As the humans tensely eyed the sea of rock and red chitin, several of the still-living crab abominations climbed out from under the collapsed corpses.
Hungrily clicking their claws and mouth pincers, they scuttled toward the humans in a mad frenzy.
Their mouths frothed with bubbles as small streams of saliva flowed down.
No longer impeded by an unfavourable terrain, the surviving Rock Crabs could finally show how deadly they could be.
With the humans being tired and injured, it would be easy for the monster crabs to finally overpower them.
Rick, who had resumed his treatment with Ginny, didn't have enough mana to salvage their situation either.
Whatever mana he could slowly accumulate from his surroundings, he used to enhance his weapon and better kill his targets.
"Damnit… This just went from bad to worse…" Lorie cursed.
"Hah… We might really be screwed this time," Delsie joked with a stiff smile.
If that wasn't bad enough, some of those crab abominations had also laid their eyes on the princess behind them.
Which was both a curse… And a blessing.
After all, their last combatant was precisely where they were heading, protecting the princess behind them.
Unlike them, Lyn was neither exhausted nor injured.
If there was anyone who could salvage their current predicament, it was the twin-dagger-wielding middle-aged woman.
Watching the quickly approaching monsters with her cold, dark eyes, Lyn slowly opened her mouth.
"Everyone fall back and protect the princess. Leave them to me."
Throwing her a grateful glance, the five exhausted combatants fell back and surrounded the princess in a protective circle.
On the other hand, Lyn kicked off the ground so hard that she left a cloud of dust in her wake.
Flying through the air fast enough to leave after images behind her, Lyn zipped between the surviving rock crabs.
Unable to follow her movements with their eyes, the humans and the crabs could only try to estimate where she was based on the carnage left behind.
Watching this, Ginny couldn't help but mutter in surprise.
"How… How is she that fast?"
Delsie, the only one who could roughly track Lyn's movements with her enhanced vision, responded.
"I-I don't know. She's moving so fast that it's taking every ounce of my concentration to follow her."
It seemed that every time she blinked her eyes, another Rock Crab would fall over dead, with a fountain of blood erupting from its fresh corpse.
They had worked so hard with a terrain advantage to boot, but the princess's protector made it all look so effortless.
At that moment, the officers finally understood why the princess was allowed to travel to the Kelon Jungles alone.
It wasn't because she had a knight of the Royal Guard with her, nor was it because she had four 2-star humans either.
Instead, it was purely because she had Lyn, if that was even her real name, watching over her.
The rest of them were just extras.
Lorie narrowed her eyes, in equal parts relief, awe,... And fear.
If such a person wanted to kill them, she didn't know if everyone working together would be able to stop her.
Her speed and lethality were unmatched, even by their already high standards.
Even Lorie, whose mana art gave her significantly higher speeds than a normal 2-Star, felt slow before the dual-dagger-wielding Lyn.
This could only mean Lyn possessed a similar mana art, an artifact, or something else that considerably boosted her speed.
Lyn's technique did not waste any movement. Every single motion was meticulously calculated and lethally efficient.
She didn't seem hindered by the rugged, chitinous carapace or the boulder-like shell.
Instead, she simply cut through them like a knife through hot butter.
To her, it was as if the shell didn't exist in the first place.
No one could tell whether it was due to her aspect, an artifact, or pure strength.
Stabbing her dual daggers into each of the black beady eyes of a nearby Rock Crab, she used her follow-through motion to somersault through the air, landing next to another one.
Which she swiftly bisected with one of her daggers.
Lifting her other dagger, she threw it at a Rock Crab that was making a beeline towards the other members of her group, which slipped through the gaps of its chitinous head and plunged directly into its brain.
Swiftly running over to retrieve her thrown dagger, she quickly killed another crab monster on the way, sending it to the afterlife with a kick that shattered not only its carapace but also its insides.
Lyn was like a grim reaper straight from hell, reaping lives like stalks of grass.
Maintaining the same emotionless face all the while.
No matter how brutal her actions were, she was completely unfazed by the grizzly sight.
Her long black hair fluttered in the air as she danced between the bodies of the monster crabs.
After pulling her dagger out of the monster's lifeless corpse, she dodged a spout of blood that aimed to hit her square in the face.
All the others could do was watch as she made quick work of the remaining Rock Crabs, never letting the creatures get too close to them or the van.
It was like an imaginary line was drawn in the ground, and crossing it meant instant death.
The officers had debated pulling out rifles to provide supportive fire. Still, given how erratic Lyn's movements were, it was tough to coordinate with her in a way that didn't impede her.
However, it was soon apparent that there was no need.
As the last of the surviving crabs fell lifelessly to Lyn's blades, she swung her daggers through the air, causing the accumulated blood to fly off.
Sheathing her blades into holsters by her waist, she turned around to face the others in the group.
"We'll take a few hours to rest and recuperate. In the meantime, harvest and consume the mana cores."
After overcoming their momentary shock, Blaine and the officers moved to complete their new orders.