"— With just one strike it broke? What a terrible hammer!"
Looking at the large hammer in her hands that had just snapped, Leila looked confused and then irritated.
Danilo, watching her, was speechless.
What did she expect? Her strength had been multiplied by ten, and that hammer was just a common weapon. If the result had been any different, she would have thought the hammer was special and later studied it.
He watched as Leila made a hand gesture—the same one she used whenever she wanted to activate her time magic. It seemed she had forgotten she still couldn't use magic. And that was confirmed the moment he saw her expression turn frustrated from afar.
Then she grabbed the two broken parts of the hammer's shaft like stakes and hurled them, piercing through several Blood Rodents.
She scanned the area, found the place with the highest concentration of creatures, and threw the hammer's head, knocking down and turning another small group of rodents into piles of blood. Seeing that, her expression softened a bit. It seemed she managed to vent some of her frustration on those rodents.
What a violent woman, Danilo thought.
Layla Cronos: 31.
Danilo also resumed the slaughter. Since his aura scared the rodents away, preventing them from getting within ten meters of him, he didn't want to bother running around the whole time. So he transformed the Heaven Slayer into a bow and resumed killing.
Each arrow exploded a rodent's head, and he soon discovered his range reached 200 meters. At two arrows per second, like a small machine gun, he reaped the lives of the tiny rodents—and each rodent yielded a dropped item.
While killing, he observed the three girls.
Mikaela fought like a ballerina on a battlefield. With two swords in hand, she moved as if dancing—full of grace, with synchronized and perfect movements—turning her battle into a scene worthy of a movie or a textbook.
Lesliana was more inexperienced. If not for the tenfold bonus, she would have died long ago. In Azaroth, she had been born a servant, and not a combat servant. She was one of the maidens who followed her young lady everywhere. The kind whose greatest luck was that her mistress was kind enough not to turn her into a toy for guests.
From the beginning, her fate had been to serve as part of her mistress' dowry. So her fighting style was clumsy, but with time she would adapt and improve her skills.
And then there was Leila…
The small, adorable fox-girl turned into some sort of Viking whenever she entered battle mode. Her fighting style contrasted enormously with her cuteness. After breaking the hammer — with Danilo assisting from afar with his bow — she picked up another and began smashing away. And unlike the rest of the group, who avoided the blood splatter, she seemed exhilarated by it, as if the blood of her enemies was some kind of fuel feeding her madness.
What a sadistic woman, Danilo thought.
Every few minutes, she broke another weapon and repeated the same procedure. She cursed the hammer, hurled the two halves to knock down as many rodents as she could find, and grabbed a new one.
What a wasteful woman, Danilo thought. He could already see her making him spend a fortune in the near future.
The slaughter continued while Pancho and Kiala gradually got used to extracting the crystals. Little by little, they became faster and more efficient. After all, the crystal was always located in the same place on every creature. Thanks to the human ability to adapt, they improved and slowly lost the disgust they had at the beginning.
"I don't think so," Pancho said.
More than thirty minutes had passed since Kiala had brought up the elephant in the room. Kiala looked at him, her eyes still red and wet — proof she had been crying not long ago.
"Think about it… the old man is practically another person now. He lived another life in another world. He had a family, a wife — even though they all died early — but that life of his lasted six centuries. How old is he here on Earth? Fifty-two. If we consider that those fifty-two years were put on hold and he lived an entirely new life… in his mind, those fifty-two years were a lifetime ago. All of that must feel distant now. His hatred must have long faded away, replaced by memories of Aunt Lesliana and other people."
"Aunt? She's our age," Kiala retorted, clearly displeased with her father's choice of companions.
"Whether she's our age or not, that's none of our business. They were together when he was younger. And it's thanks to her that he managed to complete the hardest novice mission. He liked her enough that, even after centuries, he never married. And when the opportunity came, he resurrected her. Do you think he would have done that with your mother?"
"So… you really think he won't do it? If not for us, then out of indifference?" Kiala asked, trying to believe the answer she desperately wanted to hear.
"Yes. The old man was the leader of the human race in the other world — in Avaroth."
"Azaroth," Kiala corrected.
"Avaroth, Azaroth… all the same," he said as she rolled her eyes. "He was the leader of a race. And every leader is a politician. And politics is the art of manipulation. Killing the old lady… even if he didn't want to, all of us would suffer. If we weren't her biological children, he might not care. But we are. And that gives her a sort of protection. If he kills her, he knows the act would turn her into a martyr for both of us. And we'd develop hatred toward him over time. Even if he could kill us and make more children, I don't believe he's cruel enough for that."
"So the best solution for her is to keep her alive. And I don't know if you noticed, but she's also bound to him. Do you know what that means?" Pancho asked, looking at his sister.
Kiala thought for a moment, and then, like a light turning on, she understood.
"Her attributes also multiplied…"
"Bingo! She had the same awakening we had. And unlike us, she has a lot to justify and desperately needs redemption. That makes her the perfect puppet. Of course, this is assuming the old man is a skilled politician who knows how to manipulate hearts. Because otherwise…"
"Everyone who hears my voice — come to me!"
Before Pancho could finish speaking, they heard their father's voice. And then, a horror movie-like scene unfolded. Both his and Kiala's bodies stood up automatically and sprinted toward the voice — as if someone else was controlling their movements.
Soon after, they reached the place where the others were supposed to be. But…
The scene they found was shocking.
Four people surrounded by a sea of Blood Rodents.
Their father, wielding a halberd, was the embodiment of violence. Each strike killed a rodent. Then he created some sort of shield by spinning the halberd at an insane speed, turning into a tornado of flesh. When he stopped, he pointed the halberd and threw it with such force that it shot forward like a missile, mowing down a huge cluster of rodents.
He raised his hand, and the halberd appeared again. And he threw it once more.
Lesliana held a shield and sword. Of all of them, she looked the most inexperienced. But calmly and steadily, she killed the creatures. Pancho remembered she was the only one without any combat-related talent.
Mikaela was like a ballerina on the battlefield. Extremely agile, efficient, and beautiful. Watching her fight was like watching a magnificent performance — artistic, like a sword goddess.
And then… Leila.
Pancho felt his hair stand on end.
There were four new hammers beside her. And Pancho didn't understand why — until he saw her leap over ten meters and land nearly twenty meters away, smashing into the ground and forming a massive crater — and breaking the hammer in the process.
Danilo tossed her another hammer and cleared a path so she could rejoin the group.
Danilo Afonso: 6,231
Leila Cronos: 2,112
Mikaela Morningstar: 2,105
Lesliana Vermilion: 1,315
2. Kill 6,000 creatures (G)