Noel emerged from a tunnel, staring at the demons. A single glance was enough to count the demons inside.
'There are approximately 40 demons, with 7 Peak Level Demons among them. Not good, but not that bad either.' Noel smiled and began pouring all his Spiritual Energy into his palms.
Each hand summoned an Ice Lotus, sending forth a total of ten ice petals.
The demons were varied in size, so he wondered where the enemy leader was. After all, he couldn't detect the enemy's danger level like Anna.
The ice petals flew toward the demons, trying to kill them. The Superior Demon would obviously react first.
Its body pulsated as if releasing its order to the other demons. In addition, his body released a huge amount of Spiritual Energy and formed a barrier, catching five petals.
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
The petals exploded and formed huge ice crystals, enveloping the barrier. The other Peak Level Demons also came forth and each struck a petal, protecting the other demons.
"…" Noel couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows. On the one hand, he had marked the Superior Demon. On the other hand, their coordination was much better than he originally thought.
Still, he had sworn that he wouldn't allow Anna to get heavily injured.
Another fluctuation of energy shook the room, telling the other demons to chase after Noel.
"Tsk." Noel clicked his tongue, showing an annoyed expression. He didn't know if the earthworm could see him or not, considering it had no eyes. But it should sense the fluctuation of energy, the sound, and the movement he made. It was clear that Noel looked frustrated, as if his plan didn't go well.
Superior Demons were extremely smart, so this Superior Earthworm Demon should have realized it. He sent all his minions to chase after Noel.
Knowing that his plan didn't work, Noel retreated into the tunnel. The demons chased after him as if Noel was just a cornered beast.
However, after a few seconds of entering the tunnel, Noel could feel that most of the enemies had gone inside.
He then turned around and raised both hands, waving them together. All his fingertips were covered in flame as waving his hands summoned forth two Undying Phoenix.
*Cry!*
*Cry!*
Both Phoenixes let out a cry. Due to the nature of the Undying Fire, it didn't light up the tunnel.
In that darkness, the Undying Phoenixes hit their targets. Even if the Peak Level Demons could react, they were not at the very front.
So, the Undying Phoenixes hit directly the lower level demons and burst out. The flame followed the momentum and spread to the demons on the back. Even the Peak Level Demon's barriers were burned away.
"!!!"
*Roar!*
*Roar!*
The tunnel was immediately filled with confusion and screams. They were in pain because they were being burned alive. If it was an open space, Noel might be at a disadvantage, but this enclosed space allowed him to concentrate his power into one single line and destroy the enemies.
But as one would expect from the Peak Level Demons, their barriers might have been burned away, but they still managed to repel his Undying Fire.
Since the demons in front of them had died, they were the ones charging ahead, trying to prevent Noel from doing something similar.
'Tsk. I only killed thirteen demons… Only less than a third, huh?' Noel sighed, turned around, and started running again. He never expected to kill all of them, but the number was lower than he wanted.
After all, the moment the Peak Level Demons took the lead, it was close to impossible to recreate the same effect.
In addition, the tunnel was big enough to allow five Peak Level Demons to move at the same time.
The Peak Level Demons were gathering their energy, trying to kill Noel as quickly as possible. They didn't want to leave their leader for a long time.
However, Noel used this to his advantage. "Ice Mirror."
A few ice blocks appeared in the tunnel as Noel stacked them up to block the tunnels.
The Peak Level Demons believed there was another trick behind this ability, so one of them took the lead in order to expose that plan and allow the other Peak Level Demons to solve the trap.
*Scree!*
The Peak Level Rat slammed its body to the Ice Mirror while gathering his Spiritual Energy in his claws, trying to block anything that Noel had prepared for them.
But surprisingly, there was nothing behind the ice mirrors. The ice blocks only crumbled to the ground.
"!!!" The demons were confused. However, they saw Noel used this opportunity to get more distance from them. It seemed that Noel's intention was just to distract them and get away.
If he didn't die, he would definitely return and kill more demons in this place.
In fact, the fact that he managed to reach their place meant he had killed a lot of demons that stood before them. There was no way they could forgive Noel for killing their kin.
The demons trampled on the ice blocks on the ground and headed straight to Noel. But that was Noel's other trap.
The moment they crushed the ice blocks, the Spiritual Energy trapped within the ice blocks began to leak out and activate the runes that Noel had set up.
Since the rune was made of his Spiritual Energy, they reacted to the ice's Spiritual Energy, causing them to light up.
"!!!" The demons felt that fluctuation of Spiritual Energy, albeit they were too late.
Four runes had been scattered on the ground and all of them released the same burst of energy.
Rune Blast.
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
A series of explosions occurred in rapid succession and knocked the demons all over the place.
Even two Peak Level Demons got hit by the blast and ended up stumbling to the ground. The other demons behind them couldn't stop and ultimately stepped over them.
The Peak Level Demons were obviously strong enough to reinforce their skins, but it was still too much getting stepped on by a lot of demons, especially after those Rune Blasts hitting them.
'Alright. The second trap is working.' Noel was happy with the result since two Peak Level Demons were injured.
However, this trap put the demons in a dilemma. On the one hand, their Superior Demon had ordered them to kill him. On the other hand, it seemed that they were falling into one trap after another. If this continued, they might die without being able to do anything.
Meanwhile, they didn't think that this person would leave just like that. Noel had gone this deep into their nest, so it was obvious that he was trying to kill their leader.
Upon that realization, one of the Peak Level Demons released a screeching sound to inform the others to stop and turn around. They had to return, believing that their king was in danger.
"Hmm?!" Noel widened his eyes in shock. The Peak Level Demons might not be as smart as Superior Demons, but they were, by no means, foolish. He couldn't even use the third trap before they realized the whole scheme.
Still, stopping abruptly at that speed took more time than they imagined. Without hesitation, Noel took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs. "Anna!"
His voice echoed across the tunnel. Two seconds later, a spark of yellow lightning brightened the end of the cave as it moved toward them at a fast speed.
Yes, this was Noel's plan to make sure Anna didn't get heavily injured. He would lead the demons into the tunnel in order to defeat them inside before challenging the earthworm personally.
Anna increased her speed and poured all her energy into the tip of her sword, which had been covered by lightning, to increase her penetrating power.
Two Peak Level Demons hurriedly moved forward, trying to stop her.
However, their clash was brief before Anna broke apart their defense and destroyed a part of their body in her charge.
Still, they absorbed a portion of her momentum. The other Peak Level Demons joined forces to stop them and managed to stop her even though Anna almost tore their defense apart.
Seeing that her momentum had stopped, Noel stepped forward and shot out two Undying Phoenixes to allow Anna to regain some distance.
Realizing that they couldn't stop the Phoenixes with their current condition, the Peak Level Demons tossed a few lower level demons into the front, especially the corpses, to block the Undying Phoenixes.
"!!!" Noel was quite surprised that the demons were capable of doing such things. But it was effective. The demons somehow stopped the Phoenixes. The remnant fire that managed to slip through got extinguished by them.
"We have killed half of them, five Peak Level Demons left, with two of them being injured," Noel informed Anna of the situation.
"Not good, but not bad either." Anna nodded. "We can't use plan B, so plan C?"
"Ye—!!" Before Noel answered, the demons suddenly trembled as though they sensed something. They suddenly charged at them, not because they wanted to kill them, but because they were afraid of something behind them.
Noel was confused for a split second before imagining one possibility.
"Not good." Noel grabbed Anna's hand and dragged her. "Run!"
