"Hmm? Only both of you return? Where is Anna? We have agreed to regroup here before lunch, right?" Jonathan furrowed his eyebrows.
Rose looked around and frowned, not finding any trace of Anna. "Does she forget about the time?"
"Or maybe she has found something and is occupied with it at the moment?" Noel asked.
"There is a chance she's captured…" Zion narrowed his eyes. Which way did she go earlier?"
"There." Jonathan pointed to the south.
"I'm going to check on her." Zion glanced at Noel since he knew Anna the most. "What do you think, Noel?"
"Anna isn't someone who will get captured easily. Though, our enemy this time might have a Devil Bishop among them, so I agree with you. But even if you find anything, it's better to stop there. At the very least, we already know that there are humans hiding around there, which is a sign of the enemies. Instead of alerting them, it's better to ambush them when a Captain has arrived."
Zion nodded with a serious expression. "In that case, I'll go. Rose will maintain the surveillance."
The group immediately split up to do their new task. Rose immediately climbed the hill again, watching the entire area from above. After getting all the samples needed, Ben was in charge of cooking while Jonathan and Noel kept doing their jobs.
While the others were searching for her, Anna kept wandering around the hill while looking for any sign of people around them. With the help of the demons, the Supreme Devil Organization didn't need a lot of people to attack them. Instead, they preferred a group of elites that could deal with the Demon Relief Squad.
Knowing this, Anna was trying to find any place where they could hide with a small number of people among the hills.
Anna narrowed her eyes. She remembered when she tried to survive in the wild alone due to Noel's scam, she would camp around the water source.
Hence, she instantly started at the upstream where the water hadn't been contaminated by the poison.
"Let's see, the upstream terrain is quite tough, but I can see a few spots that can be used as a camp…" Anna muttered. She raised her head to look at the sun, calculating the time. "I'm going to be late at this rate, but…"
The opportunity was in front of her. She let out a long sigh as if building her resolve. Instead of informing the group, she followed the river, trying to get into all the areas.
Meanwhile, Zion had a hard time finding her. The area was vast and he had no idea how Anna investigated an area before.
"What's wrong with this Anna… She is a bit too special, isn't she?" Zion narrowed his eyes, looking at the ground. "There isn't a single trace of her footstep. I can do this myself since that's the point of my power, but Anna… she can even use her Spiritual Energy to lessen the impact her foot give to the soil?
"This is not at the level of genius anymore. She is basically a monster in terms of controlling her Spiritual Energy. She also has the highest conversion rate in the kingdom. So, is this the current most talented person in the kingdom?" Zion was amazed and scared at the same time.
Her power was this strong even though she had just become an adult recently. Although Noel's talent was extraordinary, Zion felt Noel's talent a bit more humane since he could see Noel's rapid progress. On the other hand, Anna never ceased to amaze him with all her strength.
"And the only one who can find her is probably the Devil Bishop himself… I'm afraid she is also good at removing her presence. In fact, with this skill alone, she has the ability to challenge the vice captain of the Demon Observer Squad. If she becomes a Spirit Master or even Spirit Grandmaster, people might beg her to take their position."
Zion let out a long sigh. There was no point in getting scared of Anna since she was one of their squad members. Now that he had to find her, he immediately jumped around the area, trying to find any trace of her.
Unfortunately for him, there wasn't a single trace of Anna he could find. It felt like Anna was adept in the covert operation.
Even after thirty minutes, he couldn't find anything related to Anna. There was no footstep or even a trail on the trunk, branches, and dried leaves.
"…" Zion pinched the bridge of his nose. "Should I go back and inform them instead? This is going to be troublesome since I have no idea how to find her. It's better to bring some reinforcement to find her."
Zion was quick to decide. He turned around and jumped back to where he came from, following the path to regroup with his team.
But to his surprise, Anna was there, standing with everyone.
"What?!" Zion widened his eyes in shock and immediately checked on her, not believing she could get past him unnoticed. "You…"
"Oh, sorry, Zion. So, you were the one trying to find me. I thought the presence in the hill I felt earlier was from the enemy scout."
"Enemy scout, what?" Zion was bewildered even further. "What happened?"
"Well, well, Zion. Let's calm down for a bit. Sit down and eat." Rose handed a bowl to the dumbfounded Zion.
"…" Zion was tongue-tied. He was embarrassed to be bested by someone far younger than him. He sighed and asked, "So, do you mind telling me what happened? You mentioned enemy scout earlier… Don't tell me you found our enemies?"
"Yes." Anna nodded. "Though, I judge that it's too dangerous to observe them directly. So, I just look at their presence and leave without doing anything. Of course, I can lead you to them after this so that you can confirm their existence."
"Yeah, we can do that later. For now, do you mind telling me everything from the start? Do you know how worried I was because I couldn't find a single trace of your movement?" Zion sighed.
"Sure." Anna smiled. "It was…"