However, even after waiting for a while, no pain struck her.
Elianor wondered if she had been killed even before she could register any pain, but she still found the situation strange.
As an adventurer for quite some years, she had seen people dying, and this wasn't how it happened. Even if they were dying, they looked like they had experienced everything from pain to terror. But why was it that she was not feeling anything? Also, why had her surroundings suddenly turned so dead silent? It was as if all noises had suddenly disappeared or been taken away, as if time itself had stopped.
She gathered her courage and slowly peered open her eyes to see.
After registering what was happening in front of her, her eyes couldn't help but widen completely. Her quivering suddenly stopped, and she stood dazed on the spot.
In front of her, the Night Hag Arachnid still had its horrifying mouth wide open and was just a step away from biting her shoulder. However, it seemed to have frozen in time and could no longer proceed, as if it had stuck against an immovable barrier.
At this moment, Elianor noticed that there was another, unknown person in a black outfit standing right beside the Night Hag Arachnid and right in front of her. He was facing her, but as the person was too tall, all she could see was his completely covered-up chest.
This person stood as if he had always been there.
What made the situation even more inconceivable was that this black-clothed person was grasping the creature's long black hair tightly with his right fist just above its scalp.
All sounds and movements in the surroundings had completely and abruptly halted, as if everyone and everything's voices were taken away by this man's unbelievable strength, deed, and presence. Whether it was the zombies who were constantly making weird crackling noises from their mouths, or Brunhild and the others who were previously spitting blood, or the necromancers who were laughing loudly, or the distant fight between the necromancer leader and Caius—even the Night Hag Arachnid, who still had its horrifying mouth wide open, was in disbelief and was not making a single noise or movement.
Everything was utterly silent, as if time itself had stopped for everyone.
Elianor slowly raised her head and was completely blown away mentally.
In front of her was an extremely handsome boy. He had black hair, which wasn't properly combed, but that only made him look even more attractive. He had bright blue eyes, as if two bright blue stars had been plucked from the night skies and placed inside his eyes. He possessed an extremely attractive face and build. If it were any other time, she would have chased such a man everywhere in the city—no, she wished to chase him even now—but for now, all she could do was stare at this unknown, inconceivable, impossible, handsome boy in a daze.
The boy, who was calmly staring back at her, suddenly smiled.
"Just an Adult Rank 1; is it that difficult to deal with?"
Although his words sounded like a total disregard for the creature's powerful strength, to Elianor, his voice sounded strangely serene and tranquil in this hellish place, putting all her fears and anxiety to rest.
As Eric's words landed on everyone's ears, time once again started rolling normally. Everyone once again started breathing, but even then, they didn't know what to say or do.
The Night Hag Arachnid also came back to her senses and started screeching noisily with her still wide-open mouth. Noticing she couldn't free herself from the man's grasp, she moved her other long arm and attacked him from behind.
Just as Elianor was about to scream in panic, the boy once again spoke, but this time with some annoyance.
"Shut up, will you? I am not paid enough to hear such annoying screams right beside my ears!"
While saying this, with the hand that was grabbing the Night Hag Arachnid's scalp, the boy slammed the creature's head to the ground before its attack could even reach his back. The slam was so loud and groundbreaking that the entire ground shook.
After receiving the slam, the creature went completely silent, as if it had listened to the boy. Soon after, black blood started spilling out from its head, which was still stuck inside the ground.
Elianor could only watch with wide eyes and didn't dare to make a sound.
With the tremor due to Eric's slam, everyone came back to their senses, and when they saw what had happened, they nearly popped their eyeballs out in utter shock and disbelief. A mere mid-stage Rank 1 kid had just injured the Night Hag Arachnid enough for it to truly shut up?! Were they all dreaming?
Brunhild and the others felt their brains freeze. An unknown person had arrived at the perfect time out of nowhere, but why was he only at mid-stage Rank 1? Were they supposed to feel depressed that their rescuer was only barely of such a Rank, or were they supposed to rejoice that though the boy had the lowest Rank among everyone present, he was also the strongest, as none of them had ever managed to harm the creature in any way so far?
All the necromancers were in disbelief. The Night Hag Arachnid, though only at the Adult stage, had actual stats that were of an Elder stage. Her senses were so high that no one could sneak-attack her. To grab her hair like that, completely stopping her in her tracks, and then leave her completely helpless to block an attack from just a mid-stage Rank 1 boy, even with her monstrous strength, was simply impossible! And even if she had received an attack, with her constitution, how could she bleed?
Who was the Mana Beast here? Why did it look like the boy was the Mana Beast while the Night Hag Hag Arachnid was just a helpless little child?!
Eric, who had appeared using his blink, hadn't really used his full strength, as it would blow the creature's head off and that would be counterproductive for his goals. He couldn't show his full strength unless he was planning to wipe everyone out. He was certain his previous blink would only be thought of as him jumping and appearing from the sky when everyone's focus was on the creature and Elianor, so he wasn't worried. As long as he didn't blink a second time in front of their eyes, it was fine.
However, Eric also had to show sufficient strength not only to end the fight quickly and not expose more of his capabilities, but also to show the miserable Batley City's Mana Wielders that they were not easy to mess with, in case they thought he was just a child and could easily be fooled.
Showing bulging, steroid-filled, thick biceps was sometimes essential to make people more humble and not have any non-protein thoughts. And he also didn't know this group's moral characteristics, no matter how much brotherhood they shared among themselves.
Eric turned around and stomped his left foot on the creature's head and then gazed below at its exposed back, which had a vertical open 'wound,' or perhaps it was just the style of the creature to show its sexy back. Nonetheless, girls' fashion these days was too stupid, as its weakness was also right in the open.
He leaned forward while speaking to the Batley City's team, "Not only is the creature a weakling, but also dumb to leave such a large opening on its body, completely exposing its core to be taken away from behind. Hm... As a monster girl, maybe she has such interests."
Eric put his gauntlet-wearing left hand inside the creature's open back. He made sure to coat his palm with his mana, as he had no interest in experiencing the six-armed lady's insides; also, he wouldn't go far and would secretly use his Telepathic Slap to take out its Mana Core.
While Eric was doing that, all the necromancers' expressions changed, as Eric had clearly stated what he was about to do.
Rottgar, who was a little way off, roared, "STOP HIM!"
Morbus, Gravis, Vellara, and Mortisia quickly took action.
Morbus, Gravis, and Mortisia tried to cast spells at Eric, while Vellara was about to leap towards him and smash him with her war hammer.
But before Vellara could take any action, she suddenly halted. Her eyes trembled, and she slowly glanced downward toward her chest.
A sword had penetrated from behind, punctured right through her heart, and emerged from the front of her chest.
Her pupils narrowed.
After registering the pain, Vellara finally realized what had happened. Blood slowly fell from the corner of her red lips as she turned her head to see her attacker before her life faded away.
As she glanced behind, her eyes couldn't help but widen.
There stood an extremely beautiful girl who was smiling 'apologetically' at her. She had dark brown hair and a pair of bright amber eyes. What truly shocked Vellara was the girl's Rank.
'Did I, a late-stage Rank 2 Warrior, get killed by a mere late-stage Rank 1? H-How is this even possible?'
How could a Rank 1 escape being detected by her senses? And even if this amber-eyed girl had a Tier 1 weapon, she still shouldn't be able to penetrate her constitution without having the necessary strength. Even if that were possible, the moment the amber-eyed girl had tried to attack, she should have sensed it. Even before the sword could penetrate deeper through the skin of her back, she should have felt it clearly and either dodged or protected herself with Mana. But she had only registered the attack when she was already thoroughly stabbed and the blade had already come out from the front of her chest.
Many questions popped up inside Vellara's head, but she didn't have the strength to voice any of them. Staring at the bright amber-eyed girl with wide eyes in complete disbelief, Vellara died. Her body then collapsed, crashing to the ground.
At the exact moment Vellara was attacked, Morbus and Gravis—who were trying to cast the Bone Arrow spell at Eric—suddenly felt like their vision had risen too high and kept rising.
They felt a strange sensation; they didn't remember jumping. But as their heads rotated in mid-air, they finally understood that they had been beheaded by an unknown, beautiful woman with long lavender hair wearing a tight-fitting black outfit. They didn't have the brainpower to think any further as their lives flashed before their eyes—revealing everything they had lived through since their births. Before their heads could even touch the ground, both silently perished.
Mortisia was unaware of her teammates' fates. She successfully cast Bone Arrow toward Eric, who was still focused on the Night Hag Arachnid's back. She was certain that this attack would be lethal for a mere mid-stage Rank 1 and that he wouldn't be able to dodge. Even if he somehow survived, he would still be left half-dead.
Noticing this, Brunhild, Garrick, Eilif, and Thorne's hearts nearly lunged out of their throats in panic; they didn't have the time to shout or take action. Elianor's focus was entirely on Eric, so she noticed the long arrow made of white bones whizzing toward him only when it was already too late. Her face paled.
"Watch out!" she quickly cried out.
Eric didn't even glance at the arrow, as his focus remained entirely on finding the core; he was certain that he had caught a glimpse of it right at the base of the creature's non-existent spine. He just raised his free right hand toward the arrow speeding toward him. Without even lifting his head, and with extreme speed, a Mana Circle flashed into existence and vanished. It happened so fast that everyone would have doubted whether they were imagining things or not, but a few-inches-long black beam bolted out of his palm and crashed straight into the incoming arrow.
As they clashed, both the Shadow Dart and the Bone Arrow collapsed, destroying each other.
'Mystical Knight!' all of them screamed inside their heads.
Only a Mystical Knight possessed such brute strength alongside the ability to cast spells simultaneously. But even then, a mere mid-stage Rank 1 Mystical Knight absolutely shouldn't have such high brute strength, nor such high proficiency in spellcasting—and with enough precision to intercept another projectile, no less! Not to mention the ability to destroy a spell cast by an early-stage Rank 2 Mage!
Mortisia was bewildered. She didn't know how that had happened, what was even going on, or what she was supposed to do now. Due to her confusion, she stood rooted in place, hoping to receive some order or direction from her companions or from Rottgar himself.
She suddenly found it strange; it was only she who had attacked. What about Morbus, Gravis, and Vellara?
She quickly looked toward her companions, and her heart trembled in shock. All three were lying dead!
Instead, two unknown women were standing beside their bodies with long swords in their hands. Both women were graceful and unique, looking as though they belonged to some top noble or royal lineage of a powerful kingdom.
Noticing Mortisia looking at them, both Lyria and Livy nodded together at her in 'recognition' with sweet smiles on their faces. Mortisia felt both girls' smiles were truly beautiful, enough to move even a fellow woman's heart. But at this moment, she felt those smiles could only belong to devils!
Mortisia stood frozen in fear, not daring to move. Since both women had effortlessly killed her companions, whose Ranks were even higher than hers, running away was entirely hopeless.