"Wait? How can we just remain here during this crisis!? My people are probably dying out there! I can't let these beasts take over the territories of my nation!"

Faith loudly complained, but a wave of coldness immediately surrounded her figure.

She felt Noah's reptilian eyes fixing on her and exuding a chilling killing intent.

Then, soft words that resembled a growl resounded in the underground area.

"An army of powerful magical beasts has suddenly appeared on the continent, and you thought that it would be wise to raise your voice against the man that saved you. I will personally bring you back to the surface if you keep on threatening to reveal my position."

Noah warned Faith as he tried to suppress his killing intent.

Attempting to kill her now would just reveal his position, and he needed her contacts on the surface to keep track of the advance of the pack.

Faith shut her mouth at that point.

Noah was right, she wouldn't be there if it weren't for his warning.

Also, losing her calm was out of her character.

"Sorry, I guess I don't have much experience in these kinds of crises."

Faith apologized using a soft voice before sitting on the ground to calm herself down.

She was a rare talent in the Papral nation, but no one could compare to Noah when it came to survival, especially when it was about magical beasts.

"Andrew?"

Faith asked while picking her inscribed notebook from her s.p.a.ce-ring.

"Dead or worse."

Noah gave a plain answer before sitting on the ground too.

His body was stable, but there were many injuries on his internal organs that had to be taken care of, he guessed that he would need a week to return to his peak.

"Worse?"

Faith asked, but Noah didn't answer.

He didn't have certainties, there were only hypotheses inside his mind.

"What are those things? How could our forces miss something like that?"

June questioned Noah when she sat too.

She knew that he was an expert in the magical beasts' field, he was the only one among them that could reveal something useful.

"I don't really know, there is no record of those creatures even in the archives of the academy. They probably are a species exclusive to the Immortal Lands, or some sort of mutation that has happened due to the high density of "Breath" up there."

Noah revealed his thoughts when June asked for them.

"I'm still unclear about many aspects of this situation, but it seems that the entire pack had gone dormant before or during the fall of this continent, only to awaken when the leader released its cry."

Noah explained the things that he was certain of.

Magical beasts could go dormant in certain situations.

For example, they would hibernate during their breakthroughs to a higher rank or when the environment lacked the necessary nourishments.

Of course, that action wasn't completely safe, there was the risk that a dormant creature wouldn't wake up anymore since the nutrients inside its body were consumed during its sleep.

Only a rare species like the Undead chameleon could use that ability at will and without risks.

However, that was their only way to survive at times.

"What's the plan?"

June asked without even bothering to hide her trust toward Noah.

Faith noticed that interaction, it seemed that they were almost used to working together.

Yet, she also knew that they had been students of the academy during the same period.

She had never studied the specific behind their relations.h.i.+p, but she could easily guess that they weren't simple cla.s.smates.

"Wait, for now. The appearance of the pack would modify the food chain, and I can predict its behavior only when the fauna reaches some kind of stability. In the meantime, we must rely on your escort and on Faith's forces to obtain reports about the situation on the surface."

Noah sighed when he finished explaining.

There was a limit to how much he could do even with his instincts and with the Divine deduction technique.

The fauna on the surface was chaotic now, it was impossible to predict it.

Yet, he was sure that the strongest beasts would take care of the central areas once the situation stabilized, meaning that only rank 4 beasts would patrol the coastlines.

"I agree to help both of you, but you must stop hiding things. What did you mean by worse?"

Faith asked while waving her inscribed notebook.

Coldness appeared once again in Noah's eyes, but he forced himself to suppress that feeling.

'I need the eyes of the Papral nation on the surface.'

That thought made him sigh internally, but revealing his hypothesis wasn't really a bother.

"A magical beast that has just come out from the state of dormant would require a large amount of food to restore its body, and cultivators are more nouris.h.i.+ng when they are alive. I believe you can understand where this is going."

Faith's eyebrows arched when she heard Noah's answer.

That gesture caused her pain since her eyes were still recovering, but that realization made her completely ignore that sensation.

There was a high chance that Andrew had been captured and brought at the center of the continent alive!

After all, cultivators kept most of their "Breath" inside their dantians, their bodies were almost worthless for the magical beasts.

'It's just a matter of how smart these beasts are and what abilities do they possess.'

Noah kept that thought for him.

He knew that the leader of the pack was relatively smart, forcing rank 6 creatures to gather food that they couldn't eat wasn't a small matter.

Faith remained silent for a while, but she soon decided to maintain her side of the deal.

She sent mental messages to the force behind her, and even June did the same.

Instead, Noah simply waited for the Hive to send a report.

There were around twenty heroic cultivators from the Coral archipelago in the new continent, and they were probably all busy handling the crisis.

He was sure that they would notify him once they managed to retreat to a safe position.

Faith and June didn't have much luck, none of their messages were answered, which left them entirely in the dark about the situation on the surface.

However, there wasn't much that they could do, they could only wait for their answers before deciding on their next move.

Hours pa.s.sed in the silence of the underground area, with occasional cries resounding from the terrain above them.

Noah saw how June's body was slowly recovering, she seemed almost able to open her eyes after that break.

Faith couldn't help but continue picking some clues about their relations.h.i.+p.

She didn't know if it was the way Noah answered June or just the way she looked at him, but she didn't seem to treat him as a criminal of her nation.

In the end, Faith decided to break the silence and directly ask since she realized that they would probably be stuck in that area for a while.

"Say, did you have feelings for him before Noah turned out to be a criminal?"