in his direction wielding the big hammer in one hand.
The mage shot two water bullets but when they hit the brown skin, they only left some small white marks on it.
Seeing that his magic had no effect on him, Irvin summoned again the three water strings which fused together to become an azure half-transparent whip that he wielded in his left hand.
Together with the other whip in his right hand, he charged straight at Kevin.
Irvin launched an attack with the normal whip but Kevin easily raised his arm to block it.
The whip though, wrapped on his arm and the mage was about to launch an attack with the other one when Kevin grabbed it and forcefully pulled!
Irvin was immediately sent flying in Kevin's direction and was about to clash with the hammer when the water whip transformed into a shield and blocked the incoming blow.
The water shield managed to stay intact against the tremendous strike but Irvin still suffered from the impact and was flung away at over ten meters of distance!
No one noticed that a small crack had appeared on Kevin's shoulder.