Barbara was clearly sleeping lightly.

In stark contrast to a certain someone who had been sleeping like a dead pig the past three days.

With Andrew's movement, he sat up.

Barbara immediately felt the mattress shift and woke up.

Seeing Andrew awake left Barbara momentarily stunned, then she was filled with mixed emotions of surprise and joy, "Andrew, you're awake? How do you feel? Does your wound still hurt? Don't rush to get up, just lie back down first! I... I'll call the medical team members to check on you right now!"

Her face was very haggard, her hair disheveled.

She suddenly stopped her torrent of joyful yet concerned words.

Because Andrew, without a word, gently pulled her small hand toward him and... hugged her.

"I'm fine, you don't need to worry."

Holding the girl's warm and soft body, inhaling Barbara's light fragrance, Andrew gently comforted her.

At this moment, he just felt warmth and happiness. He couldn't help but hate that female assassin even more: Damn it, if you really killed me, wouldn't I have missed the chance to hold her like this? Hmph, I'll take you down sooner or later, just wait!

"...What are you doing?"

Feeling Andrew's surprisingly strong arms, not quite like a mage's, and his gradually warming body, Barbara was finally at ease.

Though a bit shy out of a girl's instinct, she couldn't resist lifting her arms to wrap tightly around Andrew's neck, holding the young man firmly and tightly.

As if afraid of losing him.

During these three days, although the medical team members kept checking on Andrew's condition and kept saying, "Incredible! This recovery speed is too fast and too good!"

But with Andrew not waking up all this time, Barbara couldn't help but worry.

Now she could finally relax.

They hugged for a long time before separating.

Yet their hands still tightly clasped each other.

Looking at each other, there was no need to say much; a natural warmth filled the room.

Finally, it was Andrew who broke the silence, speaking again, "That female assassin..."

Upon hearing this, Barbara immediately sat up, becoming serious, and said, "After you fainted that day, the female assassin escaped, and we couldn't catch her. My father woke up early from his healing seclusion and tried to intercept her from a distance, but she still got away."

"So powerful..." Andrew frowned.

"Indeed very powerful," Barbara sighed. "Otherwise, Uncle Jimmy wouldn't have been killed."

She proceeded to recount the rough casualty figures from the battle three days ago to Andrew.

After listening, Andrew felt rather saddened.

Thinking that the Shield of Flowing Fire's city guard Jimmy was probably the one sent to monitor him, right? He had never even met the guy face-to-face, yet he ended up dead like that.

After pondering, he asked Barbara, "So who exactly is that female assassin?"

Barbara shook her head, "Don't know."

"Don't know?" Andrew was somewhat surprised.

He thought the Warm Fire Commerce Association and the Magic Guild had been fiercely battling in the open and behind the scenes for years, and surely, they had some intelligence on their biggest enemy, the Magic Guild.

Could it be that the female assassin is as mysterious to the Warm Fire Commerce Association as she is to him?

Only to hear Barbara say, "Really don't know. There was no previous information about this person. In fact..." She looked at Barbara, asking, "…You're the only one besides Grandpa Falk who actually faced her, what's your impression? Can you tell me? Maybe it can help us identify her."

Andrew scratched his head, "Alright."

Unexpectedly, it turned out he needed to provide his impressions of his encounter with the female assassin as a clue to identify her.

Barbara was somewhat embarrassed about this, helplessly saying, "We have no choice. After Flame Warriors practice Dragon Transformation Combat Techniques, their weaknesses of being slow, susceptible to control, and soul-targeted means are significantly minimized. Moreover, the weapons they use evolve from typical heavy weapons like axes and hammers towards special ones like axe spears that balance power and speed.

The problem is, firstly, the Magic Guild recently experienced a collective mutiny among the Flame Warriors. It's unlikely they could so quickly make the Flame Warrior group willingly serve the Magic Guild again.

Secondly, the female assassin possesses all the advantages of a top-tier Dragon Transformation Flame Warrior, yet there are no evident 'Dragon Transformation signs'; she's entirely human in form and aura.

Thirdly, her speed is just too fast. Grandpa Falk said that the assassin hadn't just 'compensated for her speed weakness' but has actually 'made speed her strong suit.' Internally within the Commerce Association, the only others we can think of who are of the same rank and faster than her, except for the First Knight Uncle Peter, might only be my second sister, who's best at speed."

At this point, Barbara paused, slowly saying, "Our current hypothesis is that the Magic Guild may have further refined the 'Dragon Transformation Combat Technique,' allowing Flame Warriors to reach the pinnacle of Dragon Transformation without losing control and turning into Desolate Beasts. With this method, they appeased the Flame Warrior group's mutiny and also produced a monster like that female assassin. But there's no evidence yet."

Andrew listened intently and nodded, "A monster indeed..."

She was indeed a monster.

Although that female assassin showed no signs of losing control from Dragon Transformation, her momentum was overwhelming. Putting aside the issue of opposing factions, even Andrew felt that she was both formidable and charismatic.

But in terms of strength, she truly was a "monster."

After all, she was someone who could combine the strengths of both a Flame Warrior and a Crimson Knight as a combat class, displaying no weaknesses in power, destructiveness, explosive power, speed, and agility!

If not, that female assassin wouldn't have been able to successively defeat the likes of Jimmy and Falk at their same tier.

After Barbara finished speaking, she looked at Andrew seriously, waiting for him to speak.

Andrew carefully recalled his encounter with the female assassin and uncertainly said, "I... I really dislike her, physically."

"What do you mean?" Barbara didn't understand.

She didn't yet know that Andrew inherently despised four of the Eight Strange Fires and was instinctively attracted to the other four. When with Barbara, Andrew had been suppressing the urge to kiss her, wanting to maintain a bit of dignity since their relationship was still new.

Andrew roughly explained.

Barbara couldn't help but widen her eyes at him, "You actually have such a special constitution? So what you're saying is—you think that female assassin might possess an Eight Strange Fire, that she's a user of one of the Magic Guild's four types of Strange Fire?!"

At the end of her sentence, Barbara's voice was filled with incredulity.

Andrew also wasn't sure, seriously asking, "Is that possible?"

The Eight Strange Fires are essentially eight types of "magic flames."

In Andrew's understanding, that meant "flames only a mage could possess and control."

That female assassin clearly wasn't a mage but a combat class warrior.

If not for that intense feeling of dislike, Andrew wouldn't have associated her with the Eight Strange Fires.

Yet Barbara, after thinking deeply for a moment, seemed to have thought of something, and excitedly said, "I see, maybe this can explain it!"

Andrew asked, "What did you think of? Can a combat class warrior also possess the Eight Strange Fires?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.