[Silver Ash] - Become The Strongest In Another World
CHAPTER 124: Asterisk Attention! (5)

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"What was on your mind that you betrayed us, Lucia? "

The man, Olpus, looked into Lucia's eyes without the slightest fear even though he had seen firsthand how Lucia killed everyone with the power of her eyes.

Not that Olpus was stupid. Only, he knew that Lucia would not recklessly use her power just to kill one person.

Someone like Olpus understood with complete confidence that Lucia was a 'cunning fox' type woman who would use her surroundings as a weapon.

Only, one thing that puzzled him this time was why Lucia had betrayed him.

Lucia, however, she just smiled as she looked at Olpus.

"Please don't think of anything strange about me. I did not betray you. Because from the beginning, I never even said I'd join you all."

Olpus understood his words. That was true, but still Olpus was annoyed with her.

"Did you forget everything we did just to save you 20 years ago? You really don't know whose name thank you, do you? "

In response to that, Lucia let out an extremely dazzling smile, making her impression as a mature woman become even stronger.

"Fufu, if about that, of course I am very grateful to you. That's why I agreed to help you with the power I have."

"Then–"

"But" Lucia interrupted Olpus without letting Olpus finish his sentence. Lucia then continued, "That's no reason to cooperate with all of you. I did agree to give my help, but I also have the right to determine my life."

Olpus' eyes narrowed sharply, "Are you really sure about that? "

"About what? " ask Lucia confusedly while tilting her head.

"Do you really think you have the right to decide your own life? "

"I don't understand what you mean."

The smile still did not disappear from Lucia's face, but Olpus was clearly aware of Lucia's increasing vigilance.

"You seem pretty sure that you have the right to decide your life. But ... What do you know about that? The truth is, you won't be able to run away from us. That's an absolute thing."

"And ... What if I could? "

Lucia asked with caution. Despite that, he still maintained a dazzling smile on his face.

"You should know what's going to happen."

" ……… "

The answer Olpus gave was not satisfactory for Lucia. But, that was enough to make him feel a little fear.

Lucia doesn't mind what's going to happen to her. He's used to it. Lucia knew for herself what would happen to her if she rebelled. Even so, it was no reason for him to be afraid.

The only thing that worries Lucia is that Olpus and the others will most likely use Leonardo's existence as a 'guarantee'.

Lucia already considers Leonardo as her own family, and Olpus' party knows that. If they made use of their closeness, then it would be a dead end even for Lucia.

Olpus said nothing for a while, as if giving Lucia a chance to talk to her own betin.

"You understand that, don't you? From the beginning, you had no choice but to obey us."

Even though Olpus did not say it directly, Lucia still understood all of that very clearly.

Lucia herself is aware of how much risk she must take to eliminate all sources of disaster that will occur in the future.

And when Lucia thought about that, she came to her conclusion. He just realized this. Why didn't he realize this long before the Asterisk member meeting took place? When he thought about it, he really felt stupid.

From the beginning, Lucia already had no choice but to become their obedient pet dog.

Lucia was completely stuck in two paths that only led her to a dead end.

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When did his life start to change? He doesn't remember it at all.

By the time he regained consciousness, he was already standing in the middle of his family members who had become lifeless corpses.

They all died in terrible circumstances. The father and mother died with their heads crushed as if they had been blown up from within, while the older brother died in a state of hardened body and crushed like stone fragments.

While all of them were in a state of distress, the girl, she was just staring at the puzzled scenery around her.

Her eyes which had beautiful golden pupils, were accompanied by dozens of magic circles formed within it as if scanning what was happening. Even so, the girl still did not understand.

When his neighbor saw himself standing on the dead body of his family, he realized that he was the cause of it all.

He cried so strongly, that it triggered a new rise of strength in his eyes.

Everyone in the village had blamed him for what happened. He has been hated for reasons he doesn't even understand. That power, is not his own desire to have it.

His extremely strong cry and accompanied by his newly awakened strength instantly drowned the village where he lived in a panic.

A gigantic eye pattern appeared in the sky just above the village. Making everyone who saw him could only stare in confusion there, without realizing that it was a sign of the end of their lives. And sure enough, hundreds of strange magic zigils came out of the eyeball, forming a large cage that locked the village and its surroundings.

All the people trapped in the cage died in terrible suffering.

The cage persisted for several weeks, eventually disappearing completely.

A girl who was the cause of it all now goes in no direction. He himself did not even know what he would do next.

The girl had tried to kill herself many times, but she still never died. No matter how much he injured himself, his injuries would continue to heal endlessly, as if preventing death from approaching him.

A few years on aimlessly, and destroying everything she passed, the girl finally meets a group of people who will change her life.

The group calls themselves the 'Voyager' on a mission. The girl did not understand, so she decided to continue on her journey that had no definite purpose.

However, one of the people in the group stopped him.

"You seem to have a useful power. Hey, how about you work with us? "

"Oi, Olpus! "

The man, Olpus gave an offer that the girl could not understand.

Even when one of his colleagues stopped him, Olpus kept his eyes on her and looked her in the eye.

"What's your name? "

" …… Lu .. cia … "

The girl, Lucia managed to pronounce her own name after never using her vocal cords for several years.

"Lucia, huh? What a good name. Then do you want to accept my offer? "

Lucia returned Olpus' gaze in confusion. Seeing how the leavenless Olpus looked into his eyes filled with a terrifying strength made Lucia feel strange.

All this time, no one dared to look him in the eyes because of the hundreds of strange magic circles that were there, but Olpus easily ignored them all.

Lucia hesitantly received a handshake from Olpus. Although she did not say anything, Lucia had already implied that she would accept the offer given by Olpus.

Without knowing that his life will deviate from the destiny line that has been set for him.

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Lucia knew that in the end she would experience something like this. But, he still did not stop. More precisely, he cannot.

All the choices that exist for him will only lead him to a dead end. Even so, Lucia had to choose one of the options on that option. Choose to sacrifice himself, or stick to the choice to be sacrificed. All the choices would only bring her nightmares.

Although a smile was still on her pretty face, the atmosphere around Lucia became increasingly gloomy as time went on.

Lucia then looked at Olpus who was standing before her.

"I know that. I also knew that Leonardo would be in a dangerous situation because of my actions, but. Me, us. .. Asterisk has taken a choice that strays from our supposed life path. But, because of that, we're going to deal with it all somehow."

Although Lucia said that, in fact, it was very difficult to cooperate with the other Asterisk members.

Thanks to the proposal Noelle had given earlier, the majority of Asterisk members would only trust other members to some extent. In fact, it is more appropriate to say that they do not trust other members outside of their work at all.

Lucia also had such thoughts, but she still wanted to establish a good cooperative relationship with each member. That way, he will have many solutions to the problems that will befall him in the future.

"I thank you, Olpus. I owe you so much for saving me that day. But, I guess this is the moment where I'm gonna leave you all."

The sentence Lucia said so powerfully that Olpus could only fall silent without any response.

Olpus had known Lucia since Lucia was a child, and Olpus understood very well that Lucia should not be someone who would act recklessly.

According to Olpus, Lucia will only move when everything has really been arranged in such a way that all the actions she will take can run smoothly.

Because he understood that, Olpus became quite surprised when he saw Lucia's reckless act of suddenly betraying them like this.

Olpus let out a sigh of resignation, and crossed both arms.

" … It only takes 20 years for you to change, yes. I wouldn't care about this. Lucia, you're free to do whatever you like from now on, but .. If you get in the way of further movement … "

The figure of Olpus suddenly disappeared. In just less than a second, several sharp sword tips had been pointed at Lucia's neck from a very close distance.

Olpus then reappeared before him, along with several swords floating by his side.

"That's great. Then I'll close my eyes to this one."

Saying that, Olpus then turned and walked away from Lucia. However, before he actually left, Olpus turned around and asked Lucia a question.

"Hey, Lucia. Do you believe that there are existences of a much higher level? "

"What do you mean by God? "

Lucia tilted her head, not understanding why Olpus asked that. If Olpus said that there were existences of much higher rank, then the only answer Lucia could think of was a god.

"No, it's something different. Its degree is still much lower when compared to a god, but .. It is an existence that cannot be thought of with human logic."

Olpus smiled, and continued, "If man is a real 3-dimensional object and has independent intelligence, then it could be said that this existence is on a different level to ours."

Those words, Lucia could not understand it. Lucia tried to use her eyes to see the truth, but she found nothing.

"Heh, it doesn't matter if you don't understand now. Clearly, I have no business with you anymore. Then, goodbye."

With that, Olpus turned back and walked away from Lucia, before finally his figure disappeared completely.

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"Ughh ... Damn .. Where the bastard actually is … "

At the site of the production plant that Tania was targeting, Arnaz was currently panting with some shards of glass stuck in his body.

The millions of insects clinging to each other forming strange black clumps around him seemed to be falling to the floor, while the wind slashes that appeared out of nowhere made his movement much more difficult.

It had been about half an hour since Arnaz came to this place, and during that time he had already fought with an existence that he could not even see with his eyes.

"Oi, Mordred! Do somethin! "

Arnaz yelled angrily at Tania. Even so, Tania was also in a less than good condition.

Their enemy was completely invisible, and the air of his presence was also unfeelable. The two of them could only fight by relying on their instincts alone.

『That boy is really noisy! Can't he just shut up?!』

Navi's annoyed shout echoed within Tania's head who was still watching her surroundings warily.

For some reason, Navi became quieter than usual. She was still noisy, but Tania felt that Navi was a little calmer now.

Maybe because they had a little fight.

『Yahh, instead of caring about that brat .. Tania, what are you going to do now? Your previous plan has failed, right?』

" ……… "

Tania did not reply, but instead re-positioned the horses to attack.

Indeed, the actions he had taken recklessly before had been thwarted easily, but that was no reason for Tania to feel hesitant now.

Initially he tried to distract his opponent with a lot of gestures and a deceitful attack, yet it all ended up in vain.

Now Tania prepared her scythe in a position ready to slash, then swung it with all her might in certain directions.

That way, he might be able to estimate where his enemy was now.

But, his actions actually triggered the anger of Arnaz.

"Don't attack recklessly, asshole! This place is going to collapse! "

Arnaz immediately jumped far back, and continued to run outside the building, followed by Tania.

If they could not fight him head-on, then destroy him by utilizing the conditions of the surroundings.

At least it was a simple plan that Tania could think of to defuse the situation a little.

Moments after Tania and Arnaz left the A-1 production building, the building collapsed as Tania had hoped.

"Did that bastard die? "

"Maybe .. No."

Tania tried to pay attention to the building even further, and found the debris of the moving building at a certain point.

"He's there" Tania said, pointing to one of the places where a large concrete stone fell on him.

"I can see it too! "

Arnaz shouted and swung his arm, making his insect army rush to fly to the place.

Every object that came into contact with his insect army instantly melted into a disgusting liquid, accompanied by a pungent smell. And Arnaz naturally thought that the enemy attacking him would also experience that.

However, that thought was clearly wrong.

The huge rock flew away quickly, throwing down the army of insects that were trying to come at him.

『What the fuck?!』

While Navi was still shouting furiously inside her head, Tania quickly ran with her scythe, then swung the scythe to the spot she had predicted.

Even so, his scythe slash only touched empty air without a single physical object blocking it.

『I thought this was weird, Tania. I don't feel like we're fighting someone.』

(What do you mean? )

Tania asked inside her mind while her eyes were vigilantly paying attention to every detail that was around her.

『I mean .. I don't feel like we're fighting someone. More precisely, I feel that our opponent is indeed not here since the beginning.』

(Report control? )

Tania doesn't quite understand her point, but Navi has no reason to lie to her. So, if Navi says so, then that might be true.

Remote control was nothing new to Tania. He has often fought enemies with the ability to attack from a distance that cannot be seen or felt.

One of his opponents was a familiar user who controlled a flying monster with a strange shape. Although, in the end Tania managed to kill the familiar controller.

『No, it's different. If our opponent this time is indeed someone with the ability to attack from a very long distance, then there will be a trace in the form of a connection line connecting between the user, with the attack he issued.』

(Continue.)

He doesn't have much time. While asking Navi to continue with her explanation, Tania continued to jump with a complicated pattern in order to avoid all the attacks that came her way.

『I absolutely cannot feel that trace of connection from our opponent. Which means, our opponent is here, but at the same time, he is not here either.』

Tania tilted her head in confusion. He doesn't understand what he means.

『Ahhh!!! It's hard to think of the right words to describe it! Anyway! I feel that that person or whatever that is fighting with us right now from the beginning has never been with us!! It's more like its existence is on a different dimension to ours!!!』

(Dimensions? )

Maybe it's some kind of spatial ability. But that's not what Navi wants to say.

Navi was really irritated by the fact that she could not give Tania a proper explanation at all. He really couldn't find the right way to do it.

"Oi! Mordred! "

While Tania was confused thinking about it, Arnaz who was far enough away from her frantically shouted.

Arnaz's army of insects quickly flew over Tania and formed a barrier, as if protecting Tania's figure from something about to fall from above.

And sure enough, a giant chunk of rock smashed into the barrier created by Arnaz's army of insects.

Tania noticed that and immediately jumped far back to avoid it. Arnaz also immediately pulled back his troops as soon as he saw Tania who was already in a safe position.

"Thank you" Tania said briefly.

Arnaz snorted for a moment, then replied, "No problem. Rather than that, what should we do now? "

" ……… I don't know, but ... Fighting him is not our job."

It was annoying to admit it, but they had spent too much time just to take care of an opponent whose even existence was still in question.

"Then, we destroy the rest of the damn building, then run away."

"Nn," Tania nodded as a sign of agreeing to Arnaz's proposal.

The two of them were already preparing to destroy the remaining production buildings. However, they were again surprised by the appearance of a figure that neither of them had expected before.

"Hmm? Uhh! Mordred, and Caver! Are you not finished here? "

It was Ethan who appeared with blood on his clothes and mask.

"Ortis?! "

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