"Listen here you rascal."
Noel ignored her and focused on taking down the demon.
But when he was about to hit the demon on the ground, Anna suddenly appeared next to him. Her boots were covered with lightning as if she used that power to cover the distance between them in an instant.
Her sword moved even faster now that it was covered with lightning, swiftly slicing the demon's head. The cut was so quick and precise that the demon didn't have the time to react.
Even Noel was stunned to see Anna's true strength that could kill a demon in an instant. Unlike the previous time where Anna saved him for the first time, this kill only relied on her overwhelming strength.
"!!!" Noel stopped in his track when he saw the demon's head flying. "This is…"
"You stole my demon and I did the same." Anna stomped the ground and looked at him coldly.
Noel had no words to say, but this occasion had given him a big opportunity. That was right. He could see Anna's true strength.
In fact, Anna might still be hiding her true strength. However, it was clear that the strength that she utilized to kill a Mid Level Demon wasn't her true strength. It was only because of his interference that she decided not to use it.
'Ah, I should have a clearer head at that time because I can see her true strength. But I ended up ruining that chance… Whatever, I'm going to use this hunt to observe your strength so that I know how much stronger do I need to be. I'm not going to foolishly attack you anymore,' Noel thought with a cold gaze.
Since they had killed both demons, Noel immediately scooped out the crystal on their heads and stored it in Anna's bag.
"It seems you're planning to turn this into a small competition. For what? To frustrate me? I don't really mind about the competition, but I need to make sure you know when to stop. I'm not going to have a stupid competition when our lives are in extreme danger," said Anna while giving a cold gaze at Noel.
"I'm not going to kill myself. And if killing you means I'm dead too, it's better to wait for another chance. You're not the only one in my list." Noel shrugged.
"Good enough for me." Anna smirked. "I'll take you on. This time, I won't let you kill a single monster."
Noel accepted the challenge. She didn't realize that she had fallen into Noel's trap.
If she used all her strength to kill all the demons today, she wouldn't have enough power to do the same tomorrow or the day after. In other words, he could kill more monsters during the second day and third day.
In that case, he would also see how much power she had in that body. The more he knew about her strength, the higher the chance to kill her later.
Noel smirked as he led the way again while hiding his true thoughts.
The duo continued their journey deeper into the inner region.
As they predicted, there were more and more demons appearing together. They often found a group of demons consisting of three or even four demons at a time.
During that time, Noel could see Anna's overwhelming force. He really didn't get any demons for at least three hours.
Unfortunately for him, it seemed Anna had caught a wind of his plan and started decreasing her pace, allowing Noel to kill some monsters.
It was such a shame, but that was enough for the time being. At the very least, he knew what to expect from Anna.
The hunt lasted for eight hours. It was a quite long hunt, but they managed to kill a total of 67 demons today, with Noel killing only 17 of them.
Noel and Anna were the top crops among the trainees, so their hunting speed was insane. However, after more preparation and information about the test, the other teams also worked splendidly.
Some groups even completed the task in a day. Half of them chose to return to the fort to submit their crystals while half of them worked for more crystals, knowing that they could get the rest after submitting ten of them.
Coming on the second and third were Alfred and Kirika's teams. Alfred and Lezlev killed 26 monsters together while Kirika and her new teammate crushed 21 demons.
It wasn't that much compared to Noel's pair, but they were much better than their previous performance.
When the sun was about to set, all pairs seemed to know what to do. They hurriedly found a place to make a camp. This included Noel's pair.
They had returned to the lake before the sky was completely dark.
Noel was searching for firewoods while Anna was preparing their food.
While looking around, Noel had an evil thought in their mind.
"Now that I think about it, I can catch her when she's bathing. Isn't this perfect for shaming her?" Noel narrowed his eyes. "A noble can't show their body easily, but I'm a fallen noble… That rule only applies to her, not me. This is perfect to make her feel ashamed. Even if it doesn't work, just with me being there is enough to prevent her from taking a bath. She will be stink."
As if he'd got a good plan, Noel hurriedly found the necessary firewoods and returned to the camp, only to find Anna cutting some vegetables. It was completely normal, but Noel noticed her wet hair as if she had just finished taking a bath in the lake.
"What?" Noel dropped the firewoods in shock.
Anna noticed his expression and somehow read his thought. She couldn't help but smirk.
"What? Returning earlier than expected so you can take a peek of me when bathing? Or do you want to prevent me from taking a bath?"
Noel's body trembled for a moment as he denied it loudly, "I just want to build the tent and rest as quickly as possible."
"Heh. Simpleton." Anna rolled her eyes, not believing a single thing he said. She couldn't help but remember her past life, thinking, 'This is not the first time you used this kind of tactic. You attacked me when I was bathing in a lake or a river because you could use the embarrassment to make me drop my guard. I've many tricks that you can use, Noel. It won't work against me anymore.'