A sharp piece of metal pierced through the giant, lizard-like monster. Foul-smelling, putrid green blood spurted everywhere. It shrieked a high-pitched cry. Elena lunged out of the energy shield's covered zone. The interdimensional energy swirling within her body made her chest feel slightly cool, enhancing her physical strength. Her feet pressed down on the hard, rocky ground, leaving cracks as she propelled herself into the air, leaping above the monster's head.
A massive arrow, already prepared, rested on her cold bow. The surrounding interdimensional energy swirled and gathered at the arrow's tip, a dangerous glint flashing across its metal arrowhead. Elena attacked, the air tearing with a resounding shriek. The arrow plunged into a vital spot on the monster once more, as the young woman's delicate body slowly fell back down with gravity.
The gravity in this interdimensional space was several times stronger than on the outside world, so Elena's descent was rapid. She already knew this. She changed her grip on the bow in her hand, tightening it. The moment she landed, she used the immensely heavy bow to smash the monster's head, causing it to explode. Fragments scattered across the ground. Foul green liquid splattered onto Elena's clothes and body.
However, her face remained impassive, as if she didn't care in the slightest about the interdimensional blood staining her. Elena pulled both of her arrows from the monster's body. The sharp edge and chilling vitality of the arrowheads slowly regenerated, thanks to the organization's special technology. If the arrows weren't too damaged, they could be reused repeatedly.
ROOAARRR!!! A deafening roar shook the ground. A large orange lizard-monster attacked Elena from behind. The green light in the young woman's eyes flashed. She deftly dodged the incoming poisonous acid, even with the large bow in hand.
Elena ran around the monster, looking for an opening to attack, but it was very cautious. The moment the young woman prepared to nock an arrow and fire, it would twist and violently lash its tail, interrupting her. Elena assessed that she couldn't jump into the air to shoot. If she did, she would become a stationary target. The monster's long-range attack with its special poison covered enough area to prevent her from escaping it.
There were two options: the first was to retreat from this lizard-monster's range and engage it directly in close combat. Elena chose the second option without hesitation. The first option would take too much time. The monster wouldn't let her do that easily. Not only that, unnecessary movement might attract other interdimensional beings. This interdimensional space was filled with countless brutal and dangerous creatures.
Fortunately, though they were powerful, most of them weren't very intelligent, so they were still manageable. Take the giant lizard in front of her, for example. From Elena's quick assessment and analysis, it was an A-level interdimensional monster, equivalent to a member's rank in her organization. Even so, it posed no threat to her. Unless it was an S-level or catastrophic-level interdimensional being, members of the organization at the same rank could easily handle them with their specialized techniques and proficiencies.
Elena slammed her giant black metal bow onto the ground with a loud clang, creating cracks on the surface. She dropped one arrow and held the other tightly. She dodged the lizard-monster's long-range attacks to get close. Without carrying that immense weight anymore, Elena became much faster and more agile. The enemy's special slime was no longer an issue for her.
Soon, the young woman successfully got close to her opponent. The lizard-monster found its acidic poison useless, so it lashed its tail, trying to shake her off. Elena didn't blink. As the tail approached her, the young woman backflipped onto the monster's tail. The sharp metal struck its thick scales. At first, it seemed unable to penetrate, but less than a second later, it pierced through easily.
The lizard-monster cried out in pain. It entered a berserk state, moving unpredictably. Elena clung tightly to her arrow on its body to prevent herself from being thrown far away. After the opponent started to tire and slow down, the young woman stepped onto its rough, thick scales, running towards the top of the lizard-monster's head.
The moment Elena reached her hand high into the sky, the internal system of her bow responded. The cold, heavy metal rushed towards the young woman with movements similar to a boomerang. The young woman expertly caught it. She used the momentum to enhance the force of her strike to the lizard-monster's head.
Hard metal clashed against durable skull bone. BANG!!! The skull bone of an A-level interdimensional being couldn't be underestimated. It wasn't greatly damaged, but... another brutal BANG!!! resounded. BANG!!! And again. Elena continuously smashed her bow onto the opponent. If once wasn't enough, then twice. If twice wasn't enough, then thrice. She continued until the enemy's life ended in death.
Elena only struck the lizard-monster's head a few times before it collapsed weakly onto the ground. Its skull could no longer withstand the immense force of her attacks, and just like the smaller lizard-monster before, its head exploded! The young woman sent it to meet its little friends in the land of the dead using the same method she had used earlier.
"I'm here to help, Elena! What's the situation…" Aleah couldn't finish her sentence. Her face turned pale, and she nearly vomited again. The young woman tried to compose herself, staring at the corpses of the two interdimensional beings that her teammate had brutally dispatched. Although Aleah had witnessed Elena's methods many times, she couldn't help but turn pale each time.
"You're just in time. I can sense several more monsters coming this way." Elena took a clear glass bottle containing liquid from a pouch on her leg. The young woman opened the cap and splashed the liquid onto the corpses. The liquid reacted with the interdimensional beings' bodies. They slowly corroded the flesh and blood scattered on the ground.
"I understand. Here, take this." Aleah's demeanor changed. Her face was still pale white, but her eyes were very clear. Before unsheathing her sword from her waist, the young woman offered Elena a clean white handkerchief with a small pink flower symbol in the bottom right corner.
"Thank you," Elena accepted it without refusing, using it to wipe the blood from her youthful face and the well-maintained body she had cared for over many years. She felt a slight regret that she would have to discard this handkerchief after wiping the interdimensional monster's blood.
Generally, any item or anything that has come into contact with interdimensional beings' blood should not be reused. Even if cleaned meticulously, it remains contaminated with residual interdimensional energy and certain pathogens not found in the outside world. These pathogens have a high probability of being dangerous or having long-term negative effects on humans in various ways.
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After a while, the corpses vanished without a trace. And as Elena predicted, a number of interdimensional beings headed towards them—or rather, towards the area covered by the energy shield.
"Sister Lian, how much longer until the energy shield is fully active?" Elena contacted Ling Lian through her earpiece while dealing with a B-level monster that lunged at her. The young woman dodged and swung her bow, striking the enemy. It took a massive impact, its body sent at high speed to crash into a large rock, forming a deep crater.
"The energy shield is now 7 out of 10 active. We expect it to be fully operational in no more than 5 minutes," Ling Lian's voice came through the line. Elena could still clearly hear the sounds of various parts being sliced, so it seemed things were proceeding smoothly on her end, without any problems.
"Understood," Elena hung up and recalled her bow. She picked up an arrow from the ground and changed her position, becoming a support. Not far away, Aleah had already drawn her sword from its sheath. In just a few swift movements, two monsters were immediately eliminated.
Elena provided supporting attacks at Aleah's blind spots, so the young woman didn't need to worry much about her back. She could utilize her skills and proficiencies to their full potential. Even the supposedly thick skin of A-level interdimensional monsters was easily sliced by Aleah's sword.
Just a few more left… Aleah muttered. She took a tech device resembling a flash drive from her waist, then plugged it into the sword's hilt. It made a small sound. Suddenly, the blade, which had been a two-toned black and white, transformed into black and light pink.
Aleah swung the weapon in her hand. The skin of an A-level monster was easily cut through. The light pink on the blade deepened with every second it tasted the blood of an interdimensional being. The flash drive-like device Aleah used earlier was an ability-enhancing module, an activator for the sword's various functions, and now that function was devouring interdimensional energy to enhance the blade's sharpness.
The young woman moved, dodging attacks as if dancing. In less than three minutes, with assistance from Elena's support, Aleah managed to eliminate all the interdimensional monsters.
"Hmph…" Looking at the enemy corpses on the hard ground, Aleah let out a satisfied hum. She detached the function flash drive. The blade returned to its normal black and white. Then she opened a small box at her waist, put the function flash drive back in its place, and closed the locked box.
"How was that, Elena? Did I do well? Give me a reward!" Aleah exclaimed in her characteristic way, stepping towards Elena, trying to embrace her out of habit. However, the young woman suddenly stopped, stepping back slightly. She looked at the unpleasant-smelling green blood covering her body and chuckled softly.
"You really are something…" Elena shook her head and returned a gentle smile. Such incidents often occurred, and she was completely used to them by now.
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Outside the energy shield's perimeter, in a direction opposite to where Aleah's group was.
"An S-level monster," Selene muttered when she saw the new interdimensional monster approaching. She shifted the white energy gun slightly in her hand. A faint blue beam shot out the moment she pulled the trigger.
The interdimensional being showed no fear of the attacking beam. It took the hit directly. Selene frowned slightly after seeing that its body had a thin layer surrounding the liquid inside and very high defense. Even her energy beam bullets couldn't penetrate that tiny protective layer.
The young woman returned her gun to its sheath on her smooth, white leg. Selene switched to using a long spear instead and softly murmured, "Activate."
A dark blue light appeared as patterns on the spear in Selene's hand. The air vibrated. Interdimensional energy swirled within her body before violently erupting, causing environmental damage and sending the enemy flying a certain distance.
This S-level interdimensional being was a viscous black liquid, similar to slime. When it was flung away by the force of Selene's interdimensional energy blast, its protective layer tore. The disgusting liquid separated and scattered everywhere. The next second, the black liquid on the ground grew into dozens of Selene's own forms.
"Duplication?" Selene wasn't alarmed. She wasn't just assessing, but also calmly analyzing. S-level beings or higher were often strange. Dealing with them was never easy, even for her, being S-level herself.
A-level interdimensional beings and below could be easily handled by superior power. However, this wasn't true for higher levels. S-level interdimensional beings and above had their own strengths and unique ways of being dealt with. Relying solely on immense strength couldn't kill them.
If Kilenc were here and heard the young woman's thoughts, a faint smile would appear on his lips. Can't use only strength? No! That's just the thought of the weak. If he or she can't deal with them using strength alone, there's only one answer from the start: he or she still doesn't have enough strength.
"Let me try." Selene picked up her energy gun again. She fired a beam at the approaching black liquid figures of herself. The sound of the beam tearing through the air was terrifying, but the Selene-shaped beings were unharmed. If one looked closely, they would see a thin layer protecting the liquid inside.
Selene pondered and concluded: "So, the protective layer can be created at any moment. It can change its durability whenever it wants."
The question was, did this type of creature have a core? And how much liquid could it disperse to separate its body? These two questions were the key to dealing with this black liquid monster. If she knew the answers, the possibility of victory would increase.
"Hope there aren't any monsters like this appearing where Aleah's group is," the young woman shook her head, dismissing other thoughts, and focused on finding a way to kill the interdimensional being in front of her instead.
The spear was now fully charged with interdimensional energy. Currently, it emitted a faint blue glow. Selene took a stance, preparing to initiate the next phase of attack. As Team A's leader and an S-level individual, she had encountered strange interdimensional beings like this before. Selene was confident she could handle it. This wasn't confidence stemming from narcissism, but confidence forged by countless past experiences.