The next morning.
Noel and Anna were preparing for their assault.
"How do you inform them?" Anna asked. She had just scouted the demons and made sure they were still in their position.
"I'll simply leave the forest and inform them. Hopefully they haven't made their move yet." Noel shrugged. The plan was so simple as if Noel didn't bother to even come up with a better plan.
"What if they move when you're calling them?" She asked.
"You." Noel glanced at her.
"…" It took Anna a moment to finally understand what he meant. "You are using me as a beacon?"
"I can't do it, can't I?" Noel shrugged.
She wanted to say that Noel had the ability by releasing his second element, but it would also make him suspect her since no one should know about Noel's second element yet.
"Fine. I'll do it." She sighed. "This will be quite dangerous for me since I have to take them on if they're moving."
"We'll be regrouping with you as soon as possible." Noel nodded.
"You better do. Why do I always take up this hard job…" Anna let out a long sigh, recalling that she had to take on an Advanced Level Demon to buy time for Noel. And this time was no different.
"Sorry and thank you." After saying those words, Noel hurriedly leaped away, heading straight to the exit of the forest to inform the Saintess and the Holy Knights to go to their position. They had agreed that the Saintess would leave as soon as they got the signal, so he hoped they were already prepared to leave right now.
Noel used his fastest speed to reach the exit and as expected, the people had some trouble in maintaining the defense. They had been fighting the whole night, so it was clear that they were exhausted.
Hence, this was their last opportunity. The Saintess had to leave to use her ability to defeat the enemy after regaining some Spiritual Energy.
As soon as he left the forest, Noel tried to wave his hand to inform them. Because he wasn't clear whether they saw him or not, Noel cut down the trees next to him and planted it on the field so that everyone could see the weird, big trunk standing out of nowhere.
One of the soldiers spotted the trunk and shouted, "I saw a trunk and a man outside the forest!"
Without hesitation, he turned to the other side of the wall and shouted to the people below.
Behind the gates had already stood ten people with their horses. The one who led them was a Holy Knight Captain that had been following the Saintess with the latter being surrounded by the knights.
"It seems that everyone is ready." The Saintess smiled.
"Are you sure you're going to do this, Saintess?" The captain looked at the Saintess since this was the first time he saw Layla riding a horse on her own. She usually moved with carriage, so it was quite surprising to see her this way.
However, Layla simply nodded her head and said, "Before becoming a Saintess, I'm a knight wanna be. Don't worry."
"…" The knight captain was speechless for a moment before shouting, "Open the gate!"
As soon as she heard the Order, the Saintess used her ability to create a translucent barrier right outside the gate so that no monsters came into the city.
They walked outside the gate but still had some space between the gates and the end of the barrier, finding the demons trying to swarm this barrier.
"Close the gate!" The knight captain ordered again as he raised his sword. The white shiny sword started to bask in golden light as he swung it down the moment the Saintess retracted the barrier. "O' Moon Spirit…"
The sword released a torrential golden light forward, trying to engulf everything in its path.
"Let's go!" The Saintess shouted as they hurriedly moved outside to breakthrough. The torrential light was eliminating the demons as if they were being burned by the holy light.
However, the other demons from left and right wouldn't let this go.
The holy knights had been wearing full body armor and wielded a spear and a shield, so they put their shield in the side to protect the Saintess from both sides.
They had to risk their lives so that the Saintess didn't use too much of her Spiritual Energy before the fated battle.
With the captain riding in the front and eliminating as many demons as possible, the entire group easily ran through the demons and escaped from the city.
Still, the demons didn't want to let them go. Like Noel and Anna, they sent more than thirty demons to stop them.
However, there was a reason why they brought their own horses to escape.
The Saintess clasped her hands as if she was praying. "Dear Moon Goddess. Please grant us your strength."
Suddenly, the knights and even the horses were enveloped by golden light, amplifying their abilities.
The horses ran faster than demons as they continuously watched them getting away.
"Hoh?" Noel narrowed his eyes, impressed by them. However, this was useless.
They had to enter the forest, meaning the horses would be in danger if they crossed the forest with that kind of speed. And the demons would catch up to them soon.
That was why Noel raised his sword, preparing to engage the demons. He had to kill them before they could reinforce them.
As if sensing Noel's anxiety, the Saintess lifted her right hand and summoned a golden light. This golden light flew toward the demons that chased them and turned into a dome-shaped barrier, trapping all the demons inside. With this, they should be able to enter the forest without getting chased.
When they arrived, she smiled as if nothing happened. "Sorry for making you wait."
"…" Noel squinted his eyes as if he knew this Saintess wasn't ordinary.
"Though, I think we should kill them since we don't want any threats coming from behind." Noel explained while glancing at those demons.
However, everything didn't seem to go according to his plan because he heard a loud explosion in the sky.
"!!!" Noel turned around and looked at the signal in the sky, correcting himself. "Never mind."
Noel chose to abandon his intention in killing those demons because Anna had signaled him that the demons had begun moving.
And of course, Anna was still lamenting her position as she stood in front of the numerous demons, including the Advanced Level Demon.
"As expected, why do I have to do this the whole time?" Anna clicked her tongue while glaring at these monsters. She had taken their intention, so she had to stop them here until Noel brought the reinforcement.
