Noel and Anna jumped in opposite directions, confusing the earthworm.
Anna was stronger than Noel. However, it was clear that Noel actually took control in most situations.
If he chased after the wise, there would be a chance of falling into a trap. If he chased after the strong, he might get injured.
The earthworm had to consider its choice carefully since one mistake might lead to its doom.
As one would expect from a Superior Demon's intelligence, the earthworm actually chose an answer aside from Noel and Anna.
The Superior Demon actually turned around and planned to head back to the tunnel. This way, Anna and Noel would have a hard time stopping him. In addition, the Superior Demon could easily make another tunnel with its mouth, making an unpredictable route and burying them inside.
Sadly, there was one miscalculation the Superior Demon made. This plan would be effective if the opponents were not Anna and Noel. Its decision to return to the tunnel was surprising, but it didn't surpass their imagination.
Noel pointed at the tunnel and shouted, "Anna!"
"I know." Anna's red lightning erupted as she moved toward the tunnel, blocking the entrance. She tossed another rock to stop the Superior Demon.
As a result, the latter was forced to use the Spiritual Energy to block the rock once again, allowing Noel to take this opportunity to jump on top of the Superior Demon.
He placed his hands on the earthworm's skin and used the Enhance Forward Rune as well as the Falling Rune to push the earthworm downward.
*Crack!*
The ground started to crack. The force from the runes was quite strong, amplifying the demon's weight. However, the earthworm flapped its body around to throw Noel away, resulting in the runes losing their supply of Spiritual Energy.
The moment it escaped from the runes, the earthworm wanted to crush Anna in front of him, but surprisingly, Anna wasn't there.
It didn't matter too much. The earthworm hurriedly took advantage of this situation to reach the tunnel, but that was when a fluctuation of Spiritual Energy appeared.
The fluctuation was strong but faint, showing that it came from afar. But in an instant, that energy actually appeared next to him and hit him with all that momentum.
*Bam!*
The impact caused the earthworm body to be pushed away from the tunnel. In addition, the area of impact actually left a big injury.
The skin that was sturdier than metal cracked and left quite a big wound. The blood flowed out through the wound.
Both Noel and Anna knew that if they somehow continued this approach, they could gradually weaken the demon and kill it.
Noel and Anna nodded to each other, surrounding the earthworm from two sides.
The earthworm channeled its Spiritual Energy to the ground, summoning multiple spikes.
Anna used her lightning to increase the speed and move between the spikes as though she knew where it was coming from. Noel, on the other hand, flew in the air to get more time to react and avoided every single one of them with his wings.
Undying Phoenix.
Noel shot out his black phoenix while the earthworm formed a dome on top of him to disperse the flame. However, Anna came from the side and channeled all her strength to the sword.
Blood Lightning Crescent.
The Spiritual Energy looked like it became an extension of her blade, cutting all the spikes, domes and even the worm's body.
"!!!" The earthworm was electrocuted by lightning. The dome collapsed and the spikes fell down.
The Undying Phoenix soon hit the earthworm and exploded, burning the earthworm.
Their attacks were extremely effective. Anna's True Spirit Body aside, Noel's Undying Fire was so strong that it could break apart the earthworm's defense.
If Noel and Anna fought the Superior Demon alone, they wouldn't be able to defeat it. Their respective strength might be equal to that of a Spirit Grandmaster. In fact, no one would know the winner if each of them fought Nicole.
However, Anna's True Spirit Body and Noel's Undying Fire elevated their attack power to an unprecedented degree. In addition, both of them were smart and understood what each other was thinking, allowing them to reach a higher level. They might still not be as strong as Dimitri without his True Spirit Body, but it was already beyond the level of a mere Superior Demon.
That was why Noel and Anna kept making one injury after another on the earthworm's body.
No matter how it retaliated, Anna's fighting instinct let her avoid all of them. In addition, Noel's support kept destroying whatever it forked out.
"Noel!" Eventually, Anna tossed the huge spike into the air and used her Spiritual Energy to position it on top of the earthworm's body.
"Oh!" Noel smirked and hit the back of the spike with the Ignition Sword. The blast acted like a hammer and impaled the earthworm's body. Anna even coated the tip of the spike with her red lightning, increasing its penetrating power. As a result, the spike pierced through the body and planted it on the ground.
Noel and Anna planted a few more spikes to make sure that the earthworm couldn't go anywhere and die soon.
The earthworm's movement began to slow down and eventually stopped moving.
"Ha… Ha…" Noel panted a few times, observing the demon.
Meanwhile, Anna lowered her weapon because she had exhausted all her energy. It was already hard to maintain her True Spirit Body.
Due to the excessive use of her True Spirit Body, Anna suddenly dropped to her knees and coughed some blood.
Anna gritted her teeth. The pain all over her body intensified and the horns on her head gradually disappeared. Her red lightning was also flickering as if it was trying to change back.
"Anna? Are you alright?" Noel asked from the air.
"Yeah. Thanks to you, I don't have heavy injuries, so I should be fine after resting for a while." Anna sighed. "Though, I have to trouble you to deal a killing—!"
"?!" Noel abruptly frowned when Anna stopped and the earthworm started moving again.
*Bam!*
*Bam!*
It seemed to be the earthworm's last struggle, but what shocked Noel was that the earthworm was pointing its mouth at Anna.
"Huh?" Noel didn't know what the earthworm was doing, but Anna's face suddenly became pale. It was clear that she sensed the danger coming from the earthworm.
"Kh." Anna tried to circulate the remaining red lightning to protect herself. Meanwhile, Noel dove into the ground, trying to rescue her. The Spiritual Energy was rising to the point where it was clear the earthworm was about to shoot something.
'I won't make it,' he thought. Currently, he was in the air between the earthworm and Anna. If he made his way to them respectively, he might not be able to reach them before it was too late. Hence, the only way for him was to land right between them.
He thought the earthworm would be shooting out an ability to kill Anna, but it turned out the worm actually shot out its teeth.
"Its teeth?" Noel panicked and raised his sword.
"Huh?" Anna was shocked, never expecting that Noel had moved to protect her life.
He used all the abilities he could use in order to protect something behind him such as Circular Sword Strike, Phoenix Wings, Ice Mirrors, or even Hardening Rune on his own body. He parried the incoming teeth with all his might.
"Haaa!" Noel shouted at the top of his lungs while trying to surpass the limit by repelling all the teeth away.
The Circular Sword Strike eliminated a few teeth. The Phoenix Wings caught some like the extension of his hands. Ice Mirrors got shattered by the teeth but killed their momentum. Hardening Rune was his last resort when everything he did couldn't stop the teeth.
However, the Superior Demon simply had too many teeth. With Noel's current strength, he managed to repel most of the teeth.
Out of 129 teeth the Superior Demon shot, 120 of them had been repelled. However, nine of them actually pierced Noel's body.
Two of them didn't penetrate deeply due to the Hardening Rune. However, three of them hit his chest, waist, and stomach. Each tooth was as big as his head, so they pierced quite deeply. The remaining teeth hit his limbs.
"Noel…" Anna widened her eyes in shock. This was the first time she saw Noel sacrificing his life in order to protect her. Yet, she couldn't comprehend why.
Their relationship might be good to the point where he dared to gamble with his life. However, it wasn't at the level where he sacrificed his life for her.
That was why she didn't expect Noel to do all this.
Yet, despite such injuries, Noel still asked, "Are you fine?"
"…" Anna was too shocked to answer that question. In addition, the earthworm's body was contracting as if it was trying to make another move in its dying breath.
If Noel got hit by another attack, he would definitely die. Without hesitation, she hurriedly moved past Noel and discharged the red lightning.
"Die, you bastard!" Anna shouted in anger. The red lightning was rampaging in and out of the earthworm until the latter didn't move anymore.
When she turned around, Noel's face had become pale. "Noel!"
She rushed to check his condition, but the moment she reached him, Noel said, "I'm glad that you're fine. This way, I don't owe you anymore."
The way he worded it reminded her of the time she was heavily injured and had to fall unconscious in his embrace. Noel once said that he didn't like to owe someone something because it would just give them an advantage during a negotiation.
That might be the reason why Noel did such a thing. However, there was a difference between the two occasions. This time, Noel protected Anna's life directly. Meanwhile, the previous time was Anna trying to warn him of the danger but failed to do so because she fell unconscious.
Noel fell forward as Anna caught him. She poured her Spiritual Energy around his body to assess the danger, but she heard him saying weakly, "I'm fine. Pull out all the teeth and take out a pill in my backpack."
That assurance made her a bit relieved. She hurriedly laid him down, followed his instruction, and found the pill that the Sword Saint once gave him.
In that instant, a surge of Spiritual Energy from the pill suddenly burst out of his body. His wounds seemed to be closing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Noel's face gradually regained its color, showing that his condition became stable, albeit he was still unconscious.
Looking at the peaceful face Noel had, she couldn't help but say, "Owing me? Why did you look so happy when you said that… You never owed me. It's always the other way around."
