While the others were dealing with the regular ruin predators, Anna and Cassie were facing a ruin predator on another level.
The monster was twice the size of its fellow counterparts, looking like something straight out of a kid's nightmare.
Facing this level of monstrosity, Cassie and Anna both dropped their competitiveness and decided to take this thing seriously.
"I'll tank. You deal the damage."
Anna said, swinging her whipsword slowly.
Cassie nodded, understanding that was the best. They both understood that Leon wasn't participating in this battle not because he didn't want to, but because he believed they could handle it.
This gave them a tiny silver of confidence.
Without another word, they shot forward.
Anna immediately grabbed its attention by striking with her whipsword while Cassie blended with the surroundings and veered to the left. Her aim was to get unnoticed or dismissed by the monster while Anna took on the its attacks herself.
Seeing the strike coming close to it, the monster roared. It swiped its claws at the weapon, knocking it to the side. Thankfully, Anna reacted fast enough to dodge the incoming paw.
Boom!
The ground shook from the power of the paw's strike. Anna stabilized herself, her expression grim. The monster's strength. It was definitely not less than the Old Granny zombie.
She cast an accusatory glance at Leon but he pretended not to notice, lazily fending off the monsters attacking him.
Ignoring the white head, she attacked the monster before her again. Her whipsword wrapped around its right leg and pulled.
Although her strength couldn't match its own, she was able to destabilize its balance.
ROAR!
Using the brief lapse, Cassie appeared behind it and attacked its hind legs. Her axes moved swiftly, slicing through flesh and muscles. The monster roared in pain then spun around. Its movement was fast, catching both girls off guard. Still holding her whipsword, Anna slammed into the wall hard. Her expression contorted when she felt a few of her ribs cracking.
'Argh! This hurts!'
Even though she was a second level evolved with a far sturdier physique than regular humans, the hit was damning. It was a startling reminder of what pain was and how being weak felt.
Meanwhile, Cassie's expression was very ugly. With Anna out of the picture temporarily, she had to face the brunt of the monster's assault.
Enraged, the monster lunged for her with its jaws wide open. Cassie almost panicked seeing the dreadful maw.
'It wants to eat me!'
Fortunately, she reacted fast enough. Gathering strength into her thighs, she jumped very high into the air as the monster's maws closed below her.
Pouring all her strength into her arms, she slammed them into glabella of the monster. Naturally, the monster howled in pain and recoiled. Cassie fell of its head, rolling on the ground to a safe distance.
Standing on one knee, she locked eyes with the monstrous entity again. This time, it really had a look of palpable bloodlust in its eyes.
'Damn it, brother! You have to properly reward me for this!'
Roar!
Roaring, it charged at her again. Suddenly, it did something strange. Midway to her, it raised its paw and slashed in her direction. Cassie's eyes narrowed. There's no way it can reach here right…?
As if to prove her wrong, a red claw mark appeared in the air and shot at her with terrifying speed.
What?!
She only had time to cross her axes before the attack hit her. Her body shot deeper into the cave like an arrow, then bounced off the hard ground a few times. She remained motionless for a few seconds, then groaned.
"I'll be damned."
She slowly stood to her feet while assessing herself. Thankfully, she had blocked most of the attack with her axes. Still, her injuries were serious. Her forearms and thighs had big cuts despite the armor protecting them.
"Good thing I had the armor…"
She couldn't imagine how dangerous it'd have been to face that attack without an armor. Sighing, she quickly picked up her axes from the ground and charged back at the monster.
Unsurprisingly, Anna was already back up, and facing the monster again. She moved around it deftly, avoiding fatal blows and tanking small ones.
Cassie immediately joined. She felt a bit of essence escape her and enter her weapon when she activated its skill—Bone connecting strike.
Raising her hand, she sent one of the axes flying. It dug into the monster's thick hide and indeed reached the ribs. Her eyes glinted in delight as she hit her second axe to hit its head as it turned to her.
The strike resounded like metal striking metal as the axe blade met its skull. Pained, the monster staggered with a howl.
Anna didn't let the opportunity slip. She wrapped her weapon around the monster's thick neck and pulled to the left.
Understanding her intentions, Cassie plucked her axes away from its flesh and struck again. The force sent the monster falling on its left side, just as Anna wanted.
In a desperate attempt to counterattack, it raised its claws and attacked Anna. The wary blonde girl immediately noticed this and rolled to the side, avoiding the fearsome red claws that slammed into the walls behind her, shaking the whole cave.
Both girls closed in on the fallen monster. Anna's whipsword constricted around its waist, slowly digging in. Meanwhile, Cassie straddled its head and began to strike the neck. This body part, filled with muscles and tendons gave way under the ability of the axes.
It trashed wildly on the ground, desperate to rise to its feet
However, Anna ensured it remained on the ground. Her whole body was straining against its strength while beads of sweat formed on her body.
'I… I have to hold on!'
Her muscles were tight, almost locked as she fervently prayed for the creature to die at the blades of Cassie's axes.
Likewise, Cassie nodded was doing her best. Her axes kept digging into the neck of the monster. What frustrated her was that the monster's neck was too damn thick. It felt like trying to slice a brick wall with a sharp spoon.
However, minutes later, when Anna was at the end of her strength, the axes finally sliced open its throat—killing it in one smooth strike.