Chapter 464: Played

Contrary to what Mira thought, the people on the flying boat barely spared her a glance. It was almost like they couldn't care less about the people Mira killed.

Instead, they kept staring in the direction they had last sensed Hana.

A scowl formed on Mira's face as she felt like her mission just became that much harder. On the boat, Mira clearly sensed several people at the later stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, along with one person at the Soul Transformation Realm.

If they really only cared about capturing Hana and had no intention of dealing with Mira, although she hated to admit it, there wasn't much she could do.

She might have become much stronger over the last few months, but much less dealing with someone at the Soul Transformation Realm, she'd have a problem defeating those in the later Stages of the Nascent Soul Realm.

In fact, she could be considered lucky that those people weren't even sparing her a glance. If they really wanted to kill her, while she wouldn't go down so easily, she'd definitely have to waste more of her Abyssal Battle Ladder points if she wanted to survive.

Was Hana's life really worth her precious Abyssal Battle Ladder points?

Mira didn't even need to think about that answer.

No. No, she wasn't.

In fact, the only people she felt would be worth them were Maria and Dominique. Maybe Celaine, since she still has uses beyond what Abyssal Battle Ladder points can give her, but that's it.

However, Mira still has her pride. She's not so shameless that she would back out of a job just because the difficulty was raised.

She had already promised to be Hana's bodyguard, and she had already received payment for it as well.

At this point, Mira was stuck at a crossroads.

Should she risk her life to defend Hana, or should she stay out of this and allow the girl to be captured?

Mira watched as the flying boat hovered over the area Hana was hiding. Although Mira knew Hana's hiding was almost perfect, she couldn't turn invisible.

It was only a matter of time before Hana was found and captured.

In the end, Mira sighed and walked over to the location near Hana's hiding spot.

'I can't just let the little girl get captured without putting up a fight. Who knows, maybe we'll be able to find a way out of this situation.' Mira thought, but she knew she wasn't being completely honest with herself.

Hana reminded her a lot of Maria. If Maria were in Hana's position instead, Mira wouldn't hesitate to throw herself into danger to keep her from getting captured.

Mira also felt like Maria would do something, anything, in hopes of saving the child. So, with those thoughts in mind, Mira valiantly stood before the flying boat with her weapon drawn.

Although her rational mind told her that risking her life to save someone she barely knew was ridiculous, she did it anyway.

In fact, even she barely knew what she was doing and why, and she didn't have time to think about these matters either.

A minute later, 10 lion beastmen jumped off the boat and landed around Mira. All of them were at the 7th Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm or above, with the leader being in the Soul Transformation Realm.

Now that Mira was standing between them and their goal, they were forced to take notice of her.

While they all showed hints of lust in their eyes due to Mira's beauty, they didn't act on their desires. Just like how Mira could sense their bloodlines, they could sense hers as well.

They had never sensed someone with such an amazing bloodline before! They had thought that their Sun Lion Clan had one of the Top beastman bloodlines, but Mira's existence caused them to realize how wrong they were.

Because of that, they didn't dare to act rashly in front of Mira for fear of creating an enemy they couldn't afford to offend.

"My name is Azaar Lionel, the eldest son of Marcus Lionel, the Patriarch of the Lionel Family! May I ask who you are and where you hail from, beautiful lady?" Azaar asked politely.

Mira just stared at them coldly and didn't say anything.

This caused not only Azaar but the others around her to feel not only uncomfortable but a little pissed as well.

Azaar felt like he had already given the fox lady in front of him enough respect for someone so weak. Normally, he'd barely glance at someone in the Core Formation Realm!

Still, he didn't let this little bit of irritation get to him. While he might be quite prideful about his Clan and bloodline, he also understood that his family wasn't that strong compared to some of the major powers on the Western Continent.

'If she's part of some ancient clan or a disciple of an Elder that's part of a Sect, things might get troublesome if we act rashly. Anyone with a brain can tell just how talented this girl is, and I refuse to believe she doesn't have some sort of backing. In the best-case scenario, we get what we need and leave without causing a ruckus. Worst case, we kill her and pin the blame on someone else. Hopefully, that'll be enough to throw whoever's behind her off our trail.'

Azaar was already coming up with all kinds of scenarios in his mind. After numerous calculations, he decided to speak up once more.

"Look, we don't want any trouble. We're just here for the girl. We don't even want to kill her. In fact, it's quite the opposite. So please allow us to take her with us without any trouble." Azaar explained in a noticeably less polite tone.

However, his words and tone only made Mira even more confused than she already was.

'What the fuck? Why is this little girl running away as her life depended on it, then? I didn't detect any lies from him either, so he's most likely telling the truth. Hell, do I even need to protect this little girl?! It almost seems like these guys are more than willing to do that for me!' Mira almost felt like it'd be better for her to just get out of the way and allow them to take Hana.

No, she actually did think doing that would be the best course of action.

'Fuck me! To think I almost risked my life for that little girl without even understanding the entire situation. I must be growing senile...' Mira thought, about to lower her weapon and step out of the way before Hana actually jumped out of her hiding spot and walked over to Azaar.

"Alright, I'll go with you! Just please don't do anything to Big Sis! She's innocent in all this!" Hana exclaimed while walking over.

Mira almost started cursing out loud, watching Hana waste all her efforts at trying to protect her.

"Hana! Just come back without causing any more trouble. I'm tired of searching this godforsaken mountain! I want to go home! Look, you even dragged some random person into this mess! She even killed all those mercenaries for you!" Azaar scolded Hana, almost like how a big brother would scold his little sister.

Hana approached Azaar, but before reaching him, she turned around, winked at Mira, mouthed something, then proceeded to stand next to Azaar.

"Fine. Just promise you won't do anything to Big Sis." Hana pouted 'innocently', but Mira could see hatred, sorrow, and reluctance within her eyes.

Now, Mira had even more questions than before, and she was beginning to wonder if this was all a play.

It almost felt like a higher being was playing with-

When Mira came to such a conclusion, her eyes narrowed, and her killing intent almost burst out!

Fortunately, she had enough willpower to prevent that, but that didn't stop her eyes from shining with an eerie crimson light.

Now that Azaar had Hana in his possession, there was no longer any reason for him to stick around.

He grabbed Hana's hand, gave Mira one last glance, and then signaled everyone to return to the ship.

Azaar, and even Hana, wanted to say something else to Mira, but they could clearly tell that her mood was anything but good. So, he kept his mouth shut and leaped onto the ship with Hana in tow, not wanting to start any unnecessary trouble.

Mira watched this all happen with the same indifferent expression on her face, but inwardly she felt incredibly complicated.

In fact, she wasn't even sure what she should feel.

Should she be angry? Happy? Sad? Shameful?

She didn't know.

However, what she did know was that she was uncomfortable with this whole situation. Everything happened too fast, and nothing went according to Mira's calculations.

Then, Mira remembered how Hana had given her the silver crescent moon pendant, and she couldn't help but curse.

"That fucking child knew this was going to happen from the very beginning!"

Now, she really felt like she was being played like a fool!