"YO-YO-YOU, YOU…" The first to finally react was the only elf in the group of adventurers, who didn't even finish his sentence. Just stammering the same word, again and again, he began to pull from his quiver the same type of enchanted arrows her previously used. The thin trace of mana was glowing out of the tempered steel that formed the head of those arrows. Unfortunately for him, the exact issue that occurred was once again displayed.

Breaking the deadly projectiles with a wave of her hand, she snickered, seeing the hateful expression of the archer. "What? I already did that last time, are you dumb?" One could almost see a vein bulging on the head of the elf. He tried to fire once more, but the knight put his hand on the bow, preventing it to fire another arrow. Looking angrily at the leader of their group, he saw him only shaking his head, while extending his hand toward the audience.

It was only at that moment that he realized the fact that everyone was silent. And the faces of many adventurers were unsightly. Previously, they were cheering for their peers and quite happy to have some vent their anger for them. After a certain point, where the fame and the immense reputation began to cloud the mind of those experienced adventurers, everyone acted truly arrogantly. But all were repressed by someone slightly stronger, and sometimes, humiliated publicly.

Following that lesson, they humbled themselves and just looked once more like normal adventurers. It became a hidden rule of the guild, otherwise, it would have been filled by hot-blooded and c.o.c.ky humans. And if everyone was like that, why would the rest of the population take seriously a bunch of jerks?

But in this generation, it never happened during one of those private lessons to have someone injured seriously. They were facing fellow citizens of the Republic, whether it was a human, an elf or something else. Since the opponent was not a monster or one of those barely sentient races that were feasting on human flesh, it was useless to cripple him or her. But what they had seen was someone trying two times in a row to truly turn someone into a waste.

At first, only the oldest adventurers noticed the vengeful attempt at the nerves of the limb of Meridiana. While being slightly disgusted, they refrained themselves from shaming publicly the female thief just for that, since it failed. But after seeing the two knives planted inside the helmet of the ironwoman, they willingly shared what they saw. The happy mood of seeing a friendly fight immediately disappeared and was replaced by this very heavy atmosphere.

It was the human nature to cheer for the weaker one, and right now, the sympathy of everyone was for Meridiana. If they knew who she was, that same feeling will disappear as quickly as a thunderbolt. But right now, all they saw was a group trying to permanently harm her for no reason except pride. The knight realized that even if they managed to win, they already lost. If in the end, all roads led to the same destination, why should they necessarily take the worst one?

"Very well, you asked for this." Even if his voice was calm, one could still feel the anger contained in that short sentence. He gestured to the rest of his group to be prepared. Everyone behind him was getting ready, the weapons were unsheathed, magic was casted left and right. Seeing this Meridiana sneered inwardly. What was the use of being so conceited while doing all of this? They were all purposely slowing down their movements to appear as mighty as possible. And it did have an effect, seeing the reactions inside the crowd.

Grabbing the female thief, she scanned the surroundings, trying to find someone that looked qualified. Locking her sight on a very small human in a white robe, she felt that he pleasing to the eye. "Hey you, white!" The latter was perplexed and pointed at himself, not knowing why he was targeted for absolutely no reason.

"Me?"

"Yes, take care of her. Don't let her die." He hardly had any time to process what she was saying before a body was suddenly thrown toward him. He cowered and curled up before the impact, not even trying to receive the unexpected present. Hopefully, his neighbors were not like that and made sure that the thief was not injured in the process. Soon, everyone turned their sight toward him, and he could only blame his bad luck to now have become a target. He knew that if she happened to die, it will be him that would be blamed.

Sighing, he asked his friends to help him carry the patient away, a bit infuriated to not be able to see the fight anymore. But in case something went wrong, she couldn't be healed next to a potential battle. Neither the knight or the elf said anything since they recognized the small man. Actually, he would have probably been contacted by one of the two after the fight to heal the female thief, so it saved them the gold for the treatment. But then, they remembered he was stingier that the treasurers of the Mayor, and he will probably come up later, claiming the fees for his service.

"Thank you. But don't expect us to be lenient." Even if they will fight in less than a minute, the knight still thanked Meridiana. Right now, they already lost the support of the audience, but they still had their integrity. A few years later, who will still remember this event? As long as they don't do something more horrible, they could still repair their damaged reputation.

"More actions, less talk." As for the succubus, she already achieved what she wanted. As for the six morons that were trying to fight her, it was not even important. She never expected to lose in the first place, so she had no reason to care about humans. Her nonchalance p.i.s.sed off the four warriors, but they still waited for the orders of the knight. Sensing this, the latter raised his hand, signaling the beginning of the battle.

Hehehehe

The eerie laughed resonated, and the previously immobile iron armor disappeared from the sight of everyone. It had lasted far too long for the succubus, and she just wanted to be done with it. After angering the pretty couple and forcing them to make mistakes, she only needed to wrap up everything. As for why the emotions of those adventurers were abnormally strong today, a woman needed to keep her own secrets. Scanning the entire area, Meridiana didn't notice anyone that realized what happened.

"Where di… AHH" The elf that was supposedly well protected in the back suddenly shouted, prompting the rest of the group to turn. The unnatural speed of the armor that shocked everyone was even more frightening than previously. Before, they could see her move, but she moved so fast that she looked like she was able to teleport. Barely a second after the knight raised his arm, one of his companion was already downed.

Naturally, he was only knocked out and his injury will only be a sharp pain in the neck. Well, his body did fall head on after, so he will also experience pain on the forehead, but that was it. But their only ranged damage had been taken out right at the beginning, without even allowing them to fight back.

The closest warrior began to slash at Meridiana with his double-hand axe, only to find out that his enemy was gone. His instinct told him that she was extremely close, far too close for his own comfort. Turning his head, he saw a terrifying helmet looking at him. Reacting instantly, he began to use his elbow to push back the terrifying woman.

What he didn't expect was the long sword coming his way that he barely dodged. His companions were not idling, but when they were facing someone that quick, they realized their shortcomings. By the time one used their weapons, the succubus will already be gone. The same situation, where she toyed with one man only to leave him facing the attack of one of his friends was repeated multiple times.

Seeing this pitiful spectacle, the knight couldn't help but be infuriated. If she was that powerful, why couldn't she have said it from the beginning? It was clearly not possible for a human to be like that, so why did they dig themselves a hole to be buried in? The desperation was slowly spreading among everyone still conscious. Not being even able to graze the iron armor was beginning to weight on their minds, without even talking about the fact that they probably couldn't even damage it.

THUMP

Another warrior hit the ground, knocked out by Meridiana.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

Right after, the three remaining warriors were laying on around the knight, out for good. All of them were wearing leather armors, reinforced by plates of steel. But they still had a lot of areas of their body slightly protected, like the back of their head. Unlike them, the knight was wearing a complete set of armor, so to be taken out like them would be just a wish.

Stopping in front of him, Meridiana just looked a bit bored. Even with her helmet hiding her face, her posture was voluntarily provocative. She was even crossing her arms like she was waiting for him to finally do something. The situation escalated when the crowd began to express their dislike about the immobile knight. They were cursing the unfortunate man for not having the guts to fight and called him by a lot of bad names.

By now, everyone was clearly on the side of the succubus, waiting for her to win this. Those that had pure mind were relieved to see someone that strong in Archet while those with ulterior motives hoped that she will be satisfied with this fight and not humiliate them. But everyone had set their mind on not bothering any of those two armors. Because if the smallest one was that powerful, no one could even imagine how strong the 3-meter-tall giant could be.

"Well, if you don't want to move, allow me." The iron armor slowly walked toward the knight. Unlike before, she was just walking, one step at a time. But that didn't reduce the pressure on the mind of the knight. In fact, it was the opposite, he was more scared of this. Because it meant that she was so confident about her ability that she didn't even need to use her full speed.

The moment she entered the range of his sword, instead of charging forward, he backed off. Provoking the ire of the entire audience. They never had seen such a shameless knight, someone that cowered in fear when he faced danger. Feeling his face getting redder as the second pa.s.sed, he realized that they already lost anyway. So what was the point of losing even more of his reputation for nothing?

Stopping in his track, he swung his sword while still maintaining his s.h.i.+eld to protect himself. Meridiana only had to tilt her body for his attack to miss, but still didn't make any attempt at attacking herself. A bit encouraged by it, the human resumed his a.s.sault and kept attacking. But no matter how he did it, his sword never touched the peculiar woman.

Truly going all out, he stopped being so defensive and even began to use his s.h.i.+eld as a weapon. The impressive s.h.i.+eld, that was nearly two-thirds of his size, should have left no place for Meridiana to dodge. But the moment he swung it, she just grabbed it. The situation then turned into a duel of strength, that was totally one-sided. The good thing for the knight was the fact that his face was hidden. Otherwise, everyone could have seen his red face, worn out by the intense effort.

"Your loss." She threw the tower s.h.i.+eld away and just kicked the last man standing in the stomach. The impact made the human fly a bit and crash on the ground, a few meters away. With this anti-climatic end, the expected cheers took a long time before erupting. But a few children that were only bystanders pa.s.sing by exclaimed their admiration, prompting everyone to shout. Seeing this, Meridiana felt that it was good that her work was finally rewarded.