Chapter 946 - A Potential Betrayal?
"Die!" The bandit waved his sword at Kai, trying to pin him to the ground before grabbing Nella. Seeing the strength of the bandit, who seemed to be far more powerful than Andre, she stepped back subconsciously, afraid of getting caught.
"No, I won"t let you!" The leader of the reinforcement shouted and tried to fly toward him, knowing it would be the end of them. He just hoped that Alex could protect Nella with his body so he could grasp her and protect her.
Unfortunately, one person attacked him, keeping him on this battlefield. "No, you won"t go anywhere."
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Millman. You need to save Young Lady!" He shouted.
Millman glanced at Alex"s expression before noticing how calm it was. With that kind of expression, he looked like someone who thought Ballac"s power was insignificant. Since he was the only one who had witnessed his power, he remained calm and stayed put for a few seconds just to see how it was going to resolve.
"Millman!" On the other hand, the leader started panicking. It wasn"t weird to see him acting that way. After all, he never saw Alex"s real power, even Millman only saw a portion of his power, and it was enough to defeat a 6-Star Martial Saint effortlessly.
Since Ballac was his opponent, he might need to be a little bit serious, but that was all. Thus, he tried to believe in Alex and waited for this one strike to see whether he needed to break through and help Nella.
It was at this moment Alex broke all sorts of threats by just swinging his sword. The sword then split into three as if Alex was using three swords at the same time.
"Triple Draws." Alex believed in Eve"s power along with this new Divine Weapon, so if she said two attacks would be enough to destroy a Rank 8 Weapon, then it would probably be enough.
When the raging bandit pa.s.sed him, he suddenly stopped. His head suddenly flew to the air while his scimitar snapped into two.
"That"s too easy, Master."
Alex ignored Eve"s thought transmission and sheathed his sword again. With how relaxed he was, the whole battlefield turned silent as if they just witnessed something beyond their imagination.
"Impossible." Nella behind him exclaimed in surprise. Although she was just a 1-Star Martial Monarch, she knew how powerful a 4-Star Martial Saint was. The bandit might have been injured by Aria, but it was still not the excuse to die with just that exchange alone.
Millman and the others looked at Alex in disbelief.
"That attack…The first strike was to hit the spot where the blade and the handle are connected to stop the momentum of the scimitar. The second strike hit the same area, snapping the blade. And the last strike killed Ballac himself. This guy…real?" The leader of the reinforcement exclaimed in surprise as he couldn"t believe what he just saw.
However, the person in question only looked at Millman in the sky and pointed his finger toward him.
"Ah!" Millman instantly realized and shouted. "Kill them all. There is no more threat to our Young Lady."
"Ooh!"
Meanwhile, Aria had recovered and walked toward Alex, looking down. "I am sorry, I messed up."
"Nope. You did a good job. The last one was just something beyond your means." Alex shook his head before adding his own harsh opinion. "Still, have you forgotten our job?"
"Eh?!" Aria furrowed her eyebrows before realizing what he meant by those words. Their mission was to protect Nella, but her action was completely the exact opposite of that.
Although there was Alex standing in front of Nella, it was still just an excuse to think about it like that. In fact, Alex kept adjusting his position, so Ballac kept in a straight line to make sure he needed to defeat him first before being able to grasp Nella.
As for her? She only thought about impressing Alex. Although she had moved every here and then, it was just for the major points. She needed to keep her position better, so Ballac didn"t have the chance to aim like that again.
"I am sorry."
"As long as you understand. A different mission has a different approach, so you need to be careful."
"Yes. I will do my best not to repeat it again." She nodded.
"That"s good. Go back to the carriage and recover your energy, I will take over the job here." Alex smiled.
"I understand." Aria thought for a moment before looking at Nella. "Do you want to join me inside the carriage?"
She realized that this was another test from Alex. If she were going back, it would be better to go with Nella. It meant they would have two layers of protection, one on the outside while the other one on the inside.
Alex turned around and smiled at Nella. "How about returning to your carriage first? This battle will be concluded within twenty minutes."
Although reluctantly, she followed his advice and came inside the carriage.
Alex kept observing the situation with his Spirit Eyes, ensuring that everything was going according to the plan.
After the war had been settled, he opened the carriage again and called Nella. "We are done here. It"s better to open the window, so you can discuss it with your subordinates."
Millman came to her and talked to her from the outside. "Young Lady, there are around thirty people who can"t partic.i.p.ate in the next battle. But considering we only need to handle two hundred people, I believe we can do it with this number. So, we are going to open up the path for you first, so you don"t need to rush toward the inheritance place."
"Good work. Since you have used too much Spiritual Energy, rest first here for half a day before continuing the journey. I will be waiting in this carriage."
"I understand." Millman nodded solemnly before staring at Alex for a few seconds and going back without saying anything.
Nella could understand why he did that, so she turned around, facing Alex. "You are strong. To think you can defeat someone far stronger than Andre that effortlessly."
"It"s nothing. That bandit leader had been injured by Aria. Even though his strength had risen to a ridiculous degree, he had lost a certain degree of his intelligence. That"s why I can kill him in a single move." Alex shook his head, replying humbly.
"Even so, it"s still useless unless you have a powerful strength. From what I can see, that weapon of yours is a high-level Divine Weapon, right?"
Alex stayed silent for a moment before he decided to lie. "Yes. This one barely reaches high-level Divine Weapon. It should be a mid-level Divine Weapon if not due to its overbearing sharpness."
"Still, I need to thank you for earlier. I might not know what technique you used earlier, but it was protecting me. After all, the reason you struck the blade twice was to stop his swing, so it wouldn"t go forward no matter what that had the possibility of injuring me before using the last one to claim his life."
Alex was slightly astonished by her observation. It wasn"t the exact same, but it certainly was his rough objective for each swing. The only thing she didn"t know was the fact that his weapon could snap that sword in two strikes, thus the reason for the first two strikes.
Aria furrowed her eyebrows and sighed. She realized she did a poor job in the mission as she was too focused on Alex"s instruction.
While recovering her Spiritual Energy, she decided to reflect upon her mistakes, so she could become stronger and wiser in the next battle.
Alex only smiled when he realized that both Aria and Nella were not arrogant. They realized their mistakes and did what they needed to do.
Unbeknownst to him, the show that he presented to Nella unintentionally today stuck in her memory, influencing her even further to go to Unsurpa.s.sed Blade Sect.
"If I am not wrong, there are around sixteen peaks inside the Unsurpa.s.sed Blade Sect, right? What is your peak?" Nella asked. "Are you staying in the same peak as Aunt Melvie, in the Sword Blossom Peak?"
"Yeah." Aria nodded. "It"s not like the relations.h.i.+p between each peak is good, so yeah, you need to be on the same peak to get a special mission like this."
"I see. I thought you knew Aunt Melvie before joining the sect." Nella nodded. The answer was already obvious, but she just simply wanted to confirm whether there was something special about them. It turned out that the only relations.h.i.+p between them was based on talent.
"We are not. We are just lucky to receive her favor." Aria shook her head.
Nella fell silent, not buying it. She thought for a moment and changed the topic. "Anyway, it"s better to discuss tomorrow"s plan. What do you think about our current condition?"
Alex paused for a moment and tugged Aria"s hand to see what she had in mind.
Aria was surprised at first and explained. "From our condition, we have around two hundred twenty people to fight against two hundred people. a.s.suming everything is safe, we should be able to win this whole situation by a large margin.
"I will probably make you stay in a far place while the battle takes place. When everything is resolved, I will bring you there."
"a.s.suming everything is safe?" Nella furrowed her eyebrows. "What are the problems?"
"I only have one. Betrayal." Aria pointed out the only problem she feared. The event that took place in the past really affected her heart.
"Hmm." Nella"s face turned serious, remembering the words that her mother told her last night. "My mother said to check whether there is a betrayal or not, especially with how many additional people we have added."
"It"s possible." Alex nodded in agreement.
"The only pieces that can be trusted, according to my mother, are the ones she handpicked since Andre already told her there was no more spy in the rank. As for the fifty people inside the boxes, they are the special guards of our family. As for the special reinforcement, my mother only told her trusted subordinate to form a group of a hundred. Their ident.i.ties are not clear, so I a.s.sume there might be a spy among their rank." Nella let out a long sigh, facing a troublesome situation.
"So, we can expect a betrayal here?" Aria asked Alex. "But why didn"t they do it now…Ah, never mind.
"They simply had not enough manpower to cause serious damage to the entire group. In that case, they must be waiting for the real big group in front of the inheritance place."
"Do you have any suggestions? My mother said that I need to make a decision when that time comes." She asked Alex, who seemed to be good at planning like this.
"There is nothing. No one can identify their real intention, so those who attack you are enemies." Alex shrugged.
"That is the only possible plan, huh."
"Yeah. Make them treat others as their enemies until they are proven otherwise."
"Actually, there is one more thing. But I guess it won"t be accepted by you because we will be endangering her." Aria raised her hand.
"Hmm?! Let"s hear your plan." Nella stared at Aria with a serious expression.
"It"s simple. We won"t do anything right now. Since we are supposed to stay far away from the battlefield, we will approach them sneakily, so when the betrayal happens, you can make a rallying call to the rest of our own forces to fight back. Unfortunately, because I don"t know how many are actually a traitor, this will bring you a big disadvantage." Aria offered a solution.
Alex could understand why she said those words earlier. She wanted to make Nella a bait and a leader at the same time to overturn the situation. It was the complete opposite of their missions, but he knew it was the one with the highest possibility of winning. Of course, without him using his real power.
Alex sighed and looked at Nella, leaving the choice in her hand.
Nella understood the gaze and thought about it seriously.
"I…"