[Mission: Kill Sniper Devil Saint (Complete)]
[Description: Kill Qiel, the brain of the Supreme Devil Organization.]
[Reward: An Advanced Rune (One Category of Choice).]
"Huh?" Noel raised his eyebrows, looking at the mission. 'Huh? Qiel died? What happened? Did she lose too much blood?'
Noel felt something was amiss. On the one hand, there was indeed a possibility that she died that way. On the other hand, they weren't pursuing her, so they should be able to stop somewhere and close the wounds.
"What's wrong?" Anna asked, noticing Noel's change of expression.
"This…" Noel fell silent for a moment before whispering the truth. "Qiel died just now. The mission confirmed it, so it must be true."
"Wha—mmmph!" Anna was shocked, but Noel hurriedly covered her mouth to not show it. Although it was joyous news, they couldn't really declare it. What was the proof? People would simply become suspicious of them.
Anna's expression turned solemn. "Are you sure about this?"
"The system has never been wrong this whole time, so I believe that's the case. It's just that I don't know the process."
Anna looked down, falling into deep thought. After a moment, she whispered, "Maybe your parents made their move."
Noel frowned. He didn't think it was possible. After all, if they made their move, they would have to fight Laufey and Qiel. If just a single one of them survived, the consequences would be fatal.
Anna continued, "They still have three Spirit Grandmasters like the former captain, Raven, and the ghost, Silvester. Don't you think it's possible? Besides, Qiel is severely injured and with this timing, the True Spirit Body should have worn off. So she shouldn't be able to fight that much.
"Laufey is the same. Although he is not injured, the Spirit Veins are broken due to the side effects of the True Spirit Body. So, don't you think it's possible to kill them?"
Noel still didn't believe this was enough. The risk was simply too big. Even if they didn't make a move, Qiel's condition should be enough to render her useless in a fight.
If they disclosed their existence, the royal family would definitely unleash everything they had to defeat them. In the worst case scenario, the Transcendence Experts from the royal family and the organization would join hands to destroy their Ardagan Family.
He didn't believe that Oscar would help them in this matter. That was why he still thought there must be something else.
"This is weird. Did I miss something else?" Noel tilted his head in confusion. There was one thing that looked a bit weird. He had a mission to kill the Devil Saints, but Laufey wasn't on the list. It was probably because Anna was his opponent, but was that the only case?
'Maybe the missions are the limit. And the system is only targeting the people who are most likely to die.'
Noel sighed, thinking, 'Anyway, she's dead. I should be happy for now. After all, they have Josephine now. If Qiel and Josephine join hands, it's going to be a disaster, so I should be grateful to know that she dies.'
"By the way, are we still going to participate in this battle?" Anna asked.
"No. This battle is going to be over in about an hour. As soon as the night falls, we'll eliminate them."
"So, we'll unleash the remaining two runes hidden in our walls?"
"Yeah. Even though you can't fight right now, can you go to Layla? Just make sure that her condition is okay."
"Alright." Anna nodded.
…
Northwest of Lounstein.
"Ha…. Ha…" Qiel panted a few times. It was really hard to maintain this state, especially with her current injury. "Have we gotten to a safe place yet? I have to close my wounds first or I would die from blood loss."
Laufey looked into Qiel's eyes, which seemed to have become empty. It seemed that she had lost so much blood that her focus was close to none. If this continued, she would definitely die.
"I don't think they are chasing after us." Laufey looked back as if trying to sense their pursuer.
Qiel nodded. She dropped to the ground and took a seat. "Laufey. I need your help. Share your blood a little bit with me so that I can recover enough to continue our journey. We have to return to the base and bring this news.
"Alright." Laufey pointed his palm toward her before cutting his fingers so that the blood would flow out and gradually flow to Qiel's wounds.
Qiel's complexion became much better due to his aid.
While waiting, Laufey asked, "What should we report this time? We have lost two Devil Saints in this war. Meanwhile, we fail to kill a single enemy or even heavily injure them."
"No. That's fine. You were dispatched to gather the demons, so you didn't know what was going on at the base. We got a new person who would become a new Devil Saint. Although she couldn't openly show herself for the time being, her power would definitely be beneficial for us."
"A new person?"
"Void Arbiter, Josephine."
"That space woman?" Laufey frowned.
"Yeah. That's why we have to return and start a new plan. With her help, we should be able to dispatch our people in a more organized manner."
"…" Laufey thought for a moment and nodded his head. "That's indeed good. However, you should know that they will grow rapidly after this battle, right?"
"Indeed. I have a plan to hinder that movement. Besides, their main enemy will be the Royal Family right now. So, we can increase our force in the meantime."
Laufey scratched the back of his head. "To think that you would have thought this far…"
"I have to. I know very well how strong they are now. Even before the battle, I made the assumption that we wouldn't be able to win, so I prepared for all this. Although I would have a 17:31
hard time using my power after this injury, I could still control
everything from the darkness."
"The Supreme Devil also hasn't made his move yet. And if we Ardagan? Or is this what you're planning to do, Qiel?"
"Yeah. With this, they are able to prove that they are much stronger than anyone else. Even without outside help, the Ardagan Family has four Spirit Grandmasters, with three of them having True Spirit Body. The people will definitely fear them, especially the royal family."
"But do you really think that Noel Ardagan…" Laufey paused. Even he didn't expect that Noel Ardagan would have a True Spirit Body.
Qiel shook her head. "He is as talented as Anna, so it shouldn't be weird to have that. However, he will definitely become too strong for the kingdom to handle, so his strength will end up being the trigger of the next war."
"What do you mean?"
"Haven't you seen his True Spirit Body? What element does it have?"
"Ice… Ice?!" Laufey gasped.
"That's right." Qiel sighed. "If you compare the power between his ice and fire elements, you will realize that the fire element is much stronger than his ice. In other words, he is still hiding one more trump card."
"The Fire Spirit's True Spirit Body." Laufey squinted his eyes.
"There you have it. With that trump card, the power balance within the kingdom will be tipped over. In addition to the Gem Lord, I'm afraid that the Tower Association will split up. And the Ardagan Family will become the new top three power, 17:31
replacing the Tower Association. With that, do you think the
royal family will leave them alone?"
Laufey closed his eyes, understanding what was going to happen to the Ardagan Family. It seemed that they wouldn't have time to attack them. The Greenwood Kingdom and the Zaecuria Kingdom would definitely make their move to prevent the Muivell Kingdom. And the Atracaeca Kingdom will become one of the keys to this war.
"That's why—" Qiel suddenly stopped before raising her head.
"What's—" Laufey wanted to ask, but Qiel immediately put her finger in front of her lips, gesturing for him to be quiet. They were within the forest, so Qiel's senses would definitely pick something up.
Qiel said, "This is bad. There is another force coming to us right now. We have to go."
Qiel stood up, ready to escape once more. She didn't know what was going on, but this other party was beyond her imagination.
Her eyes were looking at the horizon as she saw two men coming toward them. "That's…"
The first one was a muscular man wearing armor. His eyes looked rather gloomy and exhausted, but his hand remained on his sword handle as if he were ready to wield it at any moment.
The second one was rather hard to see even though he was there. It was like his entire existence was blurry.
"Isn't that… the Ardagan Family's Silvester and Raven? If I'm not mistaken, they are the remnants of the previous Ardagan Family. But shouldn't Noel have absorbed them… Now that I think about it, they disappeared after that execution. No 17:31
matter how much I searched for them, I couldn't find any
clues regarding their existence. Don't tell me…" Qiel gasped, realizing something.
In that instant, a sharp pain jolted her brain.
"What?" Qiel looked down, finding a blood sword piercing her heart. She couldn't help but look at the one who stabbed her from behind. "Laufey… You…"
Laufey's expression was cold as he said, "Fifteen years… It's truly been a long time."