System vs Rebirth

"We will split up." Laufey had to make a hard decision. If he chose incorrectly, they would suffer a huge loss. Although it was true that the Demon Relief Squad would have a hard time killing even a single person in their group, it would be a different case if Dimitri had made his move personally.

At the same time, he couldn't waste too much time because the other party would be even further. Since the path had split, if they had gone for too long, it would be impossible to find out about the other party's condition if they were to be attacked.

"Hailfa, Gargan, Fil. You three are to go left and head to Hansville City. If there is no ambush within twelve hours, you are to go back and head in our direction. If there is an ambush, you are to retreat as long as the enemy is a Spirit Grandmaster. Do whatever it takes to make me notice and survive." Laufey gave his order with a strict tone.

Hailfa was surprised that Laufey called her by her name. He never did it during the punishment, so it showed how grave their current situation was. It seemed they had underestimated Noel Ardagan.

"Understood. But, Sir… on the right path to Hemerville City, there is a small area filled with woods. There is a high chance that they will be using it to hide." Hailfa reminded Laufey as a reliable subordinate.

Laufey nodded. "Let's go."

They agreed with the current plan and immediately headed to their respective path at their fastest speed. The Demon Relief Squad shouldn't have gone too far after all.

Of course, the pair had to remain in this junction to block whoever was coming to help them.

Laufey clicked his tongue and chased after Noel alone. Even if Dimitri attacked him, he wouldn't be able to defeat him. So, this was the best plan at the current moment.

It didn't take too long for him to reach the small area Hailfa was talking about. The woods weren't that thick, but if they went deep enough, it was enough to provide some cover.

Laufey was carefully moving around the trees, finding any traces of them while expecting an ambush.

"…" Laufey looked around, making sure to not leave a single gap. He couldn't help but think, 'Using the woods and splitting paths to their advantage… This kind of strategy truly reminds me of Luke. No matter how hard I tried to outsmart him, he would always outsmart my outsmarting as if he knew my thoughts.'

'Noel might not be a bright guy to inherit the house, but he is surely Luke's son.' Laufey let out a long sigh. At first, Laufey thought that Noel could be easily killed sooner or later. In fact, he intended to wait for Luke to pass on his seat to Noel.'

This way, when Luke was gone and Dimitri wasn't with Noel, he could easily take Ardagan with him.

And when Noel arrived at the Demon Banner Army, he immediately set up a lot of surveillance to confirm the content of the book he stole from the Ardagan Family.

Unfortunately, Noel hadn't shown anything that reflected the book's content. He didn't show the signature fire element.

That was why he was still skeptical about taking the sword since the record might be a lie, and his existence would be exposed if he made a move.

But there was something else that piqued his interest. It was Noel's growth. He thought this was Noel's true talent, the talent that he hadn't polished the whole time.

He observed Noel while taking care of his tasks. But surprisingly, every time the Supreme Devil Organization clashed with the Demon Banner Army, they would always lose. When he learned that the Demon Relief Squad would always be there, he began to think that Iadre was Noel, especially with that absurd growth and similar stature.

That was why when he confirmed the element, he was sure that it was Ardagan Sword. There were a lot of legends about the sword, so he would believe all kinds of mystical things.

However, when he directly clashed with Noel this time did he finally understand. Noel had a brain like Luke and an unparalleled talent, if he wasn't removed immediately, he would surely become an obstacle to the organization sooner or later.

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, it seemed that he had caught Noel's trail.

There was a trace in the middle of the woods. The leaves were crushed and the ground was slightly tilted downward.

Judging from the trace, there seemed to be a few people who had been here a moment ago. And with the slight curve on one of them, it was clear that the wheel had pressed the soil.

"Got them." Laufey smirked. He knew that they were here not long ago.

Without hesitation, he began to look around, trying to find other trails that would lead him to them.

It seemed that Jonathan was quite exhausted since there were a few more trails in a certain direction. This type of trace truly put a smile on his face. Laufey followed it without hesitation and continued moving in that direction. He believed that the enemies would appear sooner or later.

Unbeknownst to him, while he was searching for Noel's existence, his group was ambushed by the Demon Relief Squad.

…

In another path, Gargan was holding his glaive with only his right hand because his left hand was severed. He glared at the people that surrounded him to show his determination to fight.

Fil stood behind Gargan. In fact, he was the one who managed to save Gargan from the ambush.

Meanwhile, Hailfa was slick like a snake. She escaped the ambush skillfully and became the first one to notice the situation.

There was a Spirit Grandmaster aside from Paul. They didn't know about this person, so they considered him as the 'death' element that Laufey talked about. Meanwhile, there was actually one person missing from this group. He was none other than Zion.

It seemed that they had fallen into their traps.