"Keep the other demons away. I'm going to face these three Peak Level Demons by myself! You guys can kill the demons in the other nest later!" Richard shouted.
"!!!" They were confused at first but seeing how Richard was already adamant about taking these three on. They could only agree.
A Spirit Master was able to fight against a Peak Level Demon, but killing them was hard. However, Richard was a Spirit Grandmaster. Three Peak Level Demons were enough handicaps for him.
He also had Noel helping him. With Noel's perfect timing and good judgment, they should be able to prevail.
Seeing Richard's fighting spirit, the centipede hurriedly moved forward. Instead of facing Richard head-on, the centipede suddenly entered the ground, digging a tunnel. No one would know where it would appear next.
Meanwhile, the two bats flapped their wings, creating a gust to blow Richard away.
"Heh!" Richard smirked and punched forth, releasing the Spiritual Energy to neutralize the gale.
As if knowing they had to buy time for the centipede, the bats flew in opposite directions, surrounding Richard from two sides.
Richard smiled, ready to take on everything they threw at him. He was actually worried about Noel, considering he should be near him. He didn't want Noel to get taken out that easily.
But when he scanned the area, he couldn't find Noel anywhere as if he already knew what was going to happen and hid himself to deliver a killing blow.
'That guy is truly amazing.' Richard smirked.
The two bats opened their mouths, releasing a sound wave.
"Hmm?" Richard suddenly felt his eardrums going to burst. Although he couldn't comprehend it, he knew it came from the bats.
"Haaaa!" Richard roared while smashing the ground with his fist. The ground cracked and turned into a small crater, allowing Richard to have a different elevation from the bats. The cracked ground and the rocks that stuck out blocked a portion of the sound wave, allowing Richard to regain his focus.
As if not letting Richard recover, the centipede emerged behind him. Its sharp mouth was about to crush Richard's body.
This was a perfect time for Noel to appear, helping him to recover by fending off the centipede.
Unfortunately for him, Noel didn't help him.
"!!!" Richard also felt no one was coming. Noel should know this was a perfect time to stop the centipede, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Kh!" Richard gritted his teeth and turned around, concentrating his Spiritual Energy on his arms. He stopped the centipede's jaws. "Arghhh!"
He thought he had overestimated Noel. No matter how good his judgment was, he was still a newbie. Missing an opportunity like this was normal.
He should have taken this into account.
But when he was about to curse and completely erase Noel from his battle plan. Noel appeared, albeit not on the centipede.
"!!!" Richard widened his eyes and glanced to the right as Noel appeared with his fire blade, striking the bat.
Because the bat released the sound wave in Richard's direction, it reacted too late for Noel's attack.
The bat tried to fly away, but Noel managed to complete his swing, reaching the bat's right wing.
"Ciii…" The bat screamed in pain while flying away from Noel. Although it was a Peak Level Demon, it had to regain its bearing first before it could do anything to Noel.
"Tsk." Noel clicked his tongue. Even though he had good timing, it was still hard to kill a Peak Level Demon when it wasn't fully occupied by Richard.
Although disappointing, Noel had prepared some escape plans.
He turned around and ran toward the others. His movement was quick and precise as he made himself invisible among those demons and people. This way, the bat would have a hard time finding him, and he would get another shot at killing the Peak Level Demon.
But the most shocked one among them was actually Richard.
'Are you kidding me? Did that brat just use me as bait?' Richard thought while making a weird smirk. This was the first time someone dared to use him this way. But he also noticed something from Noel's movement. 'Still, it feels like he knows I still have the ability to stop the centipede even if he doesn't help me. And he uses it to his advantage to kill the one that everyone is not focused on. It's a great tactic, but his strength is still lacking.'
Richard was a bit disappointed, not with Noel's judgment, but with his strength. If Noel was a Spirit Master, he would have killed that demon bat.
"Huuu…" Richard took a deep breath before kicking the centipede, blowing it away. After he freed himself, Richard took another look at his surroundings.
Seeing the injured bat that wanted to chase after Noel, Richard released a shock wave that hit the bat, grabbing its attention.
"That's right. Just focus on me. I'm your opponent!" Richard smirked. 'Even if he failed, he still injured the bat. It might take a few hits to kill these demons, but it's better than if I do this myself.'
Richard knew his role. He didn't realize that instead of him being the leader that ordered the people, he actually became Noel's support, acting for his cause.
"Hahaha, come!" Richard smirked and jumped to the other bat, planning to cause an injury so that he didn't lose to Noel.
But the bat flew back while the other one released another cry to disturb Richard's mind.
"Kh." Richard gritted his teeth, enduring the pain. He kept moving toward the uninjured bat, but the centipede used this opportunity to attack Richard from the side.
This time, Noel made his appearance again. Richard wondered which demon Noel would attack this time.
But to his surprise, Noel didn't attack any demon. Instead, he threw a huge spike made of wood toward Richard.
"Huh?" Richard was confused at first, but he realized what Noel wanted to do.
He pointed his palm at the spike and used his shock wave to direct the spike to the bat.
"Kiii?" The bat was surprised and tried to dodge it, but with Richard's control over his strength, he skillfully directed in a way that the bat had no way of dodging.
"Kiii!"
