Unfortunately, the anomalies weren't as foolish as Zaen assumed.
Realizing the waitress was at a disadvantage, the chef jumped in between her and Zaen.
"…there goes my plan."
He was planning to get rid of the waitress first and then deal with the chef. It didn't seem he was going to allow that.
Zaen threw all his remaining throwing knives at the chef. The anomaly raised its arms to protect its face. Still, the creature was in pain as blood oozed out of the wounds, yet it didn't stop covering its face.
The face. So that's your weakness.
Seeing how the anomaly only protected its face, Zaen realized it was the creature's weakness. To test his theory, he grabbed whatever he could and threw it at the chef. The plate shattered upon impact.
Naturally, nothing happened since only Slayer Weapons can harm anomalies, but the chef still didn't lower his guard.
Gotta deal with his arms first.
Zaen rushed ahead, using the broken furniture as steps to jump as high as he could, raising the stick over his head.
However, before he could swing the stick, the waitress shrieked loudly. A tentacle shot towards him. Zaen noticed it, and could have used the stick to block the attack, but he didn't.
Having barely managed to pin the chef down, he didn't want to let that opportunity slide. The tentacle pierced through his shoulder.
[You've been affected by
"Argh!"
Zaen gritted his teeth but pressed forward and swung the stick with everything he had.
"Skree!"
The chef screeched as the stick hit his knife arm. The strike broke its forearm right down the middle as the knife slipped from its grasp.
Zaen caught the falling knife midair.
"Try protecting your face now!"
Using what remained of his momentum, he twisted midair and slashed upwards. The chef was taken by surprise. Everything happened so quickly that the chef couldn't even raise their arm, let alone protect the face.
Blood splattered in the direction Zaen swung the blade, leaving a scar across the chef's face. As the chef stumbled back, Zaen swung the boning sword again, severing the chef's good arm along with the new tendril the waitress had thrown towards him.
As the anomalies screeched in pain, Zaen poured another bottle of sealant on his shoulder. It stopped the bleeding, but didn't stop the stinging pain, not like he cared, as his eyes were fixated on the chef.
The cut wasn't deep enough…
But that wasn't important.
If one slash wasn't enough to kill it, he would slash ten times, even a hundred times. With the tick in one hand and the boning sword in the other, Zaen struck the chef, alternating between the weapons.
[Walking Stick dealt 473 critical damage to the Hell's Chef.]
[Boning Sword dealt 622 critical damage to the Hell's Chef.]
[Weakness targeted. 1.5x bonus damage dealt!]
First, the stick to the head, then the sword to stab his eyes. With both eyes lost, the chef was as blind as Zaen, only the anomaly didn't have any perception to depend on.
The chef couldn't touch Zaen, let alone hurt him, while Zaen kept bashing the creature. Either the sword would chop it into pieces or the stick would turn it into a pulp.
[Walking Stick dealt 273 damage to the Hell's Chef.]
[Boning Sword dealt 432 damage to the Hell's Chef.]
[Hell's Chef's HP: 410/4000]
Half of the creature's body was broken, while the other half was drenched in blood as it fell to its knees. Holding the knife in hand, he walked over to the chef.
"…if you see the one who took my eyes," Zaen snarled. "Tell that bastard I'm coming for him."
He was about to swing the blade when a shriek rang out. He turned around and saw that the waitress had turned into a heap of fleshy tentacles.
While Zaen was fighting the chef, the waitress had secretly consumed all the carnivorous minions to transform into the grotesque creature.
"Seriously?"
Zaen shook his head. He didn't know much about these anomalies, but he hated those who could transform into weird creatures. It was like they had a second life or something, just like the Endless.
As for why she shrieked… wasn't it obvious?
Zaen ignored her and swung the blade, severing the chef's head.
[Hidden Boss: Hell's Chef killed! Exp +800]
[Total Exp: 710/1000]
[Level up!]
[Current level: 9]
[HP +200]
[Congratulations, Player!]
[You have gained 3 spin point(s) for slaying a D-rank anomaly for the first time!]
He kicked the corpse aside before turning towards the amalgamation of tentacles. She hurled the tentacles one after another at him, but with the boning knife, Zaen easily sliced them up.
"As I thought, you're nothing without a bodyguard, are you?" Zaen asked before impaling the anomaly and lifting it as if the sword was a skewer.
[Field Boss: Hell's Waitress killed! Exp +300]
[Total Exp: 10/1100]
[Level up!]
[Current level: 10]
[HP +500]
[All wounds have been healed.]
[Armor durability restored.]
[Weapon durability restored.]
"Armor? I don't—"
Zaen had barely said those words when his torn clothes sewed themselves back as if he hadn't had a single scratch on his body.
"Wait, so does it mean my wounds get healed every five levels and my gear gets restored every ten levels? This system thing… does it have a manual or anything I can refer to?"
Instead of a manual, a blinking icon appeared before him. It was shaped like a treasure chest with a red exclamation mark at the corner.
[Task completed!]
[You have gained 2 spin point(s)]
[You have received an EXP capsule.]
[You have received a loot box.]
[All items from the scenario have been stored in the inventory.]
"That's… a lot of stuff to go through. But this isn't what I'm interested in."
Zaen closed all tabs and selected the stick through his inventory. However, he wasn't greeted by the notification he thought he would be.
[2/5 anomalies gathered.]
[Slayer Weapon: #122 remains unawakened.]
"…those minions didn't count as anomalies? Are you kidding me!?"