Chapter 80 - a.s.sault Squad (part 2)

"Ravenous!! Stop this madne-" Olivia shouted when she saw Astrid running towards her, but before she finished her words, she had to dodge the great gauntlets of the agile manticore-woman.

"Rav-" Olivia was considered an S-rank adventurer, and her agility was also great, but Astrid was now on another level... Her body seemed as light and fast as the wind, and she could also predict Olivia"s every move with her improved senses.

Olivia did not want to hurt Astrid because she thought Lucien could be a great ally. Right now, he was fighting Red Lady, and Olivia just wanted to join him to fight her arch-enemy.

But Astrid continued to attack her with quick punches and kicks. Olivia was getting really upset but tried to persuade Astrid once again.

Astrid was enjoying the fight more and more. She was moving quickly, but she felt she was not yet using her full potential. She didn"t want to hurt Olivia, so she kept attacking at a pace that Olivia could handle.

But then Astrid saw that Olivia was going to say again a word that she didn"t like anymore, and stopped her from speaking by hitting her stomach with a quick blow. "You don"t have to call me Ravenous anymore. I don"t need to hide my true ident.i.ty with hubby."

Olivia stepped back after receiving Astrid"s fist punch. Olivia knew she had taken it easy and didn"t hit her with any sharp parts of her claws so that the blow only caused pain and no severe injuries.

Still, Olivia was shocked that Astrid was faster than her now. This meant that Astrid was already in S-rank and more powerful than her... But the most surprising thing was that she was abandoning her secret ident.i.ty so easily for Lucien.

She can"t help but question Astrid. "What? You must be kidding! What did he do to change you like that?"

"You wouldn"t understand... I have a family now. People who trust me, and I trust them. This is different from how you do things, just thinking about your own benefits." Astrid did not attack Olivia again because she knew that Glen was about to fire arrows at her.

Olivia was perplexed. Astrid hadn"t said anything that made sense, and she tried to make her "friend" realize the mistake she was making.

"I won"t understand if you don"t explain. I know you and Lucien are together... But look. He"s facing the mercenaries. Doesn"t that make us allies? Why are you attacking me?"

"You don"t always have everything under control, Olivia... I don"t want to hurt you. Just stop resisting." Astrid looked at Olivia but was totally focused on Glen, who was aiming an arrow at her.

Olivia also knew that Glenn was ready to fire Astrid. She didn"t want to be the enemy of manticore-woman, but she also didn"t know what was going on...

"Olivia, should i?" Glen didn"t want to have to fire the woman who was recently his comrade, but he would still follow Olivia"s orders.

Olivia thought for a second, hoping to see Astrid"s reaction, but she didn"t show any change in her expression... She still had that confident sparkle in her eyes even though she faced two S-rank adventurers, and that made Olivia very curious.

"Wait, Glen. What do you mean, Astrid?" Glen, Jeanne, and Mason were very confused by everything that was going on. They heard Ravenous talk about her real name, and now Olivia was trying to negotiate with her, even though Olivia was the Guild"s leader while Astrid was just one person.

Astrid pointed to the few adventurers still alive on the battlefield. "See, your adventurers are almost all dead... You don"t have to die here... Just retreat."

Olivia looked at Red Lady fighting Lucien and couldn"t help but make a face. She really wanted to kill that woman, but Astrid was not giving her that option.

She thought that facing Astrid, Lucien, the white tigress, the earth mage, and possibly more allies he had would be impossible after losing more than half of her group, so she tried to do what was best for the adventurers who were still alive.

"It is a mistake! But I agree. Let us go." Olivia couldn"t understand what was going on, but at least they could survive.

She was going to call Klaus to retreat when she heard Astrid"s stern voice. "You didn"t understand, Olivia. Although you attacked my husband after he joined the Guild, he is willing to let you go... But only you and Jeanne. The others must stay."

Astrid"s words made the whole group very confused. Mason and Glen couldn"t help being scared. After all, Astrid was saying that they would stay to die.

"What nonsense is that? Why are you doing this? It does not make sense!!" Olivia shouted at Astrid when she lost her temper. She couldn"t believe how things were going because even though she was very smart, she couldn"t see any sense in Astrid"s words.

The tension brought Olivia"s body into a state of maximum alertness. Her adrenaline went up when she forced her mind to look for any connection that would make any sense. For a second, she remembered how she met Astrid a year ago.

It was the night of the joint attack by the Guild and the mercenary groups led by Ivan. She was part of the groups that surrounded the castle to prevent anyone to escape.

She was patrolling alone when she found Astrid fighting mercenaries near the entrance of a cave. It was easy to conclude that the manticore-woman was part of the Queen"s forces.

Olivia did not like the mercenaries but would not interfere with them by dealing with someone loyal to the Queen... But after watching Astrid fight for half an hour, even though she was severely injured, Olivia began to admire the powerful demi-human.

Ivan should have killed the Queen by then, so Olivia thought she could make Astrid loyal to her if she saved her life. Having a powerful demi-human in the Guild would be great in addition to the fact that Olivia could manipulate Astrid to discover the whereabouts of other people who are still loyal to the Queen.

So Olivia prevented the mercenaries from killing Astrid, saying that she would kill her after taking some information about the Queen"s loyal people. After that night, the mercenaries wouldn"t think about her anymore because everyone knew how brutal Olivia could be when it came to getting information.

Astrid was badly injured after having to fight so many mercenaries for Ca.s.sidy and Mia to escape, so she had to accept Olivia"s help. For a year, she pretended to have nothing to do with Ca.s.sidy and just focused on being a normal adventurer. Her and Olivia became "friends," and everything was going well...

But then, a mysterious man appeared, and Astrid started acting strangely. Then they started a conflict with mercenaries, and during an escape, a mysterious earth mage severely damaged the city...

Now Red Lady attacked them and then Astrid appeared with Lucien... But while he was fighting mercenaries, Astrid said that the adventurers couldn"t go too.

All this information that seemed to have no connection creates chaos in Olivia"s mind... But then a strange thought came to her brilliant mind. "Who would benefit from the death of mercenaries and adventurers?"

It only took Olivia three seconds for her quick thoughts to conclude that only one thing would make sense. She looked at Astrid and asked with evident concern in her tone. "Is she... Is she alive?"

n.o.body understood Olivia"s words because they didn"t know about Astrid"s past. But how could she not understand?

Lucien"s plan was just to prevent the two leaders from dying, but now that Olivia was starting to find out about Ca.s.sidy, everything was getting more complicated.

Astrid didn"t know what she was supposed to do and was about to try mental communication with Lucien when she heard his calm voice in her mind. "Just knock her and Jeanne out. You can kill the others. The girls will help you."

"You shouldn"t overthink it." Astrid didn"t think twice and ran towards Olivia with her gauntlets ready.

When Olivia saw Astrid"s confused reaction, she knew her thoughts must be right, so the problem was serious. She did not know how Lucien was connected to Ca.s.sidy, but she was undoubtedly alive and was hostile to the Guild as well as the mercenaries.

"Glen!" Olivia saw Astrid getting ready to attack her again and didn"t think twice before ordering Glen to fire.

After a year as comrade adventurers, Glen has never had a problem with Astrid, and he can"t help but hesitate to hurt her. Of course, he understood that she had somehow become their enemies now, and aimed his arrow at Astrid"s leg to disable her.

*Tremble*

"Huh?!" Everything happened very fast, and when Astrid jumped towards Olivia, the earth shook, making everyone except Astrid, who was in the air, losing the balance.

*Purrh*

It only took Olivia to lose her balance for a second for Astrid to hit her again. This time the blow was severe, causing her to be thrown back a few meters while spitting blood.

Glen quickly regained his balance and tried to fire his arrows at Astrid again, but then he heard something coming from behind him.

*Woosh*

The elven archer quickly dodged a rock that flew towards him. After dodging it once, he had to avoid it again and again because someone was bombarding him with stones of different sizes.

*Thud*

Glen has high agility, but Mason didn"t... One of the rocks that Glen dodged hit Mason in the head, making him pa.s.s out on the spot. Jeanne was also hit, but her resistance is very high, and she managed to protect her head.

Olivia got up quickly and picked up some thrown knives as she knew she couldn"t face Astrid in close combat. She also threw a smoke bomb on the ground while Astrid jumped towards her.

"What!?!?" As soon as the smoke rose, Olivia thought she would have an advantage, but she had to dodge Astrid"s blow, which pa.s.sed just inches from her head.

"I have always admired your strength, Olivia... But now I am superior to you in any capacity." Astrid couldn"t help bragging about her new strength. Of course, she also kept thinking about Lucien and how to reward him while getting even stronger.

Olivia was trying everything she had on Astrid, but the manticore-woman looked more powerful than any S-rank adventurer Olivia had ever seen. Astrid moved with incredible speed, and her reflexes were perfect.

"What the h.e.l.l did he do to you?!?!?" Olivia couldn"t stop thinking about how Lucien made Astrid go from an A-rank adventurer to someone with the strength and agility at the top of the S-rank.

Astrid continued to dodge Olivia"s attacks and tricks while hitting her with fist blows, always avoiding fatal injuries, which made the fight last longer than necessary.

She listened to Olivia"s questions but had no desire to answer for fear of having another sister to share Lucien... But in the end, she can"t help wanting to provoke Olivia. "You can also have that power... But you would have to abandon your ambition... And become a good girl."

Olivia"s body was already close to the limit. She was using everything she had, throwing knives, bombs, and poisons at Astrid, but she dodged everything and kept punching her with those big gauntlets.

"What do you mean?" Olivia was sure Astrid didn"t want to kill her, and she couldn"t help but be curious when she talked about also having the chance to getting that power.

There was still a lot of smoke from the bombs she used, so Olivia, who was getting weaker and more debilitated, began to feel her senses fading. Her vision started to darken, so she felt another painful blow on her chest and was thrown a few feet away.

When Olivia fell to the ground, she tried to get up, but her body did not respond at her commands anymore. She saw Glen, Jeanne, and Mason knocked down a few feet from her while two figures were standing in front of them.

Olivia couldn"t resist anymore and pa.s.sed out while thinking about how confusing everything was, and nothing made sense... But at the same time, everything was connected to Lucien...