58 Volume 4 Chapter 27.1
(3rd person POV)
In one corner of the fight, a Marauder who appears smarter than the others casted a look of irritation towards a figure fighting four Marauders at once.
"Little girl! Can't defeat!"
"She's stronger than five of us combined!"
"Pest. Nuisance."
"Boss, what do we do?"
Despite his subordinates' grumblings, he slowly analyzed the situation. He carefully observed Karla and eventually came to the conclusion that the girl might be strong, but she lacks experience in battle. Her punches were bursting with strength, but she can't fully grasp the flow of the battlefield just yet. There were some trained moves in her, but that's it. He thought that if Karla is surrounded by dozens or more Marauders, she's done so.
That brought him to the question of how can the little girl move freely in this battle. His gaze then landed on a warrior woman who keeps glancing back at Karla. She would often interrupt a backstab aimed towards the little girl, and would block the arrows fired towards her. The woman is also keeping the numbers engaging Karla below 4 or 5, which she deemed the maximum that Karla could handle currently.
'Divide and conquer, is it?' The boss Marauder grinned and ordered something to his subordinate.
-----
A Marauder was sent flying after Karla punched him for the fourth time. He crashed into two Marauders who were about to charge towards Karla, successfully intercepting them.
"Behind you."
After hearing the voice, Karla suddenly bent her body down. She wasn't even given time to rest as another one came charging from behind her. Thanks to Sif's timely warning though, she managed to avoid the surprise attack.
Karla kicked the ground and rolled a meter away from the assailant behind her. Getting up, she then turned around and delivered a kick to the head aimed towards the Marauder.
"AaAackK!!"
The Marauder issued an agonizing wail before he was knocked down to the ground. After making sure that he fainted and was incapacitated, Karla faced the next Marauder in line.
The battle has been going on a cycle like this for a while now. Their numbers seemingly endless; but in truth, it was just enemy reinforcements coming every minute.
Although the Asgardians had an advantage in training and equipment, the Marauders equaled it off with their numbers and suicidal actions. As the Asgardians were cornered on one side of a wall, the three other directions are free for the enemy to take advantage of. They could only endure.
-----
The boss Marauder observed the battlefield closely.
He was especially keeping his attention on Karla, the little girl with the strength of nearly an adult Asgardian God.
Minutes passed, and some change finally occurred.
He watched as Karla tried to catch her breath while dodging an attack. Her face filled with bullets of sweat, her breathing getting rough as the time passes.
It looks like she's just a little girl, after all. No matter how strong she is, she cannot be inexhaustible. After sacrificing that much small fries on her, the boss Marauder would be pissed if she's still able to easily whack them like potatoes. That's why, he gave up almost a quarter of his men just to exhaust her; so he could take her out. After that, the boss Marauder would be free to squish the Asgardians like bugs, especially since the mighty Thor isn't here.
"Go. Execute the plan as I said." The boss Marauder said to his underlings.
The two Marauders on his right nodded.
They then quickly dashed towards the farmer who was busily defending his family while inching towards the protective circle that the Asgardians made.
-----
"No… NO! Let go of them! Let go of my wife—aack!!"
"My Husband!!"
"Father!"
When Karla heard those voices, she turned around just in time to see two Marauders dragging a woman and a child towards the forest. The man who seems like the father was sprawled on the ground with his face kissing the dirt. Blood dripped down his whole body as the Marauders left him in a bad shape.
The farmer's strength was simply no match for the Marauders'. Furthermore, there were no Einherjar that could help him as they were all engaged in a battle at the moment. The Marauders howled loudly without care of getting attention as they dragged the two women with lustful faces.
Sif's attention was also called over as she heard the commotion. She instantly saw the look on Karla's face.
"Karla, don't! Wait for reinforcements!" Sif shouted.
"I can save them alone. Trust me!" As Karla said that, she swiftly flew in hopes of catching up to the Marauders.
"I said wait!" Sif was about to follow Karla, but then more and more Marauders surrounded her. She thought it was troublesome at first, before she noticed a Marauder grinning at her from afar. The Marauder then disappeared inside the forest. That's when something clicked.
"It's a trap… Damn it, it's a trap!" Sif mercilessly cut down the Marauder in front of her before yelling loudly. "Asgardians! Huddle up! Let's finish this quickly!!"
She cannot leave the battlefield right now in order to save just one person. It's simple math. She saves Karla = the people of Vanaheim would surely die. She's the warrior that would act as the last barrier between the Marauders and the death of many people. That's why, the best option right now is to finish this up quickly so she can go to Karla's rescue.
Sif glanced at the forest where Karla disappeared to once again and steeled herself.
Meanwhile, Karla followed the Marauders deep inside the forest before she finally located them. She quickly eliminated the two Marauders, and to her surprise, it was so easy doing so. It didn't even take her 30 seconds before the Marauders ended up becoming meat pastes on the ground.
"Are you two okay?" Karla asked the two captives.
The mother and daughter pair nodded before their faces went pale. Karla looked behind her and saw more than a dozen of Marauders approaching them. They look tougher and more experienced than the ones she had battled up until now. All of them were equipped with complete armor and much stronger weapons. Furthermore, at the back of the pack, there stood an intelligent-looking Marauder who looks like their boss.
"Run now. I'll stay behind and stop them."
The mother refused to leave a kid like Karla at first, but Karla told her to call for reinforcement as she can't protect both of them. The mother then remembered the monstrous strength and brutality of this little girl and reluctantly ran away with her daughter.
Weirdly enough, no Marauder followed to chase after them.
"You can only blame yourself, little one. For being on the wrong side. And for having that unfair strength. At my mercy, you can now peacefully die." The boss Marauder narrated like an all-knowing sage as he closed his eyes. He spread his arms widely, ready to embrace the praises that his underlings would give him.
Instead…
Silence.
It was so silent that the only thing he could hear was the wind rustling up the trees.
A full minute has passed and the boss Marauder still couldn't hear any reactions coming from his underlings.
He opened his eyes in irritation just to see the Marauders around him trembling. They couldn't even gulp or breathe loudly as they sweat like waterfalls. Their wide eyes stared at only one direction.
"Mission complete, right?" Karla's cheery voice broke the silence. She smiled widely, knowing that a head pat was coming.
"Yes, good girl. You did well."
As she expected, she received the praise and the head pat that she wants.
The boss Marauder instinctively turned his head at the source of the foreign voice.
Beside Karla, where there was supposed to be nothing, a black vortex suddenly took form. From it, the figures of a man and a woman slowly appeared.
At that moment, one word only came up to everyone's mind as they saw the man.
"Now then, shall we start?" He smiled at them while saying so. "We only have so little time, after all."
'Run'
