BXBX NOVEL Chapter 10: 10. Lia couldn't understand
"Well done, Aiko!"
Lia charged toward the Giant Carnivorous Flower, her greatsword 'Flame Devourer' glowing red-hot as she shouted:
"Flame Slash!"
A streak of red sword light descended from above, splitting the Giant Carnivorous Flower in half much like Moses parted the Red Sea.
The Magical Creature let out a pitiful scream, staggered, and then fell to the ground with a thump.
"We won..."
Lia stared blankly at the corpse of the creature, her face a mixture of disbelief.
Although they hadn't escaped unscathed from the battle—her arm and right leg were grazed by the Giant Carnivorous Flower's roots—they had won.
Without Lin Da, she still led the team to conquer the ninth floor.
Indeed, the Young Lady herself was formidable!
Lia's spirits soared to an unprecedented high, as if she could see the team reaching the pinnacle of the World Tree.
A smile of pride involuntarily formed on her lips, curving into a satisfied arc.
However, the overly excited Lia overlooked one problem.
Being severely countered by her fire attribute, the Giant Carnivorous Flower, a plant series boss, wasn't actually up to the standard difficulty of the ninth floor.
Another potential boss of the ninth-floor Mystic Realm, the Lava Giant, who possessed high resistance to fire, was a nightmare for her—hellishly difficult.
The outcome of the Snow Goose Adventure Team encountering the Lava Giant had never crossed Lia's mind.
The several veteran members of the team, upon seeing her proud expression, seemed like they wanted to say something but held back.
Aiko sighed, keeping her preaching thoughts to herself.
Only when Lia suffered a setback would she perhaps understand.
Meanwhile, specks of light began to fall from the sky.
Defeating the Giant Carnivorous Flower triggered a reward from the World Tree Goddess, similar to looting equipment in a game.
Gold Coins rained down, while the lights varied in color.
The common ones were white, slightly better ones were green for fine quality, and blue for rare quality.
Luck was on Lia's side; she found a beautifully purple light.
She checked them one by one.
"Level 23 main weapon, the Tengman Whip—not useful, sell it."
"Level 20 armor, Sunflower's Heart... the defense bonus is decent, might as well keep it."
"Level 15 purple rare accessory, Angel's Bracelet—isn't this healer equipment?"
Lia's eyes lit up, she turned around and instinctively reached out her hand, ready to give someone a high-five.
Clearing the ninth floor of the World Tree was a milestone, and exploding with purple rare gear had her over the moon, acting unconsciously like she did in the past.
After defeating a boss, she used to high-five that person, then everyone would stack their hands together, shouting and cheering with joy.
Tossing the equipment and Gold Coins from the boss into the air, enjoying the full sense of accomplishment.
But after Lia reached out her dry hand towards Aiko and the others, she remembered that person seemed to have left the team.
The atmosphere suddenly grew quiet.
Aiko and the others didn't come forward to ease Lia's embarrassment because nobody knew what was really going through Lia's head. If someone casually went over to take that person's place, it could upset her, which wouldn't be good.
So, nobody moved, leaving Lia's right hand awkwardly raised in the air.
"Hmph."
Lia withdrew her hand, stuffing it into the pocket of her skirt armor, her fingers anxiously fumbling with the fabric inside.
The smile on her face slowly faded into an icy, poker face.
"Haha, who would have thought it'd be so easy to take down the Giant Carnivorous Flower? Captain, it's all thanks to you."
The newly-promoted healer with blonde hair, Phyllis, walked up to Lia with a triumphant smile that was as warm as a spring breeze.
"Where are we going for tonight's celebration dinner? How about the Michelin Three-Star Restaurant on Elf Street? The food there is not bad. I'll treat everyone to a good meal tonight!"
Phyllis tried hard to hide the covetous glint in his eyes, putting on a suave and generous expression as he invited the beautiful redhead girl.
With his impressive results as the tenth-ranked student in his healer class, Phyllis had graduated from the White Dove City Noble Academy and was fully capable of joining an adventure team like the Ice Flower Adventure Team, which was above the tenth level.
But he had chosen the Snow Goose Adventure Team, which was below the tenth level.
He had only one target in mind.
The beautiful and noble-born team leader, Lia.
Behind this young lady was a father known as the 'Bloody Baron,' who was said to be a promising candidate for reaching level 40 and becoming a Moon rank adventurer.
Whoever married Lia could essentially soar to great heights in the second half of his life.
Phyllis grinned, fully expecting Lia to agree to his invitation.
However, to his surprise, Lia frowned irritably and said, "You guys go ahead, I'm not going."
"Ah? How can that be, you are the team leader." Phyllis felt his mentality explode.
"If this young lady says she doesn't want to go, then she doesn't go. If you want to go, then go by yourselves, I'm tired."
Lia snorted coldly, ignoring Phyllis who was left dumbstruck, and said to Aiko, "You are responsible for cleaning up the battle loot and distributing the rewards."
Aiko rolled her eyes.
Distributing rewards was a thankless job; it was impossible to always divide everything perfectly evenly, leaving some unavoidably dissatisfied in the shadows.
Previously, the task was done by Lin Da, and everyone was satisfied, because whenever there was a dispute involving interests, Lin Da would take less of his share.
"It's such a headache. If only that dog was still here."
Aiko muttered, resigned.
She noticed a 'Healer's Angel Bracelet' among the pile of treasures that had burst out and, after thinking for a bit, asked Lia, "This piece of equipment..."
"Sell it. No need to keep it," Lia immediately knew which item Aiko was referring to and said in an indifferent tone.
After conquering the ninth level, the Light Gate to the tenth level appeared beside the corpses of the magical creatures.
The tenth level belonged to the Public Grand Secret Realm, where there were teleportation points that allowed for free passage without the need to clear the level.
Lia stepped into the Light Gate and took out a cylindrical blue crystal from her skirt pocket, infusing the Teleportation Stone with Battle Qi.
A bright light flashed, accompanied by a magic circle beneath her feet, and Lia disappeared from the spot.
...
In the Inner City District, the luxurious mansion of the Snow Goose Adventure Team.
With a loud 'bang.'
"What the hell, told him to leave, and he really left!"
A pink cat plushie was thrown by Lia into the trash bin with a grim expression on her face.
Lia was alone in the mansion and finally could not hold back and burst out.
When she returned, Lia did not see the scene she had imagined: Lin Da waiting at the door to apologize and humbly acknowledging his mistake.
They had adventured together, conquered so many mystic realms, sweated profusely, drank beer in big gulps... She had so many shared memories with him, yet he had abandoned the team they'd been part of for three years, just like that.
It was too heartless.
And there she had been, thinking about giving that level 15 'Healer's Angel Bracelet' to Lin Da.
Lia, fuming, stomped around in cotton slippers with a giant carrot pattern, went to the fridge, opened the top compartment, and took out a can of beer.
The beer can depicted a fire-breathing dragon, with text that read 'Spicy Flavor,' 'Extra high malt concentration!'
She took the beer and gloomily entered the bathroom.
Taking off her clothes, she threw her sweat-soaked black stockings and her close-fitting shorts to the side, stood in front of a life-sized mirror, and zoned out looking at her body.
Aside from being a bit flat-chested, the rest of her was not bad. Especially her elastic, powerful long legs which often attracted unconscious glances from Lin Da.
Being so beautiful and excellent, why did Lin Da leave the team?
Lia just couldn't understand it.