Chapter 220 Skeleton Graveyard Raid(3)
Sometime after Leo told the others about his background, Khrome spoke, "Alright, we'll meet up at the city teleporter in two days. Make sure you're ready by then because we will be heading straight to the Skeleton Graveyard from there."
"Then I will see you guys in two days." Leo nodded.
They left the Adventurers' Guild shortly after.
Leo called Lia right after to tell her about the raid.
"Hey, we'll be leaving in two days for the raid. We're gathering at the city teleporter at 9AM. Will you make it?"
"Yes, I will be there." Lia responded in a calm voice.
"Then I will see you in two days." Leo hung up the phone.
Meanwhile, Lia casually placed her cellphone in her pocket before returning her focus to the situation before her.
"Haaa… haaa…"
Kneeling before Lia was Edwin, who was currently covered in blood, and scattered around him were fingers and limbs— his own body parts.
Anybody would be terrified by the scene, but Lia's eyes were extremely calm.
"Show me your right hand." Lia commanded in a tranquil voice.
"Yes, Young Lady." Edwin raised his hand and placed it before her with his fingers spread out.
Seeing this, Lia swung her dagger without even the slightest of hesitation, severing three of Edwin's fingers.
Edwin gnashed his teeth and tried his best to resist the pain.
"Heal him." Lia suddenly said.
"Yes, Young Lady."
A young woman who was standing beside Edwin proceeded to use healing magic on Edwin, stopping his blood and even growing his fingers back.
However, before Edwin could even catch a break, Lia swung her dagger again, severing his entire hand this time.
"Heal him," she repeated.
"Yes, Young Lady." The healer did as she was told without questioning Lia.
A few moments later, Edwin's hand was fully healed. However, his severed hand and fingers still remained on the floor before him.
Edwin had been tortured in this manner nonstop since Lia returned home. Clearly, her anger did not lessen after severing his arm at the hotel that had also been healed after he returned.
"Tell me, Edwin, what did you do wrong?" Lia asked him.
After taking a quick breath, Edwin answered, "This useless subject had disobeyed the Young Lady's orders and even said some unforgivable things to her."
"Is that all?" Lia then asked.
"..." Edwin was speechless, as he didn't know what else to say.
He opened his mouth a moment later, but before he could speak, Lia swung her dagger again, severing his entire arm.
"Too slow. Let's try this again." Lia said, and she proceeded to torture Ediwn some more before asking him again, "What did you do wrong?"
"I… I caused trouble for the Young Lady, the Scarlet Family, and… Leon."
"Hmph." Lia quietly snorted.
She turned to look at the healer and said, "Continue torturing him for another 7 days. If he dies, he dies."
"Yes, Young Lady."
Meanwhile, back at the academy, Leo would spend the next two days practicing his new dark magic spells.
'These two magic spells feel great to use, but I will need to use them in an actual battle against real enemies to really get a feel for it, especially for the Needle of Despair.' Leo thought to himself after his training.
Once it was time for the gathering, Leo went to say his goodbyes to Eve and Camille before leaving the academy and going to the city teleporter.
"Stay safe." Eve and Camille said the same thing to him.
When Leo arrived at the city teleporter, Khrome and the other A-Rank Adventurers were already there.
"Hmm? Where's your girlfriend?" Lydia asked him.
"I told her the time and location, so she should be here soon." Leo said.
Sure enough, Lia showed up as Lena a few minutes later.
"Meet Lena, my partner." Leo introduced her to the team.
"Lena, this is Khrome, Trent, and Lydia." He then introduced the team to her.
"Hello." Lia gave them a calm nod.
"You look more ordinary than I thought…" Lydia inspected Lia's face closely.
Since Leo was so talented, she was certain that he would have a top beauty as his partner, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
"So the rumors of you being a magic rifle user is true." Trent said as he gazed at the large rifle strapped behind her back.
"Yes, I cannot use magic, after all."
"Anyways, let's hurry up and get our tickets. Our destination is in half an hour." Khrome said to them.
They all went to buy their tickets together.
Half an hour later, they entered the room with the teleporter and teleported out of Stellar City.
"Ugh… It doesn't feel any better than before…" Leo almost puked again after the teleportation.
Of course, several other people in the room had puked.
"Let's go." Khrome and the others didn't seem fazed by the nausea.
After leaving the building, Khrome called a large taxi, and they all went to the city wall together.
While they were in the taxi, Khrome would brief them about the mission again, especially since Lia wasn't there the first time.
Once they arrived at the city walls, they went straight into the Wilderness.
Then they traveled on their hoverboards until they reached the vehicle renter, where they would rent out a large traveling van.
"We're about 7 hours away." Khrome said to them as he stepped on the accelerator.
"Hey, Lilith… I don't think we're going to the same graveyard as the one from before…" Leo realized this shortly after the car started moving.
"I wasn't there with you so I wouldn't know, but according to what you told me, it didn't look like there was a monster nest there at that time, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case." Lilith shrugged.
"The monsters should still be around A-Rank though, right?"
"Yes." She nodded.
"Alright."
Meanwhile, Lydia tried to start a conversation with Lena.
"Are you Leon's girlfriend? He denied it when we asked him before." Lydia asked with a teasing smile on her face.
Lia looked at Lydia with a calm face and said, "I am not his girlfriend. I am his property."
"..."
Lydia's jaw dropped to the floor after hearing Lia's shocking words. The van even swirled a little when Khrome heard it and lost control of the steering wheel for a second.
"Y-You're his slave?" Lydia swallowed nervously.
"No. I gave my everything to him, so I am his property." Lia explained with a still face.
"Y-You! What are you saying?! You're causing a huge misunderstanding here!" Leo exclaimed after snapping out of his daze.
Lia tilted her head in a puzzled manner, "But it's true."
"Don't listen to her… She likes to joke around like this a lot…" Leo said with a stiff smile on his face.
"I see…" Lydia also had a stiff smile on her face.
"If you're not his girlfriend, who are you? And what rank are you?" Lydia continued to ask Lia the following moment.
"I'm a B-Rank Adventurer, and I'm an orphan who decided to follow Leon after he helped me." Lia said, giving them a fake background.
"Oh… So you're just like Leon, huh?" Lydia said with a somewhat pitiful look on her face.
After talking with Lia a little longer, Lydia switched target and began speaking to Leo.
"Are you single?" Lydia suddenly asked.
"Why are you asking me that?"
"Just wondering." She said with a mysterious smile on her face.
Leo sighed and silently nodded his head.
"Oh! Lucky!" Lydia said in an excited voice.
"Lucky?" Leo raised an eyebrow in a puzzled manner.
"You wanna be my boyfriend? I'm looking for a partner right now, preferably someone younger and more talented than me!" She said.
"Uhh… I'll have to decline…" Leo quickly gave her a response.
"Eh?! Why not? Are you worried that I am too old for you? I am only 26 years old this year! And if you're worried about my purity, then I am still a virgin!"
"That's not the problem here…" He shook his head.
"Then what is the problem? Is it my looks? I'm pretty confident in my appearance, though."
"We just met…"
"Oh… Good point." Lydia nodded as though she understood something.
A smile appeared on her face, and she continued, "Then let's get to know each other better."
Lydia proceeded to drag Leo into a long conversation that lasted until they arrived at their destination— Skeleton Graveyard.
"Hey, we're here." Khrome said to them as he parked the van beside another car.
'Thank god…' Leo cried inwardly as he quickly stood up and left the van, as he was almost on the verge of going insane because of Lydia.
"Whoa…"
After getting out of the van, Leo uttered a sound of admiration when he saw the scenery.
There were hundreds of vehicles parked around them, and the sky was dark for some reason even though it was still in the afternoon— at least according to their phone.
There were also hundreds— thousands of Adventurers grouped up about 500 meters away.
And although most of the people there looked like actual Adventurers, there were a few that looked like journalists, as they were carrying large cameras and other equipment.
This was Leo's first time doing an official monster nest raid, and he wasn't expecting for there to be so many participants.
'No wonder why Nina said it was suicide when we raided that goblin's nest with just the two of us…' He finally understood Nina's feelings and why she was so nervous at that time.
However, he also realized that despite being in such a dreadful situation, she trusted him enough to agree to raid the monster nest with just the two of them, which took incredible guts.