shuhaige
Chapter 18 Trust?
"I spotted another demon!" Lezlev shouted. After enough rest, they started hunting for another demon and soon found it not long after.
This time, they had strategy and understanding to each other. So, they wanted to do better than the previous hunt.
The demon Lezlev found turned out to be a beast. It was standing on four feet and its fur looked like spikes with both sharpness and hardness. It had a sharp claws and long fangs that could shred them apart.
Its height reached Lezlev's chest and its length was twice of its height. Although it was smaller than the tree, a demon beast like this would be even more troublesome.
As soon as it heard Lezlev's shout, the demon leaped forth, pouncing on him.
Luckily, Alfred was close to Lezlev and immediately appeared between them, striking his sword to the demon's claws.
"Go!" Alfred shouted.
It was the signal for Noel. Taking the advantage of him stopping the demon, Noel looped around them and hit the demon's body.
*Clang!*
A clicking noise resounded in the area as Ardagan actually failed to cut the demon's body.
"It's not strong enough?" Noel widened his eyes.
"Haaa!" Lezlev also came to Noel and struck Ardagan, giving an additional force to it. However, the spikes had no sign of breaking. Only the body slightly tilted to the left.
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In the instant he pushed Alfred, the latter moved for several meters.
"What strength…" Alfred gritted his teeth and hurriedly charged forward, trying to grab the demon's attention again.
But the advantage of being a demon beast became apparent as the demon spun its body and struck both Noel and Lezlev with its paws.
"!!!" The duo was shocked because they almost lost their swords from the strike alone, showing the raw strength the demon had. If not because they gripped it firmly, the swords would have flown away.
Even though they managed to hold their swords, their bodies were pushed back for several meters as well.
"It is agile, quick, and strong. The demon is far different than the demon tree we fought earlier." Noel squinted his eyes, wondering how to kill this kind of enemy.
"You seem to be smarter than any of us here in dealing with the demon… I'm going to help Alfred to buy you time. Come up with something," said Lezlev as he moved toward the demon.
Although they had some understanding from the previous talk, it was still surprising how much a person could trust you after you had a conflict with them.
Even so, Noel couldn't care less about it in this situation.
'A spike covering the whole body, the fang that can protect the front, the sharp claws to attack, and the agile body that can move to a desired position.' Noel squinted his eyes, finding a way to fight this monster.
While Noel was coming up with a strategy to take down the demon, Alfred struck the monster with his sword but ended up getting blown away by their difference in strength.
"This demon is too strong." Alfred gritted his teeth. "It's far stronger than the demon tree."
"Should we run away then?" Lezlev asked while cutting the demon from the side, only to be stopped by its spikes.
"It's impossible to run. Can't you see that it's faster than us? If we don't kill it, we won't be able to escape from this place alive," Alfred replied. Although he had expected the demon to be this strong, he never thought it would be this strong.
Lezlev could only leave everything to his fate and continue swinging his sword. Alfred said the truth. Even if they tried to run, the demon would chase after them. So, it was impossible to run.
While they were keeping the demon at bay, Noel furrowed his eyebrows, staring at the demon.
"The Demon Banner Army required us to kill ten demons. If all ten demons were similar to the demon tree we defeated earlier, it wouldn't be that hard to achieve it before the sunset.
"Yet, the Demon Banner Army gave three days for the time limit… Why?" Noel muttered inwardly before coming to a realization. "Don't tell me… They know that we're going to face trouble like this… It's a fair point because we've trained only for a week before hunting a demon. It's not enough training.
"In that case, their aim is something else. It's true that we need to kill the demons, but killing a single demon will take us most of our stamina and time… That's why the time limit is three days. Then, how do we kill a demon far stronger than us?" Noel's mind started to recall all the things they taught in the classes other than the physical stuff.
At that time, Shale said, "The demon has a far superior physical ability than us and they're also versatile. That's why it's hard for a human to kill a demon by themselves. However, why do you think we're still standing here instead of getting killed by the demon?
"Because we are smarter than them. Our brain can use everything around us as a weapon to kill the demon. Whether it's a trap, combining our power, or anything, we will make sure we have enough advantage to kill the demon. This is our way to kill the demons!"
Noel suddenly got an inspiration. "That's right. Combining our power is not enough right now, in that case, I should create an advantageous position with something… And what's that…"
After a minute, Noel shouted, "Alfred, Lezlev! Do you trust me?"
Alfred looked at Noel in confusion while Lezlev replied, "Do you have a way to kill this demon?"
"I do, but I need preparation! If you can hold for ten… no, five minutes… I will be able to kill the demon."
"Then do it!" Alfred shouted.
"Fighting against a powerful opponent like this will drain our stamina and it's also extremely dangerous. Five minutes, huh…" Lezlev ultimately nodded his head.
As soon as he got their approval, Noel ran away, stunning both Lezlev and Alfred.
"Is he running away?"