Chapter 170 - Barbatos

The feature of [Frozen Barrier] that came with the Spiritual Land being upgraded to the third tier provided absolute defense for any attacks of the Legendary rank and below. It didn't matter if it was a single Legendary individual or hundreds attacking the Spiritual Land, as long as the one minute of defense did not run out, no attacks would bypass into the Spiritual Land.

This was because the energy the Spiritual Land could provide to keep up this barrier exceeded any damage that Legendary ranked individuals could inflict, thus it could be called an absolute defense. But in the case a being at the Mythical or Phantasmal rank was raining down attacks on the [Frozen Barrier], what would happen?

The energy that the Spiritual Land could provide would not be able to keep up with the damage being dealt, and naturally, not even a minute would need to pass before the [Frozen Barrier] would be broken through.

But then came an anomaly. What if the concept of energy was trivial to the master of the Spiritual Land? What if enough energy could continue to be provided to the [Frozen Barrier] as it continued to defend against the attacks of a Phantasmal ranked monster?

Noah's draconic figure shone resplendently as the blue crown atop its head released airs of majesty. His figure was anchored to the ground of the Spiritual Land as he used his authority as its master to reinforce its energy reserves that it was using to keep the [Frozen Barrier] active.

More than half of the essence that would normally be allocated to casting and maintaining [Frozen Barrier] for the 1 minute was gone the instant the blazing sun landed on the Spiritual Land.

Noah was like an endless spring though, as this energy was soon filled up again a second later, with the [Frozen Barrier] holding strong.

Yes. This was Noah's biggest gain that he had not needed to explore or use before. A barrier that provided Absolute defense when faced with anything in the Legendary rank, but the energy reserves to keep it active for its full one minute would be drained if attacks from higher-ranked beings came.

With the problem being mana, Noah was the perfect solution. This meant that with the usage of [Frozen Barrier], a feature of the Spiritual Land that could be used once every 24 hours and only lasted 1 minute, it was 1 minute where absolutely no attacks would come through into the Spiritual Land.

The only possibility for it to be broken through was if an insanely powerful attack of multiple higher ranks came which instantly shattered the barrier, unlike Barbatos's attack that drained more than half of the allocated energy.

But this weakness would also be fixed as the Spiritual Land was upgraded into the next tier. If its container continued to increase, it would be able to better handle attacks that drained even more energy.

Noah looked at the blazing ball of fire that had exploded out and formed into snakes of fire that surrounded the Spiritual Land. Mana was leaving from his body and into the Spiritual Land like water flowing down a waterfall, the [Frozen Barrier] continuing to be kept reinforced as the 1 minute was now 50 seconds.

50 seconds, and he had to figure out how to escape this ordeal within this time. He didn't know if Barbatos would get serious and rain down attacks that could break through his defense the moment that the 50 seconds ended.

Even now, he could pick up her playful voice that seemed to have found the most curious thing in the world.

"Woah, you have your own isolated space treasure? Those are rare~"

Her voice was nonchalant, but her attacks weren't, another blazing sun appearing in the quickly boiling and evaporating seawater as it went towards the Spiritual Land once more.

Noah kept the seconds counting down in the back of his mind as he thought of ways to get past this. The memories he had plundered from the Megalodon and the other Mythical undead Skeleton Warrior he took down flowed in his mind rapidly as he focused all his attention on putting [Though Acceleration] on overdrive.

He already knew Barbatos from Orias and Gremory's memories, understanding a little bit about her and her powers. He knew her unique and ultimate skills, which made him even more apprehensive towards her as he tried to keep fear from bursting through.

The blazing suns she was throwing towards the Spiritual Land was just one of her unique skills, this one being called [Hellish Enforcer]. Noah continued to peruse through all the memories from the two Rulers he had killed, as well as the Mythical Undead he had just taken down to see if there was anything he could use to get out of this.

Space continued to be locked down, and he still could not teleport away. 30 seconds remained as another blazing sun exploded and a new one took its place.

"Wow, How much longer can you hide in there little fishy? I'm sure your energy should be close to empty by now. Or will you surprise me some more?"

It was a playful voice that didn't seem to have a care in the world, like it feared nothing and nobody. It feared nothing and nobody…

A blinding light seemed to explode in Noah's brain as this thought came, and he breathed heavily while looking towards the small figure of Barbatos outside. No, that wasn't right. There was somebody that this powerful Ruler feared. Somebody she hated in her bones, and yet she couldn't go against.

Noah went back to his memories as he looked at the interactions of the Rulers of the Demon World and Barbatos. Among the many hundreds of years of memory from the two Demon Kings, the ones involving Barbatos were many. The other Rulers feared her, and there was only one person that she feared.

The Oppressive Tyrant, Baal.

Barbatos was a character that craved destruction and mayhem, earning her the title of World Destroyer. She was unruly and wild, but she was reigned in after a significant battle a few hundred years ago. The one known as the Necromancer of Chaos was beaten down into submission by the most powerful Ruler of the Demon World, Baal.

Ever since then, she could only grit her teeth and follow the commands of Baal like every other Ruler. And from the memories of her Mythical Skeleton Warrior that had been with her for years, Noah knew even more of her thoughts and habits. He knew exactly what this powerful Demon Empress felt about the Ruler standing above her.

He had obtained the memories of the only beings Barbatos surrounded herself with, and putting together these memories as well as the previous ones from the two Demon Kings caused a plan to form in Noah's mind. It was a plan that he would never pursue if it wasn't the last possible way.

He had gone through many things and perused through hundreds of years of memories from multiple beings. The one thing he was confident of was that every single person wanted something. He now possibly had an idea of what Barbatos wanted, and if he could successfully use it to his advantage, this terrible meeting today might not just end with him keeping his life, but with a possibility of something much greater.

10 seconds remained in the activated [Frozen Barrier] as Noah looked at Barbatos who was creating another blazing sun with a surprised expression, as if it was unbelievable that Noah could still keep up his defense against her attacks.

With just a few seconds remaining, Noah spoke towards Barbatos for the first time as he grasped at yet another straw to keep his life after [Frozen Barrier] ended. It was a straw that went directly against his goal of the destruction of demons, while at the same time going towards accomplishing this goal by allowing him to keep his life and even possibly set himself up in a better position.

"Are you still planning to heel under the great Baal's feet, oh Barbatos?"

He spoke in a mystifying manner as his voice resounded out calm and collected, and as it reached Barbatos, he found her smiling expression becoming completely wiped away as her face scrunched up like she had just swallowed the worst food.