The blood trail they were following grew stronger and stronger. The smell became more intense, and it reminded Noah of the Goblin Forest Fortress, where the smell of goblins' blood stank so much that he managed to attract more goblins to that place.

"Most likely, this strong smell is here for us to notice it and fall straight into their trap...

" Noah said this thought out loud, which made the other people also notice this fact and be even more cautious.

Marcel sometimes tried to convince Noah to return to the rear, as he said,

"The most powerful mage on the team cannot die unnecessarily.

" But Noah knew very well that staying behind would make him much less useful than he really was, and that would probably be the cause of some unnecessary deaths of team members.

Over time, Noah had come to truly care for these people as he fought side by side with them and they needed to trust each other, which allowed them to form such a strong bond in such a short time. With some of the group, Noah had never had a deep conversation, but that didn't stop him from valuing each one present; he wasn't willing to be safe in the rear when his teammates were doing their best and taking chances for him, being that he could do something more meaningful.

Suddenly a noise of something being crushed was heard from a distance by them. At first, they thought it might be some kind of machine, but this noise was not as coordinated as that of an automatic machine; in fact, this sound was a little random. The closer they got, the more things they could hear. First it was a low moan, then they started to hear a snort too, until they finally identified this noise as something chewing something else, something very crunchy by the sound of it.

When they finally saw that they were no longer surrounded by metal boxes, the group found themselves in a room, also made of the same metal as the boxes, which was probably also the same metal that consisted of the walls of this train.

In the center of the room was a strange creature chewing on a piece of meat. When looking from afar, Noah realized that the piece of meat that was being hurt was a human, a small human, but still a human!

"Damn, is that a human over there? Why is there a human here?

" Noah asked in a low tone.

Nobody in the group could understand the reason for a human being in this place. Even if that human's body was smaller than theirs, they could still identify hands, feet, a waist, and especially a head with a thick nose and long, messy hair. Unfortunately, they could no longer do anything to save that little human, since the waist was no longer connected to the person's upper body; it had been split in half.

"That sound of something being crushed... Is that that person's bones?

" The lightning magician asked in an uncertain tone. The monsters of the Rank E Fortresses had been powerful, but not to the point of being able to chew and break human bones as if they were eating a packet of snacks.

"Maybe that human is weaker than we are, but we can't let that make us careless. Let's take advantage of the fact that the monster hasn't noticed us and launch a surprise attack. For that, we will need someone to draw that monster's attention away from the group. Normally this is Jasper's job. You're really sure you can do it, Noah? I really can't see how your Blessing will help in this situation. If you don't feel confident, I think Jasper should go, since he at least will have a better chance of being able to run from the monster,

" Marcel said in a serious tone as he gave a concerned look toward Noah.

Noah knew that his dagger he got from the Rank E Fortress wouldn't be useful at all against a Rank D monster unless he attacked one of the the monster's weak points, but that wouldn't inhibit Noah from using his flame to do damage, let alone prevent him from teleporting around the room with his explosions of flame.

Because of the brilliance the explosions caused, it made Hell Tunneling a non-stealthy ability, but when it came to getting a monster's attention, Noah doubted there was anything better than this for the job. As much as Jasper managed to be noisy and agile at the same time, a big bright explosion in a dark room like this would be much more striking than he was.

"Don't worry. You'll understand when I take action. You don't need to control yourself; I'm confident that I won't lose the monster's agro unless someone approaches him to attempt a melee attack, which I particularly don't recommend after seeing that bite. So whoever is melee, please just keep back and don't worry about me,

" Noah said in a serious and confident tone.

The confidence Noah showed made Marcel swallow the sentence he was going to say to convince him once again to back off. He knew that if he said something now, even if it was out of concern, it would be disrespectful, since Noah had said he could do it. If he tried to convince him otherwise it would be like saying that he didn't trust him.

"It's all right,

" Marcel replied, still a little concerned.

Giving the team time to prepare, Noah walked towards the monster, trying to be as quiet as possible, and doing his best to synchronize his own steps with the bites the monster was making to further prevent the monster from hearing his footsteps while he was still close to the team. He might as well have teleported directly to the monster, but at this point Noah wanted to avoid wasting energy too much, as he didn't know what a Rank D Fortress looked like, if his Hell Flames could handle the monster, or how flame-resistant the monster would be.

So, preferring to sin from excess caution rather than from carelessness, Noah got as close as possible to use his teleportation in the shortest distance he could, so as not to waste energy. The greater the distance, the greater the energy consumption; this Noah had already learned very well and did not want it to be the factor that would cause his death in this Fortress.

When he felt he was at a safe distance, Noah immediately burst into flames and appeared within an explosion that appeared in front of the monster shortly thereafter. This surprised all the Blessed besides Jasper and it surprised the monster, who widened its eyes in fright. Noah did not waste the moment and stuck his dagger straight into the monster's eye.

Unfortunately for Noah, the monster, instead of retreating in fear or in pain from having a dagger stuck in his eye, decided irrationally to jump at Noah to bite at him. Noah had already seen how powerful that bite was while he heard it grinding the bones of this dead human in front of him, which made Noah decide to teleport to the side of the monster and abandon his dagger. This then provided the team's wizards and archers with a clear view of the monster so they could shoot at will.

As the rain of spells and arrows came from afar, Noah took a closer look at the strange monster and noticed how ugly it was. It was something like a boar with a humanoid, fat body. Noah had never seen a creature so ugly and strange. Some parts of his belly were sewn up, which indicated to Noah that something strange was related to this creature since he probably didn't have enough intelligence to be able to sew something that needed such dexterity and most importantly, thought.

Leaving the monster's appearance aside, to keep the creature's attention on himself, Noah opened his palm and with a bright flame. He launched a jet of fire at the monster with the hope that the monster was not resistant enough to endure his flames.

"You will feed my exp bar with your life so that I can move up to level 03.

" Noah was looking at the monster not as someone would look at an enemy, but as someone would look at a pot of gold.

Please read the author's notes down here! :3 ↓↓↓