2 hours later,
Victoria and her team exited the outpost, heading back towards the communal zone. They were all reinvigorated, but it was already nighttime… which was usually much more dangerous.
The other slayers would naturally stay inside until morning, but they couldn't afford such a luxury.
"Don't be worried, he's probably still alive," Victoria patted Barthold on his arm as they walked into the Tortie Hell communal zone.
The kid had been gone the whole day. He searched in the outpost but saw no sign of him. Chances were that he had met something extremely strong and died.
This was their line of thinking, but Victoria held firm that he was in fact alive, just busy. So even though they were worried, they couldn't really show it outwardly.
"For what it's worth, I think he's still alive also," Thane's younger sister, Viper, added, a creepy smile slowly forming on her face. The moment she met the kid, his eyes shone with a particular splendor she had only seen before in the likes of her brother and Victoria.
It was the win-or-die type of look. But even though that meant there was a high chance of dying, people like that tend to do anything but die.
"Hmmm, I'll take your word for it," Barthold nodded, equipping his shield as they moved deeper into the communal zone.
"The number of mutant beasts seems to have diminished," Thane commented, looking around.
Nighttime was when the forest was truly dangerous, partially because of the quietness and also because of roaming monsters.
However, there seemed to be fewer Torties around here than there were during the day. Something seemed off.
"Probably the handiwork of someone we know… we're in for a big surprise," Victoria smirked, looking deep into the forest.
Far away inside the depths of the forest, a young man was currently carrying out a slaughter.
…
"Okay, kid, do your thing," Viper said to Barthold, a smile visible on her face.
"Sure," Barthold nodded, slowly walking forward before taunting the small hill-sized Tortie to the side. They had been careful to strategically pull the Tortie aside the last time, taking it out of sight from the mother at the back.
This time would not be any different, as she couldn't be fought against.
Waves of an ethereal taunting energy pulsed from Barthold, attracting the monster seated in the very ground.
Entering level 4 had pushed his energy reserves to their very limits, gaining him the strength and raw power to truly use the shield in his hand. It was much more effective now, as soon after, the hill-sized Tortie stood up and started following Barthold.
"Seize the opportunity, little man," Viper, the tall green-haired girl, smiled. She was here to help her dear brother scale Victoria's team.
This was a very common practice, but these guys were doing it with crazy monsters. She didn't expect any less from the Silverbloom family's young mistress, of course.
"Hmp!" Jemie nodded, summoning a beast echo in the shape of a slender blade with a covered hilt. He would enter level 4 today, no matter what.
Gritting his teeth, Jemie waited for the hill-sized Tortie to be a good distance away from its mother, then, like a flash, he dashed forward with his blade and sliced at its nostril.
This was a massive beast. Fighting it took a lot of time and precise attacks. There were no one-strike kills; even their weakest points needed to be repeatedly attacked to cause the slightest piece of damage.
Thankfully, he wasn't the only one fighting it.
"Hold!!" Barthold screamed at the top of his lungs, planting his leg on the ground and raising his shield into the air.
He, of course, wasn't expecting to stop this thing with his whole body, but with his newfound strength, he could surely hold back some of its attacks.
Briefly shaking its head and throwing Jemie off, the Tortie looked down and noticed Barthold, becoming furious. He had woken it up from its nap; now he was standing before it as an equal?
The Tortie pulled its head into its shell, then, as if charging up, a ring of light appeared around its forehead.
—boom
All of a sudden, its head flashed forward and struck Barthold's shield, forcing him back by several steps. But strangely, he held his ground, and with a quick step to the side, he used his mace to strike the massive head, sending a wave of pain through its brain.
This pain was overamplified, of course, because the young lady Viper could be seen on the Tortie's neck with two scythes piercing it gently.
It was so gentle that it seemed like the beast didn't feel a thing yet, but under its skin, a web of veins pulsing with green liquid could be seen.
It was being poisoned.
This poison was, of course, not ordinary, as it could cause seriously damaging effects to a beast like this sacred Tortie. It not only weakened it, but it also amplified the pain felt by the beast when attacked.
"Hehehe," Viper smiled, looking over at her big brother and waving. This was her specialty, one that she had learned from years of walking around with her crazy mother.
"Get off the neck!" Jemie dashed forward from the underside of the beast, slashing at its neck repeatedly before emerging on the other side.
He wanted this more than anyone here. Victoria picked him from the streets, she cleaned him up. There was no way in hell that he would let her down by staying weak.
This sacred beast was but a stepping stone.
Running up the side of the beast swiftly, he unleashed another barrage of attacks, creating numerous lines around its skin and making it bleed profusely.
However, as he ran up the neck of the Tortie, he failed to notice that its eyes had rolled back and were trained directly on his figure.
Victoria shook her head at this scene from the beginning, warning him against it when he tried the same thing in Barthold's fight with the other one. But he wanted to prove himself.
This was a mistake.
"Hm?"
When he noticed it, it was already too late. The monster retracted its head in a split second, leaving Jemie standing in mid-air.
"Shit!!" He couldn't help but curse as he fell. A few inches down, he noticed the previously retracted head coming closer like an arrow shot from a bow.
—boom
Before he knew it, his body was smashed into the ground, creating a small hole.
Victoria and the rest frowned, spectating the fight from a distance. Jemie had a recognition problem, so he was very stubborn in most cases where he tried to show his capabilities.
Now it had put him in a bad situation.
"Will you help him?" Viper, who had jumped back to get healing from using her poison, asked as she watched the Tortie raise its left leg, attempting to step on Jemie and end his life.
This was actually very bad. If this creature stepped on Jemie, he would surely die here. But for some reason, Victoria seemed unbothered.
From what she knew, this was not how Victoria operated. Things like shelter rules would not stop her from helping her friends.
"I don't need to. He has other teammates," she shook her head. But this only forced Viper to frown. Barthold, that big oaf, was too heavy to get there in time from the push that came after, and she was being healed.
What other teammates were there?
She couldn't help but muse…
That is until she heard a whistling noise as a figure appeared from out of nowhere and slashed at the hill-sized Tortie's leg, forcing it back.
"No time to waste," the figure spoke, a smile on his face as he quickly jumped into the air at incredible speeds, climbing higher and higher by the second.
"Oh, that guy," Viper recognized the figure, watching it use the trees as leverage to climb higher after wounding the Tortie's left leg.
"Yes, him," Victoria nodded.