Chapter 94 94. CORE
Several thoughts ran through Noah's mind in the span of a second. He wondered if he should answer all their eventually questions truthfully or with lies in the mix. He eventually decided to remain neutral, and answer their questions with whatever the situation required.
"How are you completely alright?," Isabella questioned with a tired expression, while Noah Inspected her body.
Her body featured Injuries in multiple spots, her hair dishevelled and contained many rocky debris, her new attire was also badly damaged and its Inscriptions which kept it in one piece barely flickered.
The mulitiple blood stains on her chest area signified that she had coughed blood mulitiple times, as some even looked fresh. Apart from still stunning face and surprisingly elegantly shaped body, she looked homeless.
"Luck. I guess," Noah shrugged glancing at the man next to her, who Noah still recognized.
Isabella noticed the direction of his gaze and immediately tried to introduce the man, but he beat her to it.
"I'm Moses. It's nice to meet you," The young man said with a slight bow and an outstretched hand. Noah felt surprised by his gesture and that he didn't mention his noble family's name, which was something those spoilt brats did.
"I'm Noah. Nice to meet you too." Noah said, storing his daggers and shaking Moses' hand.
A slight pressure fell on him at that point, as Noah glanced at the Moses in slight surprise. Understanding what he wanted to achieve, Noah returned the gesture.
Suddenly his aura turned cold which contrasted with the slight smile on his face. Then a massive pressure landed on Moses' figure, his eye widened when he realized that he was about to kneel from the pressures weight, and cold sweat dripped down his back.
The contest of sorts continued, Moses continued to surprise Noah since he didn't succumb to the pressure on his figure. Even going on to straighten his figure, though with obvious difficulty.
'He's strong. Very,' They both concluded after about a minute went by, then the two burst into a short laugh.
Isabella shook her head at the two of them. Her eyes landing on the gradually dispersing body of the tier 3 Lion
"You actually killed that beast," She voiced out, walking towards the body.
Noah glanced at her with a bit of curiosity. "Well I didn't really kill it with my own strength. I used these beauties." Noah's voice rang out, bringing the daggers out of his inventory.
Isabella stopped in her tracks and glanced at the raised daggers. Moses did the same, his eye widening when they fell on them. "Tier 3 weapons. Past the lower stage at that," His genuinely curious and surprised voice rang out.
Noah arced his eyebrow shooting a 'how did you know' gaze at Moses who felt it. "Ah I'm a blacksmith as an hobby," Moses said, his eyes still on the blades.
Noah nodded surprised. "How did you even get these," Isabella and Moses said in unison. "Go on," Isabella gestured at Moses.
"Can I see it," Moses asked. Nosh didn't really see anything bad in it and gave him one of the blades.
Moses furrowed his brows when the daggers' weight landed on his hand, he almost dropped it but grabbed it with his other hand.
Shooting a surprised gaze at Noah who simply smiled and shrugged, Moses returned his attention on the blade.
He inspected it for a few tens of seconds, his mouth muttering random words, while his eyes also widened from time to time. The Inspection finished after he touched the tip of the blade, which hurt him.
"How in the world did you get such a masterpiece," Moses commented returning the dagger to Noah, who only shrugged.
"This isn't something that is sold in the public market. More like auctions or underground trades, and it would be incredibly expensive," Moses asked shaking his head in wonder.
"Coupled with the fact that itst a tier 3 weapon with such a volatile ability. I recon that even this weapon at tier 2 would be too expensive for most noble's," he added this time his full attention on Noah's expression. Which only showed a smile.
"I'm sorry to ask but who are you?," Moses added glancing at his still healing finger. Noah smile widened at that point.
"Lately I've been getting that exact question. But I'm just Noah, I have no family and not working for any organization currently." Noah shook his head, his voice that of genuine honesty.
"I find it hard to believe you. Your power and those weapons don't inspire the least bit of belief in me," Moses replied, Isabella nodding at his words.
A sigh escaped Noah's mouth at that point. It seemed no one would believe him if he continued being abnormal.
"Let's leave that matter for later. Currently we have a bigger problem at hand," Isabella immediately changed the subject.
A pensive expression appeared on the remaining four figures whom Noah had totally forgotten about, nor did he care to really focus on.
"With your strength I feel we should be able to proctect ourselves from the beasts," Isabella added.
"Once again I can't beat those beasts with my own strength. I don't dare take an attack from them. I simply managed to kill that one due to it being distracted with his help," Noah explained pointing at James at the end of his explanation.
"That doesn't change the fact that those weapons can kill them." Moses said with a serious expression.
A sigh escaped Noah mouth again. "So what do you think we should do?," Noah asked flexing his right shoulder.
"I'll advise that we simply stay together and wait for the remaining hour to expire, but you are the strongest among us, what do you want," Isabella voiced out.
"I don't see any better plan than that," Noah replied, the two nodding. "But don't you want to see if there are any survivors you can save," Noah said trying to test them.
A short laugh escaped Moses's mouth, while Isabella chuckled. Then suddenly their expressions turned cold. "It would be better if they died. Would shorten the time we'll spend here," Moses said with a chilling voice.
Isabella limited herself to nod, but her expression couldn't show more of her agreement to his words.
Truth be told Noah got creeped out by their reaction, but he also liked it. "Good. Now let's get out of here," Noah announced.
James stood at that point, his complexion less pale and some of his injuries healed, but it would take a longer resting period to bring himself back to his peak.
"Can you run?," Noah asked James. seeing that he nodded his head in response, Noah nodded too.
The group of seven were about to leave the area, when Isabella's voice rang out.
"Do you think the mana core would still be inside it," She suddenly said, her gaze on the lions body.
"Ah I totally forgot. Although I'm not sure it still is. The daggers ability might have affected it," Moses added.
Noah immediately got confused. He heard of cores a few times but he didn't fully know what they were and that magical beasts had them.
Noah decided to remain silent, and followed the duo towards the beasts body.
Moses jumped on the lions back, around the middle of its body length, then immediately released a barrage of punches on it, particles of the body rising in the air like dust.
A few seconds passed. Moses remained shrouded in the cloud of ash coloured dust, though eventually a crimson light pierced the ash colour of the dust, then he jumped down the already falling-apart body.
Noah's eyes couldn't help but widen from the wave of shock that hit him when his eyes fell on the lights source.