Chapter 111: Attack Again? (2)

It was already a week since Sitara joined the test. Like the other seven days, Sitara woke up early today as well. She was sitting in the empty hall. Partly because of the awful weather, she felt awfully lazy, yet she had to take care of most of the business. 

Even though she had transferred over the ownership of the fortress, she still dealt with all the men and other business. Partly because most of the men here were her underling—and she put in the contract that she would follow most of the work. 

Though there were few works other than ordering her underlings, thinking about the rest of the test still made her uneasy.

"Mistress, we have a problem." A couple of guards came, just at the time she was thinking of lazing around.

"That's what I have been waiting for," Sitara muttered. She looked at her distressed guards to say again. "What is it?"

"Mistress, some of our men have gone missing." 

Her expression twisted instantly the moment she heard that. "How?" 

"We don't know exactly how. Some of them were guarding and then vanished," the guard answered. "As far as four men have gone missing till now."

She was about to curse at her underlings but chose to calm down. No good would come yelling at the poor men. "I'll look into it,'' she said. "Pull in the men who are resting now, I will join immediately."

The guards went back, abiding by her orders. While she moved as well. The numbers living in the fortress did not reach the forties yet. Missing four men would mean it was a planned invasion.

Before looking into the matter, she needed to alarm the new leader and Aasan. There was no way she was looking this place. 

"Aasan, we have a problem," she said, knocking on the door.

Only after a few seconds, Aasan opened the door. He was already awake by the time Sitara called him, but he still needed to be ready for the battle as he wearing nothing but the vest and trousers. 

"I think we are under attack," she said before even Aasan could open his mouth.

"Attack," Aasan furrowed his brow. "They chose a good time to do that. How many are there?" 

"Don't know, but the number would not be high," Sitara answered. "Get ready and call your princess as well."

Aasan was very well knew who she was referring to by the term 'princess'. He gave an annoyed look, but he did not bother to argue. It was not time for that if they were really under an attack.

Sitara left Assan to equip her armour and bow. It did not take her long, but by the time she arrived at the entrance of the fortress, there were barely a few men standing there. The archers were already down, while the guards were in better shape—they were not ready for anything like this.

"Mistress, they were hiding in the trees," a guard said. ''A few went to look but did not come back.``

Sitara glared at the guard. Are they some idiots to search on their own, knowing few of the guards already went missing? The flag was with Michelle, that thought calmed her down a little. Even though the girl was a little immature, she had solid strength. She should be able to protect it, even if someone invades it. 

Just as she was about to order her men to keep guarding, she pulled an arrow and shot at one of her guards. It was one of the men she had never seen in her ranks. Even though she has more than thirty under her, she knew their faces well enough to call who's working for her. 

The guard or the invader dressed in a guard's attire dodged the arrow as if he was prepared for it. His legs moved with instinct as he injured the guard next to him, and shielding himself with her underling.

"Do you think you are safe, taking one of my men," Sitara said with cold eyes. She still aimed at the invader.

"You have good eyes," the invader said, eying her with his glowing eyes. "Are you the leader here?"

Sitara looked at the invader carefully. It was a male, maybe even younger than her, but that did not let her guard down. She did not answer, but asked another question. "How many of you are here?"

"Not many," the invader said as he moved inside the fortress, still shielding with her underlings. "But enough to get what we need." 

She snorted. "Don't move."

The invader did not bother to listen to her, and moved into the fortress. She found a chance to release the arrow, but chose not to, as it was clearly a ploy by the silvery-eyed man. She signalled for her men to encircle him.

The invader still moved, if he did not care about her or the guards.

"So you are not the leader," he said again, looking back at her.

"How do you know?" she asked, but the loud noise inside the fortress answered for her. This guy was just stalling her and the guards, while others had already moved inside the fortress. "Not again!" she gritted her teeth, remembering how she lost the position of the leader of the fotress.

Sitara grounded her teeth, she fell for such a ploy. "What you are waiting for? Go inside, leave him to me," she yelled at the guards.

The guards did not wait, ran into the fortress while she still held the invader at her aim. Her concentration was even more clear as she was alone with the invader. 

The invader just smiled at her. "Maybe a little late," saying that his legs moved at her as well.

Sitara released the string as the arrow flew at the invader, but failed to even bother him. He simply cast it off with a slash of his sword. But then he stopped, as if giving her time to attack again with her arrow. 

But before she could capitalise on that opportunity, a mana infused knife held onto her neck. Her spine shivered in coldness. There was another invader here that she overlooked.

While the guy with the sword first made her send away all the guards, then distracted her with a fast manoeuvre—it was all for the other one to capture her. Their manoeuvres were so fast that she could not make the right decision. 

"Drop the bow," a voice called her from behind. It was a female voice.

Sitara felt a little bewildered. She followed by dropping her bow, sighing. All her hope was now on the redhead and Aasan. 

"That went well," the male one of the invaders said. "Let's see, if Lily finished her part or not."

'So there's only three of them,' Sitara thought inwardly, hearing the invaders. She sighed in relief. 'They should not be able to take away the fortress, if they are not like the two that took away from me.' 

"What do I do with her?" the female that was holding her on the knifepoint asked.

"Bind her or do something she could not do that she could not follow up with."

And in the next moment, Sitara felt a pain in the back of her head as she went unconscious. 

Wrik gave a last glance at the female archer, passed out on the cold floor. He gestured at Byul to follow as both of them moved inside the fortress at a fast pace. The inside of the fortress was way warm compared to the outside—it should be one advantage of the flag.

Only after moving for a few seconds, they felt a heavy mana disturbance in the surrounding area. 

"It seemed they have more to offer than we assumed," Wrik muttered. "Byul, you take care of the guards while I will help Lily."

Byul nodded as they moved. They did not have much worry though, as Lily assured them she could flee on her own from here. 

But their relief betrayed them as they saw Lily was inside the encircle of the guards while one familiar male battling her, though it was looking like he was buying time. But their worry was for nought when they saw the redhead mage, who was casting a ranged spell.

"I guess, all the hard work we've done till now was unnecessary." Wrik sighed.

The duo who were attacking Lily was none other than Michelle and Aasan. While their relationship with Aasan was not that good, with Michelle was another case. She had a wonderful relationship with Byul and Tanya. 

On the other hand, Byul was delighted to see the redhead mage here. She called. "Michelle."

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End of Chapter: Attack Again?

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