The Crystal Crusher was defeated, and Groza still couldn’t believe that it actually happened.
"He... he’s dead..."
Groza muttered, staring at the Crystal Crusher’s mangled body.
"Hah... I did it! I fucking did it!"
Her hands ached, and she had almost no strength left, but a sudden surge of joy overwhelmed her.
The only thing that kept her from letting it all out was Kreyn, who stood beside her, sharing in their joint victory.
"Ahem." Groza coughed, pulling herself together. "Sorry, that was out of line of me. I’m just glad we were able to defeat such a powerful monster - that’s all."
After all, Groza was his captain and senior comrade. She took this role very seriously. She didn’t want to appear like a madwoman driven solely by revenge in front of him.
Kreyn turned to her, raising an eyebrow.
"Hmm? What are you apologizing for?"
"Agh...?" Groza was confused.
Kreyn waved his hand.
"You had reasons to seek revenge, and you did it. You were the one who landed the final blow and tore your enemy to pieces. So, why hold back?"
There wasn’t a hint of mockery or sarcasm in Kreyn’s gaze. On the contrary, Kreyn was genuinely taken aback.
’Is he serious?’ Groza muttered to herself. ’There’s definitely something wrong with him... I should have realized this sooner, but... who cares? Is that even a problem? Isn’t that the best thing he could have said? Hahaha! That’s exactly what I wanted to hear!’
Thump!
Groza lay down on the ground with a grin from ear to ear, like a child gazing at the moon hanging over the Lucent Gorge.
"Ahh... You’re right, Kreyn, you’re damn right. You have no idea how happy I am, how good it felt to beat that bastard! Not just for Clara’s sake, but for my own!"
Like most people, she was afraid of being judged. Groza knew that most would condemn such a reaction, but Kreyn, on the contrary, had encouraged her to do it. What was the point of holding back?
Kreyn nodded, a faint flame burning in his eyes.
He didn’t have the same history with the Crystal Crusher as Groza did, but he was curious about their future.
"What about his gene? Are you going to take it?" Kreyn asked, hoping for only one answer.
Strangely enough, Groza shook her head.
"No, it’s over now. I don’t want anything to do with that bastard anymore. I’ll remember my victory, his death, revenge for Clara, and that’s it."
Kreyn smirked.
"In that case, you won’t mind if I take his gene for myself, will you?"
"Sure."
Step.
Kreyn stepped forward and held out his hand.
He had high expectations, and for a good reason.
Soon, a light shone as the gene headed toward Kreyn. It had an alluring cyan color, and the light distorted for a moment, taking the shape of jaws.
Then, the system window appeared before Kreyn.
[Gene of the Anomalous Crystal Crusher
[Tier: I
[Rarity: Epic
[Quality: Unique
[Features: ???]
[A gene from a monster that traveled a long journey, but in the end, the history of the past caught up with it and put an end to its life. But... Despite its death, its future remains open.]
Kreyn’s eyes widened as several details immediately caught his attention.
First was [Rarity].
’Huh, so this is an Epic Gene, right? I’ve never had such a rare gene before, though this is exactly what I was hoping for. Then... Unique Quality, what the heck does that mean? Is it better than High Quality, or worse?’
It’s generally believed that when something is called "unique," it’s a good thing. But since Kreyn didn’t have enough experience, he couldn’t fully evaluate it.
’Features... This gene definitely has some feature, but it’s hidden, and what’s more, it has a description, and it’s pretty strange. It doesn’t describe Crystal Crushers as a species of monster in general, as the Sand Lizard gene did, but talks about this particular Crystal Crusher.’ Kreyn narrowed his eyes, pondering.
True, the Crystal Crusher they defeated wasn’t the only Crystal Crusher in the world. The same was true for lizards, spiders, and so on.
But this particular Crystal Crusher, with the scar on his left eye and the story involving Groza, was the only one.
’Alright, it’s a good thing I didn’t use the Forge Flame on those spiders, I just happen to have one charge left to transform this gene into something useful.’
Kreyn was about to use the Gene Forge when the sound of battle rang out from the distance:
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound of stone striking metal made Kreyn and Groza turn around.
"Wait... That’s..." Groza blinked several times.
In the distance, in the middle of the gorge, a few Lucent Golems surrounded the wounded Spider Queen. She had six legs left and was barely managing to defend herself against the golems’ attacks.
Groza was more confused than anything else, but Kreyn saw an opportunity.
’The Spider Queen and Lucent Golems? If only I could get her gene right now... But I only have one Forge Flame charge left, or... could I pull this off?’
Quickly, Kreyn decided to test something.
[Forge Flame
[Ignition: 1/4 (29%)
[Recovery: 3 days 12 hours. Next charge in 12 hours.
[Resources: None.]
Two hours had passed since Kreyn last checked the Forge Flame, and Ignition had changed from 26% to 29%.
’3% in 2 hours...’ Kreyn bit his lip as he thought. ’No, more importantly, if I need 21% before the next charge, can I get it right now?’
Kreyn was running out of time. If he didn’t use the Gene of the Anomalous Crystal Crusher within the next hour, he’d waste such a valuable gene.
"Hey, Groza, can you still fight?" Kreyn asked.
She turned to him.
"What the hell are you talking about...? Do you want us to attack them right now? What for?"
Before answering, Kreyn walked over to her sword and dragged it along behind him, leaving the weapon in front of Groza.
"It’s up to you, but right now you have two choices."
Kreyn pointed at the Crystal Crusher stamped into the wall.
"Either I use his gene to make something cool for myself, and you walk away with a satisfying sense of victory. Or, we kill these golems and the Spider Queen, and I’ll create something for you from her gene as well. One way or another."
Groza’s eyes widened as she looked at her damaged sword and then at Kreyn.
"What do you choose?"
Without hesitation, Groza grabbed the hilt of her sword and got up from the ground.
"Huh, what do you take me for?" She smiled wryly. "I’ve never been in a better mood than I am right now, and I’m not going to pass up an opportunity like this! A few golems aren’t going to stop me!"
"Good."
Kreyn nodded as his gaze turned toward the battlefield.
The Lucent Golems did not win yet, but they and the Spider Queen were already seriously wounded.
"We’ll hardly have to do anything to get this valuable gene."
Kreyn smirked.
’I’ll definitely do something special. I can feel it.’