System vs Rebirth

"Kill them all!" Grandell shouted. Noel, Anna, Dimitri, and even Howard were already doing their best to take care of the Spirit Grandmasters on their side. If the knights couldn't even fight all these demons, they would bring shame to the Ardagan family's name.

"Hoa!" The knights roared in unison. The shield bearers raised their shields and moved forward, slamming the demons' heads in rapid succession.

The other fighters took advantage of that opportunity to cut down the demons.

Fortunately, most of them were only low level demons. For them, who had a lot of Spirit Wielders in their ranks, killing these demons was not hard.

However, Noel also brought a lot of normal soldiers or Spirit Apprentices that he got from the last recruitment to make up enough numbers.

"All the normal soldiers gather up and kill them one at a time. Don't kill yourself by going alone! These demons are not as scary as you think they are." Grandell shouted.

"Ha!" The soldiers responded. Most of them were using either spears or shields. The shield bearers were in front to block the demons, while the spear users utilized the gaps and thrust their spears. Even if they couldn't kill it in a single thrust, they just had to do it again and again.

And their equipment was a little bit specialized. Roel had made them a bit stronger than the ones the soldiers on the wall had.

That was why the demons' tough hide couldn't stop these spears.

"Abraham, Leiren! Go to the right side." Grandell gave another order while taking down one demon after another.

After receiving the weight of responsibility, Grandell had truly become a monster. He not only understood what Howard had been seeing this whole time, but he also understood when and where he moved his soldiers.

The two soldiers he commanded earlier were Spirit Wielders. As soon as they received the order, they noticed that the demons started to overwhelm the right side.

Without hesitation, they began peeling off the demons from them until the situation returned to normal again.

During that time, Grandell shouted, "Dan, Axel. Take care of my side. The rest of you… on me!"

Dan and Axel were another pair of Spirit Wielders. They immediately came to Grandell's side as Grandell sped up even further, cutting down the demons.

If one took a look from above, it was clear that they could see the middle was pushing back the demons at high speed as if they were trying to break through the demon army.

Grandell's aim was only one. They had to go to the soldiers that Anna had brought earlier and bail them out.

After combining their strengths, they should be able to reform their ranks and defeat all these demons without having too many casualties.

The reason why Grandell believed that the soldiers that were flanked from both sides could wait until they arrived was that the soldiers were the soldiers that Theo and Anna brought during the exploration.

Yes, they were the soldiers who had witnessed their lord, Noel Ardagan, fight on the front line. Despite his injury, he still managed to push back the enemies while they were only able to witness their lord's sacrifice. If not for Aurelia, they might not be able to see their lord anymore.

The weight on their soldiers felt different.

"Attack them!"

"Kill!"

"Are you going to show your weakness again and let the Lord you are supposed to protect sacrifice himself?"

"Kill them! At least drag 20 of them down if you're going to die."

"Ooh!"

The soldiers were fired up as they looked like an army of demons instead of their opponents. Even the two Spirit Masters that took charge of them were quite surprised that they were able to unleash this level of power. The two Spirit Masters didn't follow Noel and Anna after all.

However, these soldiers fought as if they were beasts. The injuries they sustained weren't light either, yet they still continued pushing the demons back.

They were the same as Grandell.

'My Lord!'

'My Lord!'

The scene where they rushed through the demon army while looking at Noel being surrounded from all sides kept replaying in their minds. Back then, Noel was so weak that he could barely protect himself.

But no matter how hard they fought, none of them could do anything.

'I'm sick of it. I've sworn to protect him, but the only thing I can do is become his burden.' Grandell gritted his teeth. His speed became faster and faster. His eyes started losing their light as he began to fight with instinct.

With this kind of fighting style, the demons started losing him mid-fight.

Grandell actually slid on the ground or jumped into the air. But every time he did it, several demons would suddenly get cut.

Anna once said, 'Speed wasn't everything.' Grandell, who relied on speed at that time, didn't understand what she meant.

However, after getting beaten by Anna, he realized one more important thing. That was right. Speed was a very cool and strong ability. However, if they were predictable, there was no need to be bothered by their speed. The enemies simply had to place their weapon in the way, preventing the speed from being usable.

When he saw Noel repel the demon, he finally understood what he should do.

Grandell jumped to the right side. Three demons noticed his movement and tried to stop him.

One of them even slapped Grandell with its giant paw. Unfortunately for the demon, Grandell actually stepped on this paw and decreased his momentum to the point that it felt like he landed gently. After that, he sped up once again while waving his blade.

In an instant, the demon's paw was sliced into pieces as Grandell made his way toward the demon's real body and slashed its neck. After that, he used the demon's body to propel himself to the other two demons and cut them apart.

Grandell looked like his momentum was going to carry him all the way toward another demon, but surprisingly, the momentum abruptly stopped.

It lasted for an instant before Grandell reached his maximum speed again but in another direction.

That was right. The solution Grandell was searching for was none other than a change of pace.

He absurdly decreased his momentum to zero before rising back to his maximum speed in an instant.

It would definitely put a strain on Grandell's body, and even then, it would be hard to find a path with a single glance. To solve this problem, Grandell actually honed his instinct and trusted it.

Even Anna wouldn't be able to defeat Grandell easily this time. If she used the same tactic, which was to put her blade in Grandell's path, Grandell could simply stop and move in a different direction.

Still, this taxing movement really took a toll on his body. After two minutes, Grandell suddenly dropped to the ground, breathing heavily.

"Ha… Ha…" Grandell gritted his teeth. "It's not enough."

But his action opened the path for others. Dan and Axel, who took care of his two sides, finally caught up and blocked the demons for him.

"Sir. Please take your time to regain your breath." Dan smiled.

Grandell nodded while looking at the situation. "Hans, Everan. Shift your position a bit to the left. The second squad will take care of the right side and let the first squad rest for one minute. We will begin the second thrust in one minute."

"Oh!"

The soldiers immediately moved according to his instructions.

Even Howard, who watched the entire thing from the side, smiled. He couldn't take care of the army because of the Superior Demon. However, it seemed that he didn't have to worry.

Grandell reminded him of his young self. This must be how the former captain of the Ardagan family's garrison felt when he saw him having a spurt in his growth.

If there was someone who would become the next vice captain, it would be Grandell.

"I can't really lose, can't I?" Howard smirked, looking at the tiger.

*Roar!*

The tiger pounced on him. The big avatar behind Howard stretched its hands to grab the tiger, but the latter used both paws to push them away.

The big avatar suddenly hit the tiger with its head, knocking it to the ground. After that, he tried to grab the tiger.

Still, he had been fighting a Superior Demon when he was on the north wall, so he had depleted a lot of his energy.

As a result, the tiger moved a little bit faster than his avatar and suddenly leaped into the air and bit the avatar's right hand before ripping it apart.

"Kh." Howard gritted his teeth, enduring the pain. Even though it was only an avatar, he still felt the same pain as the avatar.

However, Howard didn't plan to take a beating just for it. He immediately used the other hand to punch the tiger.

*Bam!*

The tiger was knocked down again. Before it rose back up, Howard's real body rushed to the demon.

While the avatar was his main fighting power, it didn't mean that Howard was weak. In fact, he was the biggest man in the city.

When he raised his hand, the muscle on his arm bulged. He punched the tiger with all his strength and blew it away.

There was even a hole in the tiger's head.

Howard looked at his arm covered in green liquid and simply brushed it away.

Even though he had exhausted a lot of his power, Howard didn't plan to lose against this tiger.

The tiger was already standing, ready to fight to the death with Howard.