Mia had stoic expressions on her face when she heard Geer’s words. She didn’t feel scared or helpless. A ranker was supposed to face all sorts of dangers in their life. This was one of them.

She still had a way to take care of Geer despite her dart-induced debuff on her– forbidden spell. But using such spells was akin to giving up the claim on life. At best, she would survive and become a mortal.

The most likely scenario of Mia using the forbidden spell was that she’d die.

Mia could also make use of some of the trump cards she had saved to inflict maximum damage to her opponents in a time of pinch. But they wouldn’t be enough to take care of seven Meta rankers. Especially those who were close to breaking into Awakened rank like her.

With a lot of thoughts swirling inside her head like a typhoon, Mia tightened her grip on her weapon before looking at Eren. She couldn’t help feeling guilty that she had made him come with her to a faraway place only to face a life-threatening situation with her.

Eren could guess what Mia was thinking at the time by the way she was looking at him. He smiled at her before speaking up through voice communication so that their opponents wouldn’t hear him.

‘Don’t do anything crazy. Things are still in control. Just do what I say.’

Eren said confidently to Mia and resumed looking in front of him– eyes on his enemies. She didn’t know when a ranker who was below her in terms of ranking status had become her senior so he could issue such orders. She could only laugh at the absurdity inside her head.

Mia understood that their chances of survival weren’t too bright against so many Spiders surrounding them. They hadn’t attacked because Geer hadn’t given them orders yet. The man was too busy striking an absurd deal with Mia under the assumption that she would take it.

Eren understood that Mia was getting targeted because of her potential. She was slated to attain Awakened rank soon.

The House of Spiders didn’t want another Awakened ranker added to the enemy guild that could turn into one of its most valuable assets in the upcoming guild war. So it had started to hunt rankers like Mia before they became a serious threat.

This was a very significant period for both the House of Spiders and Stardust. That’s because they both had a chance to gain more than they currently had in their possession.

The Stardust guild had just been recently turned into a three-star guild. It was still in the transition period. The guild still had the collective might of a two-star organization as things were just settling in for it. It hadn’t generated the clout that was expected from a full-fledged three-star guild.

This was a do-or-die situation for the House of Spiders. If the Spiders don’t do anything about the Stardust guild and let it grow unchecked, their guild will end up finished because it was getting in the way.

It’s not like the Stardust guild only had a score to settle with the House of Spiders. The Spiders held some of the most significant resource lands near the city of Ludan. The Stardust guild was bound to target such lands and assets to support its demand for growth facilitated by the three-star rating.

It was more than just a rivalry between two guilds.

It was business.

***

‘Don’t do anything crazy. Things are still in control. Just do what I say.’

Eren said to Mia before looking at Geer with narrowed eyes. Normally, both sides should have attacked by now. But at this point, both sides were waiting for something.

Eren and Mia were waiting to see if they could find an opening to get away from the trap they had suddenly found themselves in. Geer’s party on the other hand was waiting for the dart’s effects to kick in.

Even Geer could guess that a veteran adventurer like Mia would have some trump cards stored at her disposal. Taking her down wouldn’t be impossible with their current situation. But there was a possibility one or more of his team members would be seriously injured in the process. A casualty on their side was also a grim possibility.

‘This stare-down will get us nowhere, Mia. The wait is only liable to make matters more difficult for both of us.’

Eren spoke in Mia’s head through voice communication. The latter agreed with him but she felt helpless.

‘I know. But what else can we do? Launching an attack is not logical.

The debuff caused by the bloody dart is pretty damn serious. It liberates our mana from our control by erasing the mana signature we have on it. The more mana we summon into our mana circuits, the more adverse our conditions will become.

At this rate, we’d only be able to cast one-tenth of our spells before we ran out of all our reserves.’

Eren smiled cruelly at Geer before responding to Mia.

‘Let me worry about that. I have my own way of dealing with this problem. But I’d need some alone time with these assholes. I can’t be worrying about you while I deal with them.

What I want from you is simple. Do you get what I am saying?’

Mia stopped staring at her opponents and turned her head to look at Eren when she heard his words. It looked like she wanted to say something to him. She almost opened her lips to speak. But in the end, she tightened the grip on her bow and resumed staring at her opponents.

Mia didn’t get emotional at a time like this. Plus, she could see that Eren was not simply trying to play the hero. And she wasn’t a damsel either who would try to be with him and complicate things for him even further.

Even with her higher ranking status, Mia knew that Eren had higher battle prowess than her thanks to his Igni series spells. Plus, her ranger class wasn’t really designed for close-quarters confrontations.

She knew she was only adding to his burden if she chose to stay here. This was his polite way of saying she should empty the stage for his solo play.

‘Alright, Eren. I believe in you. Give them hell for me.’

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