Chapter 359: Slaughtering the Beast Noah squeezed, his fingers applying pressure that collapsed the wolf’s windpipe and crushed vertebrae without any mercy. These beasts that had surrounded him deserved it. Every single one of them deserved the death that was approaching without exception. The dire wolf thrashed desperately for several seconds before its struggles weakened and finally ceased entirely. Noah released the corpse and let it drop to the ground like discarded garbage. [You have killed a Tier 4 Thunder Wolf!] The remaining beasts had managed to form their defensive cluster, but the formation was already compromised by panic and terror. They watched Noah with expressions that showed they finally understood the magnitude of their mistake. This wasn’t a vulnerable human they could overwhelm through numbers—this was a predator operating on a completely different level than they could match. Noah began walking toward them with slow steps, his casual approach somehow more terrifying than an aggressive charge would have been. His enhanced vitality meant their attacks would be largely ineffective even if they landed, while his combat capabilities could eliminate them one by one regardless of their desperate coordination. A flame bear tried to launch a preemptive attack, conjuring fire that should have been devastating against most opponents. But Noah’s own fire manipulation, though weaker, allowed him to understand and counter the technique. He used wind to redirect the flames back toward their source, forcing the bear to waste energy defending against its own magic. While the bear was distracted, Noah generated multiple wind blades and launched them at a stone pangolin that had positioned itself as part of the defensive formation. The creature’s armoured plates provided no meaningful protection against attacks operating at his current power level. The blades carved through scale and hide to inflict deep wounds across the pangolin’s body. The injured pangolin tried to burrow underground to escape, but Noah stamped down with an aura-enhanced force that created a shockwave through the earth. The ground itself seemed to reject the creature’s attempt at flight, collapsing the tunnel and forcing it back to the surface, where Noah finished it with a precisely placed wind blade through the skull. [You have killed a Tier 4 Iron Pangolin!] The remaining beasts were now completely demoralised, their defensive formation falling apart as individual survival instincts overrode any pretence of coordination. Several attempted to flee in different directions, abandoning their companions in desperate bids to escape this overwhelming threat. Noah pursued the closest runner—a jade serpent that was attempting to slither away at impressive speed. He caught it easily, his enhanced agility making the chase completely one-sided. A wind blade severed the serpent’s head from its body in a single, clean cut. [You have killed a Tier 4 Jade Serpent!] A crimson hawk tried to take to the air, using its natural aerial advantage to escape the ground-bound slaughter. But Noah’s wind manipulation allowed him to generate a powerful updraft that disrupted the bird’s flight pattern and sent it tumbling back to earth. Before it could recover, he impaled it with multiple wind blades that pinned it to the ground. [You have killed a Tier 4 Blood Hawk!] The flame bear that had attacked earlier tried one final desperate assault, charging directly at Noah with claws extended and fire wreathing its entire body. Noah simply stood his ground and allowed the beast to close the distance before delivering a devastating punch powered by his full aura enhancement directly to the bear’s skull. The impact created a visible shockwave and dropped the massive creature instantly. [You have killed a Tier 4 Flame Bear!] Only two master-rank beasts remained alive from the group that had foolishly surrounded him—a lynx and a stone tortoise, both paralysed by terror as they watched their companions die with such. Noah looked at them with cold eyes that showed no mercy or hesitation. "You should have stayed at the perimeter where you belonged." Noah looked at the final two survivors of the initial group, the lynx and stone tortoise, with a cold expression. Both creatures were frozen in terror, their survival instincts screaming at them to flee but their bodies were unable to respond to the overwhelming killing intent radiating from this human who had slaughtered their entire group. The lynx attempted to use its natural stealth abilities to disappear into the background using the chaos, but Noah’s spiritual sight tracked its every movement with perfect clarity. He conjured a wind spear and sent it directly through the creature’s chest before it could fully vanish, the compressed air construct punching through ribs to destroy vital organs. [You have killed a Tier 4 Lynx!] The stone tortoise tried to retreat into its shell, relying on defensive capabilities that had protected it through countless battles. But Noah simply walked over to the withdrawn creature and channelled concentrated wind blades directly through the gaps in its armour, targeting the vulnerable flesh beneath with surgical precision. The tortoise’s defences meant nothing against attacks that could find and exploit every weakness. [You have killed a Tier 4 Stone Tortoise!] Noah sensed movement at the clearing’s edge as more master-rank beasts, having witnessed the slaughter, were now attempting to join the fray. Perhaps they believed numbers would eventually overwhelm him, or maybe desperation for the teardrop fruit had eroded their common sense entirely. He could feel them approaching from multiple directions—at least five or six additional master-rank creatures converging on his position with speed that suggested coordinated assault. They clearly planned to attack simultaneously before he could pick them off individually. They’re not going to reach me, Noah decided with absolute certainty. He channelled mana according to the pattern for his Striking Eagle technique, but this time he didn’t create just one construct. His enhanced mana control and doubled comprehension speed allowed him to form three wind eagles simultaneously, something that should have been impossible at his skill level but became achievable through the combination of enhancements and natural talent. Three wind eagles materialised around him, each one tracking toward a different approaching beast with predatory precision. The constructs shot forward with devastating speed, covering the distance to their targets in seconds.