"Hahaha!" The bandit leader laughed, looking at Noel's pathetic self. Despite his overwhelming strength, he would never expect that the woman was actually one of the bandits.
And now that ignorance would cost him his life.
The leader immediately came to him while raising his axe, planning to cut him down. "Die!"
A smile suddenly appeared in Noel's face as the woman finally realized what happened.
"No!" She let out a cry while lowering her vision. Her dagger was actually stopped by a layer of ice like how Noel stopped the bandit leader's axe at first.
Unfortunately, she was too late. Noel swiftly swung his sword.
"Keuk!" The bandit leader gritted his teeth and tried to move away, but it was too late. Noel managed to cut his hand.
"Argh!" While screaming in pain, the bandit tried to move away, but not before another slash from Noel, cutting his other arm. This way, the bandit leader wouldn't be able to attack him anymore. As for his life, he was planning to let him live a little bit longer so that he could extract the information.
However, Noel couldn't forgive the backstabbing woman. She reminded him of Anna. Though, Anna was leaning to plotting instead of backstabbing.
He cut the hand that held the dagger, making the woman scream like the bandit leader. She dropped to the ground while clutching her arm.
"Arghhh!" The woman gritted her teeth, glaring at him. "How do you know?"
Noel looked down on her, recalling what happened earlier when he received the mission.
'This is… a mission!' Noel thought, reading the mission details.
[Mission: Save 19 hostages.]
[Description: There are nineteen women that got captured by the bandits and shall be saved.]
[Reward: Ardagan Swordsmanship+1]
[Penalty: A Nightmare.]
The reward was tempting, but he was more focused on the number of the hostages.
'There are twenty women inside according to the bandit, but now there are only nineteen?' Noel thought.
When he entered the room, he counted the woman and realized the bandit didn't lie.
'What's wrong? There are twenty women, but I only need to save nineteen of them? Then, does that mean there is a traitor among them? There is a woman who is affiliated with the bandits…' Noel thought this was the case. However, he encountered one problem. 'Still, I don't know who it is.
Saving this person might lead to another problem, so I need to find that one suspicious woman. Then, there is only one way…'
His plan was to show a bit of overwhelming power and weakness, thinking it would be the time for her to step up and show herself. And his plan worked.
Not only he could see the traitor, but he could also defeat these bandits thoroughly.
He looked down on her and said, "As expected, there is a bandit hidden among you. In that case, there's no need for letting you live."
The woman's face became pale, staring at Noel in horror.
Because of the wretched nature of hers, Noel couldn't withstand his anger and slice her neck, sending her head flying without batting an eye.
His expression was cold as he turned to the remaining four bandits.
"Hiii!" The bandits were so scared at him that they ran away, trying to leave the cave as soon as possible.
But to everyone's surprise, Noel didn't even make a single move. Instead, he focused on the bandit leader as though he wanted to torture him for the information.
However, he also noticed the terrified women on his side. Seeing their helpless faces reminded him of his own feeling after he was brought to the Demon Banner Army.
He let out a long breath to regain his calm. A smile returned to his face as he tried to assure them with a gentle tone. "Don't worry. I have my teammate right outside. They won't be able to do anything."
As Noel said, they didn't know Noel was just bluffing earlier. Even though the bandit leader had told them it was a bluff, seeing Noel's overwhelming strength made them think otherwise.
The bandits started panting as they were running as fast as possible. As soon as they saw the exit, they thought they would be safe since they could simply disperse to avoid getting chased down by Noel.
But what met them was a horrifying scene. Before them lied tens of corpses. The ground was dyed red by the blood and the foul smell filled their nose when they came out.
Their bodies became stiff as they couldn't move even if they wanted to.
In front of them was a woman with a red sword. That redness didn't come from the metal's color, but it was dyed by the bandits' blood. It was clear that she was the one that annihilated their entire group.
Although they could see some arrows here and there, the woman was too terrifying to ignore.
Anna glanced at them and smirked, "It seems that there are a few rats who are trying to escape."
Meanwhile, Noel had stood in front of the bandit leader. His eyes were emitting killing intent as he stabbed the bandit leader's right thigh.
"Aaaaahhhhh!" He screamed in pain as his body started convulsing. Even if he wanted to clutch the stabbed area to lessen the pain, he couldn't.
"Who taught you how to catch the demon?" Noel asked with a cold tone.
"I don't know… I don't know…" The bandit leader started crying from the intense pain. "Please don't kill me."
Noel's eyebrows twitched as he twisted his sword, ripping apart the flesh in his thigh.
"Aaaahhhh!" The pain was several times higher that the bandit leader dropped his body to the ground.
"Who taught you how to catch a demon?" Noel asked the same question.
"I don't know… He was a hooded man. I couldn't see his face." The man answered while begging for his life. "Don't kill me. I'll tell you everything you want."
This was the second time Noel killed a human. However, he was surprisingly calm. In fact, he was even filled with anger.
Never in his wildest dream that the cruel bandit would beg for his life after killing these many people brutally.
"Unfortunately, you have answered my doubt. Now that I know you're useless, there's no need to keep you alive anymore." Noel pulled his sword as he cut down the bandit leader, thinking, 'I don't think this is enough for the hatred the women had to endure, but I can't waste too much time either.'