System vs Rebirth

"Ha… Ha…" Noel panted a few times, looking at the numerous corpses before him. "This is quite hard."

"Yeah. We have killed close to two thousand demons by ourselves. There are even three Superior Demons to boot." Anna nodded with a serious expression. She, too, didn't have a lot of spiritual energy left.

Noel couldn't help but look down as if something had come into his mind.

Meanwhile, Anna focused her instinct on sensing the surrounding area to ensure that no demons could launch a sneak attack. Fortunately, all those demons seemed to have died as her instinct didn't pick up any kinds of danger anymore.

Anna noticed that Noel was still in deep thought. "Is there something wrong?"

Noel waved his hand first, asking her to give him some time as if it were something important. Curious, Anna walked to him and just stood in silence.

After a few minutes, Noel asked, "Don't you find it strange?"

"What? Strange what?" Anna tilted her head in confusion.

"The number of Superior Demons in this place."

"Three Superior Demons? I don't think it's weird, considering this place is an ancient ruin. And looking at the size, it's kind of understandable to have three Superior Demons. In fact, it won't be weird if there is one more Superior Demon."

While her words held some truth, Noel's focus wasn't there. Instead, he corrected his question. "The number itself is not weird, but the location is. Don't you remember that the Supreme Devil Organization brought a lot of Superior Demons and numerous lower level demons?"

"Hmm?" Anna furrowed her eyebrows for a moment before noticing what he was trying to say. "Are you saying that someone in the Supreme Devil Organization was sabotaging their own invasion?"

Noel nodded with a serious expression. "If you think about it, the Supreme Devil Organization should have gone to this place. In fact, there weren't many demons on the path we crossed to reach this place."

"Now that I think about it, that's true." Anna raised two fingers. "First of all, if they wanted it, there should be a lot more Superior Demons. In fact, you had predicted that there would be an Ancient Demon, right?"

"Yes. In fact, my original plan was that they would come with a lot more Superior Demons, and everyone had to take down at least two Superior Demons. And we would be focusing a lot more on the defense on the wall instead of chasing them out of the city." Noel confirmed it.

"If there was an Ancient Demon, we would have the justification to ask for Commander Oscar while Dimitri and I would stall it with our True Spirit Body." Anna agreed with him.

"Yes. And the fact that the size of the enemies was much lower…" Noel frowned.

"I don't know. Maybe they didn't want to cause trouble to the Greenwood Kingdom? If they brought such a demon, Damian would inform the Greenwood Kingdom. Instead of Commander Oscar, the first one that would appear was the Spirit Transcendence from the Greenwood Kingdom."

be a possibility, but… it didn't justify the number of Superior Demons. They could simply come here and get

As Noel said, the situation would become vastly different if they just brought these

who would do such

had known prior to this. One of them had died in the Atracaeca Kingdom, so it

two had died in your hands as well. We didn't know much about

In that case, there was Qiel. She had died according to the mission, so

did it? Something like the Supreme Devil Organization had realized her betrayal and killed her?" Anna asked,

know for sure. How about

you think someone as strong as him would betray the organization? If he betrayed the organization, he could easily kill

his forehead, trying to get an idea. "I

How could she have the time

All we know is that there might be a traitor in

In fact, I'm suspecting Laufey. After all, he was once a part of

could you explain the fact that he tried to kill me many times and had taken the secret of the Ardagan family with him and gave it to the

shook her head helplessly. "It

have gotten the missions to eradicate the demons, the two new Devil Saints, and even Qiel. But I haven't received any mission related to

*Thud!*

heart sank as he couldn't help but gasp. "What? Are

He was the traitor?" Anna turned

Noel waved his hand. "But if that's

of the people in the Supreme Devil Organization. I mean, it's pretty clear that the organization has seen the 'Ardagan' name attached to Laufey." Anna fell silent, remembering what Laufey said to her back then.

a minute. Noel…" Anna tried to recount everything that Laufey said

dropped his jaw

"That's his words."

then it just confirms my suspicion.

father, huh?" Anna never thought that the situation would turn out

If it's him, there's a

is getting

now, we can focus on the hunt, I guess? It's not like we will be able to get an answer right away. Even if we do, there's nothing we can do right now." Noel crossed his arms, feeling a bit frustrated. He didn't know how complicated the real situation

we'll explore this ancient ruin and prepare

"Agreed."

arm with a playful smile as if she were planning to drag him away if he was going

entered this giant ancient ruin. They had to look around for the entrance, which took a bit too long because

on how to explore the