"I never said that I needed to bring him back alive," Astarte said, "be warned, though. If I cannot bring him back alive, then I will seek vengeance, In this case, that means destroying this base."
With that, Astarte had made her stance clear.
Gogis had to make a decision. It was either harming Feynor and risking his life and the lives of his subordinates, or releasing Feynor. However, the problem if he did the later was that there would be nothing stopping Astarte from attacking them anymore.
"So...what will it be?" Astarte wondered, a smile playing on her lips.
Gogis clenched his jaw, pulled his dagger away from Feynor's throat, and shoved him roughly towards Astarte.
"Boss, this is a terrible idea. I don't think we can trust her not to attack us," one of Gogis' subordinates whispered urgently.
"I know," Gogis affirmed with a nod, his gaze fixed on Feynor sprinting towards Astarte.
Under normal circumstances, Gogis would have agreed that it was better to keep Feynor as a hostage. However, remembering the indifference in Astarte's eyes as she spoke of Feynor's death, he realized that even though she had come to rescue him, she didn't really care whether he lived or died, then perhaps if he showed some good faith by freeing him, she would just turn around and leave.
That was a really dumb idea.
Seconds later, Feynor had regrouped with Astarte and took cover behind her.
Astarte glanced at him and nodded, "let's leave," she said.
'Is she really leaving?' Gogis wondered, his heart pounding with a glimmer of hope.
Unfortunately, just as Astarte was about to turn back and leave, her steps stopped.
"Hmm, now that I think about it," Astarte mused, her tone innocent but her smile chilling, "even if I rescue him now, you guys could just kidnap him again, and I can't allow myself to return. So, I believe it's better to eliminate you all here and now."
"That bitch!" The subordinate who had whispered to Gogis exclaimed, "I told you that was a bad idea!"
He turned to the others and ordered, "Prepare to attack!"
"A bitch..." Astarte murmured under her breath, a somber expression on her face.
In that instant, it was as if the temperature in the plaza had dropped.
"A bitch..." Astarte repeated, this time aloud.
The purple aura around Astarte rippled and greatly expanded, resembling a swirling vortex of power, emanating an ominous energy that sent shivers down the spines of those nearby.
Astarte raised her odachi and effortlessly swung her sword. It was a simple motion, yet the moment she did so, the head of the one who insulted her was cleanly severed from his body.
In mid-air, the decapitated head was slashed by a mysterious force, causing it to disintegrate into countless tiny pieces.
"...."
Gogis and his subordinates watched in terror as one of their comrades was killed without understanding how it happened. In an instant, someone at level 5 was crushed as if they were nothing more than ants before an elephant.
A pure and unbridled fear gripped the hearts of the members of the tenth night base. The weakest among them stumbled and fell, while the strongest were frozen in place, resembling stone statues.
'W-We can't deal with her,' Gogis thought, his heart pounding in his chest like a war drum, his eyes wide with terror, a cold sweat trickling down his spine as he grasped the overwhelming power of their adversary.
Similar to the one who had just been unceremoniously killed, Gogis was also at level 5, and just like his fallen comrade, he didn't see nor feel Astarte's attack. That made him realize that if he had been Astarte's target, he would be dead right now!
'I need to get out of here!' Gogis thought, his mind racing, trying to come up with a way to escape this place.
At that exact moment, a mocking voice resounded in the plaza.
"Look at them, like frightened mice. I never imagined the members of the tenth base to be such spineless wretches."
When Gogis and his men turned in the direction the voice came from, they witnessed a group of around fifty men and women, all clad in heavy armor, standing with confidence.
"Quit joking, Todd," Tobias said to Todd, who was making fun of the men from the tenth base. "Although I have to agree, I didn't expect to find you guys trembling because of a mere woman."
"I want to see how you guys fare against that 'mere woman,'" Gogis replied with an annoyed expression.
"Haha, don't worry," Tobias chuckled, "we will show you why our base is better than yours."
Tobias glanced back at his subordinates, "You know what to do."
Tobias' subordinates nodded, and the following second, their bodies began to shake and change.
A new pair of arms appeared for some, members elongated, and sharp claws appeared for others. In the blink of an eye, all the members of the ninth base had transformed into grotesque monsters. Some looked human, some others not really. Some of them were small, and some were gargantuan, yet the thing all of them had in common was the feeling of danger that radiated from them.
Their transformation complete, all the monsters lunged at Astarte, their collective assault sending shockwaves through the ground as they charged towards her with primal ferocity!
"Support them!" Gogis ordered his men.
Following his order, shards of ice, balls of flames, wind arrows, earth spears, and such appeared and were then launched above the horde of monsters, their target: Astarte.
With an indifferent gaze, Astarte observed the barrage of attacks and the horde of monsters converging upon her.
With the same indifferent expression on her face, Astarte executed a single horizontal slash.
The horde of running monsters and the salvo of elemental attacks froze. In the next instant, a series of explosions erupted in the air, while on the ground, the frozen bodies of the monsters, members of the ninth base, slid to the ground, each and every one of them cleaved in half.
It didn't matter how tall, how intimidating, how dangerous they were, or what level they had reached; the instant Astarte swung her sword, all of them had been doomed.
"....!"
The eyes of Tobias and his remaining subordinates constricted into pinholes as they stared in utter shock at the unbelievable scene before them.
Gogis and the members of the tenth base, meanwhile, felt the despair that had briefly disappeared for a moment due to the appearance of the ninth base members come back once again, stronger than ever.
'I definitely need to get the hell out of-'
Gogis' train of thought was interrupted as someone's voice resounded in the plaza.
"So, you are the one causing all this ruckus in my base?" Someone inquired, their tone calm and deliberate.
As Gogis redirected their attention, they were astonished to see the speaker standing directly in front of Astarte.
'Dinos!' Gogis exclaimed internally, a spark of hope reigniting.
'Peak level 5,' Astarte assessed the newcomer's strength, her gaze analytical and piercing. 'He is strong.'
Standing directly in front of him, Astarte could feel a heavy aura around this man.
"So, you are the supervisor of this base," Astarte remarked, her gaze flickering down to the man before her.
Dinos, a man of short stature with wavy black hair, furrowed his brow. "You seem to be well-informed about us."
"I doubt I know enough," Astarte retorted.
"Nevertheless, you know too much. I cannot allow you to leave," Dinos stated calmly.
Hearing his words, Astarte chuckled, "it's ironic you know, a few minutes ago, those guys behind you wanted me to leave, now you want me to stay here."
Her laughter ceased abruptly as she regarded Dinos with disdain. "The real question is: are you capable of preventing my departure?"
"You're clearly overestimating yourself for merely dispatching some ants," Dinos remarked, his calm demeanor unwavering. "It seems I must-"
Dinos came to an abrupt halt as his left arm was cleanly cleaved off by Astarte.
Dinos' eyes widened in shock, utterly clueless about how Astarte had managed to sever his arm; he hadn't even seen her move!
"Someone here is clearly overestimating themselves, but I doubt it's me," Astarte said, stepping closer to Dinos.
Dinos explosively retreated, widening the distance between himself and Astarte in a split second.
However, as he looked ahead, he was shocked to see that Astarte had disappeared from her position.
"Too slow," Astarte said from behind Dinos.
Dinos quickly turned around, his muscles coiling like springs as his fist, surged forward with the velocity of a thunderbolt, aiming directly for Astarte's head.
However, the following moment, Dinos' right arm was separated from his body!
"Arg..." Dinos groaned in pain and retreated from Astarte.
Fortunately for him, this time, it seemed that she had no intention of following him; instead, she curiously stared at his left arm, which she held in her hand.
"Aren't you going to take your true form?" Astarte wondered after a moment.
Dinos' eyes opened wide in surprise, even more so than when his arm was severed.
His expression turned cold and malevolent as he stared at Astarte. "How do you know so much about us? Are you one of them?"
"'One of them'? Who are you talking about?" Astarte wondered.
'She doesn't know?' Dinos' expression hardened. 'Then how does she know so much about us?'
'I will think about it later, for now, I need to leave,' Dinos thought.
Contrary to the likes of Rangyl, Dinos knew that he couldn't allow himself to take his true form. Seeing as he was completely and utterly dominated by Astarte, he knew that there was no way he could defeat her, unless he allowed himself to transform. But as it was explained, he would never do that.
"You know," Astarte spoke as she casually walked towards Dinos, "I can see from here that you're contemplating running away. What happened? Weren't you supposed to stop me from leaving?"
Dinos didn't fall for her taunt and immediately began his teleportation to his world.
"Did you seriously think I would let you leave?" Astarte questioned as she swiftly closed the gap between herself and Dinos.
Swift as a lightning bolt, Astarte's sword thrust towards Dinos without hesitation. Unfortunately, just at that moment, he vanished into thin air.
Halting in her tracks, Astarte exhaled deeply, "He slipped away."
She glanced at the tip of her odachi, where a stain of blood lingered, "I doubt he would get far with a wounded heart though."
Astarte turned in the direction where Gogis and Tobias were and sighed once again, "I guess they also escaped."