"Captain?"
Lucius’s voice suddenly rang out with a gloomy undertone, sounding like a coercive tease: "Aren’t you planning to show off some skills? I am genuinely curious about the form of your natal weapon."
This was not just a prompt, but also an unspoken test to see if Jeremy was worthy of the commanding position.
Jeremy rolled his eyes slightly, no longer bothering to hide. Two silver twin blades bearing deep red veins immediately condensed in his palms. He lazily replied: "Alright, here I come."
In his previous world, before being robbed of his life by clinical death, Jeremy had spent thirteen years living with an old man who had an eccentric personality but was insanely passionate about traditional martial arts. The old man considered Jeremy his sole heir; because of this, throughout that period, Jeremy had been forced to learn and practice every single melee weapon without exception.
Coupled with the original owner’s systematically trained physical foundation since childhood, and the massive amount of magical theoretical knowledge he had just crammed the night before, wielding a basic pair of blades was not too difficult of a task.
A level-one magic beast... in terms of power, was roughly equivalent to a low-tier Apprentice mage.
Although his current magic power level was practically zero, if he could utilize pure melee martial arts skills combined with defensive magic power, killing a few probably wouldn’t be impossible...
And if it truly turned out to be too much, rolling over to play dead and waiting for his teammates to carry the burden was also a reasonable tactic, right?
The exact moment Jeremy strode into the beast pack’s attack range, he cast aside all stray thoughts, his gaze turning sharply cold. He raised the twin blades, accurately blocking the razor-sharp claws of a magic wolf lunging straight for his throat. The metal blade scraped against the magic beast’s claws, sparking a dazzling chain of sparks.
The terrifying impact force reverberating through the blade made the webbing between his thumb and index finger go numb with a sharp pain. But Jeremy absolutely did not let go of his weapons. He gritted his teeth, instead gripping the hilts even tighter.
Right at that moment, a massive fireball spewed by the fire panther in the back charged straight towards him. Just as the searing heat was about to lick his cloak, Jeremy immediately bent his body, nimbly dodging it.
His entire body slid close to the ground like an arrow leaving the bow, closing in on the fire panther’s flank. Without giving it time to react, Jeremy swung his blade up, using all his strength to fiercely thrust the razor-sharp tip straight into the most fragile life core hidden beneath the magic creature’s belly skin.
Jeremy was afraid of death, and he only feared death itself. Aside from that, everything else in this world, from violence to magic, lay completely outside the boundaries of his fear.
Exactly because of this, after realizing that the power of the level-one magic beast pack was not as invincible as initially thought, the remaining sliver of apprehension in Jeremy’s heart completely evaporated.
He astutely borrowed the momentum from dodging the fire panther’s pounce, his neat figure gliding to the side, and sank the short blade directly into its softest underbelly without a shred of hesitation. The objective of this attack was very clear: to shatter the core magic crystal to finish off the target.
"ROAR!!"
With its life threatened, the fire panther let out a frenzied roar that shook the surrounding air. It ignored the pain from the wound, swinging its sharp claws to unleash a final, fatal counterattack.
Even though Jeremy managed to lean back in time to dodge, the attack’s speed still surpassed his current reflex limits. The claws, carrying ruthless flames, grazed past, tearing a long gash on his right arm. Flesh and skin were ripped open, the wound so deep that white bone was visible, and deep red fresh blood immediately surged out, obscuring his vision.
Worse yet, the fire panther’s claws carried a mild fire venom, which had the effect of amplifying the sensation of pain from the wound many times over.
Jeremy let out a soft hiss, bringing the back of his hand up to wipe away the streak of blood that had splattered onto the corner of his lips, gritting his teeth to swallow back the sudden wave of dizziness. When he looked down at the gaping wound on his arm, a sharp, gloomy glint flashed through the depths of his eyes.
Not only did he not retreat, but he instead channeled even more force into his wrist, forcefully pushing the blade deeper into the monster’s abdomen. The sound of metal scraping and severing internal organs rang out so gruesomely that it would give anyone goosebumps.
The very moment the fire panther raised its claws to launch a second attack, the blade in Jeremy’s hand pierced through the final layer of defense, directly crushing the magic crystal inside its body. Carrying the momentum of the clash, his entire hand sank deep into the layer of flesh reeking of blood.
A crisp "crack" echoed, exactly like the sound of shattering glass. Jeremy lowered his eyes, coldly glancing at the fire panther, whose eyes were still widened but had completely lost its breath. The slight irritation over the wound on his arm also immediately dissipated.
Just as he was about to withdraw his hand, a pungent stench accompanied by a sharp, wind-tearing sound suddenly slashed through the space, aiming straight from behind his back.
A premonition of danger erupted. Jeremy did not hesitate, immediately pulling his blood-drenched hand gripping the blade out of the magic creature’s corpse. He followed up with a kick to send the obstructing corpse flying, then borrowed the momentum to spin a half-circle in mid-air, dodging the incoming magic-infused poisonous spike.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, he continued into an extremely agile forward roll to avoid the second volley of poisonous spikes. Not exposing a single flaw, he decisively swung his arm, throwing a short blade backward at the aerial ambusher.
"Screech--!!"
A sharp screech from a phantom falcon echoed, tearing through the clouds. Jeremy looked up. The one that had just ambushed him with poisonous spikes was a giant phantom falcon spreading its wings. This beast clearly possessed a slightly higher rank than the fire panther. Even though it had just had his short blade plunged straight into its abdomen, it was still not dead and was desperately struggling in mid-air, flapping its wings wildly in an attempt to escape.
Jeremy intended to throw the remaining short blade to force it to land, but Evelyn from afar was one step faster.
Taking advantage of the magic creature’s panic, Evelyn calmly raised her longbow. With just a single motion of drawing the bow at an absolutely precise angle, she released her hand, and the arrow of light shot out like a lightning bolt.
*Swish!* The arrow tore through the wind, forming a brilliant cyan streak of light, piercing straight through the heart of the falcon soaring in the sky. It instantly stopped breathing, its body stiffening before crashing heavily onto the root-covered ground.
In another direction, the roughly thirty magic wolves that were frantically besieging Leon and Phoenix had also become soulless corpses.
The magic beast pack probably could never have expected, even until their deaths, that these seemingly frail humans, who did not emit a single ripple of magic power when they first entered the secret realm, could erupt with such terrifying slaughtering power.
Looking at the corpses of their kin piled up into small mountains, the surviving magic beasts glanced at each other. Ultimately, between taking revenge and keeping their little lives, they decided to choose the latter. In less than half a minute, the rest of the beast pack simultaneously turned their heads, frantically fleeing deep into the dense forest.
None of the five people present at the scene had any interest in chasing after the remnants.