Chapter 9: The Forest part 4

A few minutes before Solo met Lornin and Polyn, Lulu and Fayn had already finished talking with Ruion. Despite the fact that Ruion was someone whom the villagers respected, and the girls were escorted by him, the villagers were still quite uncomfortable and angry. Although no one dared to speak up, they were glaring at the newcomers from a distance.

"It was fairly easy to gather information from these beasts... I wonder why Lord Solo didn't want to eliminate them; they are pretty close to our territory... Also, they were so weak... As for Lulu, although she is quite dull, at least she didn't hinder my job... " Thought Fayn while she was lying on top of Lulu's head.

Suddenly Fayn stood up and chuckled, causing Lulu to stop.

"What's the matter?" Asked Lulu after a brief moment of hesitation.

"Nothing; anyway, I am going back home to jot down what I have gathered. Meanwhile, you should stay here and protect this settlement; maybe that is also part of Lord Solo's plan." Said the tiny girl and then jumped off of Lulu's head.

When she reached about Lulu's shoulders, she started using her wings to hover and then slowly ascended back to the height of Lulu's eyes and looked deeply into him, causing Lulu to step back.

"I have detected that a group of people is heading this way; let's see whether you are worth keeping alive or not! You are only level 30, the weakest one of Lord Solo's servants, yet you claim to be his personal follower?! Only the strong can serve him!" Thought Fayn, and with a fake smile on her face, she flew away.

"What was that? It was quite weird... Why did you fly so close to me? Well, in any case, I already activated most of my passive skills, which boost my detection abilities, so I should be able to notice when someone wants to attack..." Contemplated Lulu

Lulu decided to walk to the outskirts of the village; as she was walking, everyone was glaring at her. She was not bothered by it, as she was only focusing on what Fayn told her; protect the village.

"Sir... I hope you will come back soon; I..." Mumbled the knight as she was about to reach the last house in the village.

From the village, suddenly, every male villager started running towards her, which she instantly noticed and turned around. She was surprised as she didn't understand why they were running towards her. At the front of the mass of warriors, Ruion ran. Each man held a sword in their hands.

"Lady Lulu, please aid us! Our scouts have reported that a large number of soldiers is heading towards our village to kill us!" Shouted Ruion and stopped next to the girl, anticipating a response.

"Lady? ME? No-no-no! I have no such title; I am just a lowly fighter... As Lord Solo's personal companion, I have been tasked to protect this village! You stay here; I will go and defeat them!" Declared the knight with a proud and happy smile and then drew her two swords.

"You heard her; you go back and protect the children, women, elderly and the sick! We will deal with them!" Shouted the demihuman leader, Ruion.

Ruion started running without hesitation, and Lulu followed him. The villagers were hesitant; they were mumbling amongst themselves whether to trust the woman or hot, but since Ruion, their leader, ordered them to protect the village, they walked back with their heads lowered.

"Now I understand! Fay had already noticed her since she is Lord Solo's right hand... the reason she left was to give me a chance... Since I am not good at talking, she allowed me to be useful by protecting the villagers! She is very kind! I will show her and Lord Solo that I can be useful and reliable." Thought Lulu as she followed the demihuman.

They ran for minutes until they finally were about to leave the forest. They could see a vast plain area in which a large number of soldiers stood. Some wore armour, but some seemed to be ordinary men, as they had no armour, and they used hammers, forks, scythes, sickles, shovels, and many more different utensils which would generally be used around the house. But some held staffs; however, those men stood at the back, along with some archers.

"They brought at least a hundred soldiers and dozens of ranged units to kill us?! MONSTERS!" Growled the demihuman beside Lulu and clenched his sword.

Lulu took a deep breath and was about to dive in head first, but at that moment, from the back of the enemy company, at least a dozen fireballs were fired at Lulu and Ruion.

"This can be problematic!" Mumbled Lulu as he jumped forward.

Although they were still behind trees, one of the fireballs managed to pass by the trees. Lulu had no choice but to try and block it. With a swift slash, Lulu cut the fireball vertically. The fireball was cleanly cut into two, but as they changed their trajectory, a few moments after the two parts passed Lulu, they exploded. Lulu tanked the explosion head-on, although she sustained some minor damage; she charged at the enemy almost instantly.

"I am weak... Even a tier-one fireball had enough power to damage me slightly! It must mean that the opponents are weaker than me, but they are strong enough to pose a threat to me... FUCK!" Analysed Lulu as she was dashing forward.

Meanwhile, Ruion was slightly pushed back by the explosion, but he soon started following Lulu as soon as he managed to put out his burning hair. By the time he left the trees, a large portion of the trees around him was already engulfed by flames.

"How did she do it?! She took that explosion head-on, yet she is..." Mumbled Ruion.

The demihuman was forced to block as another barrage of fireballs was fired at him, along with a shower of arrows.

"Better Strength! Better Aggility! Lesser Defense! HIGH CLEAVE!" Shouted the man as he raised his sword above his head.

A barely noticeable red colour surrounded his sword, and then he initiated his skills just in time. The blade hurled towards the ground, drawing a weak red line. As the sword hit the ground, the fireball, which Ruion managed to cut, exploded; every other fireball exploded due to the blast, and the demihuman was blasted back into the forest. He hit a burning tree so hard that he fainted.

Meanwhile, Lulu was already fighting with the melee unit. Although she was much stronger than any of them, she was slowly overwhelmed. Since she was originally created to carry the unnecessary items for Solo, she had no skills which could come in handy in a fight. The only thing she had was his higher level.

She could slice anyone into two if it was a clean hit, but since she had to block and attack at the same time, she was getting tired. And on top of all this, the mages and archers started targeting her, as she was the only one standing. She tanked multiple fireballs and arrow shots, which gradually damaged her armour.

As she was slowly pushed back, her armour gradually crumbled, and she was shot in the shoulder multiple times. The sounds of the carnage grew quieter and quieter in her ears, but she could still hear everything. She could hear how her armour was splintering; how her sword collided with another man's weapon; how her now dull blades managed to cut deeply into people's bodies, which then turned into ripping rather than cutting; she could hear how the ground was breaking beneath her feet; and also, she was able to hear, feel, and see how the previously lushes green forest, was now dressed up in red.

She could hear the cracking of the burning trees; she felt the heat coming from the fire, and she could see ans the flame tongues had consumed or had started consuming some of the corpses. By that time, she realised that she was pushed back to the now warked forest.

As the world grew quieter around her, she was still focusing on killing the opponents to fulfil what she believed she was tasked with. At that point, she had already killed most of her soldiers, and only a bit over twenty men were around her. Everything seemed to have slowed down around her. Suddenly she was smashed in the face with a hammer, and she fell back, but as she opened her eyes, he could see a red pillar reaching the skies, and as she witnessed it as if she was revigorated, she jumped back up!

"I am NOT done yet!"