Chapter 194
"Hum, hum, hum," Nikolaos and Vasileios hummed a catchy tune they had heard from a bar along their patrol route the previous day.
The two boys had taken cover at a shady corner with a narrow view of main street.
It was around noon, and the sun blazed at full force, making it very hot outside.
Yet the streets were filled with long lines of people coming to grab a bite from the soup kitchen.
"Ah, it’s hot and boring," Nikolaos complained, glaring at the sun.
"Yeah, there's barely anything to do," Vasileios agreed.
The heat was uncomfortable for the two boys in their armor and fur.
So far, the line they were watching had behaved well, with nothing odd happening until…
"Hey, Niko," Vasileios called.
"What?" Nikolaos replied.
"Doesn't that woman look a bit odd?" Vasileios asked, pointing toward main street.
"Which one?" Nikolaos replied, curious for a change of pace.
"The one standing and staring at the sky, smiling creepily," Vasileios answered.
"Oh, I see her. She is indeed strange. Do you think she means trouble?" Nikolaos asked.
"I don't know—that's why I asked," Vasileios replied.
"Well, I don't know either, but I bet she's an adventurer or something. Look at the bulge on her cloak; she is definitely hiding a sword there." Nikolaos speculated.
"Now that you mention it…" Vasileios trailed off as he saw a fellow beast-kin accidentally bump into the woman.
"Oops, sorry about that," the man said, immediately apologizing.
"No worries," the woman replied kindly with a wave of her hand.
"Thank you…" the beast-kin man said with a bright smile.
"Phew, glad that didn't escalate," muttered Nikolaos in relief.
"Yeah, it…" Vasileios started, only to watch the beast-kin man suddenly fall to the ground, his head rolling on the cobblestones as blood gushed into the cobbled street.
‘What just happened?’ Nikolaos thought, his heart pounding with fear.
"You can pay me back with your life," the woman said, sneering at the lifeless corpse of her victim.
For a moment, the street was silent, as if time had stopped, the onlookers simply staring in shock at what they had witnessed.
The woman hoisted her crimson-stained longsword onto her shoulder and licked the blood that splattered on her lips.
The air felt heavy and suffocating, and the boys struggled to breathe, as if drowning in a thick liquid.
Their senses were on high alert as they felt the woman's madness, bloodlust, and overwhelming strength, their instincts forcing them to freeze in place.
They had watched the whole incident but could not even follow the flow of her swift sword.
Soon, time began to move again as people regained their senses and realized what had just happened.
"Waaaaaah!" someone screamed.
"What just happened? What happened?" several people cried out.
"She killed him! She just murdered him!" those closer to the scene answered.
Chaos and panic gripped the street as men, women, young, and old shoved each other aside, fleeing by any means possible.
In the midst of chaos, despite their crazed frenzy, everyone knew that such an act could only be done by one group—the evilus had arrived.
The woman paid no attention to the chaos caused by her actions; she simply strode over to the soup kitchen volunteers.
"Nice little kitchen you've got here. Why don't you give me a taste, you guild shit's," she remarked.
Her hair was toxic pink, her eyes a sunny yellow, and she wore tattered underclothes with leather pants.
Most adventurers recognized her immediately—she was the only one on the guild blacklist with that look.
This was Arachnia, one of the evilus’ top commanders.
Valletta Grede was here; the herald of carnage had arrived.
"Let me help you all out. I see some nice juicy ripe tomatoes just waiting to be squashed," she said, making a squeezing gesture with her free hand.
Immediately, she unleashed her blade upon the fleeing crowd.
Its edge danced, carving limbs, slicing heads, and drawing blood.
She was a peak level 5 adventurer, almost level 6, so the civilians could hardly resist, and the nearby adventurers could do little against her.
Nikolaos and Vasileios, having regained their senses, tried everything they could to reach the volunteers amid the slaughter, even though they knew instinctively that they were no match for Valletta.
However, the fleeing crowd was just too chaotic that it left little space for them to advance toward main street.
They had to stop occasionally to help fallen civilians from being trampled, especially since many children were caught in the rush.
The whole area was a grizzled mess, making it hard for the two boys to handle the situation themselves.
Nearby adventurers had already fled at the sight of Valletta, and the crowd was uncooperative—leaving the boys torn between saving civilians and confronting Valletta.
"Valletta! What are you doing?" cried a man from the evilus who had been hiding in the crowd. He ran toward her, like the fleeing crowd was no obstacle.
"We were told not to…" the man began, but he didn’t finish his sentence as Valletta immediately gutted him.
Her blade was indiscriminate in its slaughter—cutting down terrified civilians and confused allies alike—while Valletta wore a smile.
"You don't get to tell me what to do, worm. Look at this beautiful blue sky! This blank canvas! Wouldn't it be perfect to stain it red with blood?" she exclaimed, spreading her arms toward the heavens with a mad grin.
"We must remind these fools of the harsh reality they live in! They don't deserve to smile and be happy. Now go get them, you worms," she ordered.
"Yes, ma'am," the hidden evilus members responded in unison as they spread out to attack the civilians.
What followed was a barrage of violent explosions and carnage.
"Gaaaaaah!" a woman screamed, shielding her child with her body, expecting pain and death—but a few seconds passed, and nothing came.
"What…" another woman looked up and saw two beast-kin boys: one with wild, flowing red hair wielding a maul and the other with smooth silver hair carrying a shield that glowed with a silver hue.
Nikolaos and Vasileios had finally reached the center of the chaos.
"Oya, oya, where did you two cute boys come from?" asked Valletta, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
Vasileios had activated his skill "Aegis Counter" to reduce the damage and give the remaining civilians some precious seconds to flee.
"You better run now," Nikolaos said to the confused people, ignoring Valletta.
Valletta stared at the boys with an amused yet annoyed expression at their disregard for her presence.
"Didn't you ever learn not to look away from your enemy?" she said, disappearing and then reappearing in front of Nikolaos, her sword swinging toward his exposed neck.
Clang!
"Sorry, I can’t let you kill my brother," Vasileios said, intercepting her attack with his shield.
Nikolaos and Vasileios knew they could not match Valletta's movements due to the difference in levels, but they could bait her into a predictable attack.
As soon as Valletta struck Vasileios shield, he smirked, feeling the combined power of their skills.
Vasileios dug his legs into the ground and lowered his stance, bracing for the recoil.
Boom!
An explosion of fire and silver spikes erupted from Vasileios shield, hitting Valletta and sending her crashing into a nearby building, with dust and wood splinters flying.
"Valletta-sama!" an evilus member screamed, running to check on her while the few others guarded against the two boys by slowly surrounding them.
The smell of charred flesh filled the air, confirming that the attack had hit, though they did not know how much damage Valletta had taken.
Nikolaos had enchanted Vasileios shield with his "Scorching Impact" skill, which worked well with Vasileios "Revenge Counter" to deal surprise damage.
"Are you okay?" Nikolaos asked, briefly glancing at Vasileios.
"Ugh, that packed quite a punch," Vasileios replied.
"Her attack or my skill?" Nikolaos questioned.
"Both, but her attack was so much stronger. What about you? You're not looking so good," Vasileios said as he watched the smoke clear where Valletta had landed.
"Almost out of mind," Nikolaos admitted.
He hadn't yet mastered his magic skill enough to control his mind efficiency.
Swoosh! Splat!
The head of the evilus member who had run to check on Valletta suddenly flew through the smoke, splattering brain matter and blood against Vasileios shield.
"Since when did I fall so low that a worm would worry about me?" Valletta's voice echoed from the smoke.
"Ugh, that packed quite a punch. You boys aren't half bad," she remarked as she emerged from the smoke, mostly unscathed.
Her eyes were bloodshot with malice and madness, her lips curved into an amused smile, and her sword rested on her shoulder—a sight that sent shivers down Nikolaos's and Vasileios spines.
There was just a small burn mark on her hand, and that was all their surprise attack had achieved.
"Now let's go for round two," Valletta said, lowering her stance as she prepared to seriously attack the two boys.