The Mercenary Queen Strikes Back (Lily Hastings) novel Chapter 95

Chapter 95 Persuading Bloodforge To Leave

Meanwhile, Nova was pretending not to know Maxwell and Hannah, all to keep them safe.

Now, she was treading on a path littered with corpses, and thanks to a few words from Lionel, she was about to become the public enemy of the training ground.

Staying by her side would only put them in more danger.

But…

Nova called out softly, “Yellowcat.”

“Boss,” Yellowcat replied, leaning toward Nova.

Unlike Eder and Fierce Python, Nova couldn’t bring herself to trust any of the new recruits in the Blood Doll Corps–except for Yellowcat.

She lowered her voice so only Yellowcat could hear her.

“Head back and protect them from the shadows.

If you get the chance, get them out of here.”

Yellowcat nodded.

“Got it!”

With a few swift flickers, Yellowcat disappeared from sight.

Overhead, the sky hung heavy and gray.

The sun was fading away, darkness creeping over the land.

But the night wasn’t pitch black.

“Rat–tat–tat-” gunfire echoed through the air.

“Bang! Bang!”

Explosions, bullets, and artillery shells ripped through the dense forest, one after another.

The path ahead was anything but smooth.

And that’s not even counting the masked man’s earlier ambush.

A sea of corpses sprawled everywhere you looked along the way.

Everywhere, kill zones packed with mortars and shoulder–mounted rocket launchers blocked.the path…… raining down bullets and explosions nonstop.

Dead bodies were pretty much the only thing you saw, no matter where you went.

Nova stood tall and proud atop a thick branch high in the treetops.

She held an eight–power scope, eyes locked ahead as she issued orders to Eder, Sham, and the rest of the squad.

“Enemy gunner spotted. 2,500 feet out, wind speed 7.2 feet per second, strength 2, three o’clock.”

Nova gave a sharp, precise order, and Eder immediately zeroed in on the masked gunner’s head with his sniper rifle.

“Fire!” Nova barked.

Nova’s command cut through the air.

Eder squeezed the trigger without hesitation.

“Whizz!”

The bullet tore through the darkness, drill

ner’s skull as he guarded the cannon.

Successfully unlocked!

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Chapter 195 Persuading Bloodforge To Leave

Right across from them was a locked–down enemy kill zone.

As long as that gunner kept firing, nobody was getting past him.

The only way forward was to take him out.

Through her eight–power scope, Nova watched as the gunner by the cannon took a bullet to the head and collapsed instantly.

“Whizz!”

As Nova commanded from her position, a counter–sniper shot came streaking through the air, aimed right at her forehead.

Nova tilted her head to the left.

Her face remained utterly calm as the bullet scraped past her cheek, vanishing into the shadows behind her- she didn’t even flinch.

Nova’s calm and composure never wavered.

With every order she gave, Sham and Eder were starting to see just how strong Nova truly was.

Her presence sparked a whole new fighting spirit in the fresh recruits of the Blood Doll Corps.

With the deadliest gunner at the enemy stronghold taken out, Nova leaped down from the treetop.

She landed lightly, her high ponytail snapping behind her, radiating fierce confidence.

“Kill them!” Nova’s voice dropped to a deadly growl–no one dared question her.

At her single–word command, Eder, Sham, and the rest of the mercenaries raised their guns and stormed the fire zone ahead.

“Kill!”

In this ruthless underworld, they fought their way through with fists and firepower, carving out a blood–soaked path of their own.

***

Yellowcat was hidden away atop a tall tree, blending into the darkness.

She could hear mercenaries passing by below, their voices rising in fierce shouting matches.

“Dead! Dead! They’re all dead!”

“Where the hell is Bloodforge? If we don’t find her soon, we’re all done for!”

“Rumor has it Bloodforge is a woman, but honestly, almost all the women here were killed off last night!” “Who knows, maybe Bloodforge is actually a guy, just pretending to be a woman to throw everyone off!” “You’re kinda suspicious, always so quiet. Are you Bloodforge in disguise? Come on, own up!”

The deeper they pushed into the forest, the more ambushes they ran into–the dead just kept piling up, and the casualties were endless.

These were all new mercenaries and fresh recruits–none of them could handle this kind of nightmare. One by one, they started running for their lives, shouting accusations and pointing fingers at each other. Some even started suspecting the others were actually Bloodforge in disguise.

Right beneath Yellowcat’s perch, Zane, Ethan, Maxwell, Hannah, and the rest of their group were huddled together.

They’d managed to stay alive and out of trouble only because they hadn’t pushed any deeper–meaning they never had to face that even deadlier masked guy lurking further ahead.

“This is the only way we can help Nova out!” Zane said.

Right now, Zane was sitting by a campfire they’d just built, everyone huddled around the flames.

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Chapter 195 Persuading Bloodforge To Leave

“Maxwell, I agree with you–if we want to avoid dragging Nova down, we have to figure out a way to get out of

here.

“But you saw it yourself–we’ve looked everywhere, but there’s just no way out.”

Back at Saint Laurel Royal Academy, Zane was the captain of the Taekwondo Club, while Maxwell ran the Free Combat Club.

Skill–wise, the two were pretty much neck and neck.

But when it came to smarts, Maxwell–the older brother–was way ahead.

He was the type who believed that sometimes, the smartest move was to just stay put and not do a thing.

Zane wasn’t like that at all.

He was naturally competitive, with an unshakable confidence–he couldn’t stand the thought of Nova having to face all this by herself.

He just couldn’t sit back and do nothing.

So he called Maxwell out, right in front of the whole group.

“But I don’t agree with you about just staying put.

“We should stay away from Nova so we don’t drag her down.

“Didn’t you hear it? Ever since Bloodforge–the leader of the Bloodblade Mercenary Corps–showed up, the whole trial got way harder and the death rate shot up.

“Nova’s in even more danger now…

“What I mean is, we need to work behind the scenes and track down Bloodforge. If we can get Bloodforge to leave–only then can we really help Nova!”

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