Boom!
Boom!
Two explosive crashes rang out in succession as four fists collided head-on. An overwhelming force erupted from each opponent's punch.
Argana and Bache's expressions changed as they were driven back three steps. Tione and Tiona, however, were even more shocked; they were forced back over a dozen steps before they could stop themselves. The paving stones shattered beneath their feet like brittle plastic.
The thunderous impact echoed throughout the street. The sheer force of the collision stunned the adventurers watching nearby, sending them scrambling farther away. One stray blow was all it would take to kill someone.
"...That strength..."
"Could it be you've reached Level 6?"
"...Looks that way."
Argana and Bache looked down at their fists. Pain like fractured bones shot through their nerves, yet neither of them showed the slightest discomfort. Instead, they seemed to relish it.
"You actually pushed us back?"
"Don't tell me... you've reached Level 6 too?"
Tione and Tiona likewise ignored the even greater pain coursing through their own arms, their expressions turning grim. Their opponents' growth had completely exceeded their expectations. This battle might be far more difficult than they had imagined.
Argana's excitement only grew, while Bache's eyes burned with fighting spirit. Like true battle maniacs, neither felt the slightest fear at facing an evenly matched opponent. Instead, a savage desire for combat welled up from the depths of their souls.
"They're actually Level 6?"
Watching from outside the Dian Cecht Familia's pharmacy, Ryoji couldn't hide his surprise. He had sensed their strength, but their encounter had been too brief for him to judge it accurately.
He hadn't expected them to be this powerful. "I thought the outside world didn't have a place like the Dungeon. Isn't Level 2 or 3 usually enough to dominate an area?"
Gods existed all across the world. Naturally, Familias weren't unique to Orario. However, because Orario possessed the Dungeon, a training ground unlike any other, its adventurers could reach the ranks of High-Level Adventurers far more easily.
Outside the city, where monsters weren't nearly as powerful, a Level 2 adventurer was usually considered a local powerhouse. That was one of the reasons Orario stood at the center of the world.
And yet, these two members of the Kali Familia from an isolated peninsula kingdom possessed strength comparable to first-class adventurers. It was completely unexpected.
"Because Telskyura fights every single day, risking their lives every single day," Airmid spoke quietly. "Their battles are even more frequent than ours, despite us having the Dungeon. The entire country is like a giant breeding ground for venomous insects. Eventually, only the strongest survivors remain."
That was Telskyura. That was the Kali Familia. Only by bathing in blood day after day, fighting without end, could such terrifying warriors be born. They didn't fear pain. They craved their enemies' blood. They devoted everything to the battle itself; fighting was the very purpose of their lives.
"...Did you kill Berennas and Erne?" Tiona and Tione's expressions became incredibly strained.
"That's right." Argana nodded without a hint of guilt. "If you want to become stronger, you have to bathe in the blood of your comrades. So we killed them during the ritual of combat."
To create a Level 2, a large number of Level 1s were forced to kill each other. To create a Level 3, a large number of Level 2s fought to the death. And eventually, to create a Level 6, countless Level 5s slaughtered one another.
In such an inhuman and barbaric nation, it was only natural that Argana and Bache had climbed to Level 6 by staining themselves with the blood of countless comrades.
"You... did the same." Bache's brief words struck like nails driven straight into the twins' hearts.
She was right. Tiona and Tione had only escaped Telskyura after reaching Level 3. That meant they, too, had once been drenched in the blood of countless companions, friends they had trained beside, roommates they had lived with, girls they had treated like younger sisters, and people who had cared for them like older sisters. Every last one had died by their hands.
"Shut up!" As though an untouchable scar had been ripped open, Tione roared like a lion, her furious shout echoing through the street.
The smile vanished from Tiona's face as well. Like wounded wolves, the twins charged forward once more.
Their fists exploded through the air again and again. Punches powerful enough to pulverize an ordinary person slammed mercilessly into their opponents, blood spraying with every exchange. Muscles tore, blood vessels burst, and bones cracked beneath the relentless impacts. There were no girls on the battlefield anymore, only four demons locked in a savage struggle.
"...This is too brutal..." Airmid couldn't help looking away. As a healer, she had seen countless injuries and deaths, but she had never witnessed a battle where warriors treated fighting as pleasure and pain as ecstasy.
Ryoji, however, never looked away. To him, injuries like these weren't enough to shake his resolve. "This isn't good."
"What do you mean?" Airmid blinked.
"The two from the Kali Familia have probably been Level 6 for a while now. They're completely accustomed to that power," he kept his eyes on the battle as he spoke. "But Tiona and Tione only broke through last night. This is their first fight as Level 6s."
They still hadn't adapted to their sudden increase in strength. Their movements were clumsy, and they were fighting almost entirely on momentum.
"That alone wouldn't decide the battle." His gaze shifted between Tione and Argana, then Tiona and Bache.
Straight punch against straight punch. Roundhouse kick against roundhouse kick. Tione and Argana both fought with a flowing, snake-like style, while Tiona and Bache specialized in relentless, storm-like combinations. This went beyond simply sharing the same martial arts style.
"It wouldn't surprise me if Argana and Bache were once Tione's and Tiona's instructors," Ryoji muttered.
The two women from the Kali Familia looked noticeably older than the twins, and they were twins themselves. Perhaps because of how Telskyura trained its warriors, they had likely been paired together in the past to teach Tiona and Tione how to fight.
The evidence was obvious. Argana and Bache knew the twins' movements far too well. Again and again, they predicted their attacks before they were thrown, countering them with ease and steadily forcing the twins onto the defensive.
"Stop." Ryoji stepped forward. He had no choice. If he let this continue, Tiona and Tione would lose.
At that moment, Ryoji's voice reached the battlefield. Tiona's fighting spirit faltered for an instant, her movements slowing.
But Bache paid no attention. Instead, she seized the opening. Dropping her stance, she drove a merciless uppercut toward Tiona's abdomen with not the slightest hesitation.
"I told you to stop."
The cold voice reached her ears. Bache suddenly shuddered. Every instinct she had honed as a warrior screamed at her. Something unimaginably dangerous had just locked onto her.
(End of Chapter)
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