System vs Rebirth

Seeing Noel and the others on top of the wall, Laufey had a dilemma. Obviously, he didn't want this mission to be over easily. However, there was still a chance that Dimitri was among them, waiting until they thought he wasn't there.

When that happens, there would be another casualty from their side.

At the same time, if he retreated from this place, there would be a lot of pressure when he returned to the base.

That was why Laufey realized there was one more thing they could do.

'We can't continue here. It'll be troublesome if we attack them in this situation. And Dimitri might be there, waiting for us to lower our guard.'

'In that case, should I just accept the defeat? No, there is one more thing I can do. I just have to lure them away. Still, we can't ambush them on the way since I'm only left with three Spirit Grandmasters.'

Laufey seemed to have made his decision. He glanced to the back while shouting, "We are retreating!"

"!!!" Noel widened his eyes when he heard that instruction. He thought Laufey would be more reckless, but it seemed that he managed to maintain his composure after all this.

Noel glanced to the side. "We have to attack them right now. Don't let them escape. We have to buy more time! And ask the Captain of the Demon Barrier Squad to come here if possible!"

"What are you talking about? Aren't we safe now?" Paul frowned, feeling something bad from Noel's excessive worry. Noel wasn't someone that would overreact like this, so there might be another consequence that was hidden inside that message.

"They are going to attack other cities. One city might not be enough!" Noel clicked his tongue.

From his intention alone, it was clear that the Demon Relief Squad wouldn't be related to this anymore. They could abandon the Demon Barrier Squad. Even if Laufey massacred another city, the Demon Banner Army wouldn't be able to do anything. But because they came for them, they had a certain responsibility to stop Laufey from killing the others.

This was a trap to lure them out. But he knew that Laufey wouldn't attack them if they chose to move to a different city. But it would mean that they would be losing Laufey, which could cause a lot of problems. Just like them, the one who had the initiative right now was Laufey's group.

That was why Noel wanted to keep them here for as long as possible even if it meant walking into his traps.

Noel didn't wait for another second as he jumped off the wall.

He used the Enhance Forward Rune on himself so that he would fly for a bit longer and escape from the numerous demons near the wall.

The Rune felt like there was a mysterious force that grabbed his whole body, pushing him forward.

But Noel had to ignore that feeling for now and focus on the current objective.

As soon as he landed on the ground, he formed a pair of black-colored wings on his back.

Undying Fire Feathers.

A few of the feathers flew forth, bombarding them with the undying flame. His action managed to stop them, but it seemed that Laufey wanted to take advantage of the split second he had to capture Noel.

After all, the rest of the group had a late reaction due to their shock and confusion.

'He is risking his life to keep the enemy here? Not good.' Damian clicked his tongue while gathering a huge amount of Spiritual Energy behind them. 'Kh. I won't make it.'

Laufey was only ten meters away from Noel. Even if Damian utilized his ability, he couldn't cover that much gap in an instant.

That was why Laufey thought he was the winner until Noel smiled.

Yes, Noel actually smiled in front of the danger. That smile contained no meaning to him, but it was a different case for Laufey.

"!!!" Laufey's body shook when he saw that smile. Since he was in front of Noel, he could see every detail of his movement, including the slight glance to the left.

In that instant, his instinct and mind thought the same thing. Noel was waiting for this moment.

Dimitri, who had been hiding this whole time, would finally make his move to hit him.

Without hesitation, Laufey stopped his momentum while raising his sword to the side, preparing for an attack. He even thought, 'What a foolish young man. To think you would be revealing your secret plan. You are still too inexperienced. Take this as a lesson.'

Laufey's eyes turned slightly to the side, anticipating the attack. But to his surprise, there was nothing that came to him.

Instead, there was a fluctuation of Spiritual Energy that came from Noel.

"Huh?" Laufey turned back and found the Undying Phoenix flying toward him. He gritted his teeth and waved his sword, slashing the phoenix. There was a red-colored Spiritual Energy that covered his sword and they dispersed the overbearing Undying Flame that made the phoenix so that his sword would remain intact.

At the same time, Damian had activated his ability. Since Laufey stopped for a second, he could finally use his ability on time.

A huge ice spear appeared on top of Laufey. When it was about to fall down, the spear turned into numerous smaller spears and attacked Laufey from all directions.

Laufey gritted his teeth as his anger erupted once again, releasing a sphere of raging Spiritual Energy and deflecting all the ice spears.

He kept glaring at Noel the whole time. At first, he thought Noel was a fool for making that slight gesture that would cause his ambush to fail.

But when he took another look at it, Noel must have realized that he was wary of Dimitri's presence. He took advantage of it and made him hesitate.

In other words, Noel had just fooled him. He might only be able to use this type of trick once since Laufey would know Dimitri wasn't with them, but this was enough since the rest of the team had gone down, ready to face them.