"The demon… hasn't… died."
"!!!" Anna and Noel were dumbstruck.
Noel hurriedly checked his system while Anna tried to look at the mushroom's previous location. They were checking if the demon had died or not. But to their surprise, the demon had truly died.
There was only one answer to this situation. "That mushroom is not the real Advanced Level Demon!"
*Gasp!* Anna fell silent as her expression turned grim. "Are you serious right now? If the real Advanced Level Demon is not that strong, then how's about the real Advanced Level Demon?"
Anna gritted her teeth, recalling all the memories in her mind. 'No! An Advanced Level Demon should be at that demon's level. This hiding mushroom should have the same power, but are there two Advanced Level Demon in this forest?'
Anna didn't know what to do in this situation. Handling that one mushroom alone used up a lot of stamina and Spiritual Energy. If they had to take care another Advanced Level Demon, she might end up exhausting all their Spiritual Energy before she could kill this demon.
On the other hand, Noel looked at his sword. The mushrooms on his sword had indeed died. The demon they faced earlier was real, but there was a hidden enemy.
'Is there a twin demons or something?' Noel thought. On the one hand, he wanted to believe this was a different Advanced Level Demon. On the other hand, he could relate the two demons together.
After all, their strength was awfully similar. Unless they were twins, there was no way they were a different demon.
'If that's the case…' Noel didn't have time to think, so he hurriedly revolved his brain to come up with a hypothesis. But the realization that came to him was a bit shocking. 'Wait a minute. The mushroom that I killed earlier was a fake? And this Advanced Level Demon is the real one?
'But if this is the case, then the demon's ability is to significantly raise a demon's ability to Advanced Level as a fake?' Noel sucked a cold breath and asked, "Anna. Is there any demon that can raise another demon to Advanced Level Demon for a fake body?"
"What did you say?" Anna was stunned hearing Noel's question. After all, it led to one of her memories. "Undying Mushroom Demon!"
"Undying Mushroom Demon?"
"Undying Mushroom Demon is not that strong, but its ability is like you say. It can use the take over ability to control a demon and raise its ability. Even if we kill that demon, as long as the Undying Mushroom Demon hasn't died, it will continue take over and make more and more demons like that."
"!!!" Noel was stunned, never expecting that the situation was more severe than he originally thought.
Anna also thought the same. 'Wait. The Undying Mushroom Demon is not an Advanced Level Demon in the past. It's beyond that point… A Peak Level Demon. It cause everywhere because no one can find its body. It sends one Peak Level Demon after another, so that's why it's considered a disaster.
In other words, if we let this demon escape, the Saintess will be completely taken over and that demon will reach the Peak Level.'
Both of them had the same thought. They had to kill this Undying Mushroom Demon no matter what.
And Noel suddenly remembered the scene when the mushroom released its spore. The wind carrying it in a certain direction, meaning the mushroom itself was positioning itself on the opposite direction. And they had been going in the wrong direction this whole time.
"…" Noel turned grim, realizing the severity of this matter. Without hesitation, Noel shouted. "Anna. Take care of the Saintess and don't let her use her power again. Just escape from those demons!"
Without wasting a single second, Noel turned around and went straight to the opposite direction where the wind was going. He also used the Demon Hunter Medal to make sure he could find all demons around him. He was planning to check all signatures and killed those demons since he couldn't afford to let this Advanced Level Demon escape.
"W-what?!" Anna was stunned because Noel just left them behind like that. She wanted to chase after him, but she saw the Saintess still enduring the pain. Looking at the barrier, it was clear that she would fully be contaminated sooner or later. The only way to save her was to stop her from using her power. It would delay the time a bit.
She gritted her teeth and went to the Saintess. "Release your barrier and I'll carry you out of here."
"Please go with him! I'm fine." Layla endured the pain while assuring her. Noel needed a help to fight another Advanced Level Demon before finding the Undying Mushroom Demon, so he needed her help.
However, Anna was far more decisive than she originally thought.
"I don't like losing anything!" Anna broke apart the barrier that isolated her. Layla must think it could isolate her from the outside because she didn't know what would happen if she got taken over. But this barrier was far brittle than she originally thought.
"Eh?" Layla was shocked, never expecting that her barrier could be shattered just like that. She admitted that it wasn't as strong as the peak form, but even those demons couldn't break it. It was weird to find Anna breaking it easily.
Little did she know, Anna had known her weakness since she had to eliminate her in the past. This barrier could easily be destroyed by her.
Without hesitation, Anna grabbed the Saintess and carried her on her back before chasing after Noel.
"Of course, I'm going to chase after him. But I also need to bring you away from these demons. That's why we both are going. As I said, I don't like losing anything, so I'll just get both done simultaneously." Anna smiled and started running in Noel's direction. She added, "So, stop using your power. There might be another opportunity for you to utilize that power to help us."
"…" The Saintess fell silent for a moment and finally released the barrier trapping the demon. "Understood."
Their approach might be different, but Layla felt that Noel and Anna had drawn her in. She felt like it was alright to rely on them.