The Goddess Of War

Chapter 147 - The True Opponent

In the end, Anna and Gina went to the location of the Hunter Association using Gina's car.

Actually Bimo wanted to go to deliver Anna, just because he was used to delivering Anna as his personal driver.

However, Miyuki asks him to stay behind, helping the girl in repairing her avatar. So, Bimo ended up staying behind to help Miyuki.

°°°

"Anna. I.., I want to apologize for what Luke did to you." Said Gina, when they were already on their way to the Association.

Anna turned her gaze from outside the window to look at Gina. After Gina turned to him, Anna gave a smile before responding to what Gina had just said.

"You don't have to apologize to me. He's an adult, he's the one who's got to see me and apologize."

Gina let out a long sigh, "I wish she had a little mature attitude after living independently for three years. I didn't expect that independent life to make him go wild."

This time Anna did not respond to what Gina said. He turned his face back towards the window, staring at the twinkling lights of the city night.

Anna doesn't know what to say for someone's personality problems and she fears that her words will sound silly because she feels that she is far from having maturity in thinking and behaving.

"Do you know what a monster that resembles a human being is?" gina asked, shifting the subject when she saw Anna who seemed to be going awry in response to what she had just said.

Anna turned her face back, she looked at Gina for a moment, before finally staring straight at the path they were going through.

"I don't know. But, from our little talk, I think he's obsessed with being a god."

"What?"

"You know a mythical creature named Damballa, right? The devil who has the black magic of voodoo?"

"Yes. I've read it."

"The creature's name is Damballa."

"What?" Gina turned to Anna for a while as she was a little surprised to hear the information just now.

"While I disagree when he says he's a god, I'm sure he's really Damballa, a mythical creature that's in old stories."

"Is he also a creature that has its own planet like other monsters?"

Anna was silent for a moment before answering the question. He had been thinking about it since yesterday, after he returned to the laboratory.

"I don't have any information about it. But, I don't think he and his two partners have a planet of their own."

Gina was a bit surprised, "Two colleagues?"

Anna glanced at Gina, then smiled stiffly, "I haven't told her yet. There were two of his comrades who had come when everyone had left and had only left me inside the Dungeon."

"What?!" Gina was so shocked that she almost stepped on the brakes. "Are you... How can you fight alone against three such powerful beings?"

"Well, I'm fine" Anna gave her best smile. He did not want Gina to be more worried about him. "For sure, I believe they are the beings responsible behind the emergence of Dungeon gates all over the world."

"They?"

"Yes. They could make Dungeon gates. After all, the evil magic power I felt from the gate they made amidst the black clouds and magic energy on the gate connecting the Dungeon to Earth felt the same."

"The power of evil magic? Can you feel that kind of difference?"

Anna nodded slowly. "Since the beginning of my return to Earth, I can sense the difference in one's Mana energy."

Gina did not respond, but she turned several times to Anna while looking at the road in front of her.

Anna knew Gina actually did not understand what she had just said. So Anna finally told me about her experience after falling from the Asian Soul building.

The story of how he lived for hundreds of years in a white room all by himself, then how he lived for thousands of years on the only remote island on an alien planet that has a day difference of 1: the:1,000 to Earth.

This is the first time Anna has told anyone about her life journey over thousands of years on a planet with no inhabitants, other than her.

Gina finally knows how Anna struggles to get the power she currently has.

°°°

"So the owner of the body you're using is named Ann Arnix?" gina asked when Anna had finished telling her life experience and told her about the information she got from the human beings.

"Yes. I know the names of those creatures."

Gina recalls how she once met an alien woman when Anna returned from an intergalactic trip. As she remembered it, Gina began to cringe.

"Anna. Aren't you afraid that one day she'll take over again? I mean, you went back to the apartment without you noticing and I was dealing with you, but you had different hair colors, different eye colors and different sounds, too,"

"One more thing, when yesterday I lost consciousness in the Dungeon.., in my dream, I saw the same person who appeared in the apartment, bringing me back from the dead."

Anna shook her head.

"I'm not really worried about him. I should have been dead. But, he gave me another chance to live. Well, maybe I'll be upset that he's been enslaving me for fifteen thousand years to train the magic abilities of his Mana core, just to keep this body if one day he takes it back."

"But, I'm sure he must have had the goal to get you to do it."

"I've been thinking about it since yesterday. I'm sure, he wants me to use the power he gave me to fight his enemies."

"Is it possible that his enemies are human beings that we met yesterday?"

"It seems they are. Since two of them are already dead, there are still twenty-nine more of them that I have to take care of."

"W-what?! Twenty-nine?!"

"Damballa told me that they were thirty-one in all."

Knowing that, Gina suddenly goosebumps. Only against one of them, he and the other Hunters were unable to do anything. When meeting powerful monsters like them, only Anna herself was able to deal with it, while the others could only watch from a distance.

"Anna..., do you think we can be strong if we continue to conduct illegal raids in other countries?"

Anna was a little surprised by the question. During this time, Gina and Kevin seem to be opposed to the idea even though they can finally comply with Anna's willingness to strengthen themselves by conducting illegal raids in many countries.

"Are you thinking about me now?" ask Anna.

"Y-yes, I just realized that the current state of affairs is really very precarious. I also don't want just you alone to have to bear the burden of fighting them if they suddenly mess up again."

Anna smiled when she heard those words. Fighting alone against all those overwhelming forces, Anna had never thought of in the first place. All along, he had only done so because his comrades still did not possess the same strength as him.

However, the moment they could get more magic crystals to perform the power increase, Anna would end up feeling helped.

"I really want that. Let's be more diligent in conducting illegal raids so that all our team members have enough power to defeat them."

Gina nodded her head and was determined to become stronger so that she could guard and protect her comrades in the battle against the creatures.

"But..., is it true what the creature said? Is Ann Arnix the devil?"

Anna shook her head. "I think they are the devil. They are our real opponents."

•••

The car Anna and Gina were driving finally arrived in front of the inspection gate of the City C Hunter Association area.

After following the inspection protocol, the car resumed its journey towards building 3 which was at the very back of the Association area.

Building 3 is reserved exclusively for Hunter-hunters who are prisoners of the Association, of which Luke Stewart, Brandon Lloyd, Cassey Lloyd and Joana Nankins are located.

After parking her car, Anna and Gina head straight to the Hunter prison and happen to meet three unexpected people at the main entrance.

"Anna... We finally meet."

Looking at the person greeting her, Anna did not know what to react to. He had not expected to meet his grandfather and two half-brothers in a place like this.

•••