BXBX NOVEL Chapter 98 98: The Dog From Hell [Pt1]
Amelia felt her heart soften as she watched the kid try her best to appear powerful in front of Amelia and Keith.
There had been a time in her life when Amelia had lied about her age as well just to be able to get past the age restriction in competitions. It had been desperate times for her and it was before her time as a gladiator slave.
So, Amelia understood what this kid was going through and she wanted to help this child in any way she could. Noah agreed with her as well which was a surprise.
Most people liked to look the other way if something was not to their liking. But Noah was different and he was a truly good person at heart.
They all needed to go the same way and the kid had taken to follow after her and Noah but her short legs. But she was far slower than both herself and Noah. Amelia could see that the kid would be forced to keep with her and Noah\'s pace and it would be difficult for her.
So, she did what a sensible person should do - she picked up the kid.
"Hey, what are you doing to me? Let me go. I said, let me go right now. Hey, you man. Are you just going to let your partner kidnap me like this? Are you not going to help me out?"
The kid yelled, pointing toward Noah in an attempt to get his help. But Noah ignored the child, not even willing to look in her direction.
It pissed off the child more and she struggled to get free. But Amelia just tightened her hold on the kid even more once that happened.
"Hey, you are going in the same direction as we are, right? So, I might as well make it easier for you. My name is Amelia by the way. What is yours?"
Amelia had taken a personal interest in this kid and she wanted to help her out. Especially more so now since she could see a shadow of her past self in this kid.
"Hey, why should I tell my kidnapper my name? You put me down right now and let me go."
The kid asked again but Amelia did not let her go. Noah just sighed from the sidelines and decided not to get involved. He seemed to have decided against not stopping Amelia already.
There was silence around them for about a minute and then the kid broke.
"My name is Sara Trousdale. Now let me down please."
The kid finally revealed her name and attempted to get down. Since she had stopped struggling for a whole minute, Amelia had let her guard down. She had not expected the kid to start struggling again this soon.
It caused her to loosen the grip on the child in his arms and Sara managed to break free.
Sara was about to run into the forest when Noah finally spoke up.
"Are you sure you want to go into the forest? There are a lot of wild animals in the forest which could kill you if you are not careful. I would rather take my chances with Amelia if I were you."
Sara stiffened, not having expected someone to warn her about the dangers. She looked at the forest around her and it suddenly looked a little darker than before.
So, she gulped down her nervousness and took a step back toward the ground. Amelia looked happy to see Sara trusting them a little more.
"B-Before you make any assumptions - I did not come back because I am afraid but because you might need my protection and wisdom. I am doing you both a favor, alright?"
Sara bluffed with a stuttering voice and it was cute enough to cause Amelia to laugh. She was beginning to like this kid more and more.
"Alright kid, whatever you say. Now, we should start heading toward the arena as well. Who knows if there is a time limit to reach the Cross Arena or not."
Noah reminded the party as he started walking. The other two were not far behind him. They did face a few small animals along the way but Amelia was the protagonist and managed to kill them easily enough.
Finally, after hiking for about half an hour, they could see, the entrance to Cross Arena.
It was in front of their eyes but there seemed to be one last obstacle in their way - a three-headed dog guiling the entrance to the arena. It was a huge god that seemed ferocious and intended on guiding the door.
"Shit, what the hell is that thing? How does anyone expect us to make it to the arena if we have to cross the cave while defeating that dog abomination."
Sara yelled loud enough to wake up the dog. It growled as soon as it noticed the three participants in front of him. It tried to stand up and chase after them but a chain bounded its head.
Sara breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she noticed that the dog was bound in its place by that chain. It meant that the god would not come after them and kill them.
"Hah, take that your stupid dog. You cannot even touch me if you are bound up."
Sara\'s yelling was unnecessarily provoking and the hell-dog seemed to know it as well. It was getting annoyed and it dragged its body forward. It caused the chain to get pressured and break down.
The three-headed dog was suddenly free and a lot more dangerous than before.
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom Sara\'s confidence went down the drain and her face went ashen as soon as she noticed what had happened. She had not expected the dog to be able to get himself free.
"Ugh, I was joking. You are a good doggy so you will not attack me, right?"
But the dog seemed not to care for Sara\'s words or her actions. It wanted to kill Sara and it attacked her outright.
Sara crouched on the ground with her hands covering her face. She was trying to save herself from the danger in front of her.
Luckily for her, Amelia had taken pity on her and decided to save her life once more. Amelia raised her great sword and clashed with the three-headed dog. She managed to stop it in place.
Keith had two choices now - to get involved and risk getting hurt. Or to stay on the sidelines and wait for Amelia to be done with this boss.
But Keith was well aware that this was no longer a game that had respawns and party-wide raids. It did or die for them.
\'Shit, I have spent too much time and effort into raising Amelia to let her go like this. I will need to save her right now and then consider what to do next.\'
So, as much as Keith did not want to do this, he raised his mana stone and unleashed the ability he had taken away from Arata. He knew it would come in handy soon enough and it did come in handy right now.
Chains erupted around the three-headed dog, binding it in place. It tried to move its head from side to side to get free but it was not able to.
"Hey, the dog stopped moving. Now is your chance, Amelia. Kill it now and save us."
Sara pointed it out unnecessarily and Amelia tried to make quick work of this demon dog. But the dog was not about to go down without a fight.
It suddenly lashed out at Amelia, managing to break the hold of mana restraining chains on its body. Its huge head tried to take a bite out of Amelia and she backed away instantly.
The hell dog\'s yellow eyes looked at the three in front of him with disdain. It was not happy to know that it would have to get hurt and it had just gotten a lot more ferocious than before.
"Shit, this is bad. I feel like I wasted the only chance I had of winning this fight against this dog. Ugh, this sucks."
Amelia complained as she dodged the attacks that the dog was making against her. The sword she had in her hands was heavy but could be weirded with great force. Currently, it was taking the brunt of every attack heading his way.
But somehow, Amelia lost her grip on her great sword and she was left defenseless. She looked up at the huge dog in front of her and closed her eyes to brace for impact.
It was going to hurt badly and she was so sorry that she was not able to do what she was sent here to do.
"You idiot, pick up your sword and finish this fight."
Amelia\'s eyes snapped open when she heard Noah\'s voice. He pounded annoyed and somehow Amelia was not hurt at all. She looked toward Noah and he seemed to be struggling but he had created a mana shield around Amelia and protected her life.