Pulling his blood-soaked sword out of a grey abomination's heart, without sparing the dying creature another glance, Blaine turned around to find his next target.
Producing a large handgun from under his blazer, he aimed it at a creature that was seconds away from eating a nearby officer.
(BANG)
The creature's head exploded like a watermelon, spilling inky black juices and fleshy pink brain matter onto the floor.
The beam of light produced by the auburn-haired youth was nowhere near impressive compared to the barrage of light the creatures had endured earlier. Still, unlike the bullets from the regular soldiers, the single bullet from Blaine's gun was far more destructive.
It seemed that single shot had completely consumed the gun's stored energy.
Having served its purpose, Blaine put the handgun back into its holster under his blazer.
Without wasting another breath, Blaine dashed forward. He slashed the Achilles tendons of another abomination, causing it to fall to its knees.
Jumping onto its back, Blaine swiftly decapitated it, much to the surprise of the officer fighting it.
Keeping its current momentum, Blaine zipped across the battlefield, never remaining in one place for too long, swiftly killing each of the remaining creatures one after another.
Utilizing sneak attacks and the element of surprise, picking off the nine-eyed creatures that were too busy being distracted by the surviving officers wasn't too hard for him.
Furthermore, all of his attacks were aimed at their weak points.
Despite being weaker than the abominations in a one-on-one fight, Blaine resourcefully utilized everything he could to tip the odds in his favour.
Blaine was like a flash of lightning, appearing seemingly out of nowhere and disappearing as fast, leaving only destruction in his wake.
It wasn't long before he plunged his sword through the neck of the last abomination, cutting between the bones that comprised its spine and cleanly severing the creature's gruesome head.
Wiping off some inky-black blood that spilled onto his face with the sleeve of his blood-soaked blazer, he looked around at the soldiers who were staring at him with a mixture of awe and fear.
"Is that… Sir Blaine Lionheart?"
"He killed all of those Rank 2 Unknowns, yet there isn't a scratch on him!"
A young soldier looked at Blaine with confusion before turning to a nearby soldier much older than him.
"Isn't he just a 1-Star? How is that even possible?"
The older soldier's lips curved into a wistful smile.
"Although it's not common, some people are capable of killing things above their level. Though… it's like dancing with death itself. One wrong move, and it's all over."
The older soldier let out a soft sigh.
"People like you and me, on the other hand, are much better off sticking to enemies at our level instead."
The younger soldier felt immense respect for the boy before him.
Despite being younger than he, the auburn-haired boy was already so strong.
"I guess he really is the son of Sir Alford."
The target of the two's discussion approached a certain commander who was currently undergoing emergency medical treatment.
Along with Blaine, headquarters had dispatched thirty field medics and a battalion of two hundred soldiers, of which roughly thirty were 1-Star officers, not including Blaine himself.
On top of that, there were also two 2-Star Captains as well.
However, unlike the field medics, most reinforcements would be stuck with simple cleanup duty.
Seeing Blaine approach her, Linda gave a weak grin.
"Thanks for your help, Sir Lionheart. We'd have been all wiped out if you hadn't come so fast."
Linda looked around at the surrounding devastation with a solemn gaze.
Although reinforcements had come far quicker than expected, they had still lost a lot of good people today.
"The amount of Tears has been on the rise lately," Linda commented, "I heard that back in our parent's era, there were only one or two a month, rarely ever beyond rank 2. But now… We have to deal with multiple weekly gates, with rank 2 and 3 becoming increasingly more common."
She turned to Blaine.
"Speaking of parents, was my father, the General, the one who sent you?"
Blaine nodded his head.
"I see. He's still as overprotective as ever. But… Things would have turned out far worse had he not sent you."
A small commotion broke out amongst the soldiers near one of the abomination corpses as they talked.
One of the soldiers, a young black-haired woman wearing a gold engagement ring on her left hand, quickly ran to Linda and gave her a round, purplish, crystalline object.
Linda's eyes narrowed as she observed it.
"Indigo… No Violet. two black dots… The bastards were Rank 2 Goblins."
Lifting her head to Blaine, she briefly contemplated something before lightly tossing the orb to him, which he instinctively caught.
"Since you killed most of them, it's only right that you get a few of the mana cores for yourself."
Blaine briefly looked at the orb with a neutral gaze before crushing it in his hand, taking in its rich mana.
He felt his own mana core greedily absorb the mana from the shattered core, filling Blaine with strength and vigour.
He also didn't fail to notice that his core, which was already quite full, was almost filled.
It was about 90% of the way there now.
To fill it, he may need only twenty or thirty more mana cores of the same quality as the one he consumed.
It was a daunting task for many, but it was merely the homestretch for him.
Something which he had been working towards for over eight years.
"You'll probably get two or three more cores from the slain creatures allocated to you, but you'll need to wait for headquarters to divvy the loot properly. They'll probably arrive in one to two business days. The one consumed just now, however… That one was a present from me. You know, for saving what's left of my men."
Blaine looked at Linda before gazing at a shattered halberd beside her.