OVERLORD- CH-65. Fire and Monsters

Not learning her lesson, Aya simply stretched out her hand and flicked the flying knife away.

'In Lina's eyes, am I super handsome now?' Aya was distracted by such boring thoughts when the man suddenly rushed toward us.

A ferocious blood-red claw shot toward Aya's head.

[Water Flow Accelerated], the sudden burst of speed caught her off guard, but her reflexes remained sharp.

The slender fist collided with the exaggerated giant claw in a disproportionate clash. The larger one flew back.

"Lina, thank you for your [Body Strengthening]." Aya politely thanked the girl behind her, who had cast the third-level strengthening magic—magic that was somewhat ineffective—and focused her attention on the man's deformed arm.

Demonic energy emanated from this arm, while the rest of the body displayed a strange mix of demonic and human traits.

The man's arm was infested by a parasitic demon, and the corruption was spreading throughout his body. This was his current condition.

Not everyone can harness the power of demons while resisting their corruption.

"Impossible! This is impossible!" The man staggered back, his voice hoarse with fear, "How can this happen? The demon's head should have crushed my arm... How is this possible?"

Aya looked at him silently. She hoped to extract useful information, like how he had acquired the demon parasite, the demon's level, and who it was.

"Lina, bring me my bow. It's in the gazebo."

It was inconvenient having someone watch her, as she couldn't use space magic freely to retrieve her items.

"Okay, okay." Angelina immediately ran to the pavilion to retrieve the bow and arrows wrapped in oil paper, along with the quiver placed there by Aya just moments before.

"Damn it!" The man roared and turned to flee, but by then, the longbow had already been handed to Aya.

"Lina, turn around and don't look." Aya already had her longbow drawn as she spoke.

[Must Catch] ensured that the arrow would hit its target without fail. This was an additional enchantment on the equipment.

[Penetration] enhanced the arrow's ability to pierce through armor, allowing it to completely penetrate the body. This, too, was an additional enchantment.

[Brambles] caused barbs to grow inside the body after the arrow pierced through, dealing secondary damage and bleeding. If the opponent's level was too low, it would also trigger an imprisonment effect.

With these three enchantments combined, Aya fired six arrows in rapid succession. They hit the opponent's shoulders, arms, and knees. The barbs erupted from his skin, pinning him to the ground completely.

One arrow aimed at his right shoulder had gone slightly too low and pierced his lung directly. This forced him to calm down entirely.

Aya, securing the area, realized she had already wasted too much time here. She looked up at the raging fire in the city.

"Carly, stay here. Even though the demon is tough, don't let him die. Also, recover his demon arm... and the mask." Aya gave her daughter instructions through their connection before turning to Lina.

"Lina, I'm going to the city to see what happened. You should go back to the house first." Aya said, already turning to leave.

"Wait a minute..." Lina tugged at the corner of Aya's clothes.

"Please, please let me go with you. I know water magic, and if there's a fire, maybe I can help..." Angelina pleaded.

"I can also use water magic." Aya replied rationally. Given her status, it was best if Lina didn't put herself in harm's way.

"I just feel uneasy being here alone..."

"Your mother will be very worried if you go."

"...I understand." The girl nodded, letting go of the fabric of Aya's clothes.

______

Jasmine rushed back to her room, locked the door, and collapsed on the desk, burying her head in her arms, emitting a sound that almost resembled a wail.

"Why did you have a conflict with your friends again?" Her voice was muffled by the quilt covering her. Such a small sound couldn't penetrate the walls of her room. It was just what she said to herself.

The members of the adventurer team must work together on missions and face monsters. It could be said that they share a life-and-death bond. When confronting monsters of equal or greater strength, if they can't trust each other fully, mistakes in cooperation can lead to deadly accidents.

As a result, teams that have worked together for a while usually develop a certain level of trust and affection, especially among high-level adventurers.

In contrast, Iron and Bronze Medal adventurers often just recruit temporary teammates from taverns for their missions. Whether or not they have reliable companions to trust is an important factor in becoming a high-level adventurer.

Even adventurers with platinum or mithril ranks can be prone to conflicts with their teammates, especially if they are greedy or untrustworthy in sharing rewards. It's not uncommon for such adventurers to end up without anyone willing to team up with them, forcing them to take low-level tasks alone or even turn to illegal work.

The companions of the Moon Shadow Team were not only powerful but also honest and dependable. They readily accepted Jasmine's race and background, and over the years of working together, Jasmine developed a bond with them that surpassed that of most adventurers.

However, it was precisely because of their close relationship that they didn't hesitate to voice their opinions about Jasmine's personal matters when they truly couldn't stand something.

This was their attitude toward her love life.

"I know they mean well, but..." Jasmine muttered to herself.

Even close friends have secrets from each other. Jasmine reached up to touch the torn part of her ear.

"I hate men." She whispered softly, her eyes downcast.

It was fine if they were just friends, like Peter and Miles, but if they wanted to sleep in the same bed...

The bad memories flooded her mind, making her feel nauseous.

Though many years had passed, those dark shadows remained in her heart and couldn't be shaken off.

She sighed and picked up a small mirror from the table, examining her appearance. Sure enough, she hadn't changed at all. No one would doubt her age if she said she was in her thirties or forties.

"I'm such a bad woman, hiding so many things from my friends."

Sighing again, Jasmine took out a brass key from her chest and inserted it into the lock of her desk drawer.

With a gentle turn, the lock clicked open, revealing a stack of straw papers inside.

These were letters from her lover in the Dragon King's capital. The top letter was an unfinished reply.

Jasmine wasn't as skilled with sweet words as her lover, so most of the letters were simply accounts of her daily life—what she had seen and heard in the past few days.

Today's letter would include the banquet at the Duchess' house, another quarrel with Monica and the others, and the boy named Levi...

Thinking about him made Jasmine's heart tighten again.

__________

Thank you all for supporting me.