In the abyss-like darkness, the battle started instantly. Two gigantic blades made their way towards Kia's head from two opposite directions. The sheer force of this attack was enough to cut an intermediate warrior in half several times over.
"Dieeeeeeeeee!" The usually calm Ash Cloud Vumbi screamed at the top of his voice as he brought the blades crashing down towards Kia's head.
The grey were-hyena's muscles were stretched taught and his palms almost bled just from the strength he used to grip the blades. His swings tore apart the air creating a whistling sound accompanied by the cry of the blades due to the strain. Vumbi was not just using all his strength in this attack; he was using at least 150% of his physical power!
Kraaaaak! Clatter! Boom!
There was a powerful impact followed by an even louder scream!
"Aiiiiiiii!"
Like a high impact shrapnel bomb, both giant swords were shattered at the same time sending metallic pieces of the swords into the were-hyenas. As the one holding the blades, Ash Cloud Vumbi naturally suffered the most as the shrapnel tore through his right arm almost severing it. His chest was severely wounded and even one of his eyes was blinded when a sharp piece tore through it almost penetrating all the way to his brain. If not or the study bone structure of the were-hyena's he would be dead!
"Brother!" The older brother, Speedman, exclaimed as he rushed to support his younger brother.
This time, none of the hyena men had even seen the attack that broke their third brother's blades. These were silver grade weapons! They had been shattered forcefully before they could even reach the target. The darkness combined with Kia's speed made it so that her enemies could not capture her attack patterns at all.
However, in the next moment, Kia's suspicions about the hyena men were confirmed. The youngest were-hyena who had been bleeding out from losing his limb picked up his severed arm and tied it to his waist. The bleeding on his shoulder had already stopped and Kia could even see squirming flesh around the wound as if it was struggling to heal. As for the third brother, Vumbi, Kia could see his surface level wounds close up and heal at a rapid pace after the older Speedman pulled out the metal shards.
"Regeneration? I knew it!" Kia's guess had indeed been right that the hyena men would have some special abilities.
Although their healing abilities did not seem powerful enough to immediately regrow severed limbs, the youngest hyena man managed to seal his bleeding wound while the grey Vumbi also closed his bloody wounds. It was only that these two could no longer use an arm and an eye respectively. However, they could still battle.
After recovering, the 4 brothers united once again and fanned out in an attempt to encircle Kia. Her response was quick as she charged at the weakest one in the battle formation. Due to losing both an eye and even a weapon, Vumbi was the most vulnerable one thus creating an opening.
Seeing his brother in danger once again, Speedman was fast to react as he swung his heavy spiked mace towards Kia's back like thunder. However, the attack still narrowly missed striking the ground with a shocking force.
Booooom!
It was a force strong enough to shatter a small hill even under the town's normalization formation. Instantly, a large crater was created on the road with slabs of rocks flying everywhere. The carriages were pushed off the road onto the grass by the powerful shockwaves. Vaguely, a tremor could be felt across the entire park. However, Kia did not even look back at the attack as she charged at Vumbi. With a powerful punch to the chest, she drove through the retreating half-blind were-hyena pushing him over 10 meters away with the force of her blows. His chest wounds instantly opened up once again gushing out with copious amounts of blood.
'1, 2, 3.'
When the other hyena men attempted to interfere, Kia's battle tactics involved maneuvering the grey hyena-man putting him between her and the other attackers so that they formed a sort of line. In that way, the others would have to get around their brother in order to successfully fight Kia together. Through this method, Kia was able to isolate and launch repeated assaults on Ash Cloud Vumbi until he was on his knees.
'1, 2.' For each action she and her enemies took, Kia made sure to keep count in her head.
When the other hyena men tried to fan out to the sides in order to help their brother, Kia abandoned attacking Vumbi and turned her attention to the opponent at the end of the line. In this case, this was the now one-armed younger brother Kipi. Once again the same strategy repeated in front of the were-hyena's eyes; they were forced into a line when the little brother was positioned between them and Kia. Through this strategy, by the time they repositioned again, Kia would be able to repeat the same motions until the fight was over.
However, if it was just Kia's battle tactics against multiple opponents, the hyena men would not be so shaken. The result that caused their hearts to sink was their piling injuries every time they clashed with the girl. They could not even withstand a few blows. After the bowman first interrupted Kia's Hanging Maiden from beheading Ash Cloud Vumbi, the girl had not even used the weapon again. While they were using giant maces, heavy swords, and war hammers, she was beating them with her bare hands!
"How is she strong even under the formation?! Did she sneak in like us? Or does she have an Exception Card?" Vumbi who had been beaten black and blue with no more fighting power left could not help but ask.
"Probably not, she must be a practitioner of a type of [Gates Manual]." While Speedman said this, even he was not too sure.
"1, 2, 3."
However, before Speedman could gather his breath, the sound of silent counting that entered his sharp ears caused his fur to stand on edge. 'It is coming!'
"Quickly dodge!" With a shout he tried to pull two of his injured brothers away but Kia's attack still reached them.
'1, 2, 3, 4' There was a perfect opening and Kia naturally took it.
"Strike!" what followed was a bone crunching sound as 4 bone piercing punches were unleashed at the 4 hyena men almost instantaneously. To the observers, it was like all 4 punches had been unleashed at the same time with Kia's left hand. The power of this hand far exceeded what Kia had showcased before with her other right hand punches or her kicks. It was earth shattering power breaking the sternums of all 4 creatures of the night and almost shattering their hearts and lungs.
"Unleash the serpent." Speedman shouted with blood gushing out of his mouth like a river. They did not have the luxury to hold back anymore.
"Go all out at once!" With this shout, not only did the brothers once again forcefully suppress their injuries and leap into battle, 3 new strange but extremely powerful combatants also joined the fight: Guam Serpent, Lion Spirit Hound, and the towering archer Flame Spirit Hand.