266 Stalker

"No Aria, you are now the leader of the squad, those guys will need your expertise for them to complete the mission and come back alive." 

Her thoughts returned to the meeting held earlier as these words kept hanging in Aria's mind, making her frown. She remembers that her original goal was to help and protect Alex, not to become a babysitter for the elite squad. Since she heard those words, she could not accept this order of his.

Aria grew up in a family with a military background, although she was the daughter of a large military family, she was never spoiled by her relatives. On the contrary, she was always driven to be the best by her family, seen from her hardworking and persistent behaviour. 

She was able to prove that by getting a high position in the Death Squad troops which was very hard to come by. It was difficult for a man to reach her level of success let alone a woman like her.

She went through various dangerous missions with stunning results until one day her unit was trapped and caught on a mission. At that time, she was the only one who was redeemed and she knew the reason why.

It was only because of her family background that she was able to escape and continue living while her team was abandoned. 

Given this incident where his team was abandoned without any hope, Aria was determined not to leave her teammate again.

This current situation felt the same for her, or even worse.

Her leader intends to face the dangers in Australian wilderness alone! 

Anyone in their right mind wouldn't even think about this possibility.

She believes that Alex must be intending to go on some crazy mission so he hides this from everyone so as to not worry them, which gave her even more reason to accompany him.

Seeing everything Alex has done in the past 9 months makes her unable to help but think that he is the key to the survival of humanity. That's why she decided to protect him at all cost.

She thought 'This job is even more important than protecting the president himself!' or at least that's what she keeps telling herself.

Actually since the first time they met, Aria was never the same again. She began to experience many things that she had never felt before. Starting from her racing heartbeats when she was with him, followed by many thoughts that kept bothering her for months.

Aria wasn't stupid, she knew exactly how she felt. It was just her rational mind that made her think that it was just plain admiration for extraordinary men.

('How can he be so strong?')

('He is married!')

('What a brilliant idea! How could he think of that solution?')

('He is so smart.')

('He already has two daughters, Aria. What are you? A family wrecker?')

Those were some of her thoughts that continued to occupy her mind.

But now, Aria is determined not to let Alex wander off alone, especially in Australian wilderness where monsters freely roamed around. After the meeting, Aria immediately discussed her intention with Arief, Jerry and Dario.

"What are you thinking Aria? Are you losing your mind?" said Dario harshly, clearly expressing his disapproval.

"But…" She tried to argue.

But Dario doesn't give her no chance at all, "What but? This is clearly insubordination! Didn't you hear what Alex said earlier?"

While Aria was nervous because of Dario's harsh words, the previously silent Jerry spoke.

"I don't think the idea is bad. At least one of us needs to accompany him to ensure his safety. There's no point in completing our mission if Alex dies. The troops will lose their morale and crumble like a sand castle."

Aria nodded her head vigorously when she heard Jerry's words. "Exactly my goal!" She shouted.

She then turned her gaze to Arief, wanting to hear his opinion.

"How about you, Uncle? What do you think?"

"If you do this, I will not only worry about Alex but also you. How can I face the regent later? I do not agree."

When Aria heard that, her mind immediately tried to think of any reason to convince him. She thought for a moment and said. "Uncle Arief, do you remember what my grandfather said to me last time? He said 'Follow your heart' and right now I know I can't leave Alex alone this time."

Hearing her words, the room they were in was silent. The two grown men who opposed the idea were speechless.

"Okay then. Just be careful." Jerry said with a sigh.

Dario also can only helplessly nod his head while sighing.

Aria excitedly jumped when she heard that. "Thank you! I will!"

After they decide to let Aria look after Alex, they need to decide who will fill the vacant third squad leader position. They then chose Theo as the leader of the third squad. Even though he had no military background, they were sure he would succeed with Sergei's help.

On the day of departure, after leaving Alice Spring Aria got out of the vehicle carrying the equipment she needed in the storage ring. She then said goodbye to her team before returning to look for Alex.

When she located him, Aria continued to watch Alex from afar with her long range binoculars. Reconnaissance mission is her specialty and coupled with her ability to disappear, Alex would never notice her.

She waited patiently for Alex while he was training at the Doomsday Pillar and kept up with him when he came out three weeks later. She continued to follow him until he reached the desert.

Aria started to lose her patient when she saw him fighting hundreds of critters. She even almost exposed herself when she saw Alex fighting a high-tiered mutated monster by himself. Aria wanted to help him but she knew it was not the time yet.

Her heart trembled when she realized Alex was trying to enter the Abyss hole. Not even in her wildest dreams did she think Alex was going to do something that bold.

But every time Alex goes into the hole, he will come out of the hole quickly. It seemed that Alex was just looking for something.

At night, Aria tried to walk closer but she then realized that Alex would feel her presence so she gave up her mind.

It's been almost a month Aria has followed Alex. She thought it was time she approached Alex and helped him fight.

"Tomorrow, I will help him." She thought.

However, this time when he entered the abyss hole, Alex didn't come out after a long time.

Aria waited for several hours and finally she couldn't wait anymore. She then decided to follow him. And from his footsteps, Aria knew that Alex had entered the gate with a crack that was emitting a red and blue light.

Aria didn't think much and immediately entered the gate.

Following the track left by Alex, Aria found dozens and hundreds of corpses of critters and these new monsters Hellhound. Aria could not avoid and was forced to fight against this abyss creature.

It wasn't easy for her to trace Alex's steps because of how fast Alex finishes his battle using his new technique. She could only follow the lines of mutated beast corpses in hope of finding Alex.

The deeper she got into the cave, the more she was attacked. Until suddenly, she was surprised to see the hellhound monsters suddenly flaring at once and felt the intensity of each hellhound getting stronger.

[Hellhound - Fury] 

[Creature of the Night skill activated]

Realizing the dire situation she was in, Aria immediately cast the number of ice and water spells she knew. [Ice Wall], [Frost Bolt], and [Crashing Waves] were seen hitting the hellhounds. 

Unfortunately, these two elements are less effective in this place. With this dry and hot environment condition, the water element that Aria used would not give maximum results.

Aria continues to fight without rest, she doesn't use a firearm for fear that the sound of gunfire will attract Alex's attention. However after nearly 2 days of endless fighting, Aria finally reached her limit. She didn't even have the strength to use her invisibility anymore.

Right now, not only was she surrounded by hundreds of hellhounds but to make matters worse, all of these hellhounds were already in their [fury] status. These dog monsters with flames covered its body started to successfully scratch and injure her body.

Blood started spilling all over her body. Feeling she couldn't take it anymore, she then cast the last spell she had mastered.

[Ice Prison] 

She casted the spell on herself. Aria was now encased in a large chunk of ice, protected from the hellhound's attacks.

Unfortunately, this spell couldn't help her from the situation she was in, just buying her a little time.

When the spell broke, Aria thought it was time for her to die.

At the last second of her life and death,

The figure in her mind rescued her.

"Aria!"