Noel was flying for a bit. He tried to use his wings, but they couldn't stop his momentum. He ended up falling to the ground and continued to slide for a bit.
But because the Spirit Master had cut down all the trees earlier, one of the trunks happened to fall in the direction Noel was going.
So, he ended up tripping on this trunk.
This was a big opportunity for the Spirit Master to apprehend Noel. So, he rushed to him, only to stumble when he stepped on the ground imbued by Noel's rune. It was so soft that it felt like he had just stepped on the water.
He lost his balance and fell to the ground.
It turned out Noel had actually calculated this. He just wanted to lower the enemy's guard so that he could take advantage of this opportunity.
It was an act as Noel, who was supposed to trip, suddenly released the Undying Fire Feathers.
"!!!" His enemy was startled, trying to get up.
Unfortunately, he was too late. Noel already knew his position, so even without looking at him, he aimed at the right spot, sending forth ten feathers.
"Kh!" The guy gritted his teeth and formed another shield.
Just like before, the shield melted and a few feathers ended up slipping through the gap. The guy couldn't dodge it this time. Even if he threw his body to the side, his foot was stuck on the ground.
In the end, three of the feathers reached his body with one stuck on his leg and the other two hitting his waist.
"Aaaahhhhh!"
The guy screamed in pain. His body was convulsing and his hands were trying to throw those feathers away. When he grabbed those feathers, his fingers were burned, but he had no other choice but to throw them away.
His anger had been welling up this whole time. When he first got burned by the feather, he didn't care much about it because he believed the reward would be much greater if he could bring Noel back to their base.
However, he was wrong. Noel was far trickier than he expected. He was strong and had a cool head, allowing him to react to any situation and even create a trap for him when he thought there was nothing left to exploit.
It was clear that taking Noel back was close to impossible if he was alone. At the same time, he didn't know whether the other members could come to help him.
His anger was on the brink of exploding. The only thing that calmed his mind was the fact they outnumbered them.
If he bought enough time for the other members, they should be able to catch up to him and capture Noel.
The guy gnashed his teeth while glaring at Noel, who had just stood back up as if nothing had happened. It was a clear provocation to him, who got severe burns on his body.
Ultimately, he chose to extend his blade again. But this time, he formed a chain like the one attaching his blade.
These two chains that came out of the tip of his blades flew in opposite directions to surround Noel.
However, Noel also had his own chains. He still believed that his rune could overthrow these two chains.
The Chain Binding Rune appeared in both hands as Noel pointed them at the two chains. Each rune summoned four chains and all of them captured the Spirit Master's chains.
"He also has chains? How? It's just pure Spiritual Energy… Is it his control? No, if his control is that good, his element will be fiercer. Then, what's that weird symbol that summons the chains?" The Spirit Master shuddered.
He had never seen Noel using his Increase Agility and Strength Blessing Runes, so he wasn't aware of the rune yet, considering he used the Softening Rune in a way he didn't notice.
Hence, he thought Noel still had some tricks on his sleeve, increasing his value even more.
'He has many things in his repertoire. He only has two options… either get captured or die.' The Spirit Master narrowed his eyes. He knew that if he didn't eliminate Noel, the latter would become a huge threat to their organization.
So, if he was cornered by Noel, he decided to unleash everything to kill him.
To prove whether he could capture Noel or not, he retracted the chains and turned back the two blades. After that, he rushed forward while throwing one of his blades.
Noel didn't understand why he threw away his weapon, but he struck this blade to the ground.
*Fwoosh!*
But the Spirit Master was more clever than he thought. Before the blade reached Noel's range, it suddenly stopped.
*Clink!* Noel ended up hitting the ground. He gritted his teeth while looking at the chain attached to the back of the sword.
The blade ended up falling to the ground, but it still fulfilled its objective, which was to buy time.
During that time, the Spirit Master managed to reach Noel and swung the other sword.
Noel ducked down, avoiding the sword. But the Spirit Master pulled the other sword with the chain and grabbed it midair before swinging it to Noel.
Noel blocked it with his sword, but he was forced to lean to the side as the Spiritual Energy surrounding that blade turned into a spike, almost piercing his head.
Still, due to that attack, Noel got stabbed in his shoulder. This was the same trick as the first attack, where he almost killed Noel, but this time, Noel managed to get a clear view of what was happening.
"Kh." Noel gritted his teeth as if enduring the pain. His left hand was holding the right shoulder as if trying to cover the wound.
He also jumped back to regain some distance while glaring at the Spirit Master. He wasn't planning to go down, but he might not be able to resist for long because of the injury.
The Spirit Master realized this was the perfect chance to seize him. With confidence, he rushed to him while swinging his blade.
And this was the moment, a smile appeared on Noel's face.
