Chapter 221: "Who are you?"

The situation in Ashwick remained critical. The help provided by the Academy students, along with the smaller forces sent from the capital, had helped ease the pressure somewhat, but not by much, as the number of monsters continued to increase.

The one saving grace in all of this was that, for now, the average rank of the monsters wasn’t too high, because if it had been, the city would already have fallen.

Selena and the other Academy girl had reached their assigned area and had already begun fighting and helping the people there. Selena took on the offensive role, while the other girl focused more on support. Her Wood abilities were mainly useful from a distance, allowing her to heal people and get them to safety, making it easier for the guards to defend the area.

Of all the fronts, this one, despite being located directly in front of the forest, was actually one of the better defended, partly because the forces sent here were naturally stronger for obvious reasons, and partly because the number of monsters being killed was greater than the number still arriving, thanks to the preparations made beforehand as well as the additional help they were receiving.

And that help was none other than Selena herself, who was steadily thinning out the monsters.

The guards didn’t take long to notice how Selena moved among the monsters with an almost unnatural fluidity, cutting them down alone faster than entire groups of soldiers combined.

"Holy sht, Where the hell did they find someone like her?" one soldier asked his companion beside him, unable to tear his eyes from the scene.

"She’s one of the students sent to help from the academy," the other replied, still not quite believing it.

"Student, my ass. Look at her! She’s tearing through those monsters like they’re nothing. Are all Academy students this strong?"

They were all surprised by what they were seeing, but none of them complained about the unexpected help.

Plenty of eyes stayed locked on her, full of admiration. But a couple of eyes in the crowd weren’t watching her with the same wonder, those eyes followed her with a very different, hidden intent, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to act.

After nearly an hour of relentless fighting, the situation on this front had eased considerably. The guards hadn’t just held the line, they’d started pushing forward, further and further toward the forest.

With ground being reclaimed and the situation now calmer here, a small portion of the guards was redistributed to the other fronts, to help where they were needed more.

Little by little, more of them advanced in small groups, hunting down the few remaining monsters still alive. Selena didn’t fall behind either, she pushed forward as well, followed by her academy companion, and the two of them advanced together into the outskirts of the forest.

Going in alone as just the two of them would have been dangerous for most, but not for them, not with Selena able to handle the low-rank monsters here without much trouble.

"Wow, I didn’t know you were this strong. The rumors about you weren’t exaggerated at all," the girl behind her said, a hint of admiration in her voice, and something else too, which Selena didn’t have time to notice as she severed the head of a wolf.

She stopped and looked around.

There was no one else left.

No other monsters remained except for a single one, a D-rank Advanced Stage Bear, one of the strongest monsters to have appeared in this area so far.

It stared at her with clear anger and hostility after watching her slaughter the others.

Selena didn’t take her attention off the monster, and as she readied herself to fight, she spoke once more.

"You should go back and help the other groups. There’s nothing else to do here," she said before moving toward the beast.

As fearsome as it looked, it was nowhere near her level, so she decided to send the other girl away, she’d be more useful elsewhere, since there was no other monster left here anyway.

She neither accepted nor rejected the compliment, barely interacting with the girl at all. She wasn’t used to talking to others much, and they didn’t know each other very well either. The girl also belonged to a different class and had simply been assigned to this group by whoever had organized the teams.

She moved quickly and soon closed the distance to the bear, which wasted no time attacking, ferociously.

The bear charged with a roar, claws outstretched, but Selena slipped to the side in one fluid motion, dodging the attack by a hair before driving the first strike into the creature’s exposed flank.

The second landed as the beast turned, still disoriented from the first cut, and the third, a clean, precise thrust straight to the neck, dropped it lifeless to the ground before it could even attempt a second charge.

Three quick, precise strikes to take down a monster that would have given most D-ranks serious trouble.

Selena didn’t waste time looking over the monster, nor did she bother removing its mana core. She stayed where she was for a second, as if catching her breath.

Nothing else happened. No more monsters, no more sounds, nothing, just silence.

Then, out of nowhere, her arm moved, at incredible speed.

It was sudden, without a moment’s hesitation, and in an instant the edge of her sword touched a throat, not a monster’s, but the girl’s. The second-year girl who had come with her, the same one she’d told to go help the others.

That same girl, who a moment ago had been more than twenty meters away, now, she was standing beside Selena, less than two meters away, with the blade pressed against her neck, ready to cut it.

The girl’s expression, calm the entire time until now, had turned to shock, not panic, not fear. No. Just shock.

"Well, this is unexpected," she said simply.

Selena’s gaze, by contrast, was colder than usual as she stared at her, without a trace of emotion in her eyes.

"Who are you?"she asked.

The question was simple and direct.

She didn’t waste time asking why the girl was still here, or how she’d gotten so close, or why, none of that seemed to matter to her at all.

The girl’s expression shifted, into panic and confusion, as she said:

"W-what do you mean? It’s me-" but her words were cut short as Selena pressed the blade harder against her neck, drawing blood.

"I won’t ask a second time."