69 THE BENEFACTOR: PART I

Her breathing sounded heavy and she was hardly able to catch her breath. Her sweat drops like raindrop almost enough to fill a whole glass. As she continued on, she felt her leg trembling as if they were soon to break. In the end, she decided to take a quick break.

As soon as she rested by the tree to hide herself from any incoming enemies, she reached out into her bag and was in distress when she realized she had run out of mana potion.

'Ah, to think I used up all the potion. I wonder how many soldiers I was able to heal to think I used everything up.'

She took out one bottle out of her bag and called out for the Twilight Wolf.

"Fuji!"

The young twilight wolf heard the sound of his master's voice. He automatically stopped chasing the barbarians who were trying to run away.

It didn't take a long time for him to find the whereabouts of his master as he started rubbing his head to her body.

"Good boy," She said as she steadily removed the bag tied around his body. As she finished removing the rope tied around his body, she gently patted him and kneed on the ground. "Return to the camp, bring this with you, and look for Lirius."

Fuji hesitated, he growled as if he was telling her: 'What about you?'

"I'll be fine, just find Lirius and look for me…" She spoke with such authority as she needed him to follow her commands and not demand to stay. Despite knowing how bad her situation is, she knows that he'll be able to handle the task and bring Lirius at once to her location.

"Now, go!"

Since her command was so dominant, Fuji did not hesitate any longer and left at the speed of light. Compared to horses, he was twice as fast as them which means in no time he'll be able to reach the camp. However, he felt bothered by his decision and kept looking back at his master. He fears that living with her will bring only death to her.

Athena continued to gaze at Fuji who soon disappeared from her sight. He was so fast that she could no longer locate where he was.

"I better go before it's too late."

The girl continues deep into the forest where the barbarians escape and run away. As she stepped inside their territory, an arrow flew directly at her from different corners. But she already expected this and was able to anticipate them. She then held her bow tight as she grabbed her arrow and fought back, eventually killing each one of them.

One of the barbarians continues to run for his life as he notices his comrades dying one at a time. As he reached the path to their camp, he noticed one of the leaders and yelled.

"Leader!"

The man and his companion all turned around as they heard the man screaming with an expression filled with fear and worries.

"Master, a Twilight wolf has attacked us." He yelled as he tried to catch his breath and shakily pointed at the direction.

"What?" The Leader was shocked as his expression drastically turned pale from the news he was receiving.

"Impossible, this is the Thiribian Kingdom. There aren't any Twilight Wolf in this area…" The Leader explained, but felt uneasy knowing such a beast was in the North.

"But Master, we just saw one and his one his way. He was accompanied by a master archer as well."

It didn't take long for the man's words to come into reality when an arrow struck down one of the barbarians who was carrying the captured soldier.

"Ah-"

"Everyone, don't panic…" The Leader yelled as he scanned the area for the attackers whereabouts. However, the place was filled with trees which means he could be hiding anywhere. "Show yourself…"

Then another arrow appeared out of nowhere and struck the man who came running to them and was soon dead cold on the ground and wasn't even able to react to what happened.

"B*stard where are you?"

Athena who was way up above in one of the trees continued to attack them. She changes her position time after time to avoid them from realizing her exact location.

'You b*stard what have you done to my cousin. I'll make you all experience the pain you gave him and uncle. You dare lay your dirty hands one him…'

Instead of directly killing them, Athena started pointing her arrows to different parts of their body which won't kill them easily, but will cause them severe pain.

As she continues to attack each one of them, she soon runs out of arrows, but has wounded all of them. Some have died from all the pain and blood loss. She then decided to climb down the tree and directly face them.

"You b*stard, I'll kill you… Get him.." The Leader yelled who was pulling the last arrow that was struck at him. He grunt his teeth as he felt the pain from pulling the arrow.

Despite their wounds, the barbarians did as they were ordered and started attacking the girl one at a time.

She pulled out her dragger which caught the barbarians attention.

The dagger was larger than a normal dagger, slim, curved dagger made of titanium and is held by a grip wrapped in gilded, jaded green smooth leather. The sharp edge makes it perfect for blocking attacks and giving enemies a painful cut. The dagger has a small, straight cross-guard, just large enough to make sure one's fingers are safe and the dagger will remain firmly in your hands. The dagger grip was also decorated with rare enchanted gems, which has a different effect when cast by the user.

As the barbarians fraught her, they saw white aura surrounding the person's entire body. It frightened them seeing such intense aura coming out from the person. It did not take long for Athena to kill each one of them leaving the rest to die on their own from the poison of her blade.

"You b*stard-" The Leader said as he pulled out his great sword.

Compared to Athena's weapon, the Leader's weapon was triple in size and weight. It was so huge that it could cut her in half so easily.

As Athena prepared herself to battle the Leader, she soon felt her entire body burning up as she felt her chest aching. It felt like something was grabbing hold of her heart as she was having a hard time breathing unexpectedly.

'Damn it, Please not now… Just one more, please…'

Athena's body could no longer take it as she collapsed on her knees and started coughing out blood. She not only pushed herself to her limit, but actually dragged herself to continue despite she knew she could no longer handle it.

It surprises the Leader to see the person on the ground and puking blood, he laughs seeing the unexpected turn of events. "Have you reached your limit little boy?"

Athena gathered her last remaining strength as she got back on her feet, she removed her hood and revealed herself. As the wind blew her mixed brunette silver-white hair, she looked the Leader right in the eye revealing her true self at him.

"A girl."

The Leader was completely dumbfounded, a little girl wounded him and killed all his men. He became furious at the thought that a little girl killed all his remaining men. "Little girl, I won't kill you, but I'll **** you until you beg for your life."

"I'll kill you before that happens," Athena said, but soon heard her heart beating at a strange pace which caused her to have a problem breathing. She soon lost grip of her dagger as it fell to the ground. She clenched her chest as she felt her heart pounding cause her to cough buckets of blood out.

The Leader slowly walked closer to her, as he smiled seeing his victory being handed to him. He then grabs hold of the girl's face as he releases he has captured such a rare gem. "You are so beautiful, such a waste your life is about to end."

"I…" Her vision was blurry nor was she able to hold any longer as everything around her turned cold and dark.

"Such a pity you have to d-"

The Leader released the girl as something unexpected was stabbed right at him, the man who stabbed him quickly went and caught the girl as the Leader collapsed on the ground.

"You-" The Leader looked at the man who stabbed him but soon met his end as well.

The person who killed the barbarian's leader was shocked to see his benefactor true image. "Who would have thought you'll be a little girl."

He then lay the girl on the ground first as he went to check on his friend.

"Roderic, are you alright?" He worriedly asked as he removed the ropes tightly tied around his hand.

The man was badly wounded and was slightly dazed by the situation, "Noct, is she alright?"

"I don't know, I can hardly sense her aura." He replied, as he could not even feel a pulse at all.

Roderic got up on his feet and went to check on the girl, "Who is she? Why is she here…"

"I don't know who she is, but she saved half of the soldiers and killed off the barbarians in the battlefield all on her own." He explained what had happened and the current situation of the battle.

"She what?" Roderic was shocked to hear something outrageous done by a little girl.

"She didn't do it alone, she was with a Twilight wolf. But for some reason I saw it running back to camp,"

"We better head back then, before more barbarians come and find out we killed one of their leaders." Roderic said.

Noct then carried the girl in his arms, as they headed out of the forest. He can sense a strong presence fast approaching towards them which made him wonder.

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