System vs Rebirth

'Can we even escape from here alive?'

Noel gritted his teeth. After getting shown the big difference in power, Noel finally understood what kind of nightmare an Ancient Demon was. It was no wonder why Laufey didn't bring them in the previous attack.

He couldn't help but remember the tDimitri used his True Spirit Body, just to barely escape from a Spirit Transcendence from the SuprDevil Organization. Even then, the other two captains were severely injured at that time.

Right now, the threat didn't conly from the Ancient Demon. There were other Superior and Peak Level Demons. They had controlled the lower level demons to avoid them getting swept by the attacks, but they still possessed sthreat if they decided to launch a volley of attack to restrain Noel and Anna's movements.

'Do I have to beca Spirit Transcendence forcefully? Just by absorbing enough demon crystals, it should be possible even though my skills won't be at the level of Spirit Transcendence. But will it be enough?'

When Noel was thinking, the lightning actually sparked all around him. Even the ice element that was naturally leaking out of his body lowered the temperature.

"Mhmm?" Noel's expression turned grim, noticing something. 'What? Our elements shouldn't have… Don't tell me… the reason why the Ancient Demon could crack the Spiritual Barrier Rune is because he infused spiritual energy into the shock wave?

'No. Should I say he is shooting out multiple streams of spiritual energy and letting the shock wave carry it? This way, those streams of energy will turn into a spear. If that's the case, it's no wonder why the Spiritual Barrier Rune can crack because of a shock wave.'

Noel had just realized that while the danger remained. There was also an opportunity.

The way the Ancient Demon used its spiritual energy was fundamentally different.

'Is that how a Spirit Transcendence fights?' Noel remembered the way the Sword Arbiter used his strength.

He didn't have any proof, but even if he didn't try anything, it would be impossible to escape. So he chose to die trying.

"Anna."

"What?" Anna, who was also dumbstruck by the Ancient Demon's capability, glanced at Noel. Their morale was low, but Anna still noticed the trace of hope that his voice carried.

"Conserve your energy and leave this to me. Remember to watchbecause it might be useful for you later. Once I run out of spiritual energy, I'll leave the rest to you."

"What are you say—" Anna abruptly stopped when she saw Noel's resolute face. She ultimately nodded, agreeing to that decision.

Noel was planning to risk his life in order for them to escape.

While his Spiritual Barrier Rune remained intact, Noel raised his blade on top of his head.

He took a deep breath while gathering his energy into the blade.

'Sword Transmutation? But even my strongest strike can't penetrate its defense… Can the Sword Transmutation, which is much weaker than my strike, deal any damage? Why not use Divine Slash?' Anna was observing him like he wanted to, only to get confused by his choice.

Noel simply gathered as much energy as he could. After five seconds, he finally gathered ten percent of his total energy reserve.

"Sword Transmutation." Noel swung his sword downward.

The sword released the energy to the ground as the latter flared up, creating a ten-meter curtain of pure energy that kept extending toward the spider.

Because Anna's strong strike didn't deal any damage to its leg, the spider deemed this strike, which was less powerful, not dangerous. It didn't even bother to lift up its leg or dodge it, planning to show Noel and Anna the true terror.

However, that was a mistake. The spider only noticed at the last moment that this attack was different from anything they had shown so far, but that was too late.

After all, Noel actually created two layers of Sword Transmutation. The first layer was just a simple spiritual energy that pushed anything in front of them forward. The second layer was the real Sword Transmutation.

In addition, before using the Sword Transmutation, Noel actually sent forth the emotion and element. Yes, Noel infused the emotion with a layer of spiritual energy. The sapplies to the element.

Because of the first layer of Sword Transmutation, the two layers of emotion and element were pushed forward in front of the real Sword Transmutation until it reached the spider's leg. This was like how the shock wave carried streams of the spider's spiritual energy.

Just like hitting his barrier earlier, now that there was no way to go forward, all those layers popped out.

The real Sword Transmutation suddenly fused with the emotion and element. Normally, this was done within the sword, which created a stable power. But due to the sudden fusion in the environment, the real Sword Transmutation becunstable.

That instability caused a reaction to the spiritual energy in the air, which caused a burst of even more powerful energy.

The Sword Transmutation flashed for a second before it suddenly climbed the spider's leg. The fusion with the element turned the Sword Transmutation into an ice wall on top of the leg, weakening the tough skin for a bit.

Last but not least, the emotion he infused into the attack was the Anger, which drastically increased the sharpness of the sword strike.

But due to the fact that it was frozen, all that sharp energy had nowhere to run. So the only thing it did was explode.

*Bam!*

*Bam!*

*Bam!*

The ice wall exploded in rapid succession from the ground to the spider's leg. And all that power hit the leg, crushing the tough skin layer.

*Scree!* The spider was wailing in pain as scrushed parts were deeper than others and spurted sblood.

Noel couldn't help but smile. This was it. This was the secret to reaching the Spirit Transcendence. The reason why the Spirit Transcendence was so different from the Spirit Grandmaster was because the former incorporated nature into their power.

Yes, Noel used the fusion of his spiritual energy, emotion, and element to cause a chain reaction with the spiritual energy in the air, drastically improving the explosive power of their attack.

Obviously, Noel knew that this was only one way. Because they fundamentally released their power in a different way, he knew he could explore more of this power, not just the explosive power.

He never thought that he could release this much power with just ten percent of his attack. If the opponent was a Superior Demon, they were either severely injured or died.

Noel couldn't help but smile, understanding the way to move forward. And this might also be the only method to escape from the spider. This was his path to Transcendent.

Noel could finally see that the Sword Saint didn't exaggerate the record even a little bit. If he beca Spirit Transcendence, he might actually be able to cut a mountain in half with a single swing. For a Spirit King, he could easily change the map with his power.

Next to him, Anna dropped her jaw to the ground. She couldn't believe that a Sword Transmutation was able to release a power surpassing her strongest strike.

She barely understood the concept, but she never thought it was possible.

Sadly, their challenge was not over yet. Now that Noel was able to injure it, the spider turned around to face them. This time, the spider was not going to hold back and treated Noel as a huge threat. It could be said that the fight had just begun.