Chapter 23: Mutual Destruction

"Hahaha!" Noel laughed in the middle of the forest. Of course, he wasn't insane.

There was a demon in front of him. The demon had four feet, but half the size of the demon beast he first fought.

That laugh was simply to grab this demon's attention. Unlike the previous demon beast, this demon didn't have an extraordinary fur that could repel his attack, so Noel tried to take advantage of this situation first to see whether he could kill the demon without using a trap or not.

The moment the demon pounced on him, Noel took a step back, trying to match his movement so that the demon's movement would become a bit slower in his eyes.

After that, he raised his sword, pointing it at the demon so that it would be impaled by its own momentum.

Surprisingly, this demon waved its claws to the side, causing a small gale in the air. That slight push allowed the demon to push its body a little bit, resulting in the demon barely avoiding the sword.

'What? It can do that? The demon is too smart or it might be their instinct?' Noel gritted his teeth. Although he could graze the demon's body, it was too shallow to even do anything.

Even the blood dripping from its stomach wasn't that much, so it would be a long time before the demon's movement started to become sluggish.

'Even though the demon could avoid it, it's clear that humans are still smarter than demons. I should use everything as my weapon to defeat this demon.' Noel thought, assuring himself that he could win this battle. At the very least, fighting this demon seemed to be easier than the demon tree they first encountered.

Without any thought about using the traps, Noel kicked the demon that almost landed on the ground.

However, he felt a sharp pain coming from his foot.

"Argh!" Noel screamed in pain as he lowered his vision, finding the demon biting his teeth. He hurriedly thrust his sword to the demon that was still stuck on his foot, only to find it jump away.

Noel gritted his teeth as the pain was unbearable. For someone who never fought on the battlefield, there were tears formed on the corner of his eyes.

Still, he managed to hold on and jump back with his other foot to regain some distance.

The two were glaring at each other as they prepared to make a move.

At the same time, there was a thought running in Noel's mind. 'I see. Demons might have different traits from each other. The Demon Tree had good versatility, the demon beast earlier had strength and defensive ability while this one has reflex and speed. It's truly hard to discern all the demon's traits.'

Noel tried to feel his left foot and found out that every step was heavy and painful.

With this injury, the demon hurriedly charged toward him, trying to finish him off.

Because it was impossible for Noel to jump back to match the demon's movement, Noel couldn't follow the demon's speed this time.

The latter took this opportunity to run quicker, arriving in front of Noel in just two seconds. Noel waved his sword, but the latter ducked down before jumping straight at Noel's neck.

Noel hurriedly tilted his head to the side, barely avoiding the sharp teeth of that demon. After that, he dragged his left foot to turn around, making sure the demon didn't escape his eyes.

The demon turned around and attacked Noel again without mercy.

'I can't jump but…' Noel thought. There was one desperate attempt to recreate his previous movement. Instead of jumping, he was throwing himself backward even if it meant he fell on his butt.

This action allowed him to match the demon's movement for two seconds.

Using that chance, Noel raised his sword, stabbing the demon.

The demon once again waved its claws to avoid the sword, but Noel had expected him doing so. Hence, he struck the demon with his own head.

Both of them fell back as Noel felt a scratch on his head. Although the demon was fast, it seemed it wasn't fast enough to fully bite his head. The demon only managed to open his mouth a bit to let one of its fangs graze Noel's forehead.

On the other hand, Noel was using his own skull to make an impact on the demon's mouth, causing the demon's conscious waver for a second.

With the demon stopping on its track, Noel gritted his teeth, enduring all that pain while thrusting his sword toward the demon to kill it.

Medal: Military Service Merit

Requirement: Kill 10 Demons (3/10)

Reward: Military Service Medal and 3 Honor Points

*Huft!*

Noel closed his right eye because the blood from the graze flowed toward it while his left eye tried hard to focus, making sure there was no ambush like earlier.

"This is hard and painful. I could kill the demon but the injury was indeed not worth it. Should have used the trap no matter how weak the demon appeared." Noel felt the pain concentrated on his forehead and left calf but still had the time to review his performance, learning his mistake.

"Why do I need to endure all this pain? This is unfair. If not because of that poisonous woman, I could still work together with Lezlev and Alfred, making this far easier."

Noel wanted to continue complaining, but closing his wounds took priority. He had prepared something for this. Yes, this was the reason he saved some Honor Points.

Noel exchanged one honor point for disinfectant bandage and imagined it to appear in front of him.

"This…" Noel saw the bandage which was quite thick in his opinion. "It seems I can use it a few times. Lucky."

He hurriedly put on his forehead and moved to the calf, stopping the bleeding. The pain still continued jolting his mind and hindering his movement, but he should be able to kill another demon with the trap as long as he was careful enough.

"It's useless to complain. I've made this decision, so I need to see through it." Noel gritted his teeth and started standing up again as a sign of his stubbornness. "I need to worry about food later and I don't think I can sleep for three days because my body is still not used to living alone in the wild. I might not wake up when the demon came to me. It'll be a gruesome three days, but I'm not going to die here."

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