An extremely violent scene unfolded under the bright blue sky.
Adventurers assigned to guard the soup kitchen event had quickly drawn their weapons to fend off the sudden evilus sudden attack.
The enemy was overwhelming in number and utterly indiscriminate.
Terror filled the air as the buildings along the main street crumbled into rubble.
There was simply too much to protect and not enough people to do so.
The evilus had arrived armed with many magical weapons, allowing them to cause massive damage with little effort.
Because they attacked without discrimination, even the weakest among them—without the blessing of Falna—could easily destroy buildings, kill low-level adventurers, and slaughter civilians.
With their numbers few, the adventurers could only cover their immediate surroundings, lacking room for a full counterattack.
To make matters worse, the evilus did not fear death; they fought with fanatic energy, determined to take as many lives as possible before they fell.
It was a jarring and frightening sight for both adventurers and civilians alike.
...........
"Die, die, die!" Valletta screamed with a gleeful grin, her face filled with sadistic pleasure as she toyed with Vasileios and Nikolaos, who struggled desperately not to die.
"Come on, cuties, let me hear your screams! Let me hear you beg!" she taunted, her expression shifting from sadistic to mockingly cute.
The sight terrified the two boys, already marked by many cuts and bruises.
"Huff! Huff!" they panted in exhaustion, their lungs burning, muscles aching, and minds clouded by blood loss.
It had only been a little over ten minutes since their battle with Valletta began and when the evilus launched their attack.
Vasileios and Nikolaos fought tirelessly to keep Valletta's attention, knowing that if she lost interest, hundreds of civilians could perish in an instant.
A peak level 5 adventurer like her was far too difficult for fresh level 3s.
However, as members of the Bahamut familia, the boys were accustomed to fighting opponents beyond their means.
Draco's absurd level-up requirements were paying off, and their superior stats was what kept them alive—along with the fact that their opponent seemed intent on prolonging their suffering rather than slaughtering civilians.
Bang!
Vasileios grunted and clenched his teeth in pain as he staggered back from one of Valletta's strikes.
Swoosh!
Nikolaos immediately swung his spiked maul in a wide arc to cover Vasileios.
However swinging wide had created an opening for Valletta to attack.
Valletta, obviously wouldn't miss the chance to add another cut to the collection, so she swung at the opening.
Luckily Vasileios had quickly recovered, with an awkward stance, he raised his shield to protect Nikolaos from being cleaved in two.
Bang!
The impact sent both boys flying into a nearby building.
"This is getting boring," Valletta muttered, her interest in the boys waning.
"Arachniaaa!" an adventurer screamed in rage as he arrived at the scene, joined by others who held old grudges against her.
"Cough! Cough!" Nikolaos coughed as he emerged from the rubble to see an adventurer and his four companions charging at Valletta, eyes burning with hate.
"Nooooo, run!" Nikolaos yelled.
Vasileios and Nikolaos were barely able to keep up with Valletta; so what were a group of level two's and one's to do except waste their lives?
But it was too late.
In an instant, Valletta had decapitated all of them, their heads rolling onto the cobbled road.
"Aaaaah," Valletta moaned loudly, her body shivering in excitement as the stumps of her victims' necks sprayed blood over her body.
She plunged her sword into the ground and scooped the dripping blood with both hands, letting it trickle over her face and down her explosive pink hair.
"Ouuuuuh, that hit the spot. There's no easier target than a bunch of righteous pricks," she muttered with satisfaction as her sunny yellow eyes glanced at the petrified boys.
Vasileios and Nikolaos already knew Valletta was unhinged, but what they witnessed now went far beyond anything they could understand.
"Now that's an interesting expression to see," she mused, licking her blood-stained lips.
Then she picked up her sword again, prompting the boys to flinch.
As she strode toward them, the boys cautiously raised their weapons, sensing that Valletta now intended to end their lives for real.
Before she could take more that 5 steps to her prey, Valletta suddenly sensed three incoming attacks—one from above, the left, and behind her.
"You monster!" a voice roared in deep rage.
The attackers moved with speed on par with a level 4 adventurer, but Valletta was not fazed.
She casually reached beneath her cloak and drew an ordinary dagger, holding it in a reverse grip with one hand while clutching her longsword in the other.
With a swift turn, she parried the fastest blows from above and behind.
Then, she dodged the slower attack from the left by narrowly deflecting it with the heel of her shoe.
The surprise assault failed, and the three attackers retreated a short distance.
"Oh my, isn't that the Astraea familia and a cute little friend? I don't remember inviting you little brats," Valletta jeered in an uninterested tone.
"Be quiet, demon!" Ryuu shouted, her rage palpable.
"This was supposed to be a joyous day. How dare you come to spill blood the blood of these innocent people" she cursed, briefly glancing at the corpses scattered around.
Alise and Eleni shared the same sentiments as Ryuu, but had more control of their emotions.
Without a word, Alise sent a subtle signal to Ryuu and Eleni then charged forward with her longsword, using herself as bait while the others flanked Valletta.
Vasileios and Nikolaos wanted to join in but held back, knowing that their injuries made them liabilities.
The clashing of swords and daggers rang out as Ryuu, Alise, and Eleni launched simultaneous attacks on Valletta.
Despite their best efforts, Valletta easily parried their blows.
"Idiots," she sneered.
"A couple of level 3s can't hope to defeat a level 5," she said, swiping at Alise's feet.
Alise barely dodged, relying on her quick instincts and active skills to survive.
Ryuu and Eleni similarly depended on their active speed boosting skills to evade Valletta's deadly counterattacks.
While the girls kept Valletta occupied, reinforcements from the Loki familia arrived at the scene.
A sturdy dwarf strode up with remarkable speed, suddenly delivering a rock-solid punch to the distracted Valletta's stomach.
Smash!
Valletta's body skipped across the cobbled road before she planted her sword and dagger in the ground to regain her balance.
"Elgarm!" Ryuu shouted in relief.
Ryuu, Eleni, and Alise had accumulated several cuts from Valletta's strikes, although not serious wounds, they knew that too many would eventually weaken them, so they were grateful for the reinforcement.
"Are you okay, ladies and boys?" Gareth asked, glancing between Alise, Ryuu, and Eleni, then at Vasileios and Nikolaos.
However they didn't get to reply as Gareth suddenly cursed out loudly .
"Curses, what was I doing? How could I have let these deaths occur on my watch? Finn and Riveria will be ashamed of me," Gareth muttered in horror as he surveyed the casualties —not only on the main street but in the branching alleys as well.
"Damn, that hurt a bit!" Valletta remarked with an ominous chuckle, drawing Gareth's attention back to her.
"So the Loki familia finally decided to join the fun. Where is your crew, old man? Don't tell me the great Finn didn't come to help," she taunted, scanning for any notable members.
The ones with Gareth were nothing more than canon fodder newbies in her eyes.
The history between the Loki familia and Valletta was unusual, especially her long-standing feud with Finn.
In the eight years since the age of darkness began, they had clashed so many times that Valletta had come to regard Finn as her arch-nemesis.
"Sorry, but you're dealing with me today," Gareth replied, unfazed by her taunts.
"Finn has seen through your distraction and is handling your real plan as we speak," he revealed.
Before Valletta could retort, an evilus messenger arrived.
"Boss, our allies were attacked before they could start the plan. What now?" the messenger asked.
At the report, Valletta's face twisted into a menacing scowl.
Over the rooftops, she saw smoke billowing from both the east and west.
"Why are you all useless?" Valletta snapped at the messenger, who was left speechless.
"Here I am, swinging my sword and wasting my energy—and for what? Nothing." She complained.
As Gareth had said, Valletta's goal had been to serve as a diversion to pull the guilds attention away from her minions, who were meant to attack the city.
"You know what? I'm leaving. You useless worms, hold them off," she declared.
"Lady Valletta, you can't be serious," the messenger protested, glancing at the gathered powerful adventurers.
"You can't expect me to waste any more time when nothing exciting is happening. I'm going home, and you lot are going to be my meat shields," she added.
Valletta was a rather bloodthirsty person, but her lust for violence had not crossed over into madness yet.
Her sharp wits was what made her such a terrifying foe, and she was always prepared to retreat, if the situation called for it.
"Running away? You think we'll let you do that?" Alise said, stepping in front to block her path. Flames of fury burned in her eyes as Eleni with her longsword, Ryuu with her wooden sword, and Gareth with his battle axe joined her, ready to stand their ground.