Roja, Leader of the Dismantling Team, Unit 5, [Shining Fang] Guild
"I' ll ask again—what did you do with that knife?"
"Argh! It hurts! I… ugh! I don' t know!"
She struggled to grab the knife, clutching it tightly, refusing to let go, her eyes darting warily, especially behind her.
I picked up a piece of wood and, using my skill, smashed it against her temple, splitting it open.
"Ow!"
She collapsed, clutching the wound on her head. The injuries on her back and head healed rapidly.
Her healing skill was pretty overpowered, but it was a double-edged sword. I could keep tormenting her until she spilled the truth or lost her mind.
She tried crawling toward the wall to cover her blind spot.
Inexperienced fighters like her always assume my skill relies solely on the knife.
Where should I carve next?
"I don' t know anything about that damn knife! Leave me alone!"
She slammed her fist into the ground with tremendous force. The ground sank before springing back up. I countered by jumping higher, landing after her force had dispersed.
Too easy, almost boring. I activated my skill, stabbed the knife into her thigh, and flung her toward a window.
Crash!
Her body smashed through, rolling into the house with a pained groan.
I pulled a long sword from my storage dimension.
A pitch-black ancient sword that didn' t reflect or absorb light. I didn' t activate its ability—using it would kill this girl before I got the truth about the knife with a single slash.
I used my skill with the sword and stabbed it into the house' s wall, circling it once.
With my skill, the sword cut through the thick wooden walls and pillars like slicing melted butter.
The moment I kicked it, the entire house collapsed onto her. I touched the house and activated my skill on the whole structure.
"Don' t die just yet."
BOOM!
As the dust settled, a massive pool of blood seeped from the rubble.
I stored the sword back in my dimension, waited a moment, then climbed onto the debris, activating my skill on the knife again.
As expected, after healing, she burst through the rubble.
If it were me, I' d fake death and wait for an opening to counter. But because she was worried about her sister, she came out.
I stabbed at her wooden mask. The blade pierced through, shattering part of it and lodging in her mouth.
Then, I slashed violently and swiftly. The mask split along the cut, leaving a grievous wound from her mouth to her ear.
Slash!
She screamed, writhing like a fish out of water. I leaped back, observing the wound.
"Nice fangs. But why do they look so much like the ones used to make that knife?"
Moments after my compliment, a battalion arrived, drawn by her screams, and surrounded her from all sides.
I changed my plan. Instead of attacking myself, I' d provoke her to use her skill and exhaust herself fighting the soldiers.
Then I' d swoop in and finish the job easily.
I pulled out her sister' s fang and sneaked close to whisper in her ear.
"Pretty, just like the fang I carved out of your sister."
I dropped the fang in front of her and quickly retreated to the outer circle.
One taunt was more than enough. I' d wait for her to burn out.
But that was a mistake. I never imagined I' d awaken a monster.
*****
Calika Nehu
With trembling hands, I picked up the fang, tears streaming down my face.
The soldiers swarmed in, pinning me to the ground. They beat me before chaining my entire body.
Why?
Why did they have to hurt my family too?
What did we do to them?
Elda was just a little girl.
Her body was frail.
She couldn' t withstand this kind of cruelty.
How could they do this to her?
Why?!
"RAAAAAAAGH!"
[Conditions met. Unlocking Technique Skill Line]
[Skill: Roar activated]
*****
As the skill triggered, my shout turned into a roar that echoed three kilometers away.
Every soldier within a one-kilometer radius of me rolled their eyes back and collapsed unconscious in unison.
Those between one and two kilometers suffered severe headaches, writhing in agony. Beyond that, they clutched their ears and fled from the range of my roar.
Roja, caught off guard and unprepared for my roar, was hit with a splitting headache, canceling his stealth skill.
Several soldiers spotted him. To conceal his identity, he decided to let me go for now and turned to silence all the soldiers—even the unconscious ones.
*****
Calika Nehu
[Skill: Roar' s range increases with upgraded Strength levels]
[Skill: Roar' s intensity increases with upgraded Damage levels]
[If Strength is upgraded beyond Level 5, Roar generates a shockwave]
[Shockwave intensity scales with upgraded Damage levels]
[If Damage is upgraded beyond Level 5,??? will be unlocked]
[??? will activate automatically after using Skill: Roar]
I ignored the windows popping up with endless explanations, ignored the wounds Roja inflicted that were healing.
I tore the chains apart with raw strength and sprinted back to the slums.
This wasn' t the time for revenge against Roja. Every second was precious for saving Elda.
Elda, I' m sorry. I' m coming to save you. Right now.
From now on, I won' t let anyone hurt you again.
Never again.
I smashed through everything in a straight line until I reached the main road to the city gate. Normally, soldiers would be streaming out in orderly rows.
But now, they formed a long wall from the outer gate to the inner city gate, leaving no path through.
At the rear was a knight, likely Jisend, judging by the female soldiers around them. Jisend wore a mask to hide their face, sitting on horseback.
The moment they saw me, they drew their sword and pointed at me. The female soldiers, seeing their gesture, shouted orders on their behalf.
"The target' s there! Blonde girl with a broken wooden mask! Capture her alive! But you' re allowed to cut off her limbs!"
I didn' t want to waste more time, so I charged straight in.
I took a deep breath and unleashed my Roar skill.
"RAAAAAAAGH!"
Every soldier, including Jisend and the female soldiers behind, collapsed instantly.
Jisend, being on horseback, fell harder, their leg crushed and broken under the horse.
As I leaped over the soldiers, my foot landed squarely on Jisend' s face.
Their mask shattered, embedding into their face.
As I ran forward, a familiar deafening explosion from the front line rang out.
It was a meteor strike, but oddly, it exploded mid-air.
The explosion was near the front line, right between the soldiers and adventurers.
I hadn' t searched that area before because I saw Ice Soldiers nearby.
I decided to check it out.
*****
Fish Monster Hunting Team
They were ordered to search without extinguishing fires to limit the monster invasion from the sea dungeon.
The search was slow due to insufficient manpower, so they switched to searching and rescuing simultaneously.
Soon, they found a clue: a trail of strange-colored blood streaking across the battlefield. No corpses or body parts were found along the path, not even in the blood pools on the ground.
Following the trail, one team member spotted a writhing, pitch-black spherical creature.
He glanced around to see if anyone else noticed.
Certain he was alone, he drew his sword, hoping to claim the kill for himself.
When a monster is evolving, it' s at its weakest and easiest to kill.
That' s what low-level or inexperienced adventurers knew.
But there were exceptions for mutated or frenzied forms.
He thrust his sword with full force into the black sphere, aiming to kill it in one strike.
The blade sank to the hilt, and red blood gushed out. He turned to shout, calling others to witness his feat.
"Found it! I killed it, you slow bastards! Haha!"
His shout drew attention. Those who heard relayed it, and soon everyone rushed to gather.
One team member, who had hunted monsters with a major guild before, saw the creature he claimed and shouted at the top of her lungs.
"That' s an old husk! Everyone, stay alert!"
She raised her crossbow, ready to fire, and ran toward the larger group.
"That' s the monster! You missed your chance, don' t lie to us!"
But he didn' t listen. Others stepped in to prove it by shooting fire magic to burn the sphere.
As the sphere burned to ash, the truth emerged.
It was just a pile of dead bodies compressed together.
And before anyone could react—
A large rock, previously ignored, sprouted arms, legs, and a body.
The rock transformed into a monster the size of a teenager, its body coated in thick black stone.
"Heh heh heh, you didn' t even notice, did you, food?"
"Kill it!"
Everyone drew their weapons and attacked from all directions.
Thrown weapons led the charge, but no arrow, whip, knife, spear, or magic spell could pierce its stone armor.
Every weapon bounced off, falling beside it.
"Idiots! Weak attacks like that won' t kill it!"
"Haha! Looks like I have to step in!"
"Back off, weaklings!"
"Go suck on your mom' s milk and stop dreaming big!"
The low-ranks gritted their teeth at the insults.
The opportunity was right there. Letting it slip would be true stupidity.
One solid hit, witnessed by others, could be used to build fame and fortune.
Not a single one considered retreating.
"Die, stupid monster!"
The first charged from the front, leaping and swinging an axe at its head.
The monster raised a hand to block, making the axe-wielder grin, thinking he' d drawn its attention.
Three others flanked from behind, attacking in sync with the first.
One stabbed a sword at its back in case it dodged.
Another charged with a shield from the right, while the last aimed a giant hammer at its legs to bring it down.
Low- and mid-rank adventurers waited to pile on.
But the monster sneered mockingly. The arm it raised to block spread wide in a boastful gesture.
"Such stupid food, heh heh heh."