System vs Rebirth

"This is mine. We've agreed to split the loot, but it only applies to the crystals, not this one." Noel hurriedly put it inside his pocket to make sure Anna didn't have any thought about it.

Anna showed an annoyed expression for the first time. She clearly knew the worth of the 100 Years Old Ice Pearl. With this pearl, she could avoid any assassination that involved water. Poison that was spread in the glass or in the water that she drank, the Ice Pearl would simply purify them.

At the same time, the cooling effect could make the water feel refreshed. Wearing this pearl could cool her heart down.

Noel felt satisfied when he saw that annoyed expression since this was the first time he could make her frustrated.

'So, this is the taste of victory. I don't think I will kill her easily from now on. I'm going to defeat her on everything and make her fall into despair. Only after that will I deliver my killing stroke.' Noel thought, not realizing that he had gradually strayed away from the path of revenge.

Meanwhile, Anna thought, 'Now that I think about it… No matter what happened, Noel was supposed to be the one finding this pearl. After all, in my previous life, I wasn't here.

'Noel must have found out the lake's location from someone. That meant the pearl was never meant for me. Well, I guess I now know Noel possesses this pearl.'

On the one hand, she really wanted the pearl because of its uses. On the other hand, Noel would have been the one to get it because the lake's information was from him.

Ultimately, she let out a long sigh to calm her heart down.

"Fine. Now that you're done here, you should put on your clothes. Because of the pearl, we don't need to worry about water source anymore. Just purify the water and be done with it. This can be our camp, but where are you going to place the traps?" Anna asked.

Noel thought for a moment and looked around while putting on his clothes. "I don't know. I haven't scouted this area."

"Think so." Anna sighed. "Anyway, you won't be able to work on your traps until tonight. So, it's better we get moving soon. Since we're not chasing the deadline, we can return to this place to build the tent before the dusk. What do you think?"

"I don't have a problem with that."

"Then, we'll have night rotation?"

"2x4hours?" Noel asked.

Anna pointed at the sky. "It's pretty hard to calculate the clock, so… we will use the moon. Anyway, we can discuss about the details for night rotation later."

"Fine by me."

"Then, one last question. Can you cook?" Anna asked.

"…" Noel froze as he couldn't answer them. Still, he couldn't show a weakness in front of Anna, so he claimed proudly, "I can cook!"

"I see. You can't cook." Anna nodded in understanding.

"Wait, wha—"

"I'll cook our meal. You're going to bring firewoods and build the tent. I don't care about your pride as long as we have equal distribution to the tasks."

"Well…" Noel clicked his tongue and agreed.

"Since we've reached an agreement, it's better to get moving. The demons in the Inner Region can come in a group, so we need to be careful where we're moving. You can find the lake, so I'm sure you can find a nice hunting spot, right?" Anna smirked, challenging him.

"Of course." Noel snorted and simply took his sword before letting it fall to the ground, pointing at a certain direction.

"This is…" Anna widened her eyes. "You serious?"

"Inner Region is filled with demons, so no matter where we go, we will find a demon. In that case, we've plenty of options… We just need to focus on one area at a time." Noel shrugged.

"That's understandable, but I expected a lot more from you."

"That's your fault." Noel looked away.

"Argh." Anna gritted her teeth as Noel really frustrated her.

Noel smiled over his small victory and said, "Well, that's the direction. If you don't have any objection, we better go now."

Ultimately, Anna followed Noel as they both explored the area in the direction Ardagan pointed at.

As they predicted, they soon found two demons near each other. This would be extremely dangerous because they needed to face one demon each, but both of them had confidence they could defeat them.

Anna came closer to him so that they didn't alarm the demons when they were talking.

"I'll take care of the left one and you'll kill the right demon," whispered Anna in a voice that only they could hear.

Noel thought for a moment and said, "I'm better fighting against a demon that stands on two feet."

"Then, it's the other way around." As someone stronger, Anna obviously needed to adjust herself to Noel's level by making this arrangement.

"Good enough."

"Then, let's go."

After they reached an agreement, they came out of their hidden spots and approached the two demons.

As soon as they saw Noel and Anna, both of them ran forward according to their own position.

Noel smiled because he was going to face the demon of his choice.

On the other hand, Anna strengthened her body with Spiritual Energy as she sped up, reaching the demon in a second.

With her experience, she easily delivered some heavy wounds to the demon.

*Clang!*

*Clang!*

A few clicking sounds echoed in the battlefield as Anna's iron sword clashed with the demon's claws. She intentionally slowed down her pace so that she could take a glance of Noel's progress.

To her surprise, the demon in Noel's direction slipped down and struggled to get up. The demon even moved around its body to make sure Noel didn't take advantage of this situation to kill him.

When she lowered her vision, she saw the small ice floor that obviously tripped the demon. However, one question remained.

'Wait a minute. Where is Noel?' Anna looked around to find Noel but to no avail.

Unfortunately for her, the answer soon came in the form of action. The demon before her screamed in pain before falling to the ground, dying.

Noel finally rose from the ground while pulling his sword out. In other words, Noel used the opportunity to deliver the killing blow to her demon before returning to his position to kill the other one.

"With this, I can surpass you in the kill count."

Anna was dumbfounded as she never expected that she was outplayed by Noel. "Listen here you rascal."