Chapter 56:Assessment(Part 3):The cat maid might be a tad overpowered

Stella now stood right where Amy did mere minutes ago.

But there was a dramatic difference between her and Amy.

Cat maids were a variant of cat girls that had their fight bred out of them. They underwent a process known as monster girl eugenics, which carefully removed and added abilities to make them the 'perfect maid'.

However, as such, their combat ability suffered heavily as a result. The only offensive ability they still kept was their retractile claws that they were allowed to keep as a cutting implement in things like cooking.

Even their demeanor was carefully controlled to make them meek and subservient, but excitable because most tamers and women loved that part of the base cat girl species.

So it should come as no surprise that Stella was shaking on her feet as she looked at the caged fiend. Amy was excited and slightly annoyed at the lack of difficulty, so she wondered how quickly she would be removed from the mortal plane.

Only two things made her hold her ground.

First and the weaker reason, she technically could not die so this was no major consequence. At least that was what she kept telling herself.

The second and far stronger reason, as a monster girl her desire to please her master was astronomical. Doubly so because she was magically crafted to be a maid.

That was why she stood here, hoping for the best. She saw the way Amy was praised, and her maid instincts wanted him to do the same for her desperately. Not to mention dog/cat monster girls were among the top of eager to please among the monster girl spectrum.

"Well, at least one of his monster girls is overpowered. Amy could carry the cat maid and then some... Poor Simon, stuck with a weak monster girl..."

Daniel, Simon's friend was quietly mumbling about her. The words she was spouting were not at all nice, but she could not argue with it. None of her sisters were strong fighters and even when they went feral, they were put down quite easily.

As her mind focused the cage dropped and disappeared into the ether.

Unlike the first target, the second did not immediately charge.  The giant mantis chittered in a way that was barely audible with its mandibles and its bulbous head that twitched every which way. Its massive scythe-like arms tapped the stone floor which made very little sound given the massive size and weight of the arms.

It also stood very still, barely making a sound. It was so inactive that Stella could not help but let her guard down confused as to why it was so inactive compared to the boar.

In that singular moment, it moved. To Daniel, Simon, and even the orc, it was faster than their eyes could follow, simply disappearing from where it stood without making so much as a peep.

For Amy, however, it was very easy to track. In fact, she was annoyed as to why this was not her challenge. Its speed would at least make the combat more enjoyable than the 'weakling' thrown at her feat.

Stella also had the same ability, much to her own shock. The mantis was moving at a respectable pace but not at the breakneck blitz the three bystanders saw it as. If she were a human, the fear of a large monster coming down on her would have her paralyzed, but as a monster girl, she did not have the same trappings because despite her fright she still had enough awareness to dodge.

When both scythes came down as guillotine around her head, she ducked, and quite easily got out of the way before the sharp blade edges closed.

She even had enough time to throw a casual punch at the blade, just to show how slow the thing was. In her mind, she was doing it to assert her superiority over this giant insect. Who cared if it was large and scary, she was much faster... Why? She had no clue but she felt badass and that's all that mattered.

*BOOM!*

The force of the impact between her fist and the blades caused a sonic impact. So much so, that the entire monster went off-kilter from the detonation.

But in less than an instant it caught itself back on its feet.

Normally, giant mantises were ambush monsters relying on stealth, incredible short bursts of speed, and sharp scythes for arms to assassinate their victims. Failure usually meant death or escape.

But red mantises had an added quirk, if the initial assassination failed it used its second mechanism, rage. Red mantises upon failing to assassinate would go into an incredible burst of frenzy where it gave up everything but attack with dramatically increased physical strength and speed.

Its insectoid eyes blazed red, its mandibles coming down on Stella even faster.

While these were technically much faster, Stella did not have a hard time dodging these at all. In fact, every moment that passed she felt more and more confident, like she was being invigorated by an outside force. The initial terror dying out at a pace very rapid replacing it with the lust for combat

For the rest of the party, they were just a blur of rapid movements. Half of them, however, could still keep track. One could identify the blurs she saw and through experience could categorize the actions. The other could see the blitz very very clearly.

Stella could dodge every motion by a wide margin but she chose not to, letting her instincts guide her motions and with it avoided every attack by a hair's breadth.

She even had mental headspace to come up with a plan of attack because while she could evade quite easily it could not last forever.

It did not take long for inspiration to strike and it came from the fact that she often used her portal powers to reach awkward spots. The insect's head looked like an awkward spot and her arms were pretty idle.

She opened a small portal connecting from next to her to the top of the thing's head. Then she slammed her fist with all the force she could muster while steering clear of all the incoming attacks.

*BOOM!* *CRUNCH!*

She heard a loud following squelch and the rapid attacks stopped altogether.

The portal was small enough that only her right arm was covered in grey goop that looked like the precious elixir, but the smell and the general feeling said otherwise.

"Well isn't this something? I guess the battle is over."

Daniel for his part was stunned into silence while the casual announcement of the green-skinned monster girl signaled the end of the trial.