******** Legendary Creeper's POV ********

The preparation is almost complete.

The invasion against the overworld will soon commence.

Thousands of pigmen and wither skeletons along with my hundreds of followers are waiting in the giant portal in the nether that is also waiting to be ignited and open.

With the amount of force that we have, humans won't be able to stop us. They will all soon perish.

With the combined armies of pigmen, wither skeletons and my own followers, the creepers, we will scorch the overworld.

I'm in the basement of the castle right now, planning to head back to the nether.

I'm suddenly interrupted with noises outside.

What is happening? Are the pigmen and wither skeletons started bickering and fighting again? I guess I need to stop them once again.

I started walking outside the keep and was surprised by what I'm seeing.

There are dead pigmen and pieces of wither skeletons scattered on the ground and more of them are flying out of the top of walls and towers.

What is going on? It seems there are people attacking this place. I need to stop them.

I jumped on top of the west wall of the castle to see there were no people who are attacking this place but only noticed one person.

"What this? You look like a human but you are not, are you?" said the woman wearing a diamond armor while crushing the head of wither skeleton using her hands.

I didn't answer her question and just increase my guard while staring at her.

She doesn't look like your average human and my instinct is telling me that she is a formidable fighter.

She kicked the dead bodies in front of her away and started walking towards me.

She then stops about ten blocks away from me and she started laughing.

What is there to laugh about?

"A quiet one, I see. I know another person just like you." said the woman.

The woman suddenly leaps forward and she is really fast that I didn't have time to react.

She punches me with her right hand and I was flying straight to the southern wall.

I hit the southern wall really hard but the wall is really well-made so it managed to withstand the blow then I hit the ground.

I quickly get back on my feet to see that the woman is now in front of me.

Not only she is strong but she is also really fast.

"Well, you look at that. You are still alive. You are not an ordinary monster, I see." the woman said while holding an item in her hand.

What is that item? It looks like a crystal ball but with a blazing eye inside of it.

She pointed the item at me then it suddenly breaks into pieces.

She started laughing again. What is wrong with her?

"Legendary Monster. My luck didn't turn me down. Just so happens I'm looking for one." the woman said while still laughing like a lunatic.

Arrows and bolts started firing in the walls and towers towards here. Looks like the pigmen and wither skeletons decided to attack.

Some of the projectiles managed to hit me but I didn't mind since I'll just regenerate in a moment but the woman is just standing still letting the arrows and bolts hit her.

Nothing happened to the woman. She is unharmed.

Her armor is probably enchanted with the highest level enchantments. I guess I have to kill her myself.

I concentrated on my hands and charge at her.

I grab her on the neck and she didn't bother to evade or counter-attack.

My hands exploded and smoke filled the area.

I was about to calm myself down thinking that the woman is finally dead when suddenly I can feel something hitting me in the chest.

I'm suddenly pinned in the wall and I have no hands to shove away whatever is pinning me.

"Interesting. So this is your ability. It reminds me of a giant white monster that can fly that I fought a long time ago. I believe he is called a Legendary Ghast. Too bad he is dead now." said the woman while putting more strength in her hands.

The smoke is now slowly fading away.

This woman is starting to piss me off.

My hands took a while to regenerate so I just focused on growing back my right hand.

My right hand is now back and I quickly concentrated at it while holding on to her.

The woman quickly picks me up and turn around.

She then punches me before my right hand exploded.

I'm flying over the small pond and towards the barn.

I smack through the empty wooden barn and then hit the keep with my back. My face is now on the ground.

I didn't even manage to stand fully on my feet when suddenly the woman appeared in front of me again and raised her fist to punch me.

I managed to block her attack this time with both of my hands.

I went through the wall of the stone keep and rolled on the floor inside.

***************

Level: 32 (3 down) 1%

Health:

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

***************

This is not good. I'm receiving more damage than I can heal. I also don't have plenty of levels to spend on healing.

I don't know what she is or why she is too strong but I don't want to run away. My 'Hatred' gift is telling me that she is human and I want her dead.

'Fall back for now.'

A whisper suddenly brushed my ears.

My thoughts suddenly cleared up.

The Ender Dragon is right. I can't win this battle with the way my enemy fights. I have to return to the nether for now.

I quickly kneeled on the floor.

I put my right hand on the floor then concentrated.

"Hmm. What are you doing?" the woman said to me and she is now slowly walking through the hole in the wall.

I just ignored her and my right hand exploded.

There a giant hole in the floor right now and I'm falling towards the basement.

The portal room is right beneath me so this is the quickest way.

I was about to run towards the portal with suddenly I got hit with a bottle of some kind on my back.

A liquid spread through my body and my movements become slower.

What was that? My body feels so heavy and I'm having trouble walking.

"Ah. Ah. Ah. No running away."

The woman hopped from the first floor into the basement and she is now slowly walking towards me.

What to do? The portal is really close and is right behind me.

I concentrated on my legs and my right hand.

Another bottle hits me but this time my body is starting to feel so much pain.

I endured the pain for now and waited for my legs to explode.

A great explosion occurred and I'm now flying towards the portal leaving the woman behind me.

After passing through the portal, I also exploded my right hand to close the portal.

Luckily, I rebuilt the portal on the nether side so the woman can't reignite it and follow me here. I guess my idea of securing the portal came in handy.

After regenerating my legs, I quickly stand on my feet staring at the closed portal.

Who was that woman? It doesn't matter. Even is she build a portal on the other side and chase me here, I will be long gone.

I remembered that there are a hundred pigmen and a hundred wither skeletons left in the castle though I don't know how many are still left alive. They are stuck there now.

They can't defeat that woman even if they tried.

'Their sacrifices will be remembered.' I said to myself while starting to walk away from the portal.

******** Rose's POV ********

The meeting room is gloomy and I can totally understand the people here.

I immediately called a meeting while King Carolus is resting in his room.

"Do we have a final tally of the missing people?" I asked the people here.

"No, my lady but we have a rough estimate of the number of people that got taken." answered the man who is sitting on the right side of the table.

"How many?"

"Six hundred to seven hundred, my lady."

I quickly close my eyes and began praying.

How am I going to save those people? I don't even know if they are still alive.

No. They are alive and I will save them.

"News from the capital about our reinforcements?" I just asked while opening my eyes.

"Nothing, my lady. Our messenger still isn't back."

What is going on with this kingdom? My uncle will never ignore my messages so something else is happening here.

"Send another messenger. Tell the king that if he won't send my armies and my fleet back, the entire eastern territory will revolt against the throne."

All of the people in the room suddenly gasp and stare at me.

I just ignored all of them. There is no time to waste here and I need my ships back to save my people.

"Uhm. Sister. I don't think sending a strong message to the king is a great idea. We should stay calm for now." Poppy said to me on the left side of the table.

"No. The longer we wait, the less chance to save our people." I replied.

The door of the room suddenly opened and a soldier steps in.

It is the messenger I sent to the capital.

"Pardon for the interruption. I have returned, my lady." said the soldier while bowing.

"Speak. Are our reinforcements arrive from the capital?" I said to him.

"No, my lady but I brought people with me that is entrust to give you orders from the king."

"What orders?"

Before the messenger can answer my question, three people walked inside the room. Two of them are soldiers and the other one is a priest.

"It is a great honor to finally meet you, Lady Rose." the priest said to me while bowing.

"Cut the pleasantries and just tell me why does the king didn't send any reinforcements here instead he send a priest."

"Well, the king heard the news that your mission was successful and he wants to meet the 'Lost Hero' immediately."

I smacked both my hands on the table making the entire room shake.

The silence began to fill the room while I stand on my chair and started walking towards the priest.

I equipped a dagger on my hand and grab the priest's robe. I then pointed my dagger on his throat.

My guards also pointed their weapons to the other two soldiers that came with the priest.

The priest is still calm and I can't see any emotions in his eyes.

"More than six hundred of my people just got taken by phantoms and you are telling me that it is more important to have the 'Lost Hero' travel to the capital," I said to him while staring close at his eyes.

"It is the order of the king. I have the letter with me to prove it." said the priest while holding a paper in his hand.

I just ignored him and press my dagger on his throat deeper.

"Rose! Stop!"

I can hear someone screamed behind me. It is Poppy.

I loosened the dagger on the priest's throat and there is a little bit of blood flowing out on his neck.

"You can't ignore the orders of the king, Rose. Look. I will find a way to save our people while you go to the capital." said Poppy.

I'm still holding the robe of the priest while I'm starting to think what just Poppy said.

After thinking for a while, I just let go of the priest's robe and grabbed the letter on his hands.

I opened the letter and was shocked to know that it is the handwriting of my uncle.

I read the letter for a moment then threw it on the table for others to see it.

I see. Fine. I'll just have to travel to the capital and demand my armies and ships back personally.

I don't know what is going here and what happened to this kingdom while I was away but if I want to find answers, I guess I have to go to the capital.