Chapter 41: Dead so casually

Even swifter than her, Sephilia surged forward, arriving before anyone else!

Wielding her Radiant War Hammer, she leapt high into the air, letting out a fierce cry under the daylight before bringing the hammer down upon Hivi.

Yet, even faster than Sephilia, a dagger, concealed within the shadows, shot forth.

As Andrew and Hivi’s gazes were drawn to Melina and Sephilia, the most lethal assault finally burst from the gloom.

“Underestimating me, are you?”

Hivi’s battle instincts screamed a warning.

His body instinctively twisted to the side, allowing Wynn’s thrusting dagger to narrowly miss him, passing harmlessly beneath his left arm.

A faint smile unexpectedly bloomed on Hivi’s typically aloof face.

With a sudden, powerful retraction of his left arm, he clamped down precisely on Wynn’s arm.

“Is your spirit weapon sturdy enough?”

Wynn’s pupils contracted, and he instantly released his grip on the dagger.

As the dagger plummeted, Hivi’s knuckle dusters landed squarely on Wynn’s hand.

In an instant, Wynn’s right hand was fractured and grotesquely disfigured.

Even the usually composed Wynn couldn’t help but grit his teeth, suppressing any cry of pain.

However, his assault was far from over.

The falling dagger, in that precise moment, transformed into a petite girl (TL Note: This is Shadow Abyss, Wynn’s spirit weapon).

A flash of killing intent glinted in her eyes; the instant her feet touched the ground, she explosively launched herself into the air, delivering a fierce kick straight to Hivi’s face!

This strike caught everyone completely off guard!

Not even Melo had anticipated such an ingenious maneuver!

After all, her past adversaries had exclusively been Void Demons; even the colossal Void Demon that had previously invaded the arena was, in fact, the smallest she had ever encountered.

Her battles, particularly those alongside Radiance, were typically grand and sweeping affairs, often involving her manifesting a Spirit Art battle armor, or later, piloting a Psy-energy Warframe to charge headlong through enemy lines.

When had she ever bothered to study such intricate combat techniques?

Having been thoroughly enlightened by Wynn and Shadow Abyss’s impromptu coordination, Melo and the others did not halt their actions.

Sephilia and Wynn, now forming a pincer attack, unleashed a furious assault on Hivi.

Meanwhile, Melina meticulously fixed her gaze upon Andrew, observing his every move.

Andrew, for his part, cared little for such intricacies.

He wouldn’t shed a tear if Hivi died then and there; moreover, he didn’t believe Hivi could be defeated by those two.

As for himself…

He could finally relish this moment!

His greatsword, as wide as a door panel, cleaved down through the air!

This powerful, weighty blow descended with an imposing might, seemingly capable of bisecting anything in its path.

Melina maintained her charging stance without pause, her concentration absolute.

Andrew’s strike, in her perception, had inexplicably slowed to the pace of a film in slow motion.

She could distinctly perceive the sword’s descent.

‘Now!’

‘Instantaneous Resonance!’

The very moment the sword’s edge loomed above her, a surge of psychic energy erupted within Melina!

Her unceasing forward momentum was, in that same instant, dramatically amplified!

That sword strike had been aimed according to her initial charging speed.

Her instantaneous burst of speed left Andrew utterly incapable of reacting.

When the colossal sword struck the ground with a resounding crash, a bead of cold sweat trickled down Andrew’s forehead.

For at that very moment, the tip of a golden longsword rested against his throat.

His dark, coarse skin was pierced by the sharp point, and a single drop of blood traced a path down the blade.

Andrew remained frozen in his downward striking posture.

Melina, however, was now pressed intimately against his chest.

To an observer, it appeared as though Andrew were embracing Melina, creating an oddly suggestive scene.

‘Suggestive, my foot!’

Andrew’s sole desire at that moment was to curse loudly!

‘Where did this monster come from?’

Melina, her gaze chilling, looked up at the towering Andrew.

Her sword-wielding hand was steady, devoid of any superfluous emotional fluctuations.

“You, over there! Your companion is about to die; stop immediately! Otherwise, I’ll kill him right now!”

Without even turning her head, she shouted the words aloud.

Then, with an utterly unforeseen thrust, the golden longsword instantaneously plunged upward, piercing directly through Andrew’s throat before anyone could even register what was happening.

‘Why?’

‘Wasn’t she threatening Hivi?’

‘Wasn’t he a hostage?’

These final three thoughts echoed in Andrew’s mind before his consciousness plunged into darkness.

Even in death, he couldn’t comprehend how he, so vastly superior to this young girl, had perished so effortlessly.

‘Why did I die so… casually?’

Drawing the sword, flicking off the blood, and returning it to its sheath—all executed in a single, fluid motion.

As Andrew’s body slowly collapsed to the ground, utterly still, everyone remained in a state of shock, unable to fully process what had transpired.

Prompted by Melina’s warning, Hivi instinctively glanced in that direction, and in that very instant, he witnessed his companion’s throat being pierced by the golden longsword!

At that moment, he froze!

Even for Hivi, a man of unparalleled cruelty and boundless savagery, feared by many as a bloodthirsty monster, the speed of Andrew’s demise was utterly incomprehensible.

It was precisely during this fleeting second, as his thoughts were momentarily seized by his comrade’s death, that something crucial happened.

One person snapped out of their astonishment first!

Wynn!

Shadow Abyss reverted to its dagger form, grasped firmly in his left hand.

Then, it darted forth, utterly silent.

The angle of the strike was, surprisingly, identical to that of the golden longsword.

*Pshhh—*

Metal sliced into flesh.

The sound was not loud, yet in the hushed environment, it resonated with startling clarity!

Only then did the onlookers tear their gazes from Andrew, turning toward the source of the sound.

And so, those who had yet to fully recover from their initial shock were once again plunged into stunned silence.

‘Another one dead?’

‘Is it over just like that?’

From the moment Melina had surged forward, a mere five seconds had elapsed, and the two individuals who had been so arrogant just moments ago were now dead?

As Hivi’s body, too, slumped to the ground, the realization finally dawned on everyone.

‘They truly were dead!’

Even as Hivi died, the sting of Shadow Abyss’s kick to his face had yet to fade.

Everything had transpired with such breathtaking speed, so utterly unexpectedly.

Sephilia glanced left and right, blinking her eyes in bewilderment.

She scratched her head, a hint of frustration in her voice. “It’s… over?”

She had just leapt up, full of momentum, ready to bring her hammer down.

But seeing Hivi grab Wynn, her hammer strike had not landed.

Her war hammer, now a radiant glow, settled to the ground.

Then, hearing Melina’s warning to Hivi, she had instinctively looked over.

Everyone present had looked in that direction at that moment.

Then, they witnessed Melina’s golden longsword pierce Andrew’s throat before her words had even finished echoing.

And then, when they turned back, Hivi was also dead.

‘It seems… I didn’t do anything!’

‘Ugh…’

Melina frowned, as the thorny black patterns on her wrists began to creep further up her arms.

The backlash from using Instantaneous Resonance erupted.

And it was far more intense than any previous occasion!

This was because, in that single instant, she had unleashed a resonance rate approaching 40%!

Having significantly tapped into Melo’s power, she was now forced to endure a pain far more acute than before.

Yet!

She did not succumb to unconsciousness from the sudden, searing agony!

Her consciousness remained perfectly lucid!

In this moment, as she endured the torment, a profound exhilaration surged within Melina’s heart!

‘She had endured it!’

‘She had grown stronger!’