*Clang, clang, clang — !*
Just as Tia, her face pale, was struggling with whether she should reveal her true strength to block those three magic shots, Mephia simply swung her sword.
With a single slash, she blocked them with ease.
“Stay here.”
After saying that, Mephia charged toward the three incoming Inquisitors.
Seeing this, Tia’s expression flickered with a hint of lingering fear before her brow furrowed.
‘If my judgment is correct, those three Inquisitors are all Copper Rank, and their strength is not to be underestimated,’ Tia thought.
‘The Adjutant is only Iron Rank, but it’s clear the two officers are the real muscle. But… how could they only be Copper Rank as well?’
Mephia was a Silver-level Inquisitor on the surface, and five Copper Ranks would never be a match for her.
The Western Commander, Zane, should have known that very well.
The reality was exactly as Tia had suspected.
Though those three Inquisitors were skilled and their swordsmanship was superb, they were still easily suppressed by Mephia.
After only a few exchanges, the longswords in their hands were snapped in two.
While they were still reeling in shock, Mephia took a step forward and slashed her sword through the empty air.
A bright white light suddenly condensed in the air and flew with precision toward the waists of the three Inquisitors.
*Slash — !*
Three soft sounds followed.
The bodies of the three Inquisitors stiffened simultaneously as massive amounts of blood sprayed from their waists.
They collapsed to the ground, devoid of life.
The entire process took less than 1 minute, and Mephia’s breathing remained perfectly steady.
Both the Adjutant and Tia’s eyelids twitched violently.
However, rather than showing fear, the former flashed a fanatical and cruel smile.
“Indeed, ordinary humans are still too weak,” he said.
He suddenly bit his thumb and smeared blood onto a hidden Magic Rune on his chest.
“Then let me show you the true future of humanity!”
As the Magic was cast, the two officers who had been standing silently before him suddenly began to tremble violently.
*Riiip — !*
Their military uniforms tore open from the back.
Underneath their pale skin, something was wriggling and proliferating madly.
The crisp sound of bones snapping was incredibly dense as their bodies swelled and distorted amidst non-human shrieks!
Their skin stretched until it burst, revealing dark red, scaly muscle tissue underneath.
Their spines pierced through their flesh, bulging segment by segment to form a hideous exoskeleton of bone spurs.
The bones of their fingers elongated rapidly, transforming into claws like those of a beast or monster.
Their eyes turned completely black with no whites remaining, and a white bone crown appeared atop their heads.
Amidst the eerie and disgusting transformation, there was a strange, misplaced sense of holiness.
In only 3 seconds, the two officers had completely transformed into half-human, half-monster hybrids approximately 3 meters tall.
The Magic Power within them surged because of this, crossing the threshold of Copper Rank and entering Silver Rank.
“Kill them!” the Adjutant ordered hoarsely, his eyes filled with madness.
The monster officers let out a piercing roar.
Their massive bodies displayed a terrifying speed that defied their size as their claws tore through the air, aiming straight for Mephia’s face!
Before the claws could reach her, the stench of blood was already overwhelming.
Mephia’s expression did not change.
She remained calm as she gripped her longsword.
When the monster officers finally closed in, she let out a cold snort and swung her blade.
In the next second.
There was no brilliant sword light, nor was there any grand display of power.
There was only a razor-thin silver line that flashed for a fleeting moment under the moonlight.
The violent, charging movements of the monster officers suddenly froze.
Time seemed to solidify for an instant.
Then, starting from their foreheads, a straight line of blood began to spread downward, passing through their mouthparts, chests, and abdomens… all the way to their crotches.
*Splatter — !*
Their massive bodies split perfectly in two along the bloodlines, falling to the left and right.
The cuts were as smooth as mirrors, and for a moment, not even blood sprayed out.
The moment the monster officers hit the ground, Mephia’s figure appeared before the Adjutant like a ghost.
The tip of her sword rested gently against his throat.
The fanatical smile on the Adjutant’s face froze completely, replaced by a look of unbelievable terror.
How was this possible?
How could they have lost so quickly?!
That was the future the Snake Eye was so proud of!!
He wanted to resist, but the fear in his heart left his body rooted to the spot.
Mephia looked at him without a hint of triumph in her eyes, only a coldness that bordered on pity.
“A fusion of human and monster? Hmph. What you are pursuing isn’t the future, but the abyss.”
She thrust her longsword forward, the tip easily piercing the Adjutant’s neck.
His eyes remained wide even in death, unable to understand why those two Experimental Subjects had died so fast.
Only Tia understood.
‘Mephia might not be a Silver-level Inquisitor at all…’
The night wind was chilly.
Mephia sheathed her sword and turned to look at Tia.
“We have enough evidence. Let’s head back.”
“Mhm.”
After witnessing Mephia’s terrifying strength, Tia felt an inexplicable sense of awkwardness and restraint, even while playing the role of the Daughter of a Count.
She had previously considered plans to defeat Mephia with a sneak attack to steal her ring.
Thinking about it now, that would have been no different from seeking her own death.
—
And so, Mephia took the evidence she had found and returned to Hela City with Tia.
However, before they could even get close to the town, they saw a massive fire burning within the walls.
Even the distant city defense towers were ablaze.
Thick columns of smoke rose into the air, obscuring the starlight and moonlight.
The city gates, which should have been tightly shut, had been violently smashed open.
People were constantly pouring out of the gates, stumbling as they ran toward the darkness of the Black Pine Forest.
Most of them were disheveled, their faces covered in soot and blood, their eyes filled with extreme terror and confusion.
Behind the gates, the sounds of explosions and the screams of the crowd were incessant.
Soon, a distorted monster chased a group of people out of the gate, lunging toward the fleeing crowd.
An old woman tripped and fell, and it looked as if she was about to be caught by the beast.
At that critical moment, Mephia waved her hand.
A streak of white light tore through the air, accurately piercing the monster’s head and killing it instantly.
The old woman struggled to her feet.
Her cloudy eyes looked toward where they were standing, and a flash of unbelievable shock crossed her despair-filled face.
Then, she was swept away by the flow of people behind her as they continued to flee, leaving her no time to even say thank you.
However, this gave Tia a chance to get a good look at the dead monster.
She realized that its form still retained a few human characteristics.
‘Is it an Experimental Subject too?’
Remembering those cruel human experimentation laboratories and looking at the chaotic town before her, Tia whispered, “What… exactly happened here?!”
Just then, several City Guard soldiers stumbled toward the main road from the side, supporting each other.
The moment he saw Tia, one of the young soldiers acted as if he had found a lifeline.
He broke away from his companions and scrambled over to her.
His face was a mask of blood and absolute terror as he cried out hoarsely:
“It’s — it’s Zane! Commander Zane — he’s gone mad!”