Chapter 51 - back down

Chapter 51: Chapter 51 - back down

I didn’t wait to look at their hateful eyes. They ambushed us, so they must be prepared to pay the price. My body blurred as I went to cut down that woman who attacked Nyx.

That man blocked my attack. I looked at him. "Annoying. Wait for your turn. It will come soon."

"Don’t expect to leave after trying to kill Nyx."

My eyes flashed with murderous intent. I will kill them.

So I used my other sword to attack the man away.

Then he screamed, "Okay, we surrender! We give you our flag! Stop that!"

But I ignored him. Then Nyx too called me out. "Asher, calm down."

Only then I stopped and looked at them with chilling coldness that can freeze someone down.

And I extended my hand. "Give that flag and go away, or I don’t know what I might do to you."

I have a cool mind in battle, but if someone tries to attack one of the people I care about, I rarely let them off. I didn’t have anyone I cared about until now, but now I have. I won’t let anything happen to her.

They looked at each other. Even the other members came, and one person came forward and screamed, "Hey, why should we? We have numbers. We can take these two down."

My eyes narrowed. Hands went to my sword. That woman who fired the arrow at Nyx flinched and went back.

I spoke. There’s no humor or warmth in my voice. It’s like a glacier. "If you can, come at us. I will kill all of you without even blinking my eyes."

That guy got his pride hurt by that. He grabbed his sword and took a step. My sword went to his neck, and Nyx’s sword and magic bullet aimed at him as well.

From the raw killing intent he took a step back.

I looked at the others and asked, "If you want to fight, come. I won’t back down from a fight."

Then the mage of their team came forward and said, "Calm down. No one died here. Why are you so aggressive?"

I looked at her and replied, "You ambushed us and sent an arrow toward Nyx. If she and I didn’t have enough perception and agility, she would have died there. And now you say nothing happened, calm down."

"Do you take me for a clown or something? I only stayed calm because Nyx told me so."

Then another came to the front. "So you are her little dog, ah? So bark for me."

I didn’t wait. I cut down his arm and kicked him hard to the ground and put a foot on his head, and an evil grin appeared on my face. "Okay. Let’s see."

I closed my sword to his other arm and said, "If I cut this arm as well and cripple your legs, will you be a worm like you are, or do I have to plunge my sword into your throat as well?"

I looked at him with playfulness.

Other members of that team wanted to interfere, but they know if they take a step Nyx is going to attack and a full-on fight will start and they might get wiped out. They saw our strength, so they don’t dare to take that step.

The one whose arm I cut off and who dropped to the floor screamed in agony, but I didn’t care. I pressed my foot into his head

and watched him suffer.

Other members understood if they provoke there’s no good ending for either party, so one of them got out the flag and gave it to Nyx and said, "Let him go and leave us here."

I grinned and looked at the person on the ground. I raised both hands in a mark of surrender and looked at Nyx, and she nodded, so I used aura to augment myself. Then we both left the location.

I saw the one who was looking at me with hatred, so before I left I said to him, "You are pathetic. If you can’t do a thing, don’t just stare at me with hatred. It’s useless.

Power dictates the rules. You are weak. I’m strong. So it’s useless to stare at me like that."

Then I followed Nyx.

We need one more flag to complete the mission.

On the way Nyx looked at me and asked, "If I didn’t stop you there, you were going to kill her, weren’t you?"

I nodded. "It doesn’t make a difference if I get the flag from their dead bodies or living bodies."

She just sighed and said, "You just can’t go around killing people all the time."

I argued back, "But that’s the rule here. Winner takes all. As for losers, they lose all."

She just sighed at that. She doesn’t have anything to argue with that. She is a ruthless person as well. If it came to it she would kill them in a heartbeat as well.

So she nodded and said, "Okay, but in the future don’t kill if we can get the benefit without killing them. Let’s get it and move on. I don’t want to be a cold-blooded killer."

I smiled at that and added, "How about we make a nickname for you like Ice Witch or..."

She stopped me. "Stop. I know your naming skill. I don’t want your nickname."

I chuckled at that, and she added, "Let’s go and find the last flag and take a rest and get ready for the next floor."

My eyes widened and soon became normal, then nodded. "Hm. I thought that too. It’s efficient."

We traveled through the forest, and I looked at Nyx and said, "Hey, Nyx."

She looked at me while keeping up the pace. "Remind me to make dark wings as soon as I get free time. If we have dark wings we are unstoppable."

Nyx had a thoughtful look and nodded. "Hm. That’s a good idea. Call me too. I want to create my own wings."

I joked, "Okay, but be careful not to fly away to heaven. If so, I have to attack it as well."

She blinked and asked, "Why is that?"

I said, "If those bastards mistake you for an angel or goddess, I have to go there and see if they have good eyesight."

Nyx’s eyes twitched. "Can’t you ever give me a good compliment? You always make fun of me."

I just shrugged. "I can’t help it. When I see you I always feel like teasing you."

"It’s your fault."

She looked at me with bewilderment. "Ah, my fault? How’s that?"

I shrugged again and said, "I don’t know. It only happens when I see you, so it must be your problem."

She is practically speechless at this point. "Your logic is just like you. Impossible to understand."

I grinned at that and nodded. "Thanks for the compliment again."

She just sighed. "You are impossible as ever. Let’s go and find the last flag."

I nodded, and we sped up our pace, and a flag caught my eyes, so I stopped immediately and stopped Nyx as well. She looked puzzled, but I extended a hand in the direction of the flag.

So Nyx looked at it and saw the flag in the middle of wasteland alone.

We both observed it more, and Nyx said, "It’s highly suspicious. If there’s a flag like that and nobody takes it, it means it’s a trap or some unknown monster is protecting it."

I nodded and asked, "What are we going to do? How about I use the full strength of mine and go there and grab the flag and run back?"

She shook her head. "That’s what anyone in this situation would do. We need to think of something else. We don’t know the exact danger in there."

I thought about it, and her reasoning makes sense, so I nodded as well and looked at her and asked what’s we going to do.

I used mana into my eyes and observed the whole location with proficiency and observed there’s something common around there. There’s nothing around the flag, only sand, no trees, not any heavy object. There are small branches, but when I saw them another thought came to my mind.

When did those branches come here, and how are they the only thing in there?

So I looked at Nyx and said, "I have a theory about that place."

She looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

I explained to her, "Look. Only the sand and a few branches in that spot, so it can be a sand pit that can drown us into the floor."

"If we step into it we might as well drown in the sand and become corpses underground."

She looked at it carefully and nodded. "That can be a possibility, but we can’t put all our trust in that assumption alone."

I nodded to that. "Yeah. I only tell you it as a possibility.

How about we throw something into it and test our theory, and if it’s failed and it’s an ambush, let’s fight them and kill them."