1202 Enter the Tiger Mouth III
Lory lets them strike the ice wall. Soon the ice started to crack but Lory remained calm when the enemy felt they had succeeded in breaking down their opponent's defense, adrenaline surged within them thinking this might not be as difficult as they thought.
The ice shattered in pieces and the enemy now struck Lory from the front and above, Lory was surrounded and at that moment the enemy thought victory was within their grasp.
Lory opened her palms while taking a deep breath and the ice shards around her turned into water droplets. As soon as the enemy was only one meter away from where he was standing, the water droplets shot out like arrows, shooting heavily into the enemy's body, they were thrown back with a heavy impact on the ground.
Lory didn't stop there, she summoned water around her and then transformed into a whirlpool that pushed all the enemies against the wall.
The old brittle walls were destroyed by water outburst and everything was swept away from the fifth floor to the ground. Lory jumped from the fifth floor and landed smoothly like a dove after that Lory walked towards the enemy with light steps.
The woman's yellow dress had lost her arrogance, her sexy dress had become tattered and her body was covered with scratches and wounds, her once long wavy ash brown hair now turned black and straight it seemed Lory's attack had nullified the woman's shapeshifting spell, without shapeshifting spell the woman has lost her glamorous appearance.
The same thing also happened to her group members including Ron's hired men, most of them had passed out although there were some of them who were still conscious they were all lying motionlessly on the ground unable to move even a finger, however, compared to their situation, Ron's situation was the worst of them.
"I told you, the money isn't worth it," Lory said to the bald man who was trying to maintain his consciousness, while blood was flowing incessantly from his forehead and shoulders.
"You... who are you?" the yellow-dress woman's voice trembled.
Lory shifts her indifferent gaze at the miserable woman who has lost her arrogance, "Have they not you? I'm just a new hunter" Lory smile sweetly.
The woman dressed in yellow with dark hair gritted her teeth hearing Lory's casual answer. There was no way someone possessing this heaven-defying strength was just a novice hunter! The woman and the members looked at Lory with nervous looks they didn't know what the real identity of the woman standing before them was.
It's very - very rare for 'Gifted' people to be able to transform their innate power into a different form. Usually, a gifted person's power only has one form of power, whether it is fire, ice, water, wind, or anything else. Normally they are only stuck with one form and the wielder of the power can only control the amount of power they would use therefore spells and runes are created.
So someone like Lory who was able to transform water into ice is unprecedented and there are only a few people who possessed an enigmatic gift like this and they all came from the Lucient family. However, that is impossible!
"If...if you join us, I guarantee I will give you more money than the Hamilton family could ever give you..." The woman in the tattered yellow dress changed her tone once she realized how strong Lory was and maybe she could convince Lory to switch sides.
The bald man also thought it was a good idea because if someone as strong as Lory joined them, they would be invincible.
"Yes, not just money, we can guarantee you fame and authority you never dreamed of!" the bald man chimed in.
Lory tilted her head and scoffed, "You? you can do that? if you can do that why would you take this crappy job from someone like Ron Augburn?"
The thin man with neon blue hair couldn't hold back his anger any longer and scolded Lory "You stupid wench, do you think we would accept this crappy job if it wasn't for our boss's order..."
<nullb>"SHUT UP!" the bald man and the yellow dress woman scream at the same time.
The corners of Lory's lips curved into a mischievous smile "Oohh, so there's someone else upstairs"
The skinny guy with neon blue hair knew he'd said the wrong thing. "You...you better not think about stupid things!"
"Our boss is not someone you can mess with" the bald man tried to scare Lory.
But who is Lory? It was impossible for her to be afraid of a small threat like this. In fact, she was curious about who the person behind this group was. Whoever that person was, he or she was definitely not ordinarily people to able to employ an influential gifted people as strong as this moreover certain people have a connection to the Augburn family.
Lory pondered while looking at the four people in front of him in sequence for a long time then he stepped in front of the thin man with neon blue hair.
"Who's your boss?" Lory tilted her head.
"Shut up, Izzy!" the woman in yellow shouted, her voice hinting with warning and fear.
Lory glanced at the woman in a yellow dress from the corner of her eye, while the neon blue-haired man gritted his teeth and spoke in a defiant tone, "I won't tell you anything!"
Once again Lory saw the same fear and anxiety in the man's eyes, it seems is not loyalty but pure fear...why?
"We'll see later" Lory raised her palms then clenched them tightly and suddenly the puddle of water around them rose into the air and a moment later the water struck in their direction and wrapped their head inside the ball of water.
Their head looked like they were trapped inside the transparent aquarium though it looked funny from the outside but they could not breathe later on they frantically tried to get rid of the water from their head before the oxygen in their lungs was running low.
"They have two to three minutes before they run out of oxygen so their life is depend on you now..." Lory pretends to be concerned.
The neon blue-haired man I could hear the slow, dragging beat of his heart as he watched his comrade dying for air. Honestly, their life didn't matter too much to him after all their group formed out of benefit, not loyalty or friendship but he could not let that woman die cause he was actually quite fond of her just like the bald man, it just he not dare to show his feeling openly like the bald man.
Lory notices the man glance anxiously at the yellow dress woman not the other so it's easy to guess the dynamic of this group relationship obviously this is the 'Quenn bee' type relationship.
"One minute has passed" Lory 'kindly' reminded him.
The man suppressed the turmoil that raging within him later on the man lifted his furious eyes at Lory "What do you want to know"
Lory didn't waste her time, she had no intention of killing them either, "Who is your boss?"
The man shakes his head "I don't know, we never saw their face"
"So, how could he contact you?" Lory's expression becomes solemn.
"Through phone" his voice became tight from subtle anxiety.
Lory's eyebrows rose then she narrowed her eyes. He had heard from Clift about a type of guild that sent sketch assignments to certain people, they would provide enough resources for the people they hired to complete their work after which they would be paid much higher than the usual guild.
And if their work record never fails. They will be given the privilege of associating with upper-class people which will help the person expand their relationships but there are limits....namely the employee and the employer will never meet face to face to protect the secrecy of them and also their client.
"Do you guys work for the underground Guild"
The man was stunned later he confirmed that Lory was not a rookie hunter, on the contrary, this woman was as experienced as them. Soon Regret corroded the deep of his heart but it was too late.
The woman in the yellow dress clenched her throat trying to hold her breath but she was choking on water, he couldn't stand to see her like that so he swallowed his pride then pleaded at Lory "Let her go..."
Lory turns her head at the pitiful woman who once said he wanted to torture her to death and toy with Zhao Li Xin, "Just her?" Lory quipped.
The neon blue-haired man's face turned red, he actually only cared about the woman in yellow, he even secretly hoped that the other man would die so he could monopolize the woman's attention.
Lory didn't care, she chuckled then waved her hand and the water bubbles around their heads disappeared as soon as they all coughed loudly, it reminded Lory of Zhao Li Xin after drinking soda.
And speaking of the devil, Lory's phone suddenly rang, Lory noticed the name of the caller then immediately answered the phone in a hasted [Li Xin!] Her tone became cheery in an instant.
[Where are you?] Zhao Li Xin sounded worried.
[Sorry, I've got something delayed, I'll be home as soon as possible] Lory answered nonchalantly while putting her index finger to her lips, signaling the neon blue-haired man to be quiet.
[Are you okay?] Zhao Li Xin's sharp instincts could feel that something was wrong.
Lory almost threw her phone in reflex luckily she remained composed [No, I'm fine - I'm fine, I'll tell you everything later, okay baby!]
Zhao Li Xin didn't want to probe by phone, he's 'old school' therefore he preferred to speak face to face, [Um-hum, don't get too long, I'll be waiting] Zhao Li Xin's deep voice etched with a warning.
Lory felt her hand become sweaty, [I know honey, See you at the manor, I love you,] Lory then hung up the phone and let out a long sigh, Lory then shifted her attention back to the neon blue-haired man "You know how lucky you are that my husband isn't here" Lory make an abrupt comment while put her cellphone back in her back "So are you guys work exclusively or not?"
The neon blue-haired man was annoyed at how casually Lory behaved as if she was chatting with an old friend, he might be diluted thinking Lory is harmless if only there were no dying unconscious men scattered around him including his comrade who seemed to struggle to catch their breath.
"No, we're not..." the neon blue hair answered resignedly.
Lory ignored him and then walked towards the unconscious Ron who was now like a rag that had been soaked in water for too long, Ron was disheveled, wet, and covered in blood and dirt. Lory crouched beside Ron and then pressed her palm to Ron's chest while chanting a few words after that Lory rubbed her hands to her pants as if she had dirtied herself then she stood up casually and walked away without a word leaving the chaos behind him with light steps.
They could only hold back their annoyance and shame when they saw Lory's figure leaving without saying anything as if they were trash thrown on the street after being no longer useful.
Lory used a body-strengthening spell to leave the abandoned area until she arrived on the main street then Lory stopped a cab to return to the Hamilton manor.