Chapter 24 Traps

"Ha!" Noel shouted as he jumped as far as possible, crossing numerous leaves on the ground.

As soon as he reached the other side, he turned around and saw a three-legged demon pounced on him.

He struck the demon with his sword, resulting in the demon to stop because it deflected Noel's sword with its giant paw.

"Gah!" The demon soon overpowered Noel with its strength and pushed Noel to the ground.

But when he was about to crush Noel's hand and shoulder, the demon's feet had finally landed on the ground and crushed the small structures underneath the leaves.

The demon widened its eyes in shock but didn't let out a single sound. It simply stared at Noel as it fell down to the hole that the leaves hid.

Noel panted a few times as he looked at the hole, finding the demon getting stabbed by numerous wooden spikes.

He made this pitfall ten meters deep so that the demon's weight and speed were enough to be pierced by the spikes. And it seemed to have worked splendidly.

"Yes. I have finally killed 5 demons with this!" Noel smiled and pumped his fists. Although his body was covered by bandage due to him risking his life to bait the demon, it was worth it.

"I need to kill five more demons before getting a technique that I can use to kill a demon without a trap." Noel nodded with a serious expression.

He then took out a rope in his bag and tied it to himself before attaching it to a tree.

After that, he started going down the hole with the rope and carefully approached the dying demon. He severed the demons body to pieces so that he could remove them from the hole and reuse this trap.

Of course, he didn't forget to take out the crystal on its head after he took out the demon corpse.

"Well, I don't have any trouble with food and water right now because the demon's meat is similar to a normal animal. I just need to cook them with fire. It won't taste good, but at least, I will have enough energy from it." Noel sighed and raised his head, looking at the orange sky.

Although he wanted to continue, it wouldn't be wise to fight during the night because of the lack of light. So, Noel looked at the pitfall and turned around. "I shouldn't cover it because a human might pass by and fall to this if they're not careful. I'll just leave it like that and take a rest nearby, not that I can sleep."

Noel sighed and walked away while bringing the demon's big arm with him. After reaching an area, he dropped everything and started roaming around to make sure no demon or human was near him.

After finding no demons or humans, Noel made a fire and began cooking the meat.

Then, he checked the training progress.

[Training]

Training: Running 40 Km

Reward: Stamina +0.25% (Accumulation: 0.70%)

Training: Push Up 500 times

Reward: Constitution +0.25% (Accumulation: 0.70%)

Training: Swinging a Sword up and down 500 times

Reward: Sword Mastery +0.25% (Accumulation: 0.70%)

"Hmm… It won't be wise to run around during the night, so I'll focus on Push Up and Swinging my sword. I shouldn't overwork myself too."

After having dinner, Noel tidied up the place and started training again. His body was sore due to the wound, but he still persisted, trying to finish the training so that he got even stronger.

He persisted for a few hours before deciding to take some rest. Although he wouldn't be sleeping, he still relaxed his body.

"It seems I've been focusing on my swinging in the past week. To think it's the first to be completed." Noel smiled.

Training: Swinging a Sword up and down 1000 times

Reward: Sword Mastery +0.25% (Accumulation: 0.95%)

"Hmm… This is weird. The reward doesn't increase anymore… At first, it increased to 0.35% once before falling back to 0.25%. Well, whatever. I'm just glad I can get stronger just by swinging my sword." Noel smiled. He didn't realize that ever since he needed to live by himself, he started appreciating every little thing.

However, the peace was soon shattered by numerous howls that shook the forest.

"Aoo!"

"Aoo!"

"Aoo!"

There were so many howls as well as roars coming from all directions.

"This is…" Noel narrowed his eyes and looked to the sky, wondering what happened. He didn't know why but what Anna said to them earlier flashed in his mind.

"I am trying to find a team that can help me with something… I'm not pretty sure right now, but there's been a strange movement lately. I'm afraid this movement might cause a small outbreak and endanger the people here, especially you trainees."

When he recalled those words, Noel's expression darkened.

"Don't tell me, she's not lying? There is really going to be an outbreak that will endanger many people?" Noel's body trembled. "According to Sir Shale, the demons are very calm during the night. So, this is a rare occasion for them to be this loud. In other words, there might be an outbreak happening…"

Noel looked down and contemplated, muttering his thought, "Did I make the wrong choice? Maybe I should have accepted her offer not only to save my life but also to save more people to finish my mission.

"No! I won't go with her." Noel gritted his teeth and looked around him. "Anyway, I should think about how to save myself first. If it's an outbreak, I should be able to hide on top of the tree, but…"

Noel was wondering whether to take this opportunity to hunt some more demons or not. At the very least, his traps should be able to function well.

After thinking for a while, Noel nodded with a grim expression. "Alright. This is going to be risky, but if I don't risk my life, I won't be able to surpass that woman."

Without hesitation, Noel picked up the torch he had prepared earlier instead of the one from his [Shop] since the torch was similar to the torch in real life, unlike his disinfectant bandage or refreshing water.

"Alright. Let's do this. I should go near the area where I place all my traps before the demons come." Noel immediately walked away while bringing all his equipment.