As he landed, a web of cracks spread across the concrete ground, but Andrew himself was completely unscathed.
After all, for a Hunter who might as well have had fall damage deleted from their code, what's a drop of a few hundred meters? Jumping off cliffs every day is just a walk in the park.
Hadn't he seen it before? Back when he first arrived at the Coral Highlands with the Sapphire Star and got swatted down by a Legiana, the fall was easily one or two kilometers.
And even the Handler, who wasn't a Hunter, just got knocked unconscious. So this height was really nothing.
Maybe if it were three times higher, Andrew might consider popping an Adamant Seed.
"Sorry, things happened fast. I had no other choice."
But his words were met with silence. Caesar, still held in his arms, seemed to have her brain short-circuit, staring blankly at Andrew's face.
Andrew looked at Caesar with a bit of confusion, tilting his head as he stared back. He saw her clasping her fists to her chest, a vacant expression on her face as if lost in thought.
Several seconds passed before Caesar's brain seemed to reboot, as if she'd suddenly realized something.
But the Caesar who came to her senses didn't start shouting as she usually would. After subconsciously climbing out of Andrew's arms, a blush gradually stained her fair skin crimson.
She subconsciously hid her face with her shield, "I See," and after a moment, she finally seemed to compose herself. Her movements returned to normal, but the lingering blush on her face still betrayed her inner turmoil.
"I-It's fine... It couldn't be helped, right?"
She said that, but her eyes never stopped stealing glances at Andrew. It made him pause for a second before he realized.
The leader of the Sons of Calydon, the one who always seemed so boisterous and carefree... was Caesar actually shy?!
He had to admit, seeing a Caesar so different from her usual self, the stark contrast created a certain charm and impact. For anyone seeing it for the first time, it was an indescribable allure that really made one's eyes light up.
But as much of a shame as it was, now was not the time to continue admiring this side of Caesar.
The roar of their landing had alerted a small group of Ethereals nearby. With a series of hoarse cries, a mob of what looked like Level 1 Tyrfing Ethereals came stumbling towards them.
With the approaching steps and screeches of the Ethereals, Andrew and Caesar instantly shifted their mindsets, snapping into a combat stance.
The Dullahan Tachi that had been sheathed on his back was drawn once more, and beside him, Caesar shook off her shyness. With a serious expression, she held her shield and single-handed sword before her, ready for battle.
Facing the Ethereals charging from all sides, Andrew and Caesar split up, each taking on half of the horde.
The Tyrfings, along with some Apekas, swarmed toward the pair. Spurred on by them, all the surrounding Ethereals now took notice of the two intruders who had suddenly appeared in the Hollow.
But these enemies were less than small fry; they were shrimp. Andrew couldn't even be bothered to waste a second swing on them.
After a single diagonal slash cleaved the Ethereals in his blade's path in two, Andrew knew there was only one way to use them to charge his blade.
He cleared another swath of Ethereals before him with one more slash, then back-hopped to create some distance.
The moment he had some space, Andrew planted his feet apart, sinking slightly into a horse stance. His feet gripped the ground like two nails, rooting his body firmly to the concrete floor.
Then, power flowed up from the ground, reaching the core of his torso. With a slight twist of his waist, he guided that force directly into his arms.
Power could only ever be accumulated in the most crucial place—the core of the torso. The more power he built up there, the stronger the resulting Spirit Blade combo would be.
With this accumulation of power, he didn't need to go through the motions of the combo step-by-step; he could unleash the later moves of the Spirit Blade combo directly.
As he accumulated power, the massive tachi slowly traced an arc through the air. As the Ethereals closed in, Andrew continued to charge, as if he didn't even see them.
He continued until the power reached its peak, the tip of his tachi now at the furthest point to his left.
Andrew suddenly lowered the tachi, resting the base of the blade on his left shoulder. But this wasn't relaxation; it was the final moment of calm before a volcano's eruption.
His waist twisted sharply. The power from his core drove his arms, swinging the tachi in a massive arc that instantly cleaved all the Ethereals before him in two.
"Spirit Roundslash!"
The swing of the tachi was like a tornado tearing through a parking lot, completely obliterating everything in its path. In the instant it wiped out the Ethereals, a white aura appeared on the Dullahan Tachi.
Although he hadn't found the target boss yet, the first order of business upon arrival for any Hunter was always to find some monsters and charge their blade. It was a necessary ritual.
But these Level 1 mobs were truly too weak. He'd wiped them all out just by getting his white gauge level.
And that was only possible because he'd charged the attack. If he had just used a normal combo, these things wouldn't have even survived long enough for him to unleash the final Spirit Roundslash.
In any case, the white gauge lasted the longest, so Andrew wasn't in a rush. He sheathed the tachi on his back and looked over at Caesar.
He saw the girl wielding her shield and single-handed sword with incredible fluidity.
Her right hand swung her sword, felling a Tyrfing to her left, then her left hand immediately followed up with a horizontal bash from "I See."
The unique spikes on "I See" added significant damage to the shield bash, piercing straight through the Ethereal's body and its core Hollow.
The next moment, another Tyrfing Ethereal took advantage of Caesar dealing with the enemy in front of her, swinging its two bladed arms down at her from behind.
But for Caesar, this was hardly a difficult problem to handle.
The pierced Ethereal dissolved into particles of energy the instant it died. Without a physical corpse to create resistance as she pulled her shield back, Caesar's turn and block was both precise and swift.
The Tyrfing's slash didn't connect with Caesar as intended; instead, it slammed into her round shield.
With a clang of metal on metal, the arm blades were stopped dead by the shield "I See." But Caesar's blocks were never just simple blocks.
Her prosthetic left arm suddenly exerted immense force, sending the Tyrfing's arm blades reeling. Immediately after, the longsword in her right hand, "I Come," shot forward, instantly piercing the Hollow core of the staggered Tyrfing.
With that final thrust, the last Ethereal was eliminated, leaving none in the immediate area. All that was left was for Andrew to check if other monsters were appearing in the Hollow, but after finishing the fight, Caesar had once again frozen in a daze.
"Caesar?"
Andrew asked, confused, but Caesar didn't respond. She just stood there motionless with her head bowed, only her flushed cheeks betraying her uncalm state.
This puzzled Andrew. Logically, even if she was shy, she shouldn't be this flustered, right?
Just as Andrew was about to ask again, Caesar suddenly snapped her head up. With a face bright red, she raised her right hand and pointed her longsword at Andrew. "Y-Your tachi!!"
Andrew glanced at the tachi on his back, then at Caesar's somewhat excited eyes, and it clicked.
The leader of the Sons of Calydon, the seemingly carefree and boisterous Caesar, was a massive Tachi fan when it came to games. Andrew often even teased her, saying she played the Tachi like it was a Switch Axe. Now, seeing the white aura radiating from his real-life tachi, of course she couldn't help but get excited.
But even though he completely understood, Andrew still had to ask, "You know what a tachi is? No, wait... you know about the Spirit Blade?!"
_____
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