Chapter 265: The Loki Familia's Shock
Bete's assault was like a true tempest.
His legs, encased in his custom metal boots, "Flos Virt," had become the deadliest of weapons.
Every kick carried the sharp, tearing whistle of displaced air, moving so fast that they left only a blur of afterimages in their wake.
He fully exploited the complex yet spacious terrain of the White Palace, ricocheting and pivoting at high speeds between the massive white stone pillars and broken walls like a phantom, launching attacks from bizarre, unimaginable angles and pushing his innate Werewolf speed and explosive power to their absolute limits.
However, despite facing such a frenzied onslaught, the red-haired girl shrouded in flames didn't lose ground in the slightest.
Every swing of the longsword in her hand accurately predicted the trajectory of Bete's strikes.
The flames clinging to her blade danced as if they were alive; upon clashing with Bete's metal boots, they erupted in blinding, superheated sparks that baked the surrounding rocks until they glowed a faint red.
Incredibly, her speed fully matched Bete's. Even more terrifying was her preternatural combat intuition.
No matter how tricky or unexpected Bete's attacks were, she always managed to block or dodge them with the most minimal of movements and impeccable timing, almost as if every move Bete made had been entirely predicted.
Their skirmish unfolded as fast as lightning; every collision produced a deafening boom, whipping up shockwaves so violent that the lower-level adventurers approaching the scene could barely keep their footing.
Off to the side of the battlefield, Finnel, Alicia Forestlight, and Anakitty Autumn—three veteran members belonging to the second string—were staring blankly, utterly horrified by the fiery figure fighting Bete to a standstill, as if they were witnessing the most impossible thing in the world.
"A-Aki... I'm not seeing things, am I? That... that... couldn't be... the Crimson Flower of Justice, could it? Didn't she... already die?"
Finnel's voice trembled, tinged with a ghost-seeing terror.
His rather plain eyes were bugging out, and his legs had started shaking uncontrollably.
As an older member of the Loki Familia, he had joined the Familia even earlier than Bete or the Amazon sisters.
Therefore, he vividly remembered the captain of the Astrea Familia from the era belonging to "Justice"—that captain who had been as dazzling and radiant as the sun itself.
—The "Crimson Flower of Justice," Alise Lovell.
Because the Alise of that era had been so impossibly brilliant, she had left an indelible mark on his memory. There was absolutely zero chance he could mistake that face, or that fiery red hair.
This red-haired girl currently turning the place upside down in her fight with Bete was, with absolute one-hundred-percent certainty, the captain of the Astrea Familia who should have perished beautifully in that tragedy four years ago.
"It's her... But, this is impossible, meow?"
Anakitty was also in utter disbelief; in her shock, even the racial verbal tic she had worked so hard to correct over the years slipped out.
"Alise has been dead for a long time; there's no way that's fake," Alicia said, clutching her staff tightly and forcing herself to analyze the situation calmly. "Otherwise, Gale wouldn't have gone on such a rampage back then. If she were still alive, she should have shown up when the goddess Astrea left Orario."
"But... then who the hell is that?" Finnel's voice quavered. "And that magic, I definitely didn't misidentify it. That's 'Agaris Alves.' When I first saw it back in the day, I thought it was incredibly cool—it's the magic I've dreamed of having."
He swallowed hard as he spoke.
Because he lacked any skills or magic of his own, Finnel was always immensely envious of the powerful and flashy magic of other adventurers.
Alise's enchantment magic, capable of coating weapons and limbs in fire, was practically the perfect "dream magic" in his eyes.
God only knew how incredibly jealous and bitter he had felt when he saw Aiden wielding a similar type of enchantment magic.
And precisely because of this deep-seated "obsession," he was intimately familiar with every visual detail of Alise's magic.
The magic being used by the girl fighting Bete right now was practically identical.
"What's going on?"
At that moment, Finn, Riveria Ljos Alf, and the others arrived with the main group.
When their eyes fell upon the two combatants, even these two battle-hardened Familia leaders couldn't help but let their pupils contract as they blurted out a single name in unison.
"Alise...?"
Any veteran member of the Loki Familia who had lived through the "Great Feud" seven years ago and witnessed the glory of the Astrea Familia would undoubtedly recognize this embodiment of justice.
Only those who had arrived in Orario later—like Tiona, Tione, and Lefiya—stared at the scene in total confusion.
Finn immediately turned to Finnel and commanded in a low voice, "Finnel, report."
"Yes, Captain!"
Finnel jumped slightly, then hurriedly gave a brief rundown of what had happened.
They had been clearing out the monsters on the path back to the surface when Bete spotted this "Alise" slaying monsters entirely on her own.
Bete had clearly recognized her as well; after all, seeing someone who was supposed to be dead standing alive right in front of them would compel anyone to go over and investigate.
Bete was no exception.
However, the very instant Bete approached to speak to her, that "Alise" had launched an attack without the slightest warning.
"We have no idea what's going on, or why a dead person is suddenly here and attacking Bete without saying a word," Finnel said, his voice dripping with confusion.
Finn's brow furrowed tightly, his eyes flashing thoughtfully.
He was just about to give the order for Ais and the others to step in and subdue this enigmatic "Alise" first before asking questions.
But right then, the "Alise" seemed to sense something, and her movements abruptly paused.
She turned her head, her green eyes ablaze with fire, sweeping a glance toward where Finn and the others were standing in the distance.
The next moment, the longsword in her hand erupted with an unprecedentedly fierce blaze, and a crushing, rock-shattering slash forcefully knocked Bete back several meters.
Immediately following that, the flames on her legs exploded violently. Using the massive recoil, her body shot away from the battlefield like an arrow released from a bow string, vanishing into the pitch-black depths of the labyrinth without looking back.
The entire sequence was clean, decisive, and devoid of any hesitation whatsoever.
"..."
Bete, having been knocked back by a single strike and tumbling through the air several times before sticking his landing, froze for a second.
Then, an indescribable wave of pure fury shot straight to the top of his head.
"You bastard—! Don't you run!!!"
His exasperated, furious cursing echoed endlessly through the vast expanse of the 38th Floor.
This woman had shown up out of nowhere, attacked him for absolutely no reason, and then vanished just as inexplicably.
From start to finish, he had been left in a total state of bewildered shock.
It felt exactly like putting all of his strength into a punch, only to hit empty air.
The enraged fierce wolf could do nothing but bellow in sheer, futile frustration into the empty, dark tunnel.
...
"Finn."
Watching the crimson figure vanish like a phantom into the profound darkness of the labyrinth, a trace of bewilderment flickered in Riveria's emerald eyes before she retracted her gaze to look at the small captain beside her.
"Yeah, I know."
Finn nodded. On his face, which typically wore a calm and composed smile, there now appeared a fox-like, cunning grin that hardly fit his title as "Braver." "Let's head back first and discuss this later. We'll let the Guild deal with the headache this brings. I wonder just how much the Guild actually knows about this."
They had just concluded a grueling expedition, and the entire team was exhausted.
Though they were deeply shocked and perplexed by "Alise's" sudden appearance, now was clearly not the best time to drill down for answers.
Moreover, leaving the investigation of such a bizarre event involving "the resurrection of the dead" to the Guild—with its intelligence network spanning all of Orario—was clearly much more practical than looking into it themselves.
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