"You…" The bully widened his eyes, shocked to find Noel helping him. He thought Noel was weaker than him that needed some helps, but it turned out to be the other way around. Even when he glanced at Noel's previous spot, he knew Noel had cut them down with only a graze.
However, Noel didn't care about his opinion and immediately turned around, finding Alfred getting surrounded by five roots at the same time. He seemed to have a hard time fighting against the roots.
Noel rushed to Alfred without hesitation and took the demon by surprise, cutting down two roots in rapid succession.
Their reaction was the same. Alfred never expected Noel could achieve all this.
On the contrary, Noel simply said, "Kill the demon!"
Alfred's body trembled before he recalled his confidence and goal. Without hesitation, he ran to the tree demon and let Noel take care of the roots.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't realize that Noel was using him to check the demon's capability.
The tree demon could indeed manipulate the roots to attack them. It would be extremely dangerous if it ambushed them out of nowhere. However, the roots were not the only part of the tree.
Even a human could punch, kick, and even headbutt their enemy to inflict damage. Hence, he believed the demon that had been described as scary creature would have more capability than he thought.
Just like he predicted, the branches started moving and expanding not only from the width, but also the wide.
The roots came out of the ground and began to turn the trunk around, showing a huge craved face on the trunk. The giant branches looped around, surrounding Alfred from all directions.
"Tsk." Alfred clicked his tongue and jumped to the side, trying to avoid the encirclement before moving to the tree side.
When he was about to strike the tree with his sword, the leaves fell on top of him.
Because he had seen roots and branches, Alfred stopped in his track and went to the other side, avoiding the leaves that turned out to be just a distraction.
The moment he reached the other side, the demon sent its branches to strike Alfred. Although he blocked it with his sword, the demon was stronger than him and eventually pushed him back.
However, the demon had one miscalculation. It was Noel.
After cutting down the roots, Noel immediately headed to the tree, planning to chop it with a single strike while its attention remained on Alfred.
"!!!" Alfred was surprised that Noel always appeared to handle the situation.
His sword already reached the trunk, trying to cut it down. But surprisingly, the sword stopped in the middle.
"What?!" Noel widened his eyes. He had used the right technique, but he still failed to chop it down.
It turned out the demon had a stronger body than a rock.
'No. That small ball must be the demon and the tree is just its host… Still, it doesn't change the fact that the tree becomes even sturdier. No wonder the demon is scary.'
While he was thinking, the tree spun its body, especially its root to smack Noel.
"Watch out!" Alfred shouted.
Noel could tell the movement and immediately pull his sword, but… the result wasn't like what he envisioned.
"Huh?! It's stuck." Noel couldn't pull his sword. When his vision moved slightly to the right, he saw the trunk started regenerating.
"Stop!" Alfred roared as he struck the tree, albeit he couldn't do as much damage as Noel. Even his sword only went through several centimeter, not even half of Noel's reach. "Kh. Hurry up and pull that sword. If you don't pull your sword right now, you won't be able to pull it out later!"
"I'm trying!" Noel gritted his teeth, pulling it as hard as he could. Unfortunately, it was useless.
"Tsk. I don't like owing someone anything." The bully suddenly reached them and swung both of his swords, striking Noel's sword toward the opening.
This force was all Noel needed to break free from the restraint, allowing him to pull out his sword.
However, due to the injury he sustained, the bully dropped to the ground while clutching his arm that was injured earlier. He overstrained his muscle and widened his injury from that strike alone.
"Gh." As if getting angry at the man who ruined everything, the tree aimed at his life next.
However, Noel once again struck the tree at the same spot, cutting the other half of the trunk with all his strength.
"Haaaa!" Noel roared, mustering every ounce of his strength.
The sword had a hard time slicing the trunk, but with Noel not thinking about conserving his stamina anymore, the sword ultimately cut the rest of the trunk.
Due to the diagonal cut, the trunk slid down and fell to the ground.
"Ha…" Noel panted a few times before looking at the two who also felt relieved that the demon was dying.
Unfortunately for them, they still didn't know the demon enough. The branches started moving again and rushed to the bully.
"!!!" The bully widened his eyes as he thought he was going to die, but Alfred already appeared in front of him, stopping the branches with his sword.
He didn't forget to shout at Noel, "Go to that face! The small creature earlier must be controlling the tree from there. The head!"
"!!!" Noel recognized his goal and immediately rushed forth, finding the tree craved face.
Without hesitation, he stabbed the area on top of the eyes, since it should be considered the forehead in human's anatomy.
Although he didn't know the exact position, he just hoped that was the case since their group was in a bad situation after this fight alone. They didn't want to make it worse.
When he was piercing the tree, he suddenly felt a sudden change in texture as he ultimately pierced through the trunk.
The branches stopped for a moment before falling to the ground, signaling the end of the battle.
Noel dropped to his knees while secretly touching Ardagan's mark to open the system. He had tested it in the past week and knew that no one could see the system other than him. He opened the mission and confirmed that he managed to kill the demon.
Medal: Military Service Merit
Requirement: Kill 10 Demons (1/10)
Reward: Military Service Medal and 3 Honor Points