System vs Rebirth

A moment ago.

Duke Briton looked at the battlefield while getting a report from Aerton.

"Duke Briton. The progress on all sides is smooth. We should be able to withstand their attacks until the Lord returns."

"Good." Duke Briton nodded with a solemn expression. "In fact, just keeping Qiel away is already good, but to think that they would bring all the humans and one Superior Demon away… I guess they are that desperate to bring down an important person from our side."

"I believe we should send reinforcement to them." Aerton was worried that their lord would be injured.

However, Duke Briton didn't think this was necessary. All of them were powerful individuals. Although he didn't know about all the trump cards Noel had been hiding the whole time, he knew that he wouldn't go without any preparation.

That was why he only needed to take care of the remaining attackers this time.

However, this was the time for something unexpected to happen.

*Roar!*

*Roar!*

A series of roars echoed in their ears. Normally, they would just ignore this because no one could breach their defense.

But this time was different. Duke Briton couldn't help but turn around as the sound actually originated from the city. "This is…"

"!!!" Aerton followed Duke Briton, who was pushing away the soldiers while making his way to the other side of the wall, seeing a cloud of dust on three sides.

"What?!" Duke Briton dropped his jaw. "Demons have breached the city? How?"

Although their size made it hard to spot them, he was sure that at least thirty demons had entered the city. They were even located in three different directions.

Clara turned around to check what was going on, but the Superior Demon Crocodile slammed her with its tail, preventing her from doing anything.

"Big Sister Clara!" Erica, who had been stationed at the bottom of the wall, panicked. They had eliminated all the demons here except for that one Superior Demon, so they wondered what they should do.

"Sword Dancer Kids, Go to the south! There seem to be demons emerging from there. The reserve soldiers will go to the west! Hurry up!" Clara shouted, barely blocking the attack with her strings. "I will keep this demon here."

"Y-yes!" Erica didn't know what was going on, but she hurriedly ordered the other kids to move toward the south. The other soldiers followed suit.

"Duke Briton. A few have made their moves." Aerton pointed at Erica and the soldiers.

Duke Briton's expression darkened. "This is not how the battle is supposed to progress. The fact that there are demons suddenly appearing out of nowhere means there should be a cause. Is there a traitor? But we should have found them… Is it another plan from their strategist?"

"Duke Briton! We need your orders. The kids appear to be going to the south while the soldiers are going to take the west side. The east side has no one there!"

Duke Briton bit his lips. "Tell the flying squad to go to the center of the city and inform that Spirit Master to help the kids. After that, they will go to the east side. The soldiers are to spread their ranks. The buildings can be destroyed, but the lives of the people are important right now."

"Yes, sir." Aerton hurriedly left his side.

Duke Briton looked around, wondering if there was a traitor. How could the demons appear? Was it due to the underground channel? No. The underground channel had been taken care of.

Even the demon tree Anna fought earlier had been stopped by Andreas. He had also flooded the area to gain a terrain advantage even though his True Spirit Body had worn off.

Duke Briton had to find this problem or the hidden dangers might cause trouble.

"What is their purpose? The people? The buildings? Or…" Duke Briton just thought of something so ridiculous that he thought the Supreme Devil Organization was insane.

"Don't tell me, they are aiming for the Saintess?"

No one wanted to harm the saintess, especially with the current strength and reputation the Moon Temple had.

However, this made the saintess even more vulnerable. Because they were assured that the Supreme Devil Organization wouldn't attack the saintess, they didn't put any protection around the saintess.

What if Noel had another enemy? What if that enemy didn't care about the saintess or the Moon Temple? They could simply blame everything on the Supreme Devil Organization after all.

When that thought appeared, Duke Briton's face became pale. If the saintess was attacked and the barrier was undone, nothing would stop all those demons from flooding the city.

…

The saintess was still focusing on her barrier. As someone who maintained the barrier, she obviously could feel the area around the barrier, including the new commotion.

"This is not looking good." Layla muttered.

Suddenly, a fluctuation of energy occurred near her. On the one hand, it didn't seem to be anything resembling that of a human. On the other hand, she heard a couple of roars around her.

It was clear that the demons had appeared around her. She didn't know why but this fluctuation of energy should be the cause. Unfortunately, she couldn't see anything or she would have known the reason.

Even so, she still sensed the enemy's intention. If they killed her, the barriers that protected the city would disappear.

That was why this strategy was not bad. But the Supreme Devil Organization shouldn't do something like this.

"It seems that his worry is necessary." Layla smiled. When the demons were about to reach her, a spherical barrier appeared, completely isolating her from the outside.

*Bang!*

The demons tried to attack the barrier, but none of them managed to scratch the barrier. In fact, one of these demons was actually a Peak Level Demon. It charged its paw with spiritual energy and struck the barrier with all its strength.

Yet, it was still unsuccessful.

*Bam!* The door of the church was opened as Rose's voice echoed inside. "Saintess!"

Layla didn't respond, but it was clear that she was safe.

Without hesitation, Rose rushed toward the saintess. While she wasn't good at fighting, she should be able to fight against a Peak Level Demon.

All of a sudden, Rose's appearance turned into a stone golem as she swept the demons with her hard right arm.

The demons were confused for a bit but immediately dodged it. However, they ended up hitting each other mid-air, causing them to fall down.

After that, Rose tried to push the Peak Level Demon from the saintess to protect her.

"Go away!" The Peak Level Demon leaped toward Rose, not scared of her illusion. The Peak Level Demon smacked the golem with its paw, blowing Rose away.

"Kh." Rose gritted her teeth but stood back up. No matter what, the saintess couldn't be distracted.

The enemy was indeed clever. They first caused the disruption in three directions, forcing them to split their force. After that, they launched a sneak attack on the saintess as a finishing blow.

However, this also meant that there was a time for them to react. When the Peak Level Demon was about to reach Rose, a few explosive balls fell down.

*Boom!*

*Boom!*

*Boom!*

The series of explosions blasted the Peak Level Demon, even though it also damaged the temple.

"Lady Rose, Duke Briton wants you to help the kids in the south."

"Unable. I have to ensure the safety of the saintess first. If the barrier is down, there won't be anything to stop the demon." Rose shook her head.

The saintess was obviously fine. Even though Noel left the saintess alone, there was no way Paladin Aurelia, with her character, would be convinced to leave her side during the siege. That was why he set up a few things to ensure the safety of the saintess, which was the rune.

Noel had actually used the Spiritual Barrier Rune, the Spiritual Energy Dispersion Rune, and a Superior Demon's blood to craft all this. In other words, the strength of the barrier that protected the saintess was much stronger than the ones in the wall.

Only by using all this did he manage to convince Aurelia to get stationed far away from the saintess.

Still, Rose didn't know anything about this. In fact, there were only four people who knew about this in the entire city: Noel, Anna, Aurelia, and the saintess herself.

Even if Noel had carefully checked everyone's affection, information was still the most important thing during a battle. He was controlling the information that he wished to spread. This was actually the reason why Duke Briton called Noel a genius of warfare and someone who was capable of fighting him on equal terms.

And the saintess was safe due to his effort.

Still, the flying squad and Rose didn't know about it. That was why Rose ordered, "Kill all the demons here first. After that, the flying squad will split into two to assist the children and Lady Milfa."

The flying squad members looked at each other. It appeared they had no choice.

"Understood!"

Duke Briton was watching everything from the top of the wall. Although he didn't know what actually happened, he could still see the destruction as a sign of their action.

The demons on Milfa's side were hindering Milfa's action. Fortunately, his flood still made the terrain hard to penetrate, so Milfa could still hold back a little bit to handle the demons that appeared on her side.

But it wouldn't last long. And one more important thing happened. All of a sudden, a huge ice crystal erupted behind the enemy's rank. It was outside the barrier, but due to the size of the crystal, it was easily visible from afar.

"!!!"