"I'll swear I'll kill him!!!" Akilah screamed in rage while piercing the disgusting monster that was attacking her.
But one second later, she was forced to tilt her head aside.
*Swing!*
Watching the dagger to cut a strand of her hair, Akilah turned pale and looked at her sister.
"R-Raven?"
"... You can't kill him."
"Gulp... By any chance, was you dagger aiming to my neck?"
"... I knew you would dodge it."
"... And what if I don't."
"... Don't worry, I'll bring flowers to your tomb."
"I don't want it! Damn bastard, what did you do to my sis– Wah! H-Hey Raven, t-this time I almost died."
"Tsk."
"I heard that!"
Marana heaved a tired sigh hearing her sisters bicker. She could not understand how those two had the mood to play around in a place like this.
She then looked to her surroundings and heaved another sigh. [What kind of monster is he?] She could not help but ask herself in her mind.
She already knew that he was strong, but one thing was to play around with a group of one eighth-layer woman, two seventh-layer warriors, and hundreds of martial artists; and another completely different was to immobilize them with a snap of his fingers, and then transport them to a strange place that she had never heard before of.
"Is that something a human can do?" Marana whispered softly to herself before shaking her head. It was better not to think about that.
She looked at the men around her and raised her voice. "Hold strong! We need to endure just another three hours!"
""""Hah!!!"""" The men around her grunted in acknowledgment, but anyone could see that they were tired.
When they passed through the portal, their restraints were gone and they appeared here. This place was nothing short of odd. The ground was completely desert, and it was surrounded by chaotic mana.
Soon, Marana realized that the mana here was very abundant. She then understood Clark's goal. He probably sent them here to train.
But when she remembered that he reminded them to not forget their weapons, a bad presentment appeared on her mind.
And certainly, less than five minutes later, they were attacked by hordes of monsters.
The gang members panicked, but fortunately, Marana reacted quickly and calmed them down. She then organized the group to face the monsters and kill them.
Quickly, she realized that the monsters were pretty weak. The strongest was just in the fourth layer. Most of her men could defeat them with a bit of work.
Of course, she did not know that it was Claus who made sure that no monster stronger than the fourth layer could attack them.
But when half an hour passed by without the monsters reducing, Marana truly understood Clark's goal.
The sadist bastard was planning to make them fight the monsters continuously for six hours without rest. He wanted to use the overwhelming pressure to force them to become stronger.
It was very effective. In this place's environment, even Marana herself felt she was growing stronger. But at the same time, it was brutal. If something went wrong, then many of the men here would die.
Marana gritted her teeth. She would not allow it. She would bring her men back alive!
"Akilah! Take care of the left side! Five fourth-layer monsters are attacking!"
"Yes, sister!"
"Raven, hurry up killing the big ones!"
"... On it."
"Damn! Where in the hell are we!?" Cursing in low voice, she took off her belt-like sword and swung it forward.
Tens of weaker monsters died instantly, reducing the pressure of her men. She then continued wielding her belt-like sword around, killing any monster that was near to breaking through her men's formation.
She was going to protect them!
Marana, Akilah, Raven, and Cline came from the same place. They were caught when they were children and raised in an illegal slave-training base. Cline was her blood-related brother, but she was not blood-related to Akilah or Raven.
The people that caught them raised them as high-class slaves. Since Marana, Akilah, Raven, and Cline had high cultivation talent, they were taught cultivation together with another group of slaves.
But one day, ten years ago, the base was attacked.
Marana and the others took advantage of that opportunity to escape, but even so, most of the group died in the attempt. Of twenty escapees, only four survived.
And of them, Marana was the oldest, and the strongest.
From then, the siblings wandered around the empire trying to survive. More than once they were attacked, and a few times they almost died. Even Raven was forced to use the power of the daggers to save them.
But meanwhile, they grew stronger.
Finally, two years ago, they entered the capital.
Marana formed the Red Skull Gang. Using her blood and tears, she created a place that her siblings could call home. For her, the gang was her family.
So she would not allow them to die here!
"Ah!" Raising a cry of determination, she cut tens of monsters into two.
Her body was dyed in blood, and her clothes had pieces of monster's organs on them. But she continued fighting until a mountain of bodies had formed around her.
And finally, six hours passed.
Marana and the others panted. They were tired, and their bodies hurt due to their wounds.
Even Raven, that avoided fighting the monsters head-on, had been injured a pair of times when fighting the monsters. One of the men was so gravely injured that he had fallen unconscious.
But when they were about to celebrate that all the monster had been killed, a powerful presence surged from the depths of the space-time tunnel.
"Roar!" With a cry of rage and hunger, a dragon-like being flapped its wings and looked at the group.
Marana's expression fell. As the most experienced combatant in the group, she was the first one to feel its power.
"... Ninth layer." She muttered.
When her words left her mouth, the monster roared again.
...
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