ra closed her eyes for a mont, taking a subtle deep breath to maintain her composure. She kept her anxiety to herself, it would be pathetic to let it show in the open, and in the current situation. At the mont, they hid within the woods that had the warehouse in view, waiting for the adventurers to start their attack. They should begin at any mont, and so ra and the others were observing closely.
ra was wearing a light armored combat outfit, tal paddings protected her upper body. Over her pants were armor for her thighs, and tal greaves protecting her feet and calves. Her arms were covered in tal gauntlets. Her armor would have been a bit too heavy for her to wear before, but she had been working out her body to endure the weight. If she ever had difficulty, she could always use her Physical Enhancent technique.
Additionally, she had a dagger sheathed on her thigh, just in case she needed an actual blade. It was always a good idea to have a blade of any kind. Because so things just needed cutting. The rest of the knights were also fully ard, their deanor was different from before, more serious. Their eyes were sharp, and they stood motionless. Truly the work of professionals, and ra felt quite lacking. The most she could do was copy how they acted.
They couldn’t make a sound here or do anything that might warrant attention. Who they were targeting were adventurers, they could be sharper than expected. They surmised that they could send scouts before their attack. Therefore, before all of them went to wait here, Vernon moved in advance and searched for any signs of the enemy.
And he did discover a scout in the middle of the night, a sign that the adventurers were preparing to attack. Therefore, the knights moved into position. They had been waiting for a while now. If ra were to guess, it was almost midnight. To wait this long was quite surprising to her.
Is this how it is when going on missions?
She had never been on one of this nature, so perhaps that was the case. She did know that hunters had to have a lot of patience. Therefore, there must be a lot of waiting involved. Facing monsters had been more straightforward.
ra lowered her gaze, slowly taking a deep breath. Her heart was slightly throbbing. There was a lot of pressure, truth be told. The fear of failing, the fear of disappointing. The fear of being a burden to everyone.
Calm down, it has not started yet. Don’t overthink.
Overthinking was pointless and would only bring harm. So she did her best to set those thoughts aside.
A short ti later, a group of n suddenly rushed into the open, charging towards the warehouse. The soldiers guarding the warehouse, who were quite sleepy, snapped awake and were confused upon seeing people suddenly coming up to them.
“Who are you?!” one guard exclaid in a threatening tone.
“Take them all out!” an adventurer roared.
Before they could kill one of the guards, the knights stepped forward.
“Go, go!” shouted the knight captain, Cohen. “Protect the warehouse at all costs!”
ra clenched her fist and gathered all the courage she could get. The knights swiftly sprinted towards the warehouse, towards the adventurers. As was the planned formation, ra along with Vernon, charged at the front first, also along with a couple of knights.
Considering her position, it made ra feel quite tense. She poured mana into her body, enhancing her limbs. With those, she could gain more control over her body, alleviating the effects of her anxiety. ra concentrated, observing the enemy as they got closer.
The adventurer’s eyes widened the mont they saw a group of knights.
“What the fuck?! What are knights doing here?!”
“Shit, retreat! Retreat!”
The knights at the rear scattered and quickly went behind the enemy lines and blocked their paths of escape.
“Traitorous scums,” Ediva spat with blatant disdain, as she pointed her sword towards them. “You don’t deserve rcy.”
One adventurer clicked his tongue. “Fuck it, fight them off!”
As they were about to start swinging weapons, one of the adventurers instantly dropped his blade and raised both hands. “Don’t kill . I’m one of you.”
ra’s eyes widened for a mont. It must be the insider who gave the information about the attack. ra comnded him in her mind that he was brave enough to do sothing like this. Of course, upon hearing this, one of the adventurers flared up in fury.
“It was you! You damn fuck!” he charged towards the agent, swinging his blade. But Cohen instantly stepped in and blocked the attack, protecting the agent.
“Secure the agent to safety.”
One knight quickly pulled the agent away. “Keep away, we need you alive.”
They were given explicit instructions to keep the agent alive if he were among the adventurers. Not only because he was an ally, but because he could have crucial information involving hiring adventurers against the kingdom. Because after eliminating these adventurers, they would still need to track the root of the problem.
The knight brought the agent to safety, then spoke to the warehouse’s soldiers. “Stay out of the fight. Protect him.”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
The adventurers glared at the knights, looking around as if searching for a window to slip through. They really wanted to escape, but the knights would never let them. Left with no other choice, the adventurers launched an attack altogether.
“ra, charge,” Vernon said as he lunged towards an enemy.
“Y-Yes!” ra rushed towards the enemy right in front of her. The adventurer glared at her, a stern gaze, a murderous gaze. To be on the receiving end of such, it disturbed her. It was different compared to the beastly glares of monsters. Sohow, this one felt more terrible. A person willing to kill another person. It was sothing dark.
The enemy before her drew back his spear, the tip pointed at her. She had trained fighting Vernon beforehand, so this was not the first ti she’d had a fight with a human. However, this one would be fatal, where one of them would die. A fight where no one was holding back, one willing to kill.
After scrutinizing her, the adventurer grinned for so reason. “You’re a newbie, aren’t you?”
ra pursed her lips.
How?!
Was it too obvious for a long-ti warrior such as this man?
“You’re gonna die, girl,” he said. “Better back away now.”
ra frowned. She knew he was taunting her. She expected sothing like this to co. But she wouldn’t let it affect her. ra dashed towards the man, and she thrust her fist. With her body enhanced, she moved with great swiftness. However, the adventurer seed to have predicted her actions, and he quickly shifted to the side, dodging her fist.
Before ra could follow up an attack, the adventurer flicked his spear, and the pole violently slamd her back. The impact made ra stagger forward. Her armor took most of the damage, so she was fine for the most part, but the impact was still a bit painful and disorienting.
“Whoa, your attack seed strong,” the adventurer casually said. “But you’re half-baked.”
ra disregarded his mockings and charged at him again. The adventurer stepped backward and pointed his spear forward, directly at ra. ra paused for a mont before the tip of the spear could hit her. She moved in from the side, and the adventurer swiftly shifted back his spear.
Afterward, he thrust the spear, and ra lifted her hand and parried the blade with her gauntlet, sending sparks into the air. With that opening, she took a step forward, but the adventurer recovered and instantly withdrew his spear and swung it sideways. ra quickly dashed backward, missing the spear by an inch.
ra realized what he was doing. She used her fist for combat, therefore, it ant that she could only attack at close lee range. His spear could attack at a bit of range, which could keep her away from him, while at the sa ti allowing him to attack her out of ra’s range. ra was at a disadvantage.
ra felt anxious. She was sturdy, but she couldn’t keep taking whatever attack he might send.
“I’m better than you, girl,” he said. “Just stop and let go.”
ra clenched her fist tightly. “No. You betrayed our holand. I will never let you go, even if it costs my life.”
If I can’t even go past this, then I’m not worthy to follow her. And I’d rather die.
Unable to follow her princess even to the depths of hell, she couldn’t bear to live with that. She poured more power into her legs and waist and rushed towards the enemy, acting more aggressively. The adventurer thrust his spear at her, the latter blocked the spear’s blade, and it nicked her gauntlet. But ra shoved her arm forward, pushing off the spear, and she swiftly moved forward.
The adventurer frantically backed away. He knew, of course, that one hit from ra might inflict critical damage. ra’s opponent was in range, and she swung a fist, but the adventurer managed to dodge that. To think he was quick enough to even dodge her attack just proved how lacking she was still, and it annoyed her.
She followed up with another, and the adventurer blocked the fist with the pole of his spear. The impact was powerful however, making his arms shiver. He gritted his teeth. At the sa ti, ra spun and kicked the adventurer in the belly.
The adventurer was flung backward. Before he could land back on the ground, ra ca after him, intending to slam him down. However, the adventurer imdiately recollected himself. Before his feet touched the ground, he swung his spear in the air, sending a slash of light.
This is…!
There was always a possibility that the adventurers could use Armant Magic, but she couldn’t tell when they’d be using it. And having an enemy use such a thing was a troubling thing for ra.
She frantically held out her hand and cast a barrier. However, upon contact with the slash of light, her barrier imdiately shattered. She was in shock. She had always sucked at using magic spells. The adventurer followed up with another magical slash.
As ra mulled her head on how to handle this, she pressed her arms together in front of her and reinforced them with Physically Enhancent. The slash crashed against her armor, scratching and damaging it a little, then the magic dissipated. ra lunged at the man. All ra could think was to keep up the pressure, get close to him as much as possible. He had the advantage of range, so she shouldn’t give him that.
ra kept closing in, she blocked the spear with the back of her hand, while her other hand swung forward to attack. The enemy shifted his body to dodge, withdrawing his blade. They exchanged attacks, but ra could not land a direct hit on the enemy. The latter, however, managed to hit her chest. Thankfully, the spear’s blade only hit the armor.
ra backed away and picked up a stone, and suddenly threw it at the enemy. The stone quickly shot through the air, and the adventurer flung it off with the pole of his weapon.
“Seriously?!” the adventurer sounded irritated.
His spear’s blade glowed, as if he was charging it up with magic. ra leaped towards him, slamming down her fist, hitting the ground after the enemy frantically dodged, leaving a crater on the ground. Subsequently, the adventurer jumped and slamd down his spear. ra raised both hands and blocked the spear, sending a small shockwave upon impact.
ra poured strength into her legs and torso, pushing upward.
“Fuck this bitch is crazy strong.”
ra deflected his weapon and swiftly kicked the adventurer in the stomach with the bottom of her foot. Blood spurted out of his mouth. She had noticed that he seed to be more robust than she had expected. He must have been using a small amount of Physical Enhancent. Not much as ra could, but enough not to instantly kill him upon taking a hit.
As the adventurer was in the air, he gritted his teeth, glaring at ra. He swung a couple of tis, sending a pair of slashes of light. “Don’t underestimate !”
ra swung her fist subsequently to destroy the incoming projectiles. However, the mont the adventurer landed on the ground, he was already preparing an attack. His spear glowed, and he thrust it forward.
ra’s eyes widened as she watched a piercing attack coming at her with incredible speed. It was too fast for her to react properly. She tried to dodge, shifting her body. However, the attack hit the side of her waist.
“Ggh!” A sharp pain radiated from her wound.
She looked down at the wound, and the piercing attack tore her skin and flesh, only about a couple of inches wide. But such was still sothing to be concerned about. As her wound bled, she put a hand to put pressure on it. She gritted her teeth as she endured the pain.
“ra!” Vernon exclaid.
She was bleeding terribly.
I can’t stop here. This is nothing…
Her breathing turned rapid.
“I can’t… I can’t lose.”
Another slash of light crashed against her, tearing pieces of her armor and wounding parts of her arms and shoulders, causing her to fall to the ground, landing on her back. The world turned into a blur, but she could see the beautiful night sky. She stared up as her blood fed the soil.
I can’t lose… I must not lose…
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