Chapter 417 - 416: I Won’t Fight

Chapter 417: Chapter 416: I Won’t Fight

She gently lifted her hand, and the Water Dragon Roar followed the motion.

The dragon head emblazoned on the blade turned, its eyes falling upon Artemis.

Artemis felt a chill run down her spine. Her instincts pinpointed the source of the danger, but a blade was just a blade—a tool for humans.

’How could that dragon possibly be alive?’

Artemis forced her attention back to Blacktiger Ford, scrutinizing every expression on her face.

’Whether I live to see another day... it all depends on the person before me.’

Artemis was also genuinely curious.

’What kind of item could suppress the mini-bulletin’s announcements? And what item could prematurely end an arena match that was supposed to last until one of us died?’

’Just who was this Blacktiger Ford standing before me?’

Artemis was silent. Seraphina Sinclair also remained silent.

Artemis waited for a long time.

So long that she began to wonder if she’d said the wrong thing. So long that the palm of her hand gripping the dagger grew slick with sweat.

This silence was more agonizing than any threat.

Artemis decided to try again.

"Boss Blacktiger," her voice softened, tinged with aggrievement. "If you don’t believe me, I can give you the door card to my mobile cabin right now. Seven hundred and thirty-six crystals, not a single one missing. You take them first, and we can talk things over. How about it?"

As she spoke, she pushed the door card in her hand forward a little more.

But this time, Seraphina Sinclair didn’t even spare the door card a glance.

"736 crystals is indeed a lot."

Artemis’s eyes lit up. Just as she was about to say something, she heard the other woman say coldly,

"But if I kill you, won’t all of this be mine anyway? Why should I waste an item on you?"

Artemis’s smile froze on her face.

Her hand, still offering the door card, hung in mid-air, unable to advance or retreat.

The word "waste" was like a thorn, piercing her pride with precision.

In Blacktiger Ford’s eyes, she wasn’t an opponent worthy of negotiation, not a valuable partner, and not even an enemy worth using an item to avoid confronting.

Using an item on her—was simply a waste.

Artemis slowly retracted her hand, her expression shifting several times.

From subservience to rigidity, from rigidity to distortion, before finally settling into a strange curve.

It looked like she was smiling, yet also crying.

"Blacktiger Ford." She uttered the name, her voice holding a strange calm. "You know, I actually admire you."

Seraphina Sinclair didn’t respond.

"I mean it." Artemis tucked the door card away and dusted off her hands, though there was nothing on them. "I’ve met a lot of people. The skilled ones are almost always arrogant, and the humble ones are almost always weak. You’re the first I’ve met who’s both skilled and humble."

As she spoke, she took a step back.

It wasn’t the retreat of someone fleeing, but of someone adjusting their stance.

"If the server-wide announcements were optional, you wouldn’t have chosen to go public at all, right?"

’Not go public?’ Seraphina Sinclair’s brow twitched involuntarily.

From that one subtle expression, Artemis instantly sensed something was wrong. Her expression froze, shock slowly giving way to utter disbelief.

She had never actually triggered a server-wide announcement herself, so of course, she had never seen the prompt panel for it.

But based on her years of experience, the expression Seraphina Sinclair was showing meant there was definitely something wrong with what she had just said!

’Don’t tell me server-wide announcements are actually optional? And this person, this Blacktiger Ford who I thought was so incredibly low-key, has chosen "Yes" every single time?’

Artemis felt like she might be going crazy.

’Why else would I be thinking about something so completely irrelevant in a life-or-death situation?’

But she couldn’t help it.

The question was just too absurd.

So absurd that once it occurred to her, she couldn’t get it out of her head.

"You..."

Her voice was dry, her throat feeling as if it were blocked.

"Every time... you chose...?"

Seraphina Sinclair didn’t speak.

But her silence was an answer in itself.

Artemis completely lost control of her expression.

The mixture of shock, absurdity, and disbelief made her delicate face look almost comical.

"Why?"

She blurted it out.

She regretted it the moment she asked.

’What was the point of asking that? Whatever the other woman chose was her business. What did it have to do with me?’

And yet, she just had to know.

She was desperate to know.

In all her life, she, Artemis, had seen idiots, madmen, the truly humble, and those who only pretended to be.

But she had never seen anyone like this.

’Someone with the ability to suppress the announcements who deliberately chooses not to?’

’Someone with the ability to be low-key who insists on letting the whole world know she killed an S-Class dragon?’

’What is wrong with this person?’

Seraphina Sinclair looked at her contorted face and suddenly found it rather amusing.

"You really want to know?"

Artemis didn’t speak, but her eyes gave the answer.

Seraphina Sinclair thought for a moment and decided to satisfy her dying curiosity.

"Because I felt like it."

Artemis was speechless.

"Besides..." Seraphina Sinclair paused, waiting until she saw a change in Artemis’s expression before continuing. "Isn’t it precisely because of that dragon-slaying announcement that you’re cowering now, too afraid to attack me directly?"

The color drained from Artemis’s face.

It wasn’t because the words were vicious, but because they were absolutely true.

So true that she couldn’t refute them.

She was indeed afraid.

From the moment she entered the arena, she had been afraid.

Afraid of the blade that killed an S-Class dragon, afraid of the item that could nullify the mini-bulletin, and afraid of the person before her whom she couldn’t read at all.

All her fawning, all her probing, all her attempts to compromise—in the end, it all came down to fear.

And now, Seraphina Sinclair had laid it all bare.

It was like ripping a scab off a wound. Though the wound had scabbed over, it wasn’t ready to come off on its own. Tearing it away by force was bound to hurt.

Artemis took a deep breath, and the contorted expression on her face slowly smoothed out.

In its place was a strange expression.

It looked like resignation, yet also like relief.

"Fine," she said. "You’re impressive."

She sheathed the dagger at her waist, let her hands fall to her sides, and straightened her back.

"I’m not fighting anymore." 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Seraphina Sinclair raised an eyebrow.

"I can’t win," Artemis said frankly. "I ambushed you once, and I failed. I couldn’t beat you in the dungeon, let alone now—you didn’t even have this blade back then. I’ve said so much to you, and you haven’t revealed a single useful thing."

She spread her hands, palms up, and gave a resigned smile. "You asked why you should waste an item on me, didn’t you?"

"Because I’m an Engraving Master."

"You remember the information I made public on the regional channel, right? About the four main classes in this world. I learned that from my Engraving Master’s Inheritance Stone Plate. And there’s another piece of information I haven’t revealed..."