Two days later.
Noel had finally arrived at the gate according to the arrangement. As one would expect from the bustling city, there were at least a thousand people that participated in this expedition.
He could easily see through people's strengths. However, he did notice a few Spirit Masters like him. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single Spirit Grandmaster, which was quite disappointing.
The only strong person was Legolaz. But like what he predicted two days ago, Legolaz was actually accompanying someone. That young man seemed to be the second prince because when Noel saw his name, it was quite unique.
Name: Ramuer Relaiz.
Affection: Good (20/100)
Description: He is interested in you.
The fact that his affection was not neutral meant Legolaz had told him everything about Noel's strength.
Noel didn't know whether this was a good sign or not. For the time being, he doubted that someone would recognize his true face. So, there was no risk of him being exposed as the author of the rune book, which would definitely pique the greed of those two people.
Legolaz seemed to have noticed his presence and turned his head around, trying to find him. As soon as he located Noel, Legolaz seemed to be saying a few things to Ramuer before disappearing.
Noel wasn't surprised when Legolaz suddenly appeared before him.
"How is your condition?" Legolaz asked.
"I'm in my best condition, ready for the expedition," Noel answered politely.
However, both of them were glaring at each other for a moment. It was clear that Legolaz was planning to bring Noel to the second prince. But Noel was ready to reject him. After all, if the second prince wanted to meet him, he should have done so previously.
If Legolaz forced him in any case, it would just make it look like the second prince was looking down on Noel. This wasn't something they should do to someone as talented as Noel.
After a few seconds, Legolaz finally said, "You should get in line. We'll be leaving in thirty minutes. There will be a lot of demons around the ruin, so I hope that you can help fight them."
"Of course. As long as I'm participating in this expedition, I'll do my best to ensure the success of the expedition." Noel assured him without telling him that the reason for his participation was the same as their goal. Though, Noel knew more about the item. If he could get it before them, it would be great. It wasn't like they could use it to form a second oasis.
"Alright then." Legolaz nodded and walked away.
Noel looked at Legolaz's back for a moment before his eyes took a glimpse of the second prince's again. It seemed Legolaz had trained him a lot.
He appeared to be in his mid twenties, and his strength had reached Spirit Master. He could be considered extremely talented.
Unfortunately, he couldn't be compared to Anna or him.
Since he didn't want that much attention in the beginning, Noel moved to a farther spot from the second prince.
After another thirty minutes, Legolaz finally stepped forward and shouted, "Welcome, everyone! I don't know if you know me or not, but I shall introduce myself. I am the Great Protector Legolaz. I will be leading the expedition this time."
"Oh, it's Legolaz."
"I heard an important person would lead us this time, but to think it would be a Great Protector."
"Right? I thought it would only be an Elite Protector. We're lucky."
Noel couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows. It seemed that Legolaz didn't mention anything about the second prince.
This meant there was another complicated situation that forced him to do so. In any case, his goal was clear.
Legolaz explained, "There are numerous demons around the ruin. I want all of you to stay sharp because there is a chance for a Superior Demon to lead them. One wrong mistake can kill you. If you understand then…"
Legolaz pointed his sword forward as he shouted, "March forth!"
It was quite surprising that Legolaz ended it without raising the people's morale. Normally, a commander had to raise their soldiers' morale so that the soldiers could unleash their full strength if not more.
Yet, Legolaz scared them with the possibility of dying.
However, Noel noticed that the people's faces became tense. Instead of being energetic, they seemed to be fearful and careful. This must be Legolaz's aim, he thought.
When they were fearful, they would scan the entire area with their Spiritual Energy so that they didn't die. Considering there were a lot of demons hiding underneath the sand, survival was probably the factor he was most concerned about.
Because he might not have any chance to change his medal later, Noel decided to throw away all the combat medals. Instead, he utilized the Demon Hunter Medal and Affection Medal. He didn't know if other people had bad intentions for him or not. The Demon Hunter Medal also allowed him to find out about a demon's ambush.
All the people began to march toward the ruin. Noel examined that thirty percent of them had Spiritual Energy while the rest were just normal people. They mostly became the ones carrying all the luggage and serving the fighters.
Still, the formation was too loose and disarray. If they were attacked like this, there was a chance that people would just run away in all directions, causing chaos everywhere.
But Noel didn't say anything as this might be how the people in this kingdom could survive.
After three hours of marching, they finally stopped.
Legolaz pointed forward and shouted, "Get ready. We're about to reach the ruin."
They had just climbed a sand hill, so they got a pretty clear vision of their surroundings.
Noel could see a small structure in the middle of the desert approximately one kilometer away from here. It was too small, making them think there would be a huge facility underground.
The ruin seemed to be something that the previous civilization left behind.
Noel also noticed another thing.
Although there was rarely a breeze, when a weak one appeared and brushed his skin, Noel couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows, noticing the drop in temperature.
"I see…" Noel finally saw the reason why Ardagan wanted to acquire this item. To think the item was so strong to affect an area one kilometer away from it.
'Is this item enough to evolve Heisk, Ardagan?'
[No. But Heisk should be pretty close to becoming a Humanoid Rank Spirit.]
Noel was a bit disappointed, but he understood that evolving a spirit was easier said than done. At the very least, Heisk would be close to evolution. He just had to procure another item to evolve her.
Legolaz shouted, "We shall advance forward. Be careful. There will be a lot of demons emerging from the sand."
After his warning, the group began to march again. They were planning to eliminate all the demons first before getting some rest and entering the ruin.
The closer they were, the more Noel squinted his eyes. He could feel a lot of demons from his Demon Hunter Medal, but all of them were underground.
Legolaz should have sensed them, yet he hadn't stopped the march. It would be hard if they got surrounded by all these demons.
Before long, Noel noticed a sudden movement coming from underground.
"Here they come!" Legolaz finally shouted, alarming the others.
However, it was too late.
A giant mouth suddenly emerged from the sand and swallowed a single human.
"Ah—!" The human who got swallowed could only remain still as if he was thinking that he had bad luck.
But this time, Noel got shocked by the people. They didn't seem to care about the person that got swallowed earlier.
They, in fact, ignored him and pulled out their weapons, stabbing the demon's jaws.
"!!!" Noel gasped. "Did they just use the normal person as bait?"
After that movement, he realized that if it was someone who had Spiritual Energy, they should have been able to escape from the enemy. In other words, the reason why they brought a lot of people was because they wanted to use them as bait to decrease the casualty the fighters would have.
"Aaaahhhh!"
"Aaaahhhh!"
Two people suddenly screamed as they got dragged into the sand. Before they could be buried completely, a few people released their Spiritual Energy and struck the sand, causing the burst of energy to kick up the sand and expose the demon underneath it.
After that, several other fighters charged at the demon and killed it. The other demon had a similar experience, but he was targeted by a Spirit Master, so his head was blown away in an instant.
"Aaaahhhh!" One of the two people that got caught earlier was screaming in pain. He was holding his thigh while watching his leg, which turned out to be missing.
"…" Noel, for the first time, experienced a cultural shock.
