Pov - Nicole Romanov
Even with the tree canopies blocking almost all the sunlight, the heat was intense. Her skin was already sticking to the ruined school uniform, and it hadn't even been an hour since we entered this damn forest.
"That bastard Samuel! Who does he think he is to blame me for Nicolas's death? I moved as fast as I could," thought little Romanov.
"What the hell is this heat?"
"The heat's the least of it, look at the size of these bugs!"
"Screw all this, look at those massive trees. The canopy blocks almost everything, making it hard to see, and the roots make it impossible to move properly."
Nikki heard her team's complaints, and they were more than right. The rough terrain, along with the lack of light at the forest floor, created a challenging environment that would give even the most trained soldiers a hard time surviving.
"I'm sure Mom and her squad would manage..." her thoughts started to push back again.
"Remember to mark the trees to your right! Movies taught us that moving through a forest is easy, but that couldn't be more wrong. Without these markings, we can't locate the, the way back!"
"Damn, I almost used the fat guy's expression. Though in the army, it might also be called that... Could he have been... Definitely NOT!" The tension kept messing with her focus.
"Yes, captain!" the whole team answered in unison, and they began marking the trees to the right with big Xs. With some luck, they'd find their way back.
Sssssssssss!
As she reached out to one of the branches to make her mark, Nikki saw it. Her hand was bracing against the exact branch where it rested, one of the vipers they'd feared to encounter.
"Captain! Watch out!!" her team's shouts reached her ears, but it was already too late.
Their eyes locked, and those dark slits stared at her. It was calm, as if in total control of the situation, and there was nothing anyone could do against its superiority.
"Why isn't it attacking? Does it think it's so far above us? Are we really that weak?"
Snif! Bash!
Sssssssssss!
A loud hiss echoed like it sensed the danger, and a bolt pierced its eye socket. Its body began to lose strength and slid from the branches to the ground. Dead.
"Are you okay, Nikki?"
All eyes turned back, where Luísa was kneeling in a completely professional stance, holding a crossbow on full alert.
"When did you learn to use a crossbow that well?" Nikki voiced what was on everyone's mind. The quiet girl who loved books and watched school games had just killed a snake with a perfect shot, one that would make any earthly snake feel ashamed.
"Oliver taught me how to shoot during last year's summer break. The crossbow is the closest thing to a firearm, but it has the same weakness. Limited ammo."
"The chubby guy can shoot?" they all thought in shock.
"Alright, we need to get out of here before the blood attracts more predators. Move out, team!" Nikki shouted the first words that came to mind, trying not to show she was stunned by that info.
"Yes, captain!" they all echoed in unison.
"Uh... Luísa... thanks." she muttered awkwardly to the girl who had just saved her life.
"Hihihi, no problem. Captain!" she said with the most mocking tone possible.
"Idiot."
Minutes turned into hours, and they'd been moving through the forest for a long time. Strangely, they barely saw any more vipers, and they managed to stay far from the ones they did spot.
The heat dehydrated them fast, and hunger began to bite. People assume finding food and water in a forest is easy, idiots!
Water can kill you if it isn't from a safe source or boiled. Fruits are often way too high for non-natives to reach. And animals have adapted to avoid predators that had thousands of years of evolutionary refinement to hunt in this environment.
In short, they were starving and thirsty.
"Fuck this, I can't go on, Captain. Let's go back, we can explore more tomorrow."
"I agree, we've mapped a bit already, and we're gonna end up roasted like this."
[160:59:59]
"We started at sunrise, and it's been seven hours. It must be close to noon now. Makes sense they're wrecked," Nikki reasoned mentally.
"Alright team, we're pulling back..." but the sound of her own voice was all she found.
"Team?"
They vanished. When she turned to look for the group, they were all gone like magic. Only sun rays stubbornly pushing through the canopy above, creating a beautiful scene. If not for the fact that she was completely alone...
"It's been a while, Miss Romanov."
"That voice!"
"Andrey!" she shouted in deep shock.
Then they appeared. Four tan-skinned, well-built men, all dressed in military uniforms, bearing the emblem of her mother's squad.
"So you remember me... Seems I was unforgettable to you, little fire-hair."
"YOU BASTARD! DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!"
"Hahahaha, knew you'd look sexy when you're pissed. You're just like your mother..."
"Shut up... Where is Mom? I thought we were the only ones in this place."
She swallowed her hatred for this despicable man and tried to gather intel.
"Oh... You'll find her. I just hope you get as hot as her body did..."
"Mom... No! Impossible!" then hell came crashing down. Four soldiers, armed with bronze weapons, surrounded her from all sides and attacked.
The world looked too colorful, her brain hadn't fully grasped the situation. Her mom was dead? Betrayed by former army members she expelled? Were they lying to weaken her?
"Screw it!"
Her hand closed around the hilt of the sword. Then, a flood of information invaded her mind. She hadn't touched a weapon until just hours ago, but her choice when the angel descended was clear. Knowledge!
[Guide: Swordsmanship Art Rank – 1]
"A weapon can be stolen, broken, replaced, or given to someone else when you die. But knowledge... no one can take that from you."
Her brain overloaded for a few moments from the flood of data, but there it was. Slashes, thrusts, feints, defense, footwork, breathing, rhythm, and a whole world of things she was far from truly understanding. And there was no time to. The traitors' blades were already upon her.
The hairpin she'd retrieved before leaving fell from her head. A wave of red hair tumbled over her shoulders as her body danced between enemy blades. Four attacks were reduced to nothing, and it was easy to see the shock in the hateful men's eyes.
"Come on! I'll show you the strength of a Romanov!" her roar echoed through the forest and she clenched her teeth. No way in hell she'd let them win, not even death was an option.
They attacked again... The axe cut through the air toward her and she could only dodge a few centimeters before it sliced her face.
"I'm not strong enough to block that..." adrenaline made her brain work at lightning speed.
Before she could think more, the other two soldiers' swords slashed at her exposed right side, and she knew she couldn't dodge them all.
"Damage control!" her brain could process quickly, but her body didn't respond at the same speed. She had the knowledge, but not all the tools to apply it.
As the information poured into her mind, she executed as best she could. Blood gushed from her abdomen, but only superficially.
"Counterattack!"
Her sword spun, close enough to slice one of their thighs, and on the recoil, she pierced the shoulder of the axe-wielding soldier. Her breathing was already heavy.
"Screw all those movies where the girls beat up the bad guys without a scratch."
Her abdomen was slashed, her back had met their blades more than once and that was just a few seconds of combat.
"Where's Andrey?" a chill ran down her spine when she realized he was gone.
She felt the air shift behind her. All she could register was a burning sting on her thigh before the impact kicked up dirt and made her roll to the side. When she got up, she looked down.
"Shit... he missed by an inch."
Her thigh was slashed and blood was pouring fast, but it hadn't been fully pierced. Probably just a grazing hit from the spear.
"I have to run! I'm already getting dizzy."
Even a small amount of blood loss was overwhelming for someone who had never fought. Imagine how much she'd already lost...
"I need to find a route back to HQ as fast as possible. Wait... why did I start using the fat guy's term?"
They attacked again, but this time she was ready to... run! She focused on dodging and darting between branches and fallen trunks. Her pursuers didn't let up, and the blood didn't stop flowing.
"Come back here, Romanov! Didn't you say you'd show your strength? Hahahaha!" Andrey's taunt cut through her ears like a blade, but she gritted her teeth and kept fleeing.
"Those bastards will pay."
Sssssssssss!
"A viper?" When she looked up, she saw the hateful creature's eyes on a branch. She had only one bet left.
"Take your own damn poison, bastards!" Nikki slashed the branch where the viper rested while sliding away, not even looking back. But she heard the soldiers' screams as the snake fell from the sky.
"Not so fun when you're the ones getting ambushed, huh?! Bastards!"