Sunlight seeped through the thick and gigantic trees’ leaves, and birds chirping and insects buzzing sounds could be heard.
Suddenly, there was a rustling sound, and two shadows dashed through the forest extremely fast.
Naturally, those two shadows were Lanoz and Vins, the leaders of now decimated two squads. They were running for their lives.
While they were running, Vins asked Lanoz a question via mental transmission.
”Damn it. Who said that the girl was only middle-rank Level 4? There’s no way in hell, that’s true. What’s going on?”
”Like you, I am also bewildered; I don’t know anything. We have been misinformed, or that girl had concealed herself extremely well. I hope my hunch is not right, or else we all die here.” Lanoz replied, wiping away her sweat.
”What? Please explain yourself, do not hold anything for yourself.” The annoyed Vins roared, not holding back his rage anymore.
Lanoz sighed before answering by dropping a bomb.
”That girl is at least closer to level 3; it’s just my hunch. I’m not sure; the girl is too powerful to be anything else.”
Vins shuddered when he heard that; even Lanoz was in the same case. If his assumption was true, they were doomed. They decided to continue running, not wasting any time.
They were so scared that they did not dare to stop running. Their nerves grew so tense because they were afraid of Lilith catching up. They gave their all while running at full speed, putting more distance between themselves and that monstrous white-haired girl. At least, it was what they thought.
While those two were running ahead, thinking they had put enough distance between them.
In another location, Lilith sat on a gigantic tree trunk she had cut down using her claws which had been enhanced. She sat there quietly with her legs crossed; she looked extremely bored. She was waiting for something.
Soon, what she was waiting for came; it was Lanoz and Vins. The two abruptly stopped when they saw their worst nightmare in front of them. Their expression turned uglier and uglier. The two had decided to stick together because one of them was a Wind attribute origin master, but, more importantly, they were best friends. They do everything together except for sharing the woman they love.
The two were planning to quickly meet up with the other members, with fifteen men adding they could fight this girl. So, they thought.
Merely, as matters stood now, they were doomed; there was nothing they could do. After all, this white-haired girl was unreasonably strong. They were sure she would not let them go.
Therefore, the two decided to fight to the bitter end, knowing they would lose.
Lilith, on the other hand, was observing all their reactions, having seen that they decided to fight even knowing they would die. She smiled while looking at the two. She sincerely praised them.
Lanoz and Vins’ expressions turned uglier; they were not pleased to be praised by their prey (Now the hunter). They had their own pride, after all.
”Shut up, you monster. We do not need your acknowledgment. Our leaders who are strong beyond your wildest imagination will avenge us.”
Vins roared saying this. Even though they may die here, he was planning to frighten Lilith by talking about their leaders, the leaders of the Blood hand.
Snow smile, an extremely beautiful smile. She then looked at them like she was looking at a bunch of fools.
”Your leaders, huh? Don’t worry; my master will take care of them after returning. I pity Phantom and Skylar. They did not know whom they had angered. Truly pathetic. This time your greed will kill you all.” Lilith said sarcastically.
Lanoz and Vins’ eyes opened wide; they had never imagined that this girl knew who their leaders were. This means that the master she was talking about knew beforehand what their this mission was. If it was true, then this man was truly scary. They must inform the others like if one of them managed to survive, the survivor would inform their leaders about this news.
Since the start, they had been played within the enemy’s palm thinking they would succeed. They were the prey, and the true hunter was this girl, one of the hunters.
Suddenly, Vins, the purple-haired man, shouted. Not only did green gaseous flames emerge from his mouth as he shouted, but green gaseous flames also surrounded his body.
At the moment, Vin’s battle power soared, pushing him towards peak rank level 4. The green gaseous flames were toxic; everything they touched began to decay at a fast speed.
”Oh? What an unusual power. A poison-type origin master is extremely rare. Especially, in the human race.” Lilith mumbled without much interest.
Lanoz also summoned a big wind tornado; the two techniques clashed for a while before starting to combine. After a while it was transformed into a small green tornado; everything radius of twenty meters around the small green tornado decayed. The green tornado advanced toward Lilith
The latter expression didn’t change; she pointed her white finger towards the incoming tornado and muttered.
”Blood Arts: Blood Ice Wolf.”
Immediately, a beautiful red snow wolf was summoned; she looked at the incoming tornado with disdain before opening her mouth and shooting a small blood-ice arrow toward the incoming green tornado.
Soon, the small arrow collided with the tornado, and something astonishing happened, the small green tornado started to freeze. In a matter of a few seconds, it had become totally frozen.
Lanoz and Vins paled; this technique was their strongest technique. A summoned Elemental beast easily crushed this technique summoned from the Elemental plane. They finally knew that this girl was at least closer to level 3. Contracting an Elemental beast was not something anybody could do; it was possible only closer to level 3. There was some exception, but contracting an Elemental beast from the Elemental plane would also put you above the others.
Suddenly, Lanoz shot in the opposite direction at a breakneck speed; he decided to sacrifice his best friend for his survival.
Vins stood frozen in place, not believing that his childhood friend would betray him at the last minute. They had vowed to protect each other at the cost of their own lives. They vowed to die together if it ever came a day they faced an extremely powerful enemy. Now, his best friend, no, they were like a brother with whom he had shared everything, betrayed him.
Vins was devastated, so devastated that he didn’t even notice that the summoned Elemental beast was in front of him. It was already too late when he noticed; he didn’t even put any resistance as the beast beheaded him with its sharp paw. It was an intelligent elemental beast capable of speaking.
”What a foolish human.”
She disappeared after killing Vins.
Meanwhile, Lanoz was running at a fast speed; he was using the Wind as a booster. He was crying; he did not know how often he had said these words ‘Forgive me, Vins. I’ll live for you.’
Suddenly, he stopped moving altogether; no, to be more accurate, he was forced to stop because a hand had pierced through his chest. Surprisingly, it was Lilith’s hand; she looked at the bewildered Lanoz with extremely cold eyes and muttered.
”I hate betrayer the most.”
After saying this, she retracted her hand from Lanoz’s chest and crushed his heart. Lanoz died, eyes filled with unwillingness. ‘Even though I sacrificed my best friend, I still died in the end.’ This was his last thought.
Lilith didn’t even spare him a glance before vanishing from where she was. She had sensed the approaching group. She decided to wait for them at the previous location. As she said, she really hated betrayers, someone close to her previous master whom she completely trusted betrayed her in the end. This made Nix colder than normal, and she taught this hatred to Lilith, who was like her daughter.
”Let’s wait for more preys to come and maybe I can find something worthing of my taste.”
Lilith decided to wait for her prey.
•••••
A few kilometers away from Lilith’s current location was a group of fifteen men. They were dressed in black; these men were moving at a fast speed.
The leader of this group had deep red hair and red eyes; he was a bit handsome; however, this red-haired man was frowning; he had the feeling that something bad was going to happen to them; his instinct was telling him that since last night.
However, he dismissed it, thinking it was his imagination, but today his instinct was screaming since the morning, telling him to take his men and quickly flee, abandoning this mission. He tried to contact Lanoz and Vins to know how was things going on their side; unfortunately, he failed to contact them.
”Let’s move cautiously.” The man ordered his men as they slowed down their speed. Whatever gave him this feeling, he would soon find it and eliminate it. He couldn’t fail this mission.