A Demon's Journey

Once the trial had ended and they all gathered for lunch, everyone found out Noah had already defeated his opponent and cleared the trial!

Tiana followed him and asked him for any tips on how she could get to clear the trial.

It was one of the first times Noah had been asked for advice so seriously by someone so he tried to explain as best as he could.

But obviously, most of his words went right above Tiana's head.

Noah noticed that his advice hadn't helped Tiana at all. She was just wearing a smile on her face but her heart was still anxious.

He began to think more about how he could help her.

Soon, he spoke with a hesitant voice, "Umm… I don't know if it will help but I will tell you. I think Sargan was wrong to say that you should use Incomplete attacks against your counterparts. Think about it. If you attack the counterparts with an incomplete attack, they will know the attack as soon as they see it. They can then get out of the range and easily dodge the attack."

Tiana was startled as she heard his words, "You are right about it. Then what should I do?"

Noah spoke straightforwardly, "Give up something like using an incomplete attack." Upon seeing Tiana's puzzled look, Noah knew he had to explain more.

He added, "An incomplete attack is something you have no idea of. You won't know its range, its power, or anything else. Also most importantly, if you think that a technique is going to make you better, then you should give up on that thought. Boss wouldn't give us such an easy trial."

"Instead, think about improving yourself. Use a technique you are and think about how to make it even better. But… Do that when you are fighting. There is also another trick I noticed. Your opponent will always make the best possible way to counter your technique. And at that moment, just think of how you would react in that situation. Once you know the technique your opponent will use, it will be easy to win."

This was a loophole Azaroth was aware of. It could be said that this was the weakness of this Heart-Devil.

It possessed limitless stamina but its thoughts would lag behind the warrior attempting the trial by a few milliseconds.

Even if someone found out the trick, applying it during battle was hard. Many thoughts would occur in mind during the battle. It was hard to keep track of them or even remain calm and focus on their objective.

Even if someone could remain focused on their objective during the battle and used this trick to win, Azaroth wouldn't mind it.

This was his final trial for his retainers. It meant he could use them in most of the missions. At the very least, fighting against individuals of his own level wouldn't be an issue for that warrior.

And even successfully running away from warriors a rank stronger than him would be possible.

Just like before, Azaroth spent the entire day feeding his blood essence to his Blood-Forging Altar of Creation.

This was fortunately not a forbidden array. Thus, the Heavenly Tribulations did not act on it.

Azaroth knew that even if the Heavens wished to destroy him, they were forced to follow a set of rules.

He had no idea who set up those rules but it was clear that even the heavens followed them. As long as he doesn't violate one of them, even if the heavens hated him greatly, they would never attack him.

But it was also true that when they did, their attacks would be ten or even a hundred times stronger.

This was also one of the reasons why everyone in this world refused or was scared to take an oath while taking heaven as its witness. The stronger the expert, the more he was bound to be careful to not anger the heavens.

It had to be known that no matter what you do, nothing would be hidden from the heavens. It was silently gazing at your actions and would rain judgement upon you when the day comes.

Azaroth looked down on the heavens. The fact that they possessed such a great amount of power yet they were constrained by something abstract like rules.

Naturally, he didn't sit free. While his information network hadn't even begun developing, he was using Tronte's network to find anything he could use.

Soon, he did find one such thing. It was the location of a bandit camp near Kloras Town. They were currently harassing the nearby villages. There were all kinds of news about them.

Robber, killing, rapes, blackmails, and so on. Their fear in those nearby villages was so great that these bandits could be considered the rulers of that place.

As for why the local lord hadn't sent any help. It was pretty easy for Azaroth to guess. Either one of them was a secret leader of this bandit camp or he had some other kind of connection to them. But something was clear. They were a nuisance to the villagers there.

Azaroth thought for some time and then called out for Noah.

Noah wouldn't have anything to do in a few days. It would be best for him to get some field experience and also understand how it was like to fight against other opponents.

Azaroth was absolutely sure that Noah could handle himself. According to the information from Tronte, these bandit leaders were merely 2 Star or 3 Star Rank Warriors.

The name of this Bandit Campt was 'The Phantom Tribe.'

It was said that one of their leaders was fast and used mysterious movement skills. One of them possessed superior strength. The third one used long-ranged weapons to fight.

"Noah, your mission will be to go and destroy one of these two bandit camps. Free the hostages and visit their villages one by one. Tell them about our Kloras Town. And speak good things about us." Azaroth ordered with a serious look.

Noah only had a single question, "I need to hide my face like my last mission."

"No. Just remain natural and speak good things about me," Azaroth said with a slight smile.

Noah's eyes twinkled and he nodded his head.

Once he received his mission, he left for the Phantom Tribe bandit camp soon enough.

The same routine occurred for an entire week.

Surprisingly, not a single one of them managed to pass the trial.

And the one who was closest to passing the trial was none other than Tiana.

This was all because of Noah's advice and the trick he had mentioned. Tiana had now begun to anticipate the actions of her counterpart.

She had to execute it rapidly in combat, so she made mistakes, but she grasped the fundamentals of how to utilize this tactic.

Sargan was also close to passing the trial. But it was still more of a gamble for him.

As long as his incomplete attacks struck his counterpart, he could win. If not, he would continue his losing streak.

A few days later, someone broke the deadlock. And surprisingly, it turned out to be Tiana.

Once she passed her trial, she was quite excited.

She immediately went to Azaroth to inform him.

Azaroth already knew Tiana had passed her trial. He was slightly surprised and spoke to her, "Congratulations. But it seems you have to wait for a few more days to meet your parents."

Tiana asked with a shocked look, "Why?!"

Azaroth shrugged and responded, "I was planning to send Sargan with you. I didn't expect you to clear the trial before him. You don't know how to cover your tracks or anything else. And I can't teach it to you in a short period."

Tiana's shoulders fell down as she heard Azaroth. She was too excited when she felt that she could finally go to meet her parents. But now, it seemed as though she would have to wait for an unknown period.

Azaroth looked at her and then left the area. He was getting back to feeding his blood to the Blood-Forging Altar of Creation.

Soon, the outline would be prepared. Then, he would have to use the various herbs and use his Ardor to customize it according to how he wanted it.

Meanwhile, Noah had already reached the bandit camp location.

He noticed an encampment in the woods and moved over to them. On his back was a sword in its sheath.

The guards of the camp noticed a young child approaching them.

One of them moved forward and asked Noah with an intense tone, "What are you doing here kid?! Get back to the village."

"No. He isn't from the village. Look at his clothes. None of the villagers can afford them."

"Maybe we missed one of them and they had a hidden stash of coins somewhere in their house." A guard nearby added.

"Possible. Let's loot them later."

All of them ignored Noah. They could see he was merely a young child. And they sensed no threat from him.

"This is the Phantom Tribe Bandit Encampment, right?" Noah asked for confirmation.

"…Yeah. It is. So what?" One of the bandits immediately replied.

"Nothing. I had to be careful because if I kill the wrong person, Boss would scold me." Noah spoke with a casual tone as he raised his hand.

The bandits blankly stared at Noah for a couple of seconds before they began to laugh loudly.

"Hahaha… Did you hear this kid?! Hahahaha…"

"…That was a good joke kid. I will give you a headstart of 20 seconds. If you can escape me in that time then I won't pursue you anymore." Another guard spoke while controlling his laugh.

Noah placed his hand over the hilt of his sword.

He stared at the guards for a few seconds and suddenly used "Quick Draw!"

As soon as he used that technique, the heads of all five guards fell on the ground. They didn't even have the opportunity to scream out.

However, an alarm did sound out in the bandit encampment.

This was an alarm sounded off by the archers on the towers who were keeping an eye on intruders.

Noah stared at those archers and released his Sword Qi. He targeted them with his Sword Qi.

The archers didn't see or even sense the Sword Qi.

Noah was taken aback when he saw his initial attack had succeeded. He was just getting warmed up.

But still, he noticed that many warriors were gathering behind the entrance of the bandit encampment.

The alarm had already informed them that they had been attacked.

Two large men left their tents while wearing something similar to a cloak.

The two were quite angered as someone had come and disturbed them at an important time. They were having quite a bit of fun with the women from the villages nearby.

Noah soon opened the gate of the bandit encampment and showed he was here to attack them.

All the people who saw Noah were utterly shocked.

They only saw one individual and not an army sent by someone to uproot them. Moreover, this one warrior standing ahead of them was merely a child.

Many bandits even felt that they had been tricked.. They looked towards the towers and saw three corpses in them.