"What happened? For you to suddenly change our objective."
Noel looked around and said, "I'll explain it later. They will probably have to know as well."
"So, we will let them go?"
"Yeah. It looks like they're moving toward a village. It's going to be troublesome, but the Supreme Devil Organization will be known from now on. Since we will kill all the demons here, even if they pick up demons along the way, we can shift the blame to them."
"Well, if you let them go with all the demons from this place, they will make it look like it is a demon attack. And it's your failure as the lord to protect your people. But with them having no more demons, the Supreme Devil Organization will have to take the blame." Layla nodded in understanding.
"Yeah. It's most likely that they will change their approach, which is a kind of assassination."
"I see. In that case, it's time to kill these demons. Do you want to have the honor?" Layla smiled.
"Of course." Noel looked at the demons that had been isolated by Layla's barrier.
Undying Phoenix.
He shot the phoenix into the sky before it flew toward the barrier. Layla opened the top part of the barrier, allowing the phoenix to enter and explode, devouring all the demons inside.
But as expected, the fire affected the barrier. A part of it melted and some demons used that hole to escape. Unfortunately, it only saved a few demons while the others were stuck inside and died from the intense blaze.
Layla caught a lot more demons as Noel kept killing them with his fire.
While doing so, Layla couldn't help but say, "This is surprising. Your fire is an extraordinary one… Normally, no one can break through my barrier. But your fire can actually melt my barrier down. It will be troublesome if you are the one attacking me right now."
"Well, you have been dividing your barrier into a lot of smaller ones. If you concentrate on only one barrier, I doubt my fire can do much."
"I am specialized in defense. So, creating a city-sized barrier is normal. And that is still enough to stop the incoming demons." Layla shook her head.
Noel understood it. In fact, her barrier might be able to withstand Qiel's arrow with a lot more enemies. Still, the stronger the opponents, the harder it would take to maintain the barrier. So, he doubted that Layla could last as long as the time they first met.
That was just one of his thoughts. He had a lot of other things to consider, especially the demons that dug the ground.
In the end, he decided to focus on killing the demons first before discussing this matter with Anna and all the pillars in the main city.
Grandell and the soldiers had experienced something that was never taught by Howard. It was their duty to protect their lord.
They had been fighting for Noel and keeping him safe, but earlier, they almost lost Noel due to his poor condition.
Noel's action ended up planting this seed in their minds. Those who were strong would definitely overcome the helplessness and become more refined as soldiers.
The soldiers became more ferocious when killing the demons. Their performance even put the temple knights in awe as they cut down one demon after another like an army of beasts.
The temple knights also helped in killing the demons, but in total, the number of demons they killed was only half of what Grandell and the others achieved.
The paladin instantly became the main part of the subjugation. She single-handedly killed one thousand demons by herself. However, it was clear that she had exhausted a lot of her energy.
Compared to Shale, who was said to have exterminated the same number of demons, she was still a bit weaker.
Noel had killed the same number, but that was all due to his fire that spread around the battlefield as well as Layla's help in isolating a lot of demons for him to kill.
In two hours, the group ultimately killed more than three thousand demons. It was a huge achievement, but the biggest part of their success was the fact that they engaged the enemies with the walls first. It allowed them to conserve most of their stamina while thinning out the enemy numbers.
After they were done, the group returned to the destroyed camp. Obviously, the first one to show dissatisfaction was none other than Aurelia.
She was standing in front of Layla with a cold gaze behind that helmet. "Saintess…"
"!!!" Layla's body tensed up. Layla had a rather playful character despite her brilliance. On the other hand, Aurelia showed an atmosphere of strictness.
"Oh, Aurelia. Thank you for coming here." Layla made a wry smile.
"Is that all you're going to say after dragging me to this place?" Aurelia asked with a cold tone.
"Good work. Also, you're probably going to stay with me for a while as we will visit his city and stay there."
"I've got the news, but not the details. However, how many times do I need to tell you that your playfulness is causing trouble for everyone? I know that you're doing it for the benefits of the Moon Temple, but please think about the people around you."
"I know, I know."
"You are clearly not repentant of your action." Aurelia took a deep breath, trying her best to calm down. "Besides, unless you want to kill yourself, it's not like you're going to die with that ability of yours. But that's not what a lot of people are thinking. Please pay attention to your status."
"I understand, so let's just leave it at that, please?" Layla scratched the back of her head, knowing it wasn't enough to stop her.
To her surprise, Aurelia let out a long sigh as the usual sign of her stopping the argument. "I will spare you with only that for now since we're in the presence of Earl Ardagan. But I'm going to continue tonight."
"Tonight… I need to discuss a lot of things with him." Layla hurriedly made an excuse while pointing at Noel. Layla even looked at Noel. If she didn't have her blindfold, she would have shown puppy eyes that Noel couldn't resist.
On the other hand, Noel said, "She is not wrong."
Layla made a big smile as if she had been saved by Noel, only to be betrayed right after. "But I will make it brief tonight. You can have her after that."
"Thank you very much." Aurelia politely bowed to him. "Please allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Paladin Aurelia from the Moon Temple. Aurelia Leviasta. Though, I have abandoned that name after becoming a Paladin,"
"Leviasta House?"
"Indeed. I'm one of the women lucky enough to have the chance to change my fate from being a political tool to someone independent enough to choose my own fate. Just like your fiancee."
Noel nodded in understanding. Although he didn't know much about Aurelia, her fate was already sealed once she was born into a noble family. And it seemed that she chose a different path by wielding the sword.
"I am Noel Ardagan. Well, the Saintess and I have agreed that you will be accompanying her to visit my main city. So, we'll be meeting quite frequently from now on." Noel smiled while extending his hand for a handshake.
"It's an honor to have the opportunity to learn from you." Aurelia shook his hand firmly, knowing that the younger man in front of her was more talented, knowledgeable, and terrifying than her.
While they were talking, the knights had returned. The temple knights weren't as injured as Noel's soldiers, but they took quite a beating. On the other hand, Grandell and the others looked like they were about to collapse. While he didn't see any missing body parts from them, they had been covered with bandages. Grandell insisted that Noel didn't use his power to heal them until he recovered a bit from his injury.
However, there was one qualitative leap in his soldiers. The intensity of their gaze was much more apparent. In fact, all the soldiers understood that they had failed their duty and wanted to be punished. In exchange, Noel used it to bolster their morale once again.
They could finally be called the true elite knights of the Ardagan Family. They wouldn't hesitate to lay down their lives if it was for the sake of their master. In other words, they were the true sword under Noel's command.
Noel couldn't help but imagine what kind of expression Howard would have when he saw the change in his subordinates.
Even Aurelia was impressed by their change. However, there was one more important matter.
"Although this is a rude thing to ask, may I know the reason for you to stop chasing those people? The temple is not allowed to fight those people, but I think that you and your soldiers can kill those people easily," Aurelia asked.
Grandell frowned as if thinking she was a fool for not being able to see that their lord was injured. But Noel nonchalantly said, "It's impossible. It's not about my condition. Instead, did you notice that the demons became much harder to deal with after that?"
Aurelia recounted what happened earlier and admitted, "Yes. It was a bit harder to fight them earlier."
"Suppose I use us as an analogy. In that case, I want you to think this way. What if you and I fought with our swords? And then, it suddenly changes to using Grandell to stop you as I slash both of you together?"
Aurelia couldn't reply to that question. She truly witnessed such a thing in the fight. If thousands if not tens of thousands of demons used the same technique, they would suffer a massive loss even if they could win. She ended up lowering her head. "I apologize for my rude question earlier."
"It's fine. It's normal to want to kill them, but I think we've completed our original objective, which is to learn how a demon army operates. Now that the demon army has a brain that can make use of them properly, they're going to be more terrifying.
"The underground demons, the flying demons, or even the amphibians are hard enough to repel. We have to close the waterway or plan it carefully. The ground has to be fortified in one way or another. And lastly, we should have weapons to stop those flying demons. If you just think about it, there are a lot of tasks that need to be completed.
"Besides, this won't affect only our territory. Once my Ardagan Family is destroyed by the Supreme Devil Organization, the terror of the organization will spread even more.
"It will become much bigger when the dog has the strength to bite its owner's hand… The entire kingdom will be in chaos, so I will be focusing my attention on that part instead of playing too much politics." Noel glanced at Layla.
Layla couldn't say anything. On the one hand, their duty was just to kill demons and help people. On the other hand, if the demons they had to kill were an army like this, they might experience a series of failures and would lose a lot of people if they were not careful on how to approach it.
Layla understood that the Supreme Devil Organization had finally stepped up their game the moment they could control the demons and turn them into an army. They might even usurp the throne.
"I know. I don't know how much I can do right now, but I'm going to pay close attention to this matter. Do you want me to pull some connections here and there to assist you?"
"No. The Ardagan Family has yet to show its true fang. So, it's enough for the time being."
"Alright. If you need anything, just come to me. I can do a lot of things." Layla smirked.
"Yeah. You're going to talk to her first though." Noel pointed at Aurelia. Even though Layla couldn't see it, she could feel the sharp gaze from Aurelia as if telling her not to cause a lot of mess with all her weird ideas.
Layla only made a wry smile before changing the topic. "So, what are we going to do now? Chase after those people?"
"No. Let's explore the area and eliminate all the demons. If possible, I want to see if they truly make a base or not."
