The approaching Spirit Bishops and Inspectors raised their weapons while releasing their Spiritual Energy, ready to encircle him.
Qiel also aimed her bow, ready to shoot another arrow.
Seeing the situation, Noel could only run forward, trying to get as close as possible to the border.
Qiel released another arrow, but this time, instead of Noel, her target was the ground in front of Noel.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Surprisingly, there were a few other explosions that occurred right after that. Noel couldn't see what happened because the explosion formed a cloud of dust that engulfed him.
"Tsk." Noel gritted his teeth. The first explosion had covered his vision, so he didn't know if the second and the other explosions after the first one were created by Qiel's arrows or not.
Additionally, Noel could only expect the location where Qiel would shoot him, not the actual arrow itself. Hence, there was a chance that Qiel would take advantage of this cloud of dust to bombard him.
To his surprise, a few shadows appeared in his vision, carrying their blades. He immediately thought of them as the Devil Bishops and Inspectors.
Without hesitation, Noel waved his sword horizontally as the Spiritual Energy created a circle that continued to expand.
Circular Sword Strike.
The shadows seemed to be blocking the attack with their weapons. And as one would expect from multiple Spirit Masters and Spirit Grandmasters, they broke Noel's attack apart in just a second.
With that attack, Noel had just given away his position as well.
With only a span of two seconds, another blast occurred not far from him.
"!!!" Noel widened his eyes in shock. He never stopped moving, so the fact that there was an explosion in front of him meant Qiel could pinpoint his location and generate another cloud of dust in front, trapping him in an endless cloud of dust.
Still, Noel had one more trump card that allowed him to assess the situation around him. He said inwardly, 'Ardagan. Change the medal to Demon Hunter Medal and Affection Medal.'
The Demon Hunter Medal was tasked to avoid any demons approaching him. Although the Supreme Devil Organization hadn't shown it this whole time, he still remembered the fact that the organization could control demons. Even if the Plant Lord had been eliminated, they should still have the method to replicate the item to control the demons.
As for the Affection Medal, it would allow him to recognize all the people inside the cloud.
'There are a total of twelve people…' Noel muttered the number of Devil Bishops and Inspectors that came after him. But the moment he saw the information notifications, there were thirteen of them, one overlapping with another.
There were two possibilities for the thirteenth person. The first one would be the one that had been waiting in the city, giving them the signal and other miscellaneous things. And the second one would be Qiel.
Although it was easy to know Qiel was the one infiltrating the cloud, it was hard to pinpoint her location due to the overlapping notifications.
In that split second, Noel chose to utilize the only advantage he had. He was alone, and that was enough.
Without hesitation, Noel waved his hand, using the last ability he got from Heisk.
Eternal Frozen.
As soon as Noel placed his hand on the ground, the Spiritual Energy burst out of his hand, freezing everything, including the sand particles.
"!!!" Everyone was completely shocked because this was an ability that a normal Spirit Master wouldn't have. From the outside, it looked like the entire cloud of dust turned white because it was covered in ice. But from the people who were inside, they could see the small ice particles flashing before their eyes. The ice particles might be small, but each of them carried a tremendous amount of cold energy.
When their skin touched the ice particles, the cold ran through their bodies, causing them to shiver. And it was even worse for those who didn't cover their mouth and nose. The ice particles went inside their bodies and burst out.
"Gah!" A few people suddenly fell down, coughing loudly. They could feel their inner body was being frozen completely.
However, Qiel displayed her superiority by controlling her Spiritual Energy perfectly to the point where she created a thin layer of barrier in the direction where she was going, catching all the ice particles.
She passed through without hesitation and reached Noel.
"!!!" Noel clicked his tongue. Even if his strength and speed were already at the level of a Spirit Grandmaster, Qiel's physical abilities far surpassed him.
He tried to swing his blade, stopping Qiel. But the latter skillfully jumped into the air and grabbed the back of his collar, throwing him into the air.
"Kh." Noel could see the frozen dust. At the same time, he knew that Qiel would shoot him from the ground.
Without hesitation, Noel formed Ice Mirror and stacked them to stop just a single bullet from Qiel.
But that wasn't all. Noel still had one advantage that Qiel knew nothing about.
When the arrow was released, the fluctuation of energy burst out, blowing the dust away and revealing Qiel's position.
The arrow hit the Ice Mirrors, piercing through all of them.
Noel took advantage of the little time the Ice Mirrors gave him by slowing down the arrow to activate his Enhance Forward Rune in his body. Unlike the normal rune that required a lot of time to create from scratch, the Rune Body only needed Spiritual Energy to activate.
As a result, the Enhance Forward Rune immediately launched him toward the border, using the momentum he got from Qiel's throw to create a parabolic movement.
"What?!" Qiel widened her eyes in shock, never expecting that Noel could do something like that. It wasn't a pure control over his Spiritual Energy nor was it a Spirit Ability. She wasn't aware it was a rune either, making her think this was another secret that the Ardagan Family possessed, and they had to get it.
Although the shock gave Noel an opportunity to widen their distance, Qiel managed to recover and aim at him again.
Surprisingly, the person who had been watching them the whole time had decided to intervene.
A shadow rose from the side, alerting Noel and Qiel.
Noel activated his Reduce Impact Rune as well as Rune Blast. The Rune Blast knocked the guy, but the latter also managed to punch him toward the ground. The Reduce Impact Rune decreased the force he received from the punch and the fall.
It turned out the person Qiel had stationed in the city was another Spirit Grandmaster.
"I'm sorry i I did something unnecessary, Madam Qiel." The person apologized while recovering from the Rune Blast on the ground.
"No. You've made the correct decision." Qiel had judged that no matter how smart the kid was, they would be no match for her. In other words, Tristan would have left the city if he had been inside it this whole time. If he waited for Noel's signal, then it would be easier to track him down.
Hence, Qiel deemed that Tristan was not within the town, thus allowing them to focus on Noel. It was true that they had agreed to capture Tristan, but the fact that he wasn't here had annulled the agreement.
Noel gritted his teeth. Behind him was the border, but he still needed to run for another two kilometers. On his right was the Spirit Grandmaster, who ambushed him while in front of him stood Qiel with her bow. A few Spirit Grandmasters and Masters seemed to survive the Eternal Frozen as well and blocked his left.
He only had one way to go, but it would mean his movement would be predictable, especially for Qiel.
Still, he had to go.
Noel didn't turn around. Instead, he jumped slightly into the air and propelled himself with the Enhance Forward Rune.
"After him! Careful, he has weird abilities!" Qiel shouted while releasing a shot.
Noel used the Snow Shield, Ice Mirror, and Energy Dispersing Rune to block Qiel's arrow. After that, he sent forth the Undying Phoenix to the Spirit Grandmaster on the right.
The people from the left approached him since this was the most useful way to stop Noel on his track, especially with the fact that Noel could propel himself backward at that speed.
Noel used his Rune Body again, but this time, he activated the Energy Gathering Rune. He gathered a huge amount of energy on his left before sending a little Undying Fire to set it ablaze.
"!!!" The sudden burst of flame startled and even scared them a bit, fully knowing how intense Noel's flame was. That burst of flame served as a wall that stopped them for a few seconds.
Seeing this situation, Qiel released another arrow.
Noel finally used his Phoenix Wings to launch himself into the air and use the Enhance Forward Rune to carry him.
He was using both elements and all his runes to the maximum in order to escape from Qiel.
But at the same time, the battlefield had undergone another change as the person they thought wasn't here had revealed themselves.
Their vision had been blocked by the city building before, but when the two figures reached a certain distance, their shadows appeared in the corner of the people's eyes.
Yes, they were Tristan and Sandra. There was no more disguise or waiting. They were running without even looking back, fully knowing that if they reduced their speed even just a little, everything would be in vain.
And their appearance was the thing that Noel had been waiting for because he could see the shock in their eyes. He utilized that little shock to grow his distance even more while situating himself between the two kids and the organization. The second round had just started.
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