The blue dragon swordsmanship.

It was strong but required some time to imbue the weapon with mana. After that, the mana can be released like a sword cut through the air that will do a ton of damage.

It wasn't a good and practical skill of the blue dragon swordsmanship since it too long to gather the mana. In an actual fight, it was like putting a target on oneself. You had to stand still and gather the energy which gave plenty of time for the opponent to attack.

But here, with the ogre being locked down by the tanks, Janna had more than enough time to gather her energy.

Janna swung her sword from above. A projectile following her sword path left the glowing sword. It was a wave of blue light through the air.

It hit the ogre and cut it in half right down the middle. Janna took a few breaths to get her stamina back. The technique was powerful but also intense on the body.

With the target dead, the mission was over.

Or so it seemed. A roar reverberated in the party's ears. The blood of the slain ogre flowed into the trees that were around since earlier. As if there was a whirlpool, the trees started to move towards the ogre.

"Move back."

Everyone quickly moved back.

The trees disappeared into the ogre.

"It was evolving!"

Evolution for monsters is when they reach the limit of their strength. Like a glass being filled with water. The glass will expand when it's filled to allow for more water.

For the ogre, it would go from a three star monster to a four star monster.

"It just had to be now?!"

Janna complained. She was sure she had killed it in that strike.

"Do we retreat?"

One of the adventurers suggested.

"No!"

But Janna didn't want that.

"It's at its weakest at this moment. We need to strike right now."

A monster that had just undergone evolution was at its weakest. So if someone wanted to deal with the monster, the best time to kill it was then.

"Understood, get back in formation."

The other adventurers got back in formation and the fight continued.

The second round was much harder than the first. The tanks had to be more careful. The monster's strength had increase threefold, their shields were only designed for three star monsters. So they had to direct the power of the ogre's hits towards the side and the ground.

But it wasn't easy to do so. Pretty soon, one of the tanks got too injured and was thrown away by a punch.

"Janna, we can't do this. Let's run."

"Tsk, I get it. I'll get its attention, so take the chance to run."

Janna shouted at the ogre and gained its attention by attacking it a few times.

"Now!"

Giving the chance for the others to run away with the injured tank. Now it was only Janna, guiding the ogre around the forest and looking for a chance to disappear herself.

'It's too annoying, damn it.'

But the ogre wasn't letting go of Janna. It was running through the trees and chasing after Janna. Not giving her a chance to escape.

"Fire prison!"

Suddenly, a cage formed around the ogre. It was made of bright red and yellow fire. The ogre stopped when it bumped into the wall of the cage.

"Thea?!"

Janna knew the voice instantly.

"How are you here?"

Thea appeared from behind a tree. In her hand was the cape that she had used to hide herself. It was a magical object that concealed the user.

"I followed you."

"You shouldn't have done that. But I'm glad you're here now."

Janna looked at the ogre punching the fire cage.

"Is that thing gonna hold?"

"You think a three star spell can hold a four star monster?"

The ogre punched the wall of the cage and a hole appeared in the wall. The spell disintegrated following that.

"I guess not."

"Fire seems to work very well though."

The ogre evolved into a tree type mutant ogre. A woodland ogre. So fire would be the perfect counter to it.

"You ready a spell while I hold its attention."

Janna said as she rushed out. She ran circles around it and let Thea prepare a spell.

In the back where the ogre wasn't looking, Thea was weaving together an intricate new magic circle in the air.

"I'm ready!"

She shouted. Janna jumped back immediately. She lured the ogre to right in front of Thea. An ogre was a dumb monster and was caught in the magic circle. A smarter monster would be able to avoid this effortlessly.

"Flame pillar!"

A magic circle appeared below the woodland ogre and a pillar of flames shot up, enveloping it. The flames burned the monster.

After the magic circle was done spewing fire, it disappeared along with the fire. In the middle stood the ogre, now only half the size it was before. Most of it had burnt away.

"Thea. That was a lot stronger than before."

"Yeah, the strength of it increased."

With four star mana and the newer level of fire affinity, the spell Thea made became a lot stronger by itself.

"But it was probably damaged from your battle earlier."

Still the flame pillar shouldn't have been able to do this much damage since it was a three star spell originally.

"Alright, let's finish it."

Janna said as she readied her blade. But something else struck the monster before that.

Something appeared from above the ogre and slashed down. Another sword, this one a bit thicker and wider than the one Janna uses. It cut through the ogre effortlessly.

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"Who?!"

Both Thea and Janna were on guard. Someone had stolen their kill on the ogre.

As the body of the ogre fell to the ground, the figure of someone appeared. A man with a big sword on his shoulder.

His shiny armor that had marks everywhere told them it was a seasoned warrior.

"Who are you?"

Janna asked the man. But the man didn't answer immediately.

"He looks like a bear..."

Thea stated.

"I don't look like a bear."

Said the man who looked like a bear. He had a beard and a large figure. Round ears on his head and his silver hair that flowed to the sides. He also had big muscles like a bear.

"You..."

The man lifted his blade and pointed at Thea.

"What are you?"

"What?"

Thea and Janna were confused. This man just appeared out of nowhere, stole their kill and started to question what Thea was.

"Hey, can you answer us first? Who are you?"

"The name's Rennet. A master swordsman."

"A master?"

A master swordsman was two levels above Janna's rank. That was a five star swordsman.

"A master swordsman wouldn't just come here for no reason."

Thea said. The highest rank swordsman in the guild was only three stars, an advanced swordsman like Janna.

"Heh. You're not stupid I see. I was sent here on a mission."

"What mission?"

"To kill you."

He was looking at Thea.

"But before I do that, you still owe me an answer. What are you?"

"I don't understand."

"All humans and creatures have a scent. But you...you don't smell like anything I've ever encountered before."

Thea was silent for a few moments. Her face lowered and her eyes looked sharply at Rennet.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just a regular girl."

"Haha. So you don't want to tell me. That's fine with me."

Rennet took a step back and came into a posture with his sword put on his shoulder.

"Prepare to die."

He pushed strongly with his legs and at an incredible speed headed towards Thea.

"HA!"

His big sword pushed forward at Thea. There was no time to dodge. The attack hit Thea directly. Just like that, the sword pierced through Thea's body. And blood spattered everywhere.

Or it should have. There was no blood and Thea's body dissolved into the air.

"First rule when fighting a warrior. Don't let them get close to you."

On top of a tree, the real Thea stood. In her hand was a magic circle. The illusion spell that she had used to trick the fake hero into taking the sword.

"Hmm, of course I knew that."

Rennet wasn't caught off guard the least. He was just playing along with the tricks.

"Did you also see this? Fire prison."

A fire cage appeared around Rennet. It was the same as the one that trapped the ogre but it was much smaller. Taking the chance, Janna stabbed towards Rennet.

"HA!"

She stabbed Rennet's stomach. The attack went through a gap in the armor but didn't go in much as Rennet moved his body and sword in a spiral pattern. Knocking Janna's sword back and breaking the fire cage.

"Come again."

Janna's sword was glowing red using the simple body strengthening technique. But Rennet didn't even need to do anything as even only through his sword moves and his physical strength he could overpower Thea's magic and Janna's sword.

It was like an adult running against a child in a competition.

Janna was on the defensive with Rennet swinging his sword at her. With each swing, Janna felt great force on her arms.

"Thea!"

"I know! Fire prison!"

Thea swung her left hand. In it was another fire prison spell.

"Ha! This didn't work before."

Rennet swung his sword and destroyed the cage again. But Thea was already next to him.

"I was looking for this chance."

Thea's right hand was ablaze. She struck forward at Rennet.

"Flame strike!"

A cone of fire burst forward from her fist. Thea had created that fire prison just for this moment. After Rennet had swung his sword, he needed a moment to catch his footing. This was a chance to land a powerful attack on him.

The flames died down and revealed Rennet. He was covered in a brown aura like the ground below.

"Haha. That was a nice try."

A few of Rennet's hair had burnt away. But the damage done to him was minimal.

"But you two are too weak."

Rennet sprinted at Thea and kicked her in the stomach, sending her crashing into a tree. He turned around and blocked the attack from Janna instantly. Knocking her sword away. He then punch her in the stomach and dropped her to the ground.

It was a huge gap between them.

Rennet stood there victorious. The dust settled and showed the two girls lying on the ground defeated. Rennet started to walk towards Thea. He was going to finish the mission.

Was the fight over? Not yet. Janna put her arms the ground and pushed herself to stand up. A blue aura surrounded her. She stood up with difficulty. Her posture was one of great exertion. She was covered from head to feet in blood. Her breath was heavy.

"...stop right there..."

She said as the blue aura increased. This new variable forced Rennet to turn his body around.

The blue aura became even bluer as something started to change in Janna. Small blue scales formed around her eyes and in some other places among her body. Her hands turned blue and became like that of a reptile. Covered in blue scales and growing out sharp claws.

Her hot breath could visibly alter the air. Her eyes looked like a predators.

"What?"

Rennet was seeing something like this for the first time.

She bent her body downwards and jumped. Her speed surprised Rennet. Without the sword, Janna used her hands to directly attack him. Her hands which were now sharp claws.

The claws struck the armor Rennet was wearing. He would have paid no attention to it before. But sparks flew from the spot where Janna struck. A small scratch formed also.

"How?"

Rennet realized that this Janna was not to be taken lightly. Whatever had happened to her, to change her into this form, was something dangerous to him.

Rennet swung his sword at Janna. At the blue scales on the side of her arm. The tip of his blade touched the scales and there was not much damage to the scales. He realized that the scales were very durable.

"So your defense also increased?"

He kicked Janna again in the stomach. But Janna wasn't pushed back much.

"Hmm?"

Confused, Rennet looked down. The shoes Janna had been wearing were ripped apart. Instead, she now had lizard like feet. The claws were preventing her from being moved back too much.

"What are you?"

The fight was getting more heated. Janna seemed to be growing in strength. With each blow that Janna made on Rennet, he realized that the power behind it was increasing.

And with each strike that he made on Janna, he realized that the scales on her skin were hardening more.

"This is like..."

Rennet remembered something he had heard about in his mercenary group.

"...a dragonkin!"

People born from the joining of a human and a dragon. It is said that they exist in some parts of the world, but don't like to interact with the other races. His mercenary group's leader said that he had encountered one when he was young.

A person that had the shape and characteristics of a human but was covered in scales and had features of a dragon. They showed immense strength and couldn't even be defeated by a group of B rank adventurers.

"Hey! Are you one of them?"

Rennet asked Janna for confirmation but received no response.

"It seems you're not there anymore."

Rennet had realized early on that Janna's attacks seemed more barbaric than controlled and calculated. It seemed to him like he was fighting a beast and not a human. Not that there were not humans who had a fighting style like monsters. But Janna was also physically looking like a monster right now.

"I guess your transformation also changes your brain. But that's not good as a martial artist."

Rennet didn't like Janna right now. Earlier, he had respect for her as a martial artist so he was willing to trade some blows with her. But now she was using a power that she couldn't even control.

"You shouldn't use a power you can't control. That is a failure as a martial artist."

Rennet raised his big sword over his head. A brown glow swirled up it. His sword got covered in rocks that just formed.

Rock breaker. A technique used by Rennet's family.

"I will defeat you now."

Rennet's words carried a conviction behind them. He was going to defeat Janna now.

On the other side, Janna had gone through more transformation. She was even more covered in blue scales, up to her biceps. Her pupils were vertical now, like a cats. The teeth she showed were not human but like a wolves, sharp and pointy.

Rennet made the first move. He launched himself forward and struck down at Janna.

Janna directly took on the attack with her hand. The attack broke most of the blue scales on her hand and showed the red flesh underneath. Using the other hand, she attacked Rennet's face.

But Rennet dodged it with simple movement.

"Too slow."

Rennet swung his sword with strong force from the side now. Aiming for Janna's legs. If he did significant damage to her legs, her power would diminish greatly.

A successful hit. A big gash appear where the sword struck. Red blood burst out. Janna screamed at the top of her lungs.

She slashed her claws around randomly like an animal.

Rennet didn't give her time to do more and launched more attacks at her. Cutting her on her arm, shoulder and legs. Severely injuring Janna. She couldn't move around anymore.

"Good. Now to finish this."

He swung his sword at the center of Janna's body, right above her abdomen. The quick attacks knocked Janna away.

There was not one moment where Janna could have counter attacked. The movements from Rennet were too fast and too many.

Rennet looked at where Janna crashed.

"No way."

From the rubble of trees, a sorry figure stood up. Janna was dripping with blood from every limb but she still stood up again. The cuts from Rennet had already started to heal and close up. It was a very fast healing factor.

"It seems you're truly a monster now."

Rennet once again readied his blade.

"If you don't snap out of this. I will have to take drastic measures."

In response, Janna just roared. It was a very loud roar.

"Very well. Steel-"

"Wait."

Thea had woken up just now after getting knocked out by Rennet earlier.

"Let me handle her."

Thea held up her hand. A magic circle appeared below Janna immediately. From behind Thea, several string like mana threads shot out and connected to the magic circle.

Janna fell to the ground and screamed. Her body shrank a bit as the blue scales went back into her body. Her skin transformed back to human skin. She had returned back to being a human. She lay on the floor afterwards.

Whatever magic Thea used worked to stop the uncontrollable power within Janna.

"I should've woken you up earlier."

Rennet expressed. He looked at Janna and turned to Thea.

"I guess I won?"

Both Janna and Thea were unconscious. So as the last one standing, Rennet won. But he was not the least bit satisfied or content with the victory.

He just sat there until the two woke up.

"This is so boring..."

He took out a small knife and picked up a piece of broken wood. He started carving while waiting.