Del jumped from the abandoned building did a front flip and axe-kicked the Monitor Salamander.

GEAAARGH

The salamander's head bounced off the hard earth. It cried not for the damage it sustained, but for the blood it thirsted. Attacking like that, Del had put himself as its target and spared the others.

The salamander swiped its tail while Del was still in the air for what it was worth. Because Del caught its tail with his hand. Letting the momentum pass through him, Del spun in midair like a parkour master.

It still managed to deal damages specifically to the building and the others.

BOOM

Scary as the salamander was, it was only a monster. It was startled by the loud destruction it itself was the perpetrator. That little stunned phase was giving Del a chance to counter.

His left side of the body led. After lowering himself, he took one step with his right leg. Along with the step, he thrust his right hand. A lunge punch from below.

BANG!

If there was one thing that could be labeled as perfect, it was that punch of Del. His [Fighting Technique: 101] wasn't just for show. His fist never reached the salamander, the shockwave of his punch was enough to fell if backward.

He could use the chance to do a barrage of attacks. But he was more concerned by the others' condition. He didn't even wait for the dust to set.

tap

"Eurghh..."

"That is enough, rest. You did well."

Burr accumulated heavy injuries from protecting Nina and Rain. Del was fast enough to catch him before he fell.

The scene was somewhat surreal. Seeing the small-ish Del princess carrying the hob goblin-enhanced Burr was a reel. Del was very gentle. He didn't even rush him but slowly walked to a safer area and put Burr laying.

"Kepp you eyes on him. The others are safe, but too far for me to go now."

"Eh? Wait!"

Without heeding Nina's pleas, Del left once again for a battle. The Monitor Salamander had recovered and was waiting for him.

Sshhhh

A certain amount of intelligence was to be expected for such a large creature. Its hissing must be some kind of acknowledgment of the fight they were about to continue.

huuuu...

"Let us go, big lizard."

The salamander jumped Del but not mindlessly. Just before Del reacted, both of its hands swiped in his direction. But Del managed to slide under its right hand safely. Not only that, he lifted his body and arrived in an attacking position.

Right leg in front, his body was rotated to the left. He let his left shoulder lead. His bending left arm whipped towards the lizard. The flick of a casting punch was quick. And just like before, the shockwave of his strike hit the salamander.

GRHHH

The salamander would receive the momentum and flow it throughout his body all the way to its tail. Another tail swipe wouldn't be failed. It was slow enough that Del only took a step backward to bail.

But surprisingly the edge of its tail grabbed Del's robe by his own tail. The swipe followed through pulling Del along with his robe, flailing. But Del wasn't just stale.

He quickly unbuttoned his robe, letting himself unveiled. The momentum was strong enough to throw him at what was left of the building's stairs. But seeing the damage it did, the salamander attack was to no avail.

Without his robe, Del's plain shirt and pants were for the world to see. He readied his attack but never finished the fight. Someone acted as a disruption to their fight.

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"WAIT! DEL!? I WANT TO TALK!"

Four people. An older woman. Twin males. And... the fat man!

---

The extermination team and Dusk were in the process of protecting the town of Teakwood. How? By not letting the monitor lizards escape the woods. They put themselves in between the town and the lizards as much as they could.

Just as previously thought by Char, not a single Lizards came through. Their destination wasn't the city, It was their leader, their root.

"So, the monitor salamander is the monitor lizards' group... head?"

"Just my guess. You can judge from what you see, though?"

"Yeah, not only the lizards that came with us..."

They had kept the lizards on their left while the city was on their right. It made everything simpler. But it became not so simple once more lizards came in from the right.

The good news was the lizards weren't aiming for the city.

Bad news, there are so much more of them than they had first thought.

"Is that it!?" Erika pointed to the wreckage where the Arthros horde used to be.

From the rubble, a silhouette of a woman could be seen.

"NEWL!" Dusk accelerated his bike despite the road that was bumpy.

Dusk entrusted Vinne to ride with the extermination team. In that kind of situation, a car was safer than a bike, or so it seemed. But also because of that, Dusk could just rush like he did.

"NEWL!"

"DUSK!"

"Oh... Thank god, you are safe. What about the others?" Dusk hugged Newl.

"I can't save them all... I tried. But the girl and the boy are safe! There's- there's five of us left. Then Del, the boy fought the horde's queen. And then, something big attacked us. And then he fights the thing. I don't know where the others are!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down, we're here... You're going to be fine. We're going to find them, okay?"

The extermination team arrived along with the massive lounge of the giant monitor lizards. They got surrounded easily. But the lizards seemed to be waiting for an order from the salamander.

"I'm sorry to ruin your reunion, young boss. But I don't know how long these damn lizards will stay still."

"Agreed. We need to get ready."

They exited the car and regrouped with the young mafia boss. Newl got flustered being seen like that, especially after seeing Vinne in the group.

"Elf girl, there's a missing person?"

"I know Del must be fighting whatever attacked the building. Excluding him I don't know the location of four other people. So, there are multiple."

"I'll help you search, it will be more simple. You, me, and the little lady here should go. Can you three hold it here?"

"I would have preferred some more help. But alas it can't be helped."

Erika, Dusk, and Lemmy were left behind to maintain the line. The lizards still hadn't moved but they soon would.

---

"Nina! Rain!"

"Miss Newl! Waah!"

Nina jumped up hearing her voice. Although relieved, her face showed unbearable sadness.

"Miss Rain!? I'm glad you are safe!"

"Oh... Yeah, you too."

Even the always hyper Rain had lost all of her quickness.

The reason was the body they were holding. The hob goblin-human hybrid body had been losing its warmth for some time. Nina and Rain couldn't do anything but despair over it.

"M-iss NeWL! It's Mr. Burr!" Nina pleaded.

"!? BURR!" Newl slid beside his body and checked his vitals. There were still some signs of life. "Don't die on me... [Heal]"

A skill that fit nicely for an elf like her. Slowly but surely, colors returned on Burr's face. Newl healing skill was in its 30s level. If that could heal him, he wasn't in such a grave danger in the first place.

Char helped lift Burr's unconscious body as he was the only one strong enough. Their three-man team grew by two, felt a bit more stuffed.

More importantly in that group of five only Newl and Char could protect themselves. The lizards starting their attacks wouldn't be a help.

But their danger wasn't actually the lizards.

Bzzzz

The Arthros horde's queen buzzing wings entered the scene. She was not only a [fly type] but also a [bee type] mixed. That was the reason Del jumped out of his mount on her earlier.

The queen's attack was beyond anyone's expectation. The reserve team just thought that she would die along the building destruction. But, they survived so there was no reason the queen couldn't.

"NO!"

Newl was already beaten up. It was a miracle she even had the strength to join the search backups. Her reaction time was dulled. But the queen was still in her normal state. It was a crappy setup.

Char who could still fight was fully occupied carrying Burr.

The queen aimed for Vinne.

KIII- Guah!

A kick landed on the queen's stomach.

---

Nooo!

[Nina, welcome]

Hiii! Who are you? I can hear your voice in my head... A ghost!?

[No, idiot. I am your skill.]

Skill? Like Miss Newl's?

[I'm not just like any skills, though. I am a skill given to you, one who will become the Hero.]

I have a skill?

[Of course, idiot. You were sent to this world by the goddess to be a hero! Why wouldn't you have Hero Skill?]

I-I don't want to be a hero! I-I don't fit it! I don't even know how to use skill, I'm just a normal girl.

[But you need my power. If you want to save them.]

I-I can't save them... Even if I have your power, I'll fail like always.

[Liar.]

Huh?

[It's not that you can't save them. You are afraid to try.]

T-that's.

[This is a one-time opportunity, Nina. I'm going to make a deal with you. I will give you my power. But in turn, I will consume all of your emotions! If you want to save them and yourself, this is the price]

To save... people.

---

"[X-Burn]"

On Nina's palm two floating magic discs appeared. She aimed the disc at the queen and fired.

"!!??" She was propelled backward until she stopped. One mishap was enough for Nina to learn how to use the boosters.

She aimed her hand back and down, then she fired. In an instant, inches away from the queen she jumped. She had accidentally put her foot forward to stabilize but that was prefered.

"Arghh!"

The momentum of her boost resulted in a kick even the queen couldn't react to.