Chapter 863: The second day of the evaluation trial (part 16)

By telling Cayden that he would earn merit from "the family", the enemy leader could overwrite the personal requests of the princess that supposedly sent this "executor" to extract information from him.

The enemy leader did so, because after knowing that Vivian hated him at a personal level, it wasn’t weird for the one to be sent to extract intel from him, to be told to cause him as much pain as possible, but this way that could be omitted, because everyone wants to raise in ranks in this cultivation world, so between having to put effort in following a personal request and only be nodded at by your direct superior, or finishing up your really fast and be properly recognized by the "president" the choice is obvious.

It’s worth mentioning that only the leader and the treasurer thought of this, the others directly asked for mercy after just a minute into the interrogation, but of course weren’t given it, they were still alive and dying would be the greatest mercy they could and would receive from Mina and the others.

With a nod from Mina, Cayden then continued with the "script" which was prepared by the oldest of the three sisters since she was assigned the task to lead the advancement party, and worked into different versions of it until they reached the enemy camp.

"That sounds good, but you even waited for me to ask, not to mention that I can tell you just cursed at me, so the cloths go back to your mouth and ear", casually said Cayden.

"Wait, I will...mmbbbgh", this was done on purpose too by the way, the ear was covered first so that the enemy had the chance to start speaking but not to finish his sentence, and now Cayden waited aside again, because it was time for Mina to strike again.

This time she went for the ulnar nerve which is closer to the surface in the elbow area.

"Mmmmmbgbgh", this time the enemy started "screaming" since the needle touched him even before it pierced his skin, which first was because he wanted the "man" torturing him to stop so he could continue speaking, and then it became an actual scream due to the pain being inflicted to him.

"He... won’t die out of nowhere, right?", asked Cayden to which Mina casually shook her head.

"Nah, the deepness at which I insert the needles and the time they are left in, are calculated, this guy can endure up to middle depth for a minute, without even peeing himself, which is why we started with low depth and thirty seconds only", she said to then add.

"You are up again", and with that Mina retrieved the needle and let Cayden do his part like before.

"W-We come from the Flame Meridian heavenly quadrant and were hired by the Red Sky sect to support the heir they sent!", the enemy leader started talking so fast that he stuttered at the beginning.

"...", following the script, Cayden waited a second in which the enemy was clearly in panic thinking he was going to be "silenced" again.

"Go on, or do you want some more "motivation" to talk?", said Cayden to which the enemy leader instantly continued with his story.

It was basically the same as what they had learned from the second and third in commands, complemented by what they learned from the treasurer, just much more detailed, since it was from the leader’s point of view.

For example, the leader knew more about what was important, in other words about the guys from the sect of the divine firmament to which their recently ascended firmament had ended up joining.

Also, there were other important details like the existence of a spirit tamer which the leader was sure came to this place, those were the only two really high importance pieces of intel from the list that Aster have given to Mina, that the enemy leader could help to fill for.

"These guys are pretty much nothing, but in a large number they could still be annoying by themselves if only those little girls are in charge of them, if we add the ones from divine firmaments, then they could be a real threat for them in a 1v1 situation", said Mina who was sitting on her chair while Cayden stood next to the enemy leader who was "silenced" as of current.

"Also, Vivian was fighting at around half physical strength against this guy and he considered her a "crown princess", but this guy’s judgement is too low ranked, so let’s write it down as that Vivian at half physical strength without using poison for offensive means, is divine royalty level for mortal restricted participants for now", she added.

Those were personal notes she was taking, and you might think that I didn’t mention a notebook and a pen or pencil among the things in this room and that’s because she didn’t need them, all the intel was safely kept in her mind only, and will be later transformed into a physical report with the help of Angela.

Because don’t forget that Mina is cautious to the point of almost being considered paranoic by her younger sisters, but that’s her role as their older sister, she has to consider scenarios that would normally be treated as "impossible", otherwise she wouldn’t be a wicked mastermind would she.

That’s not all there is to Mina though, as a playful smile appeared on her pretty face as her almost always half-closed eyes also became visible for a change, while she giggled to herself.

’So, "divine royalties" are strong physically even as mortals, but then, what does that make that guy who can take on Alice and Mira’s attacks who are for sure actual "crown princess" level head on at the same time with his bare body and can drive away supervisors with his technique, is he at "divine king" level without having manifested his beast trait, what a good thing that there is such a monster who is probably even more "paranoic" than me on our side, keep watching over us, our "invincible monstrous leader"~’, amusingly thought the oldest of the three sisters.

You can for sure directly understand the "monster" part about Aster from Mina’s point of view right, he has as high resistance as Iris not only towards heat, but as high resistance towards cold as Aria, Nerissa or Mira, too, his endurance is out of the world of mortals too and while he doesn’t actively heal directly as Aria does, if he were to have an arm cut, simply by pressing it together it would rejoin his body, because even as a mortal his vitality is that monstrously high.

With Mylene’s elixirs Aster would reach a similar active healing capacity as Aria when using her innate ability but in a passive way since his is caused by his insane vitality, in physical strength he falls a bit short when compared to the fiercest in terms of physical strength used for offense means in the camp, namely Alice, Mira and the little Wyrm, but he can take on their attacks at the same time without turning into a bloody mess.

There is also the absolute field and absolute sword, so it’s not like he is lacking in the attack department either, not to mention his eyes and sharp senses which make it practically impossible for him to be taken by surprise.

But all the previous from Mina’s point of view doesn’t make him an "invincible" enemy, he is a monster but with careful planning and the right allies, she could come up with a way to at least drive him away.

What really puts Aster at another level for the oldest of the three sisters, is that he doesn’t let any of the previous to cloud his mind, Aster never underestimates anyone.

For example, he already knew the capabilities of James’s former camp thanks to Regina and Fawn, and then, the part of the team for the advancement party he selected, included four girls with special senses, a super mastermind, one layer of extra protection that would work as an alarm, one wild dragon princess star maiden as a back up plan and then Aster himself in case all the previous failed.

Nerissa who sensed the blood of the enemies, Camila who sensed their equipment, Iris who sensed the heat produced by enemies and Tiana who sensed their spirit energy make up for a complete range of detection.

Mina who was an expert at playing dirty and could foresee the movements of enemies before they executed them with just a bit of intel, the layer of protection was the fact that one of the rewards allowed someone to take reduced damage from a lethal attack and Aster had selected himself, so he would directly know if something was wrong that way.

Then we have the first response to an "abnormal" situation, which was Alice, while the wild dragon princess couldn’t outright break away from the restrictions of this place like Aster because she doesn’t have annihilation, her powers as a star maiden can achieve the same, in other words, if Alice wanted to, she could use the paragon body, just like in the outside, though she lacks the attack version of the seconds of invincibility that Aster has, because her paragon body developed in a different way than his, that’s more than enough for Alice to mop the floor with a supervisor and protect herself and the group if a big shot like the gray tomb appeared for a short period of time.

By that point, Aster would have broken away from the restrictions and arrived at their side with his sword ready to cut down some poor bastard, so you see, that seemingly "random" selection wasn’t done randomly in the slightest, the team had everything it needed to ensure the safety of the girls.

And it was that amazing capacity to think things through what truly made Mina not wanting to ever be at the pointing end of said sword, what’s more the more "dangerous" Aster was, the merrier, as that would mean more safety for her younger sisters.

"Oh well, let’s wrap things up here for now", said Mina as she stood up and then beckoned at Cayden who this time removed the cloth from the ears and mouth of the second and third in commands as well as the treasurer and the leader all at the same time.

"I already told you everything I know!", said third in command, like previously stated, Alice had left him in a really bad state, so he was the first one to speak.

"Y-You, you are also here!", said the treasurer who was the first to react to the third in command’s voice.

"W-What’s going on!", said the second in command, while the leader remained silent, pretty much guessing what happened.

"I see... you were playing with us, from the very beginning there was no chance to escape alive", said the leader.

Only for a new something this far into the "game" to take him by surprise with his pants down, as in the one to answer was Mina.

"Yeah, sorry to ruin your "fateful reunion", but it’s time for you to pay for what you did", casually said the oldest of the three sisters.

"A-A woman, there was someone else here besides that bastard", said the treasurer to which the second in command added.

"I knew it, we were captured by those crazy bitches from a female exclusive sect!".

"Nope, I think someone must have told you already but we had no relation whatsoever with those girls, thanks to all of you I at least know what names to put on their grave now though".

"Then why, why are you targeting us, it makes no fucking sense", cursed the leader who still had some "spirit" left because he is tough, to which Mina signaled at Cayden who then removed the cloth covering the leader’s eyes.

The leader was met with a though not "fragile" and "ethereal" looking beauty like the one who had beat him up earlier and also slightly older, equally beautiful girl with red hair and orange-red eyes which he saw dying of a gray color as she approached him to then say.

"I don’t get why you are so surprised, just think about it for a second, why did you do that to those girls, because you could and you wanted to, right, well, the principle is similar here, from our point of view you are an eyesore and we are stronger than you, so we want to crush you and we can totally do it with ease".

"One would believe that grown up "men" like you would have understood that the weak are trampled upon by the strong in this world, you simply were the weak ones this time around, don’t tell me you believed yourselves to be actually "invincible" or something like that?", mockingly said Mina, which triggered the treasurer.

"That’s fucking nonsense, you are going to kill us all because something that had nothing to do with you, not even those from righteous sects to that!", said the treasurer.

The second in command was feeling afraid of his impending death and the third had half gone crazy courtesy of Alice, so they remained silent due to fear, but the leader, he... was froze in place.

Why you ask, well, because of the gaze in the gray colored eyes that the woman who was holding the needle which caused him such horrible pain, had, there was clear unadulterated indifference in Mina’s eyes.

’S-She doesn’t even put us in her eyes, there is no enjoyment nor negative feelings after torturing us, what the hell is up with her!’, he exclaimed to his insides, only for Mina to casually add.

"Well, that’s the personal reason, if you want a "logical" answer, it’s also quite simple, given the "cautions" you took before acting up, it’s obvious that you had done similar things to other poor girls before, and trash like you once started can’t stop, therefore you are a "risk" to our camp where there live a bunch of pretty girls, and so, you had to be eliminated".

"So, whether you landed your filthy hands on those girls or not, you were already dead since the moment our paths crossed, that being said, your ends which might have been rather tolerable will indeed be horrifying in honor to them", said Mina to which the leader lost it.

"Screw you, you crazy bitch, it doesn’t matter how you torture us now, we have already been "punished" by those blue flames, at most you can get what you want from those three!", he said, referring to the fact that they had lost their dicks already, well, aside from the treasurer and the remaining two former prisoners, to which Mina giggled.

"I wonder what are you talking about?", she said as she beckoned at Cayden who covered their mouths but removed the cloths from the eyes and ears of all the presents, to then add.

"I was just interrogating you earlier, after all, if I were to actually torture you, you wouldn’t have the mind to think on the questions asked to you~", with those words and all the presents being able to see, Mina took a whole bunch of needles and inserted them into the previously mentioned containers with two different substances, one was bright orange colored and the needles that had it applied to them were inserted completely into its container, while the other was soft green colored and the needles only had their tips inserted into its container.

"This is "Phantom Fire" poison, a little something I asked our alchemist to make, it will very slowly crawl through your nerves and cause you horrible burning pain from the inside, normally you’d be dead in a minute due to it, but it was especially designed to work with this "Healing the World" elixir, so even the trashiest weakling won’t die before thirty minutes, the average will endure an hour and the "tough" ones will live through two hours of it", she said as she started inserting the needles in the three mentioned nerves of earlier, two needles per nerve.

"Mmmmmmmmbghhhh!", as a result a plethora of muffled sounds were produced by all the enemies in unison, but they couldn’t do anything besides looking at each other.

"Now, this is me torturing you, ah right, my "Phantom Fire" poison won’t allow you to faint, so thoroughly enjoy its effect", added Mina as she picked her things up and then, under the despaired eyed of the enemies, she walked out of the room, followed by Cayden who then sealed the cave when he left.

...

’I planned to use this poison to adapt my phantom snake swordsmanship to mortal level completely, but since I don’t need it anymore, it was a good way to get rid of the existing reserves, that dear leader of us gave me a lot of work so I should be able to ask him to accompany me for a training session or two~’, thought Mina whose eyes were returning to their usual orange-red color before she almost closed them to have that smiling expression she usually carries.

"They are all going to live through the next two hours, right?", asked Cayden to which Mina coldly smiled as she nodded.

"Yes, I’m a bit of an old schooler so I unconsciously followed "the third time’s the charm" rule, imagine their expressions when they don’t die past half an hour and then after it repeats once they hit the hour mark, I bet none would believe they will die by the two hour mark, it’s not the same since I manipulated them to still have "hope" to survive before they die without knowing how, but those girls never broke and even at the end they jumped in front of the other to block the punches and kicks of those bastards from reaching their friends, which is what killed them", she said.

’So, this is miss Mina when she is actually angry... I honestly would prefer to never see it happen again’, thought Cayden as he followed the oldest of the three sisters in silence.

He had also heard the full story with all details about what happened to those girls, and honestly, he thought ill of Mina who didn’t show the slightest reaction, when he was burning on the inside as he heard about it, but now he understood that the way Mina got angry was way more terrifying.

In fact, if it wasn’t because they couldn’t stay here for more than two hours while the group rested and looked through the camp to fetch the possessions of the enemies, which included their manuals, Mina would have kept them in such a state for at least a day, even if she had to use all her tricks to keep Alice contented so that she wouldn’t make the group rush back to the camp, but it is what it is.

You also must have noticed by now, but none of the members of James’s former group will be coming back to the sect’s camp with Mina and the others, since even the former prisoners who didn’t touch those girls weren’t clean from similar actions in their pasts, "Cayden" made them spit it out, it wasn’t that hard since they were tortured by a man in their minds, instead of a woman, yep, they danced in Mina’s palm like clowns from beginning to end, as one would expect of a wicked mastermind.

"Sister Mina is back", said Vivian as she saw Mina coming out from the deepest part of the cave alongside Cayden who went towards Sandra.

"Is it done?", asked Tiana, to which Mina nodded as she looked into a backpack for a meal to warm in a bonfire so that she could have breakfast, as you see her stomach wasn’t upset in the slightest over the previous, well, it was a "clean" process mostly, she didn’t cut open anything after all.

"It’s done, after finishing breakfast we’ll sweep through their camp and then I’ll come back to burn them to ashes, then we’ll start our travel back to the camp", said Mina as she sat down to eat.

She wouldn’t commit the rookie mistake of leaving without making sure that the enemies were absolutely dead, so before leaving she was going to set them up in fire and only then will she consider their mission done.

"Mm~", the girls of the sect alongside Iris and Nerissa who were sparring outside earlier but had returned by this point, nodded in unison as they continued eating their breakfast.

’A bunch of happy young girls eating without any worry in the world, that surely makes one’s meal taste better than usual’, thought Mina as she kept that seemingly permanent smile of hers, which brightened even more as a blue message appeared for her, to see.

...

Speaking of breakfast, the morning meal time at the camp was finishing around this time as well, just as Aster was finishing the last piece of fruit which the little girl sitting on his lap offered for him to eat, a message appeared in front of his eyes.

[An enemy camp has been completely crushed by the advance party, as an unofficial encounter a direct reward can’t be given, however, as a personal request, if you bring their monolith, extra rewards can be discussed]

’Hoh, they finished later than what I expected... that means Alice is going to be really hard to please this time’, jokingly thought Aster as he bitterly smiled to his insides, what he didn’t know is that a whole bunch of girls were going to ask for rewards this time, though Alice for sure will be on a different level than them.