System vs Rebirth

Seeing the hawk demon had crashed to the ground, Noel also fell down, following the demon. He was planning to suppress this demon on the ground since this was the only way to defeat it before other demons came.

With a glance, he could also see that Jasmine was waking up the villagers by banging their doors. One by one came out to see what was going on and immediately followed her when they saw him fighting the demon.

They were scared because an Advanced Level Demon was extremely dangerous. It could destroy their villages in an instant. That was why Noel was here to stop it.

Noel stood between the hawk demon and the village, maintaining this position.

Seeing the hawk demon was about to flap its wings again, Noel leaped forth and slashed downwards.

The hawk demon wasn't planning to go down either. It spread its wings, taking advantage of its tough skin to push Noel's blade.

However, Noel noticed the hawk's strength. Just like any other demons, the hawk possessed strengths and weaknesses.

'As expected, its strength lies on its nimbleness and tough skin. However, the hawk doesn't possess enough power to push me away. In other words, I should take advantage of this difference in strength.'

Noel examined the eagle for a moment while pinning it on the ground with his sword.

The hawk demon was glaring at Noel as if ordering him to let him go. Noel couldn't kill it easily due to the tough skin, but it didn't change the fact he could somehow suppress him.

Looking at Noel's strength, even Jasmine, who was in the middle of evacuating the people, was impressed. She was stunned for a moment and asked out loud, "Noel, are you done?"

The hawk demon's eyes flashed before it flapped its wings, creating a powerful gale that knocked Noel back.

"The hawk is changing its target?" Noel found the hawk trying to fly to Jasmine. Even though Jasmine didn't come closer, her voice was truly loud enough for the hawk to recognize her.

It might be the hawk's instinct to prey on something weaker first, so it changed its target in an instant.

"No, you don't!" Noel formed Chain Bind Rune and released two chains.

The hawk tried to outrun it, but he only managed to avoid one while the other chain managed to catch his right foot.

The hawk demon stopped in the air. He struggled to escape but to no avail.

Taking advantage of this situation, Noel leaped to the eagle and pinned it to the ground as well.

He shouted to Jasmine. "The demons can recognize you as an easier prey, so make sure you don't talk too loud. Hurry up and hide!"

Jasmine was about to apologize but she heard what Noel said earlier. If she apologized too loud, the demon would recognize her again. If she didn't want to say that out loud, she had to go closer to Noel, which was also a fatal mistake.

Even Noel understood that this was the risk of his job. After all, he couldn't expect normal people to know that much detail from the demons.

Luckily, Jasmine was a smart woman. She recognized her mistake and didn't repeat it.

She wanted to apologize but that could wait until the threat was solved. Hence, she only bowed to him as an apology and hurriedly returned to help the others.

He took a glance at Jasmine and the people, recognizing that she had done a good work. In just a few minutes, Jasmine seemed to be able to gather at least half the villagers. As long as he could keep this up for another few minutes, she should be able to gather all villagers in one building, making it easier to protect them.

Now that the hawk was pinned on the ground again, Noel changed his tactic. He couldn't kill the demon with his Ignition Sword, so he could change his strategy.

A snowflake appeared above them as Noel leaped back, allowing the snowflake to hit the hawk.

"!!!" The demon was surprised and hurriedly changed its direction. Even though his foot was chained by Noel, it could still move to the side to avoid this dangerous ability.

Still, due to the unexpected use of ice ability, the hawk demon was a bit too late. The ice crystal exploded, freezing anything in a few meters radius.

The hawk managed to get away from it, but the ice managed to freeze half of its right wing.

As an Advanced Level Demon, it obviously had some intelligence. It knew that a human could only possess one element. Yet, Noel actually used two elements.

That was why it was shocked. The demon thought Noel could only release fire that wouldn't harm him.

Noel was actually planning to kill him from the inside by freezing his organs.

However, the hawk realized it was wrong once again when he saw three giant blades above him.

*Cry!*

The hawk let out a cry as if it was scared and started moving to the center of the chain to avoid those swords.

This was Noel's real plan. He wanted to freeze the hawk to stop its movement for a second before using his Sword Fall to crush it.

However, the Sword Fall's extraordinary strength actually worked in the demon's favor. It used its talon to kick the chain, causing the giant sword to fall on the chains, crushing it.

"What?" Noel widened his eyes in shock. This was the first time Noel fought a demon that took advantage of his ability to their favor. It also showed that the demon's intelligence was far above the demons he'd fought so far.

Noel gritted his teeth, trying to stop the hawk demon from leaving the ground.

The hawk didn't plan to get trapped with the same technique twice, so instead of flying, the hawk actually caught Noel's blade by taking advantage of its tough skin.

After that, it kicked Noel in the stomach, knocking him back.

"Kh." Noel endured the pain while looking at the hawk. "What are you? A hawk that knows a Martial Art?"

However, the danger was elevated to a whole new level when a series of roar suddenly shook the mountain.

*Roar!*

*Roar!*

*Roar!*