Chapter 480: An Elder Appears
By the time Zander began rampaging around like a wild beast, all the disciples still alive had already left the area. They were all in the Core Formation Realm, so they knew they weren't a match against him.
They watched as Mira hovered in the sky, dodging all of his attacks effortlessly, but they couldn't help but wonder why she was so intent on making him angry.
"Isn't she making things harder for herself by taunting him like that? Just look at how angry he is! He doesn't seem like he'll stop attacking until one of them dies!"
"Don't you think that's her objective, though? The angrier he gets, the more rationality he loses. Although he looks stronger than before, aren't his moves much simpler and easier to predict?"
"You're right! Even I could dodge some of those attacks despite his overwhelming power advantage. But then, how is she planning on killing him?"
"Fool! Obviously, she's not planning on killing him! We can all clearly tell she's only at the 5th Stage of the Core Formation Realm. How could she kill someone who's an entire Realm above her?! No, even if she had the ability, she'd have to use all her abilities and trump cards for a chance at winning. Did you forget that our mountain has been swarming with people from other powers?"
"Hmph! While we can sit here discussing this fight, I really want to know how that guy even made it this far into our territory. Wasn't our security supposed to have been increased?"
Everyone fell into deep thought upon hearing that because she was right. The crux of the issue here was how that guy got so close to the Outer Court and killed so many disciples without alerting anyone.
While they were thinking about this, Mira's fight reached its climax. Mira was still dodging all his advances, showing no signs of counter-attacking, but not because she didn't want to or lacked the strength to do so.
On the contrary, she very much wanted to kill this bastard, but like one of the girls mentioned, she'd have to go all for that to happen, and even then, the battle would take a while and attract tons of attention to herself.
Attention she wasn't quite ready to have.
With all the rumors going around the Battle Maiden Sect right now, Mira didn't want to expose her true strength to the world just yet.
If she showed she had the power to kill someone an entire Realm above her, that would place a giant target on her back, one she wasn't confident in surviving.
Therefore, Mira planned to have Zander make as much noise as possible to attract the attention of the Sect elders. Once one of them appears, they will stop Zander's rampaging.
Of course, she would much rather kill him with her own two hands, and she had the confidence in doing so; now wasn't the right time.
She could feel the eyes of numerous people on her that weren't any of her fellow disciples.
With this thought in mind, Mira kept dodging all of Zander's strikes until the entire situation changed around 5 minutes later.
In the middle of the battlefield appeared a middle-aged woman. She had a deep frown on her face and exuded a murderous aura.
"Is that... Elder Sandra?!"
"Elder Sandra's here!!"
"Finally! An Elder has come to resolve this problem!"
That's right! The Elder that appeared was Elder Sandra, who did not look happy at the moment.
Suddenly, Zander felt a mountainous pressure come crashing down on him, wrapping around his body and preventing him from moving.
"MMMMMFFFFMMMM!!"
He tried screaming but couldn't open his mouth.
Mira smiled, seeing this scene, and landed on the ground not too far away from Elder Sandra.
'Took you long enough.' Mira thought.
"It seems these bastards from the Crimson Slayer Sect don't like you, Brat. I wonder if they're all impotent not to like a beautiful young lady like you. Especially this idiot. What'd you do to make them so angry, steal all their resources or something?! Hahaha!" Elder Sandra chuckled, knowing it was the Sect Master who actually went and stole-*ahem* asked for compensation from them.
"So he's from the Crimson Slayer Sect, huh? Good to know. Anyways, it took you long enough to notice all the commotion, Elder Sandra."
Elder Sandra turned serious and didn't bother correcting Mira's rude behavior as she would also like to know how someone caused so much death and destruction in their own territory without her knowing.
In fact, she wouldn't have even known if someone didn't come barging into her residence to inform her!
She searched his entire body, and her expression changed when she noticed a dark orb embedded in his chest.
"To think this little boy would get his hands on the Orb of Deception! Where did he even get such an item? I didn't know it was in the Crimson Slayer Sect's hands. Or could it have been something else?" Elder Sandra ripped the orb out of his chest and began examining it.
"Orb of Deception?" Mira asked while curiously looking at the orb.
"That's right. If I'm not mistaken, this should be a treasure called the Orb of Deception. The owner of this treasure will be able to escape detection formation and arrays, Soul Sense, and will be undetectable unless they make their presence known." Elder Sandra briefly explained.
"That's... pretty amazing. A little too amazing for someone like him, if you ask me." Mira pointed out, and Elder Sandra couldn't agree more.
"You're right, but you don't need to worry about that right now. I'm going to take this-"
Mira interrupted, "Actually, do you think I could accompany you, Elder Sandra? I'm sure you know, but I have a grudge against this man, and I won't be reconciled unless I remove his head with my own abilities."
Elder Sandra stared deeply into Mira. She hadn't gotten a proper look at her until now since most of her focus was on Zander, but she could feel that the Mira in front of her was a totally different girl compared to when she first entered the Sect.
She could feel a deep, unfathomable power from within Mira that didn't seem possible for someone at her cultivation level.
This caused her to nod, impressed by her strength, but she couldn't help but say, "Really? Although I admit that you're much stronger than when you left, I don't think you can kill this man with your current abilities."
However, Mira nodded with a faint smile, "You're right, my power is a bit lacking compared to his, but I don't think I'll lose. When else would I be given such an opportunity to fight against someone who seems to be just beyond my limits?"
Elder Sandra paused for a few seconds, then let out a boisterous laugh, "HAHAHAHA! That's right! This opportunity might not come again! Very well, you can follow me back to my residence, and we can discuss this further. Now that I think about it, the Sect Master also wanted to have a conversation with you."
"The Sect Master?" Mira was stunned, wondering why such a big shot was suddenly interested in her.
"Yeah! Apparently, she had taken a liking to your friends Celaine and... that brat... M.A.R.I.A." She couldn't help but grit her teeth upon saying "Maria's" name.
Mira chuckled as she partly knew why Elder Sandra was so annoyed with Maria.
"So, you're the Senior Sister Sandra she was talking about."
"SHUT UP! Don't call me that!! Just thinking about that girl... Ugh! It's probably for the best if she stays in her little Healing Center! She might end up making both allies and enemies alike start killing themselves if she opened up that mouth of hers on the front lines!"
Mira smiled and couldn't agree more. Even she, someone who's able to keep her emotions in check no matter the circumstances, can feel her control slipping whenever she talks to Maria.
"Alright! Enough about that girl! Let's go back to my residence!" Elder Sandra wrapped the three of them with her Qi and flew up into the sky.
However, before she left, she looked at the surrounding disciples and said, "I will take this scum of a man back with me to extract any important information out of him. The other Elders and I will ensure another situation like this never happens again! For now, just return to the Outer Court and await further instructions. Your revenge will come soon enough, so just wait patiently, my fellow Battle Maiden disciples!!"
"Yes, Elder Sandra!!"
The disciples bowed and ran back to the Outer Court.
Afterward, Elder Sandra, Mira, and Zander flew up the mountain to where one of Elder Sandra's houses resided.
It only took them a minute or so to appear outside a small hut in the middle of the mountains, about halfway between the Outer Court and Inner Court.
"Welcome to my humble abode!"