The hoard came with the tumbling of life in its wake. The Shadow Wolves were rabid as if the mere smell of human meat had driven them into a frenzied state. Their jagged, black teeth, hidden in their maws dripped with saliva.
Via quickly jumped back into the group when she saw this sight, holding her weapons along with the rest of them. Vigilance appeared upon their faces and they prepared for the worst as the ground shook.
The first to move was Albert.
"Charge!" He pointed his blade forward and took the lead.
The roars of the beasts crossed with the shouts of the group as both crashed into one another.
Via drilled a blade through a skull, pulled it out, and drilled into another as her other sword slashed out and sliced the head off a beast that dared come for her face.
"Well this is just lovely," She smiled, ignoring the blood on her weapon and rushing headlong against the backdrop of fighting around her, "I can fight to my full here."
The chains rolled around her, entrapping beasts that thought her prey before her sword tore through them.
"Humph," Claire took a step forward, a katana appearing in her hand as she sliced.
A wolf froze over in the midst of disappearing before shattering into two and spurting blood.
She took another step forward and slashed.
A mass of beasts bisected into two as a thin line of ice sliced through them.
Her swordsmanship was terrible, but being overpowered was a matter less of skill and more of might. She merely wielded the weapon with superior speed, strength, and reaction. Each beast that met her way was sliced into two. Those that disappeared found themselves encased in ice moments later to be shattered by Alicia's bloody fist.
The vampire seemed to be having the time of her life.
She punched a beast into the ground, found it slithering in smoke, then turned and roundhouse kicked its materializing head off.
They could turn to smoke but her nose tracked their scent as if they were mere prey to her. A vampire was an apex predator and these beasts were nothing.
A punch of hers shattered the fangs of one, sending it crashing back and creating an opening with its clash.
She grinned and jumped headlong into the midst of the rampaging beasts.
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Her fists destroyed one, slamming it into the ground and creating a crater of blood and mush.
She jumped back, avoiding a bite at her leg, then dodged and slithered amidst some more before punching out.
"Rip apart!"
A dance of blood strings rampaged and sliced all the wolves in her surroundings.
On the other hand, the other adventurers and military men worked as a more cohesive group. They were neither strong nor overpowered.
"Shields up!" Albert commanded.
A row of grunting men and women brought shields of different quality up, bashing the wooden or iron items into the lunging beasts and disorienting them.
"Attack!"
Before the creatures could find their footing again, swords and spears drilled into their skulls.
"Reset!"
The group stuck together, watching the other three members of their team rampaging as they stuck to the same rhythm.
Oddly enough, among them was a man dressed in full armor who took the vanguard amidst the shield barrier even as he had no shields. As the fangs and teeth sunk into his defenses, the beasts could only find themselves chewing on nothing more than pain.
They charged onto him as if an instinct and he became the focal point of the group's strategy. Tanking mostly, he cursed himself that his main weapon, a crossbow strapped to his back, was useless in this chaotic situation. He was the center, yet he was nothing more than a glorified meat shield.
"Well, that's about enough," Claire suddenly frowned when she spotted blood upon her clothing.
She figured, her fun was then over. The beasts were interesting, and it was nice to fight with her katana for once, but she rather she didn't become covered in red.
Her mana rolled through her then leaped into
The darkness froze over, entrapped in ice as each beast struggled. The battle came to a stop in that single moment and Claire merely watched, uncaring about the stunned look thrown her way before calling out to her bloodied companion.
"Alice."
The vampire was ready.
She ran forward and leaped into the air with blood rolling above her fist as she struck down.
Crimson filled that forest at that moment as a fist the size of a giant shattered the ice, the beasts, the trees around, and the earth below.
When she landed, she turned around and grinned at Claire as if showing off her abilities.
"Good job," The latter merely smiled.
The vampire chuckled, "It was fun while it lasted."
". . ." The rest of the group, particularly Via, were stunned.
These two. . .they could have finished it all that easily? Why didn't they just do that earlier? They all sighed and sheathed their weapons before moving to collect their spoils.
As they watched them move about the place, both Claire and Alicia held up a brow.
"What are you guys doing?"
At that point, the bunny-girl stood before them.
"Huh? Don't tell me you bunch of freaks don't know?"
"Disregarding the spiteful comment. . .know what, exactly?"
"Beasts in the real world and in the dungeons are different," Via smiled, looking down on the two as if they were idiots. "Those in dungeons have Cores worth taking and selling."
She tossed an item to which Claire caught and inspected.
It was a dark orb of black, and within floated a gas of the same color.
"Cores are like organs to Demonic Beasts, they are the center filled with mana used to power their body and abilities. That one there is the lowest rank as Shadow Wolves are quite weak alone."
"Interesting," Claire murmured, "And how much would it cost?"
"Depends on the merchant." Via shrugged, then smiled with a tilt of her head and a twitch of her bunny ears. "But probably like 2 to 5 silver coins? Who knows really~Anyhow, I'll get back to collecting before I get skimped of mine."