Way of the Knights

Chapter 281 - Initial Clash

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Raven never dropped his awareness. When Paul was attacked by Lucy earlier, Raven unfolded all the spying techniques available on his arsenal to search for the culprit. While he didn't understand why Luna was the one who sensed the attack first before him, he still managed to sense that Lucy was releasing some sort of a technique since she appeared.

He kept his mouth shut and observed, the moment he felt that she was trying to isolate them, he ripped the technique apart by using his Destruction Laws to attack the weak point. 

"My, my. What do we have here?" Lucy purred with a seductive tone, "An impressive little lamb, I see."

Though she sounded a little weird, the team knew that they got her attention now. 

"What's your name, boy?" Lucy asked as she continued tracing her scythe. 

"Introductions are useless. Either you tell us what we want to know or we force out from you." Raven stated in a cold voice as he gripped him hammer.

"Oh? Is that so? Forcing it out, you say? Hohohoho…" Lucy muttered with her strange voice, sounding a little bit insane. 

She then tilted her head and continued: "Then we shall see whether you have the ability to do so."

Lucy abruptly disappeared from her position and when she reappeared she already had her scythe raised high, attempting to hack down at Raven who was at the back of the group. As the gleaming blade of her scythe descended in attempts of slicing Raven in two, a ferocious roar and a piercing shriek echoed inside the cave.

"HAAAAAHHHH!" Paul's throat vibrated he released an ear-shattering roar. As the sound waves travelled towards Lucy, it caused her to falter slightly and made her attack miss Raven, who didn't even bother dodging at all. 

A blue barrier appeared at each of the team members, a shield that could protect them nine times against life-threatening attacks and won't disappear so long as Paul is standing. 

Ellen's shriek caused Lucy to suffer a headache. Along with her voice, a geyser of flames erupted beneath her feet, nearly sundering her to ashes. Reacting quickly, she retreated a few steps back in order to regain her balance and attempt another attack.

But before she could do so, a blue flash resembling lightning caught up to her in a heartbeat. Lucy placed her scythe in front of her to defend. 

*Clang*

The dagger thrown at her ricocheted in the air, Lucy was about to retreat yet again when she saw a blitz of blue flash near the dagger. To her shock, Mark appeared out of nowhere and planted his feet firmly at her skull mask, causing her to fly backwards. 

Still the onslaught of the team she called 'Lambs', didn't stop there.

Even in her flight back, she still have to actively defend herself since she could see green flashes of light heading her way. 

Lucy could feel a profound sense of danger in these green lights, and being a battle hardened woman she knows that she couldn't block these arrows from Anne, which left her with the only option available to her, dodging. She shifted her weight and used her delicate hands to stop her from flying back and regain her footing.

She then rolled aside to avoid the arrows from piercing her skull and heart. Lucy then got up and received yet another waves of attack, this time coming from Luna who engaged her in a ferocious melee. 

Luna's attacks were fast and deadly. With her being using her Light Laws, the speed of her attacks were too much for Lucy to handle. Sparks of clashing metals briefly illuminated the dark cave as the two women clashed with one another. 

In between their clash, Luna pulled a surprising move which made Lucy confused. She took a step back and stomped her feet, causing her to leap in the air. Lucy was about to follow her to resume the clash but all of a sudden, she heard this…

"Twisting Decimation."

Arms manifested in front of Raven, twisting around each other to resemble a battering ram that flew towards the unsuspecting Lucy. 

Lucy on the other hand noticed this too late, causing her to bear the astounding weight behind Raven's attack. She shot back like a cannon ball, coughing out blood amidst of her flight back. With a loud sound, she found herself embedded on the walls of the cave, feeling pain all over her body. 

"Curses…" she muttered as she dislodged herself from being embedded on the wall. "What ferocious little brats you are, specially you boys! Is this how you treat a Lady?"

Her words were treated like it was nothing by the team, they stood together and glared at her. Under their gazes, Lucy did something out of ordinary. 

She raised her hand and pointed at one of the floating guys around the cave. At the instant she pointed, the floating and unconscious person suddenly shriveled up and turned into a dried corpse. 

A red wisp of smoke emerged from the dried corpse and flew towards Lucy, who inhaled the said smoke that caused her to recover from her injuries. 

"That's nasty." Paul commented as he witnessed what she did. Though he had no idea how she did this, he could tell that she killed someone to heal her injuries.

"All's fair in love and war, little babies." Lucy replied while licking her lips seductively. "But I have to say, you lot have my full attention now. You lambs shall be a very, very tasty treat."

"Ahhh! Just thinking about it does things to my body!" Lucy said as she seductively ran her fingers on the curves of her body. 

On normal cases, this would definitely cause some reactions from the team. However, they are in the middle of a battle, and such tricks would no longer work on them thanks to Raven's training. 

"Hmm, I don't like anyone touching my toys…" Lucy uttered, "And though I like it when people play hard to get, I don't really enjoy a long chase. Hmm, what to do?"

"Ah! I have an idea!" Lucy suddenly exclaimed in a excited voice. "Let's have an orgy."

Lucy raised her hand and snapped. And under the team's gaze, the floating people woke up one by one. Every single one of them had blood red eyes, similar to what Lucy had. And even though they woke up, they didn't appear to be mindful of their actions. It was evident that they are being used as puppets for Lucy's own leisure and disposal. 

The puppets started charging towards them in waves. The team defended themselves but they soon found out that it doesn't matter how much they attack these puppets, so long as some of their bodies remained intact, they will keep on standing up and will continue to attack them.

"This is bad! These bastards refuse to die." Paul stating the obvious, "What do we do?" 

Raven immediately replied with: "We have to fall back to the entrance. They are being manipulated by her Poison Laws. We need the elites for this. Move!"

As he gave the order, the team immediately employed their movement abilities and retreated back to the entrance. 

The waves of enemies followed them with Lucy at the very back, strutting like this was her yard. As soon as the enemies emerged from the mouth of the cave, Mark immediately sent a flare signal calling the elites to help them in battle. 

"This won't solve our problem Avi." Luna commented, "So long as Lucy is up, these guys will continue fighting."

"I know that." Raven replied, "Listen up everyone." 

He then sent them a voice transmission, detailing the plan that he had. Once they received the plan, the team started acting on it. 

It was also about this time that the elites on stand by arrived on the battlefield. Raven briefed them about the situation and gave them instructions before returning to the task at hand. 

Paul stood in front of the group with his shield up and feet firmly planted on the ground. Behind him, Ellen, Mark and Luna was helping him by attacking the droves of mindless enemies heading towards their way. 

Lucy cackled madly at her safe spot behind her puppets. Failing to notice that Anne was winding up for a huge attack. When she noticed the spiking energy accumulating at the team, it was already too late. 

Anne sent a massive arrow in front of them that cleared the path ahead. The arrow skewered multiple enemies on it's flight and headed towards Lucy. 

Lucy prepared to retreat against such an attack but before she could do so, she saw the arrow changed its course, seemingly trying to evade her. When she returned her focus on the team, she caught glimpse of Raven hitting Paul causing him to fly like a meteor towards her. 

Lucy's pupils constricted as she hurriedly placed her scythe before her, clashing with Paul's shield as both of them continued shooting backwards, away from the underground cave and the mindless puppets around them. 

It was at this point that Lucy realized that she has been outwitted by the people she called 'Lambs'.