*****
As soon as the merger between Astan and Iris was complete, Iris—who was the current appearance—moved quickly, and a card appeared in her hand.
She threw the card forward, and it vanished in an instant.
Unstoppable Charge
And after a moment—during which she seemed to be deciding on something—she moved forward with her great axe ready to strike.
Her target was the man who was about to get to his feet; unlike the rest, he had no injuries other than a small bruise on his forehead.
Iris lunged at him before he could fully regain his footing.
Even now, he seemed not to have understood what had happened.
Things weren't supposed to go this way.
Among the girls now lying dead around her was one who could identify people's professions from a distance, and the hooded pair were supposed to be nothing more than simple massage therapists.
Art of Lethargy… Blood Frenzy,
On the other hand, Iris, who was wielding the large axe, held nothing back.
That was why they had fused..
Astan quickly realized that if a shot to the head hadn't even managed to cause a serious wound, they had to use everything they had without holding back.
She gripped the handle of her axe as if it were a baseball bat, ready for a powerful swing aimed at the man's neck.
"W-wait, I..."
At the last moment, the man snapped out of his daze and confusion and tried to say something, but it was already too late.
"Rage Strike!"
The axe blade, shrouded in a red aura, struck.
The blow was so strong that the man's neck quickly snapped, severing his head from the rest of his body.
Ugh, this guy was tough.
Iris couldn't help but think so, because even though it was a clean cut, she felt resistance in the blow, as if the blade had struck something more than just flesh and bone.
That led her to believe that the man must have had a defensive class with very high stats in that area.
That was probably why he had survived the shot.
"Range Strike!!"
But as if sensing something, Iris went on high alert again and, almost as a reflex, swung the large axe toward her side without even looking at where she'd aimed.
Bang!
The impact sounded like metal striking metal, and the resistance she encountered was so strong that her arms vibrated immediately.
Iris's gaze finally turned toward what had blocked the blow, and it was none other than the female leader.
She, too, was still alive even though Astan had shot her in the back of the neck moments earlier.
The woman had reacted in time and placed something resembling a transparent green cord in the axe's path, completely stopping the blow before it could split her body in two.
The collision sent both of them flying backward.
"Ugh! What the hell…? What was that? Was it a artifact?… And how are you so strong? They were supposed to be just masseuses. Oh, do you know what you've done?"
The woman was in shock, and her voice carried a mix of panic, disbelief, and rage.
She really didn't understand any of it and regretted having turned her back.
Now she had unbearable pain in the back of her head.
She even brought a hand to where it hurt. She could feel moisture, and when she pulled it away, her fingers were soaked in blood.
She didn't understand how it had happened. One of the team members had the ability to detect the activation of devices, and there had been no warning before the explosions were heard.
Iris, for her part, realized that, unlike the other man, this woman didn't have a defensive class and that her survival was due solely to her rank.
This led her to conclude that firearms remained effective up to the third rank if the enemy was taken by surprise.
Unstoppable Charge.
In any case, Iris didn't give it another thought.
The woman was fourth-rank, so she had to finish her off now while she was still somewhat confused by what had happened.
With her assault Skill and her mastery of the Dark Dweller skill, the distance between them vanished in an instant.
When the woman realized this, she began to back away in a panic.
In her mind, Iris was someone who had deceived them and possessed a powerful profession at least equal to her own rank.
They had accidentally struck an iron plate.
Furthermore, she was being cautious, as she couldn't see Astan anywhere.
The woman hadn't seen Iris and Astan merge.
Even so, Iris was the closest threat, and, sensing her massive axe approaching, she didn't hesitate.
From her waist, she seemed to pull out some spheres made of red crystal and launched several between herself and Iris.
They were only the size of a golf ball, but they all gave off a sense of danger that forced Iris to halt her charge and do her best to get out of the way of these red spheres' trajectories.
BOOM!
A wise decision. The first one exploded immediately upon hitting the ground.
The blast sent fragments of rock flying, and a shockwave spread out.
BOOM!
Then came another.
BOOM!
And yet another.
As she backed away as fast as she could, the woman began to fire relentlessly at the area, somewhat frantically and afraid of Iris.
The explosions followed one after another.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The ground was cracking.
Rock fragments and dust filled the air.
And that very chaos prevented the woman from gauging Iris's current condition.
Even so, she didn't stop backing away—or rather, she was ready to flee with everything she had.
But before she could even turn around to run properly, Iris emerged from the smoke and debris.
She wasn't holding her large axe, but only the firearm.
Upon seeing her, the woman panicked again and, not caring that she was wasting expensive devices, began throwing more explosive devices at Iris.
But this time, Iris didn't stop her charge. The moment she saw the spheres coming toward her, she raised the gun and...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three explosions rang out, followed by three deafening roars. In a feat hard to explain, Iris had aimed and fired at all three bombs, intercepting them and causing them to explode before they reached her.
The woman who witnessed this stared in disbelief and fear.
Fear of her imminent death.
Iris was closing in on her more and more.
"No!"
Once again, as if losing her mind and entering a frenzy, she began throwing explosive artifacts.
Even so, Iris closed the distance so quickly that the woman hadn't thrown them in an arcing trajectory, but in a straight line, so they would strike her directly.
Bang! Bang!"
Iris saw this and fired quickly.
She shot at all the ones heading straight for her and ignored the rest; the latter flew past her and exploded behind her, far enough away not to hurt her.
Click.
But at some point, she had run out of bullets. Iris quickly shifted her focus and looked at the bombs coming head-on.
It was an instant decision. She didn't even think about it. Once again, her body seemed to move ahead of any thought, and as if a path had already been carefully chosen, she shifted her body to dodge the bombs' trajectories.
Her body glided nimbly, dodging the bombs by mere millimeters, and she never stopped moving forward.
Boom! Boom!
The bombs kept exploding behind her, and she was getting closer and closer to the woman—all it took was one last push.
"Bitch! Is throwing bombs the only thing you know how to do? Why don't you fight hand-to-hand if you've got the guts?"
Iris, who hadn't said a word until then, spoke up.
And, for some reason, those words easily provoked and enraged the woman. For a moment, she forgot her fear and panic, and her frantic retreat came to a brief halt.
She thought about switching to hand-to-hand combat to put Iris in her place.
But then she remembered the explosive power Iris had displayed when she slit her brother-in-law's throat—and everything else she'd proven—and her urge to flee returned.
However, Iris didn't let that brief moment of hesitation go to waste.
In that instant, Iris had taken the opportunity to pull out a card and fling it forward.
The card vanished again, but the next moment, a smile spread across Iris's face.
"Haha~, you want to play with explosions? Let's do it your way."
The woman didn't understand what Iris meant, but before she could throw another bomb, she saw Iris had already hurled the gun she was holding at her as if it were a projectile.
She didn't understand what that was, but she didn't trust any of Iris's actions, so she tried to prevent the gun from even touching her, but…
"Kaboom-kaboom!, you bitch."
Boom!
Just as the gun was about to fly past the woman's side—and even without making contact—it exploded.
It wasn't as powerful an explosion as the ones the woman had been unleashing, but it sounded abnormally loud and emitted a bright flash that made her instinctively cover her eyes.
Serious mistake.
It was only a brief moment, but Iris didn't hesitate to take advantage of it.
Unstoppable Charge,Dark Dweller.
Once again, she burst forward with explosive speed and closed in on the woman.
For some reason, Iris's hands seemed to be raised as high as possible, as if she were holding something.
The woman, who had only just realized how dangerously close Iris had gotten, noticed this and for a moment didn't understand what was happening.
But the next moment, to the woman's bewilderment, the great axe materialized.
It was already too late.
Iris was too close, and there was no way to dodge it.
Boom!
Another loud crash echoed.
But surprisingly, Iris's attack didn't hit the woman.
At the last moment, she managed to activate one of her lifesavers, and a yellow barrier formed, protecting her from Iris's fierce attack.
Although her attack was stopped, Iris saw that the barrier had a few small cracks.
Art of Lethargy, Blood Frenzy, Rage Strike.
Boom!
Iris, without a moment's pause, attacked again. The second blow didn't seem to break it, but Iris kept going. As if in a frenzy, she struck the barrier repeatedly, widening the crack more and more.
As if in a frenzy, she struck the barrier repeatedly, widening the crack more and more.
That barrier could prevent Iris from advancing further, but it also seemed to be keeping the woman from moving.
The woman, who watched as Iris kept pressing forward with the intent to break the barrier, spoke fearfully.
"W-wait, do you know what you're doing? Do you know who I am? Stop."
The woman spoke, hoping to stop Iris, but Iris didn't seem to pay her the slightest attention and continued her relentless pounding, blow after blow.
The barrier seemed to be cracking more and more, making the woman increasingly anxious.
She tried to keep talking, trying to find a way to stop Iris.
"I-I… my lover is the leader of the underworld and…"
BOMM!-Crack!
She couldn't continue speaking, as the barrier shattered.
She knew Iris's next move would be aimed directly at her, so she grabbed the rope again and positioned it to block Iris's attack, while preparing to use another of her lifesavers.
Her brother-in-law was dead, and her lover must have noticed that, so it was only a matter of time before reinforcements arrived. She just had to hold off Iris until then, but…
Iris's attack never came.
There, she saw Iris stand still and look at her thoughtfully for a moment before speaking.
"Is your lover someone like that?"
Iris spoke with a touch of caution and a faint but noticeable fear.
The woman, noticing this, saw a glimmer of hope.
If they started talking, she could definitely buy the time she needed without having to keep using the expensive artifacts, so, swallowing all her fear, she spoke.
"Y-yes, he is. He's the leader of one of the three major underworld groups in this kingdom. I-if you let me live, I swear we won't come after you. The others don't matter—they're just minions—but if you kill me, things will get difficult for you, since you'll be hunted down."
"R-really? I-I don't want any trouble with that kind of organization."
Seeing that Iris seemed even more frightened than before, the woman began to gain confidence.
Her words were just nonsense.
Obviously, she was just saying that to buy time.
When reinforcements arrived, she would make Iris—and her entire family and loved ones—pay for what she'd put her through.
And, in fact, she had no intention of killing her.
She wanted to make her suffer.
She would take it upon herself to toy with her and make her life a living hell for having crossed her.
"Don't worry. I'm a woman of my word. Just let me go, and I swear that you and—"
"Range Strike-bitch!."
The woman couldn't finish her sentence, because Iris—who just a moment ago had seemed intimidated and easily manipulated—made an unexpected move and swung her axe so fast that by the time the woman realized what was happening, her head had already been severed from her body.
"Just so you know, my lover is also the leader of the underworld."
[Anomaly Event registered.]