System vs Rebirth

As soon as Noel understood Anna's intention in using the root to increase their elevation, he finally saw the path that Anna planned to take.

They might be moving up and down for a minute, but Anna skillfully came closer and closer to the trunk at the highest elevation they could get.

"Four, no… Five meters. As long as we can reach five meters, we should be able to avoid all the roots. And…" Noel raised his vision and saw the branches start moving. "Anna! Above!"

"I know." Anna shouted and calculated their best path. "We might not be able to reach the best position."

"Indeed." Noel nodded. At least, tell me a second prior so that I can react." Noel nodded in understanding, preparing to avoid both the roots and branches at the same time.

As expected, the Ancient Demon Tree might not have its past power, but it could understand their language.

As soon as Noel and Anna reached an agreement, the Ancient Demon Tree sent its branches to the ground.

"This is insane." Noel gulped down when he saw the tip of the branches begin to extend and bend to the ground, aiming for their lives.

"Here they come!" Anna shouted while glancing to the left and right. The roots were stopping next to the one they were stepping on, forming a wall on both sides.

"Walls? We need to get away somehow." Noel furrowed his eyebrows while trying to find an escape path.

"We're not going anywhere." Anna clicked her tongue and clasped her hands. "North Sword, South Lightning. Sword D'Dantalian."

Noel's vision soon darkened as he realized the culprit was the sword that gradually formed on top of them, blocking the moonlight.

The sword had the same length of a human's height, but the body was covered by lightning.

'What is that? No, that's a Spirit Ability and the incantation. Unlike the Spirit Technique that derived from human research, Spirit Abilities come directly from the Spirit themselves like my Mega Slash and Ice Control.' Noel sucked a cold breath.

The lightning sword flew forth, hitting the right root that blocked their path from escaping.

*Boom!*

The lightning sparked, creating a small explosion on the root. The spark was so strong that it could manage to destroy a part of the giant root.

'She destroyed a part of the root, so we can escape.' Noel observed her action.

Anna proved his speculation by jumping to the destroyed part and using it as her footing to jump on top of the ruined root.

Noel followed the path and glanced at the right and left. 'We can jump back to the ground or back to the roots.'

It seemed they were fast enough because not long after they got to a higher elevation, the branches began to shoot down.

"Here they come!" Noel shouted.

Ten branches fell down on top of him. The pointed tips impaled the roots, albeit missing both Noel and Anna.

Anna skillfully tilted her body and avoided all the huge branches, but Noel's reaction time was still slower than her, causing the roots to graze his right arm and waist.

"Are you alright?" Anna asked while lowering her speed.

"It won't be a problem." Noel nodded before widening his eyes. "Anna, jump!"

Anna didn't see anything in front of her, so the first thing she did was turn around and saw spikes coming out of the roots.

Anna clicked her tongue and lowered her head, barely avoiding the spike with only a graze on her cheek.

At the same time, Noel managed to avoid it completely due to him being able to see what was coming sooner.

"We need to start climbing right now." Anna gritted her teeth, knowing that the more they wasted their time on the roots, the more dangerous the situation would become.

"Will the trunk let out a spike?" Noel started thinking about the potential danger on the trunk.

"It wasn't a spike, but the branches that bent inside the roots."

"Ah!" Noel remembered the branches that impaled the roots earlier. It turned out they were the culprit of the spikes. After that, he pointed at the front a few meters in front of them. There was a perfect curve near the trunk, so it should be a perfect spot to jump.

Anna nodded in agreement as she jumped to the root on the other side so that she could be closer to the target.

Noel followed suit and followed her, preparing to jump right after her.

"Here I go!" Anna shouted while looking at the branches that were coming for them.

"Hurry up!" Noel gritted his teeth. He might end up dead if he was late just by one second due to his position.

Anna saw the branches had begun to fall down, so she jumped to the trunk. Noel gritted his teeth and used his fastest speed to reach the edge and jump to the trunk, next to Anna.

He planted Ardagan into the trunk, making sure he didn't fall down. He looked back and saw the branches impaling the roots.

"Noel, it's going to bend again!" Anna shouted as she wondered how they could avoid this with both their hands and feet getting tied down in gripping the trunk.

But when she turned to Noel, the latter had already looped around the sword and used the impaled sword as his footing to avoid the incoming branches.

'He's too smart.' Anna gritted her teeth, realizing that she hadn't improvised enough. She hurriedly followed Noel and stood on top of her sword.

When the branches were about to impale them, they jumped, avoiding the branches. Of course, she had a specific direction so that when she landed, she was on top of the impaled branch.

Noel had the same thought because he was already standing on top of them.

"Your sword!" Noel shouted.

"I…" Anna glanced at her sword and shook her head. "No. I'll focus on using my Spirit Ability."

Noel nodded as they jumped from one branch to another, trying to climb the trunk with the impaled branches. Due to Noel acting first, Anna ended up being the one that followed him so that their rope didn't stuck to one of the branches.

However, slowly but surely, they were climbing the trunk together.