Chapter 204: Useless 9

Lia's hands grabbed the wall of a house as she glided to the ground. She couldn't move. She overexerted herself and her body was at its limit. Her consciousness started to blur and it was hard for Lia to see her surroundings.

The cold wall against her back brought her a bit of comfort. But Lia was still in the first layer of the capital. In the far, the plaza could be seen. She didn't make it far and soon she heard the loud noises of footsteps and voices.

The soldiers and captains were after her. Min was safe while Timo was with him. At least two strong forces were distracted. However, Lia's current state couldn't even help her fight against normal exorcists. The soldiers could easily subdue her. Lia slowly grabbed the wall. Her fingers felt the rough surface. The wounds on Lia's body slowly healed.

It was only the overuse of her life force that caused her to be so weak. Min took away Lia's ring and she couldn't properly control the amount of lifeforce she has used. No, in truth she has forced herself to use more.

Lia blinked. The footsteps and rushed breathing got louder. Closer. They were near.

Lia propped herself up and moved away from the ground while she supported herself off the wall. Her legs felt buttery and her movements were sluggish. Yet she still moved forward. One step after another. Tiny. Slow.

"There she is! Found her!"

"Get her now! Quick! She's hurt!" the voices roared behind her.

Lia's eyes darted around. There were tons of corpses but she had no power to use them. No weapon either. No strength to fight. Lia was in a pickle. The voices drew closer.

"She isn't moving! Now's the chance! Everyone!" one soldier hollered and at the same time, all the soldiers jumped and dived towards Lia. They tackled her to the ground. Not being able to move, Lia laid beneath them under the heavy weight. She took a deep breath and calmly looked at them.

"Tie her up! The Ghost King wants her alive!"

A spear yearned for Lia but then was pushed away by a soldier, "Didn't you hear? You can't kill her!"

"But she killed-"

Lia understood. She must have killed someone important to a soldier. What irony.

A low laugh erupted from Lia, stunning the soldier. The soldiers could kill precious people to her but she wasn't allowed to take revenge, now that they were in her shoes it was justified.

"Stop!" the soldier stopped the others who had bloodthirsty eyes and spilt killing intent.

"No! I don't care! I'm gonna kill her! She needs to die! Leaving her alive will only make everything worse! She's the devil! She will kill all of us if we don't kill her now!"

He was right. In situations like this, it was better to kill the enemy who could bite them in the back any time but Lia knew that Min needed her alive. For his selfish goal, he might seem as being benevolent and generous.

In the first place, Lia was sure that Min wouldn't have let her die on the stage. At the last minute, he'd sprout more nonsense and bullshit to bring himself higher in everyone's eyes.

Lia's eyes focused. The soldiers were trying to subdue the other one who desperately tried to kill her. Lia took a deep breath and grabbed his spear. With an adrenaline rush, Lia pulled the spear to her, flung it in the air and tore it upwards barely missing the soldier's face and almost leaving a scar.

"Fuck! I told you! We can't leave her alive!" the bloodthirsty soldier roared and the others let him go.

Instead, they aimed their weapons at Lia but the short gap was enough for Lia to turn away and run. She didn't have much strength but the short burst of energy forced her body to move. Behind her, the soldiers were running after her at full speed. If this turned into a full-fledged chase, Lia wouldn't be able to escape. She needed some kind of plan to get rid of them.

Right now, Lia was running through the first layer's housing quarter. This place was only full of streets with houses. There were corpses and ruins of houses laying around. Lia stumbled a few times but then proceeded to throw the rubbles in her way towards the soldiers.

The next moment, she entered a house making her way to the roof. If Lia wanted to escape, doing it via the roofs was the best way. With the soldiers in pursuit, Lia leapt from roof to roof. Her landing was unstable and wobbly, nevertheless, she moved forward.

When Lia looked back, it wasn't the soldiers who caught her attention but it was the tip of various tall buildings. The academy. Zero. Lia has told Zero to run to the next city if she didn't come pick him up by the morning.

The morning already arrived. The bright day, however, was covered by clouds and it was almost impossible to discern if it was still night or not. Only a few rays of sunshine desperately trying to penetrate the great wall of clouds gave reassurance.

Lia turned on the spot. Zero must've seen the broadcast. No, he could even see it from the window. Knowing Zero, he would've tried to help her instead of running away. However, Lia still had to be sure. Zero might still be in the academy.

From the roofs, Lia saw the end of the capital at the far back. If she made it to the bridge she could easily escape the soldiers. Yet, Lia jumped off the roofs. Gathering her last bit of strength, she ran towards the academy.

"She jumped down!"

"She's running back!"

"To the plaza? No, the palace! She's targeting the palace!"

"Call the others!"

The storm of soldiers behind Lia was chaotic but she paid them no heed. There was something more important waiting for her. Someone who was still alive and shouldn't die.

No matter what. If Lia continued to traverse via the roofs then everyone could see her, the soldiers still left in the plaza, the palace, the captains.

That was why Lia used the ground, so even if there were pursuers, she couldn't attract more attention by foolishly showing herself. Also, it was beneficial for the soldiers to think she was aiming for the palace.

They wouldn't imagine her actual goal was the academy. Lia put all of her life force that was painfully slowly regenerating, to her legs and feet. This way her strength would be distributed to her speed.

A dust cloud stirred up behind her. Lia didn't look back. She focused her gaze to the front but she could hear a few soldiers running away.

They were taking a shortcut thinking they were playing smart by reaching the plaza first and alarming everyone.

This was good for Lia. The fewer people following her, the less he had to worry about them.

"Shit! Shouldn't she be exhausted?"

"Aim at her non-vital spots! Her legs! Hit her legs! At least she doesn't die!"

The shouts behind Lia told her their next actions. She knew what was coming but all of her strength and focus was on running away, Lia couldn't dodge the attacks.

She tried to zig-zag for a bit but it was inevitable that she'd be hit.

SWOOSH

Lia slightly wobbled but kept running. A spear was stuck in her shoulder. The green eerie light surrounded her wound. Back then Lia was averse against it but now that she realised it was part of her power, Lia didn't hesitate to suck Min's lifeforce and devour it.

Min's lifeforce flowed through her body and formed new ones. It was good. This way she could replenish even faster. Lia plucked out the spear after taking all of the lifeforce and threw it away.

The wound started to heal almost immediately. The soldiers didn't notice and continued to attack Lia. Instead of slowing her down, Lia was energised. She ripped off the weapon and threw them back. The sharp edges raced past the soldiers' eyes and got stuck in the ground.

Surprised to see Lia unharmed the soldiers took a while to regroup before charging at her again. Now that Lia felt the exhaustion die down a bit, she nimbly made her way to the academy. Through the training field to the dorm, everything was covered in rubble and ruins.

Lia reached the lift and hammered on the button while the soldiers hollered, "Call the others to come here! Quick! She's trying to do something."

Yes, what Lia was trying to do was to save someone important to her. Bing.

The lift's door opened and closed just before a sword got stuck in the gap almost stabbing Lia in the eye.

While the lift ran upwards, the sword fell out. Lia breathed a sigh of relief, she just had to check if Zero was here. However, when she stumbled into the room he wasn't there. It was a good sign or maybe it wasn't.

"She went in there!"

"Damn," Lia cursed.

They already caught up to her so fast? The door started to shake. Lia quickly looked around. The window. She had to use the window. This was the highest floor. Out of the window up to the roof.

The moment the door broke open, Lia managed to climb out of the window along the wall to the roof. Yet she wasn't the only one who could do that. Arriving at the roof, the soldiers already followed, slowly surrounding her, leaving no space for her to escape.

Jumping down was an option but the soldiers swarmed the ground as well as the roof next to this one. The soldiers really were keen on catching her.

Of course, after all, she was the most hated person in the Immortal World.

Lia thought and backed up but then a familiar voice shouted, "Jump!"