The bird widened his eyes as the sharp pain hit his mind. It never thought that the sword strike could cut his wing.
'Hmm?' Noel frowned, feeling something was wrong. At first, he thought that the bird's real body was smaller than what he could see. But he started doubting that conclusion after his sword was able to reach him with the Spirit Weaponry.
He thought it must be because of the Spirit Weaponry's ability that could cut the Spiritual Energy itself. But it seemed he was wrong. The Circular Sword Strike didn't have the same characteristic as the Spirit Weaponry, so it shouldn't be able to harm the bird.
Yet, the conclusion was different.
'Is there some missing information in my head?' Noel tried to recall the information about the birds and his abilities.
He couldn't help but question how the Spirit Weaponry was able to cut through the Spiritual Energy while the others couldn't. And how it was related to the Circular Sword Strike.
The fire bird demon noticed that Noel was distracted and let out a cry as if it felt Noel looking down on him.
The bird dove down, trying to grab Noel with its talon.
Noel clicked his tongue and raised his sword, trying to block this attack. But as expected, the bird was planning to use its weight to crush Noel.
Luckily, Noel thought the same thing as the bird. He knew that the Peak Level Demon had a thought similar to that of a human. So, he knew the bird was trying to trick him with the diving motion as if it wanted to grab him.
Right before the bird reached him, Noel activated the Ice Aura to protect himself from the heat. After that, he went into one of the trees and poured his Spiritual Energy into it.
Ice Infusion.
Suddenly, the tree was covered in thick ice. Due to its shape, the tree looked like a nail that was about to hit the bird's talon.
"!!!" The bird tried to stop, but he was moving too fast. In the end, his talon hit the tree.
The weight from the body broke the tree apart since the bird came diagonally. But it seemed that the pointed tip of the tree managed to cause a wound on the talon as a portion of the trunk was stuck to the bird's talon.
"…" The bird flew around, trying to gain some distance from Noel.
While he was at it, Noel asked Ardagan, thinking he was related to the Circular Sword Strike's ability.
'Ardagan. Does the Circular Sword Strike have the ability to strike the Spiritual Energy itself?'
Although he didn't want to rely on anyone other than himself, he had to do it to get a fast answer.
[No. It's an ability from Heisk.]
'Heisk?' Noel widened his eyes in shock. The only thing he could remember about Heisk was her ability to control Spiritual Energy. She never used a sword, so she shouldn't have given him the ability.
But Ardagan didn't seem to be lying.
So, there was only one possibility in Noel's mind.
'Now that I think about it, the only thing different from the previous Heisk is that I have created a Spirit Link with Heisk…' Noel fell silent, thinking that the answer was the Spirit Link.
'It seems that the Spirit Link is more important than I originally thought.'
As if trying to guide him, Ardagan gave one more reply.
[The Spirit Link allows your body to behave like a Spirit. And Spirits are born to control Spiritual Energy naturally.]
"…" Noel got his answer. As expected, the Circular Sword Strike must be related to the Spirit Link and Heisk. He didn't know why Heisk had it, but it was clear that he could utilize the Spirit Link with the help of the ability.
"I don't know much about the Spirit Link, but I think I can understand it a bit. The Circular Sword Strike and all my Ice Abilities are working, so I should focus on these two in order to figure out about the Spirit Link."
Noel looked at the bird with a serious expression. Although he wanted to ask Ardagan again, the latter wouldn't like to talk about it. After all, he wanted to know everything about the Spirit Link, whereas Ardagan wanted him to experience it himself.
Noel sighed while gathering the energy into the blade, ready to use another Circular Sword Strike.
He knew which ability would be working, so killing the demon shouldn't be impossible.
The demon flew toward him while letting out a huge cry. It flapped its wings a few times, shooting some feathers made of flame.
Noel still held the energy on his sword, ready to release it. But he had to handle the feathers first.
He used another ability in his other hand. This might be the first time he used two powerful abilities at the same time.
The energy around his sword instantly became unstable.
"Kh." Noel gritted his teeth, having a hard time controlling the Spiritual Energy. However, he had to do it.
He forcefully released the Ice Mirror.
A part of the Spiritual Energy on his sword leaked out, cutting one of the mirrors. So, Noel had to stop all the feathers with only four Ice Mirrors.
In the end, he surrounded himself with the mirrors, blocking the feather from all directions.
He knew that some feathers would fly on top of them since it was the only unprotected area.
That was why Noel instantly jumped to the side, sneaking past both the feathers and the mirrors.
*Boom!*
The feathers that dropped onto Noel's position exploded, destroying the Ice Mirrors.
But Noel was free and even had time to approach the bird while swinging his sword.
Circular Sword Strike.
The bird had already seen this ability once, so it immediately flew away.
However, Noel was one step ahead. He had already used the Temperature Control to suppress the fire bird's body.
The fire bird was slowing down for a moment due to the sudden change in temperature, allowing Noel's Circular Sword Strike to hit the bird.
