Chapter 149 149: Unexpected boss - part 1

“I cannot believe that I have been reduced to a babysitter for that brat. Why did he have to go off on his own and cause us so many problems?”

All Rita had wanted to do was to spend some quality time with Aurora. She might have to share Aurora’s company but it was better than to separate.

And now Rita had been asked to go after Damian while leaving Aurora alone with Natasha.

“Just my luck. She gave me this useless work because I cannot access my powers, right? I wished she would trust me to look after myself more.”

Rita complained but she still did not go back. Instead, she followed Damian’s location from a distance.

She could make out the group Damian was traveling along with. They were moving at a moderate speed but the sense of disaster was still in the air.

Rita only stopped following once she saw the group standing in front of a cave opening and pushing a few rocks to make the entrance open up.

Once the group disappeared behind the wall it was time for Rita to make her move. She gave Damian five minutes to take care of things on his end before she opened the door.

The lock was not difficult to crack open as Rita had seen the man open it once already. But there was a sense of uneasiness in the air around the cave.

There was disturbing energy that put Rita’s senses on the edge. She clutched her emergency summons fur tightly and made her way inside.

“H-Have mercy on us. We did not know you could take care of yourself.”

The scene Rita came across was one she had anticipated for a while. The small group of men that had tried to kidnap Damian was lying around on the ground in a small heap.

It was easy to see that the ten-year-old had gotten impatient and decided to take his frustration out on his kidnappers.

“Hey, don’t kill him yet. Aurora said that we can make use of them as informants working for us.”

Rita had wanted to hide and see more of the action. But she quickly chose to abandon her diving spot once she saw Damian ready to kill.

“I read her message. But I don’t think these low lives can offer us anything. It would be merciful of us to kill them off now,”

Rita agreed with Damina’s words but she had her orders. She was sure Aurora had her reasons for wanting to keep these people around.

“I don’t think we should kill them yet. We should discuss it first with Aurora at least.”

Rita reasoned and she could see Damian coming around. Despite being a child, he was a rational person and that was something Rita admired in him.

“Fine. I will let him live for now. But I need assurance to ensure his loyalty.”

“That should not be a problem. Aurora sent me a message with a magic spell that we can use. It should be sufficient for now.”

Rita quickly opened her system and took out the magic tag. It shined with a golden bright light that almost made Rita go blind.

But once she was done, she could see a sigil appear on the kidnapper’s body. They looked like one-sided bond marks that were used to ensure obedience.

As long as the men in front of Rita had these marks, they would not be able to betray Aurora’s trust.

“Wow. I guess this is the safest way to ensure their cooperation. Now, listen here you scum. You will gather information for us and report it to us once a week. Otherwise, your end will be as painful as you can imagine it to be.”

The man trembles as soon as he had Damian’s eyes pointed toward him. Damian did look like a devil right now with his glowing eyes and mechanical highlights.

The only thing that broke this illusion was Damian’s short height.

“You should grow up first if you want to pull that look off. You look like a child trying to play at being an adult right now.”

“What did you say? I dare you to say that again,”

“You are a child so you should not show such a scary face to me. Look, you are scaring your kidnappers as well,”

Rita managed to pull at Damian’s cheeks to tease him. It was obvious that the younger only allowed this to happen because he was shocked.

“They are not scared of me. See….”

The kidnappers had frightened expressions on their faces. But it was not because they were looking at Rita or Damina.

Instead, their focus was on the huge body which was suddenly casting shadows on their bodies.

“L-Lord Beatrix. W-Why are you h-here? W-We were going to b-b-bring your t-tribute.”

Rita’s eyes narrowed as she watched the huge bird-like monster tower over the group. Its golden beak and red feathers made it look like an expensive and ornamental bird.

But the aura this bird possessed was unlike any monster Rita had faced before.

No, there was one monster that had an aura like this. It had been Mobi Dick. this bird reminded Rita of that dangerous Mobi Dick.

But unlike Mobi Dick, this monster did not have all of its aura or power. It felt incomplete to Rita.

“A swarm. This monster is a Swarm-level monster. Is this the boss of this floor? What is it doing here?”

It was Damian who whispered those words. He sounded worried but also in awe to see the mighty monster.

“Lord Beatrix, please answer me.”

The leader of the kidnappers begged the monster to answer him but the monster didn’t even spare him a glance.

Instead, he started charging toward the group with a final cry of anger.

“It is not going to answer us. It doesn’t even have a consciousness of its right now. The only thing we can do is to get out of this cave and save ourselves.”

As much as Rita would like to take on this monster, it was not something she could handle on her own. She needed support and to be at the height of her powers to even stand a chance against that thing.

And she could not allow Damian to throw his life away by fighting that monster either.

“P-Please, save me.”

The kidnapper begged Rita but it would be impossible to save everyone in this space. There was only so much Rita and Damian could do to stand against a Swarm-class enemy.

But still, Aurora had asked her to make sure that these kidnappers survived to become an asset.

“Damina, I am going to stop Beatrix for a second. You should take the others out and escape this cave.