The Queen Who Fights Back (by Lily Hastings) novel Chapter 75

Chapter 75

Fear gripped Harvey’s heart like a vice as a terrifying thought struck him suddenly: Nova wanted to kill him. The realization hit him with the force of a lightning bolt.

He let out a scream of pure panic, “You… How are you so fast? You’re just that loser’s daughter. How did you manage this? It’s impossible!” His voice trembled with disbelief and rage.

Harvey had been reckless enough to insult Nova because he had never witnessed the true extent of her power before. Now, as he looked at her, a chilling suspicion crept into his mind: Could it be that she had been concealing this strength all along? Was she deliberately humiliating him to make a point?

His face drained of color, mirroring the shock and fear that rippled through everyone else present.

“Harvey, you always underestimate your opponents, even a teenage girl,” Daniel sneered as he walked past, his tone dripping with contempt. “Thanks for holding her back. I’m going ahead now.”

Those truly determined to claim the family head position never wasted time lingering on the sidelines.

Daniel was the third to arrive. With those words, he swiftly darted toward the next stage.

Finley appeared immediately after. Despite being Harvey’s ally, he showed no intention of lending any support. “Harvey, I’m going first! There’s no way I’m letting Daniel snatch the head position—that would ruin all our plans!” he barked.

Without hesitation, Finley took off after Daniel, disappearing quickly down the path.

Soon, Arthur, Ivy, and Jacob arrived.

This stage posed no real challenge for Arthur. Though slower than Nova, he tackled it with calm precision, while Ivy and Jacob struggled visibly, their movements awkward and uncertain.

Casting a disdainful glance at his inept father Harvey and the disappearing figures of Daniel and Finley, Arthur pushed himself to climb faster, his determination unwavering.

Maxwell, the last to arrive, flashed Nova a confident grin. “Novie, the final sprint has begun. Don’t wait for me—just go ahead.”

Only moments before, everyone had been cautiously watching each other. But after witnessing Nova’s extraordinary skill, they all surged forward like machines firing on all cylinders.

No one wanted to fall behind Nova and lose their chance at the prize. From that moment on, it was a pure contest of speed and endurance.

Nova gave a subtle nod to Maxwell. Then, with a cold warning, she flung the half-choked Harvey aside like a discarded rag. “Mess with me again, and I’ll take your life.” She never spoke empty threats.

Harvey shuddered violently, clutching his bruised neck, unable to regain his composure for a long while.

Ignoring Maxwell’s call, Nova spun on her heel and sprinted into the next stage.

Meanwhile, Daniel, Finley, Arthur, and the others were all racing at full tilt, unwilling to be left behind. After all, these were the family’s main members—people with real skill and determination.

Nova breezed through the seventh stage’s gravity catapults and the eighth stage’s repeating crossbow chariots with ease, but she still hadn’t caught sight of those who had started ahead of her.

They had clearly taken advantage of her delayed start to build a desperate lead.

It wasn’t until Nova reached the ninth and final stage that she finally spotted them.

Before her loomed a towering free-climbing wall, a daunting 65 feet high, with the finish line perched at its summit.

No tools were provided for this stage—not even the most basic safety equipment.

Unlike the grip-friendly walls found in commercial climbing gyms, this surface resembled a jagged cliff face, covered in rough, uneven rocks that made it incredibly difficult to scale.

Daniel, Finley, Arthur, Ivy, and Jacob, who had arrived earlier, were already clinging to the rock face, struggling to ascend.

Ivy and Jacob clearly lacked the necessary skill; they repeatedly lost their grip and slipped after only short climbs.

Arthur was leading the pack. He wasted no time, deftly finding footholds and using protruding rocks to pull himself up with one hand.

Free solo climbing without any gear was an extremely risky and demanding sport.

Watching this, Nova roughly guessed what kind of cheating tools Alfred had planned to provide through Hudson. But she had refused them. She didn’t need any aids.

When she first became a mercenary, she had been abandoned by her team at the bottom of a cliff during a mission.

No one even noticed she was missing. Even if they had, sacrificing one ordinary mercenary meant nothing to the team.

To survive, she had free-climbed a cliff over a thousand feet high, bare-handed.

He thought, ‘Hannah had already dropped out. Maxwell and Nova aren’t large-framed. So who could it be? No… Is the Blake family truly doomed to a bloody fate after all?’

Suddenly, the man who had shouted scratched his head and corrected himself, “Ah, my mistake. It’s a woman!”

At the grand exit, the first to complete the Ultimate Test emerged and approached the crowd. It was Nova.

Alfred, usually calm and expressionless, couldn’t help but gasp, his voice raw with disbelief, “Nova!”

He was completely stunned. After all, Nova was the last person he had ever expected to win the test.

As soon as Hannah saw Nova emerge first, she crossed her arms and said proudly, “Humph, I knew it.”

Charles and the other main family members were struck speechless, their mouths hanging open in shock.

Everyone was caught in a state of stunned disbelief.

The moment Harvey saw Nova come out first, he slipped away nervously, phone in hand. No one noticed his departure.

Hidden in a corner, he frantically made a call, his fingers trembling as he dialed the number.

As soon as the call connected, Harvey hissed, “Hello? Damn it! The plan failed. A woman took the head position.”

“Who?” came a rough voice from the other end.

“Nova Blake!” Harvey snapped, his blood boiling at the memory of her humiliating him.

He took a deep breath—thankfully, he had a backup plan. “I can’t let her hold that position, or everything’s lost. You have to help me.”

A vicious smile flickered in his eyes. He sneered, a sly, venomous grin spreading across his face. “Anyone who sits in that seat—if it’s not me or Arthur—must die.”

“Contact the world’s top mercenary organization, Bloodblade Mercenary Corps, immediately. Hire the deadliest assassins to take that bitch out cleanly. Make it fast, make it quiet. I don’t want any mistakes.”