Lisa placed Matias"s head gently on the ground, stood up and glared at the maid. Lisa"s anger was at full blast while looking at the maid who killed Matias. Her mana pool was near empty with only a little left, just enough to make a little flame on her finger. Her stamina was also at the brink, she was so tired that she could collapse at any second. Her body was full of wounds though she has already stopped the bleeding she still bled too much. Yet even with all of those demerits, Lisa didn"t care as she needed to kill the murder in front of her. It doesn"t matter if she died as long as she was able to kill the b*tch wearing maids clothing. "Now that"s my second favorite look! Come on then get angry at me, curse at me, try to kill me. Once you fail and see how truly powerless you are, it is at that time you will show me the greatest look full of despair and regret!" The maid started to touch herself as simply thinking about Lisa"s face filled with despair made her feel extremely excited.
Lisa seeing how the maid acted made her anger flare up even more. She gritted her teeth and with all her power dashed forward. Even though she was barely standing before and was bleeding all over, Lisa used the power of her rage to move forward.
The maid waited for Lisa to come to her and with a little bit of effort swayed her body a bit and evaded Lisa"s attack. The maid then countered with a swipe of her machete aimed at Lisa"s left shoulder. Lisa could follow the maid"s movements with her mana sensing but her body just wouldn"t move the way she wanted to.
It took all her effort to simply lift her arm and barely block the incoming strike. She almost fell to her knees by simply blocking a casual strike from the maid. Lisa continued to grit her teeth and exert every fiber of her being to attack again. Yet before she could get to strike another attack came at her which she was forced to block. The maid then initiated a barrage of attacks from all angles. Lisa unable to keep up with the flow of attacks decided to simply guard her vitals and allow the other attacks to hit. Though she wasn"t dead yet, the wounds she was acc.u.mulating will eventually kill her if she doesn"t heal herself.
"That"s amazing! How long can you keep this up!" The maid happily continued her onslaught of slashes and stabs. The maid was now able to see a bit of fear in Lisa"s eyes which made her ecstatic.
As despair was once again creeping into Lisa"s mind she remembered something. It was something Ren said a long time ago when he was training her alongside Valdel and Lara.
...
"Are you giving up already?" Ren asked the fallen Lisa.
"It"s impossible Ren, it"s obvious that you"re going to win again."
"... Lisa against a more powerful opponent such as myself when do you think is the best chance to strike?" Lisa was confused as to why Ren suddenly asked, but then she thought about it for a bit and answered.
"Right at the beginning when he doesn"t know what I"m capable of, I will surprise him with an all-out attack."
"Wrong, it"s actually at the end when victory is within the opponent"s grasp will be the best chance to strike. So all you need to do is wait it out and when the opponent is getting overconfident you strike the killing blow. Of course, that won"t happen against me."
...
When Lisa remembered that she felt a bit of courage. Her trust in Ren was the same as Valdel and Lara it was unshakeable. She believed that even in this situation it would go just as Ren said it would.
"Huh? What"s this her courage is coming back. That"s no fun, well I"m getting bored of this fight so better finish it now." The maid"s attack suddenly sped up and Lisa"s defense was barely holding up. Seeing Lisa"s guard finally loosened the maid took this opportunity to finish Lisa with one clean strike. This was also the opportunity that Lisa was waiting for as she was able to narrowly avoid the maid"s stab.
Lisa roared as she put all the remaining power she had into this one strike. It was the fastest strike she had ever pulled in her whole life, the degree of perfection in that one sword strike would surprise even Ren himself.
Lisa felt her attack came into contact with the maid"s flesh. As Lisa was about to feel relief she heard the maid"s angry shout.
"You f*cking b*tch! You actually wounded me! A lowly human dared to wound me!" Lisa was on the ground and could barely lift her head up but she saw it. She saw that she was able to wound the maid"s neck but the wound was rather light. She then saw the furious maid discard her machetes and rushed at Lisa. The maid started to pound at Lisa with her bare hands. The power of each strike was powerful enough to kill a normal human but on Lisa"s body which was trained to a certain degree was able to take a bit more damage.
As she was being pounded to the ground Lisa"s consciousness was flickering on and off. She was terrified at the prospect of death, but what terrified her, even more, was the idea of not being able to avenge Matias"s death and also not being able to see Valdel and the others again.
...
"Hey, why are you staring at the sky like that?" Ren asked Lisa who was trailing behind the group.
"Huh? Where am I?" Lisa looked around confused. She saw Ren, Valdel, and Lara looking at her worriedly.
"Are you still half-asleep sis?" Lara asked with her usually stoic face.
"Oh right, we"re in the middle of an adventure." Lisa finally remembered what they were doing as she sped up.
"Sorry about that, so how long do we need to walk again to reach the country of the elves?"
"Based on the map we got from the dragon"s lair it would take half a day. But if you keep on daydreaming like that it might take us a whole day." Ren replied while shrugging his shoulders.
"I said I"m sorry already. Come on let"s just keep on going." Lisa answered while pouting.
"Hey, you might still be a bit groggy from what happened last night. So here take my hand." Valdel walked beside Lisa and showed her his hand. Lisa looked at him and smiled as she held onto his hand.
The four childhood friends continued walking onto their next adventure.
...
The maid who was pounding at Lisa was finally able to calm herself. She then looked at Lisa"s dead body and what she saw irritated her. The maid was sure that while Lisa was dying she was showing a horrified look, but now she was actually showing a bright smile. Her final expression as she was about to face death was a smile on her face.
...
Lara was practicing her close-quarter combat skills with Hilda and the other girls. In the middle of the spar the girls who were helping Lara stopped and looked at Lara with shock and worry.
"Lara, are you crying?" Hilda asked surprised and confused. Lara hearing what Hilda said and seeing the look the others were giving her touched her face. Sure enough, she was actually crying.
"Huh? Why?" Lara didn"t know why but her tears just won"t stop.