272 Flying blades (1/2)
Ashley was panicking.
[Ashley! Calm down!!] Marcus suggested.
”DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!! NEVER TELL SOMEONE WHO IS NOT CALM TO CALM DOWN!! THAT'S THE WORST POSSIBLE THING YOU COULD SAY!!!” Ashley yelled.
[Okay... Uuhh... Don't calm down...?]
”Aaaaaghhh!! I can't believe I lost Marcia!! How did I lose a baby that does nothing but sleep all the time?? I need to find her!!” the woman shouted while dashing through the forest.
[What about Lilith?? She can't move or see!!]
”Oh! That's right... Uuuuhh...”
Ashley didn't know what else to do so she simply returned to where Lilith was sleeping and placed the lady on her back. Due to the power of Marcus' blessing giving her an increase in strength. Lilith weighted like nothing.
[Youre gonna search for Marcia like this??] Marcus wondered.
”You got a better idea??”
[Not really...]
”Then shut up and let me work!!”
Ashley then returned to her search for the missing baby while running around the endless sea of trees trying to spot anything that might look like the girl.
She began to notice how fast her legs were moving, how easy of a time she was having carrying Lilith, and with how much detail she could analyze the forest as if her whole life she had a problem of bad eyesight and someone suddenly had given her the best pair of glasses ever.
”Whoa... Your blessing is amazing...” Ashley commented with Marcus.
[Oh... Is this your first time trying it?]
”Y- Yeah... I don't tend to go to the battlefield very often... So I never needed to wear blessed metal that much...”
[I see... How does it feel?]
”It feels... I don't know... Like some sort of chain that was holding me down for years had just been released... I feel lighter...”
[Hehe! Thanks!] Marcus replied, feeling proud that his power was being praised.
”Ah!! I think I see her!!” Ashley claimed while spotting the girl crawling into a cave located deep into the forest.
[Whoa... For a little girl she sure can move fast...]
”Then I'll need to be faster!!”
Ashley tried to focus and began to pull even more power from Marcus' blessing, resulting in her speed increasing absurdly.
Marcia turned around at the sound of Ashley's footsteps coming closer to her and continued to watch confused as the woman just passed the kid in a matter of seconds.
”Aaahhh! I can't stop!!” Ashley claimed as she continued to enter the cave.
[Calm dow-]
”DONT TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!!!”
[Right! Right! Sorry... Uuhh... Try to focus on releasing your power...]
Ashley started to take deep breaths and did as Marcus said, trying her best to shrink the strength of the blessed metal, which in turn managed to lower the pace of her run.
”Ah! It's working!”
”Good... Seems like she is safe...” Ashley whispered in relief.
She came closer to the child and extended her arm to grab her, while carefully observing if there was any scratch or injury on the baby, anything that could give Ria a reason to murder Ashley.
[I don't see anything... Let's go back before Ria notices it...]
”Yes... Let's get out of... This... Cave...” Ashley tried to reply while giving one last look at the cave and realizing a pair of reptilian eyes of the size of a car window glaring at her.
[Oh...]
”...S#%@!”
Both Marcus and Ashley gasped at the sight of a lizard-like being watching their movements while covering its body with the shadows of the cavern. Its size was that of about two trucks pilled on top of each other and its skin was covered with a light tone of blue with white horns sticking out of its head.
[We should go...] Marcus suggested.
”We should...” Ashley agreed.
She turned around and readied to run, but that proved to be a massive mistake as the creature just opened its mouth to slap Ashley's legs, making her trip and dropping Marcus, Lilith, and Marcia on the ground.
”Ugh!!” Ashley moaned while Marcis began to cry from bumping into the floor. Lilith just remained unconscious.
”Where do you think you're going...?” a voice whispered inside of the cave.
”What!?” Ashley gasped as the massive creature suddenly vanished and in its place, a young woman who seemed to be around the age of twenty was now staring at her.
She was wearing a blue robe, had long silver hair, and a pair of orange eyes that would not stop staring right into Ashley.
”W- Who are you...??” Ashly stuttered while trying to slowly crawl backwards to get closer to Marcus in his blade form.
”Me...? I'm your dance partner...” the woman replied with a smirk.
”What...?”
”Hurry up and grab your sword... I wanna see what you can do...”
Ashley raised an eyebrow but she still did as she was told and grabbed her sword while standing up.
”I- I don't want to fight you...” Ashley stated, ”Just let us go!”
The woman tilted her head while keeping her small grin, ”I don't think that is an option... Now come! Show me what you got!”
Ashley had no idea what was going on but it seemed like this woman had no intention of letting them leave without a fight. She tried to focus on channeling the blessed power of her sword once again and charged at the woman.
Her opponent did not move. In fact, it seemed like she was waiting for her to strike her down.
Once the blade finally arrived, the woman just stopped it with her index as if she was pushing an elevator's button.
”What the-”
”Is that it...?” the woman wondered.
Ashley backed away and tried to charge once again. She had never fought with a sword before aside from the time she was a demon dryad and could turn her arm into a blade, but she knew enough to know how to swing for the vital spots in order to take down the opponents as fast as possible.
But the woman in blue just repeated her gesture and quickly moved her index to stop her blade.