Black Rhinos, a type of rhinoceros monster whose skin tissue was rough and gleaming black, hard and thick like armor. They had two horns on their heads, one long and one short, took a forward-leaning two-legged walking stance, and although they stood less than two meters tall, their bodies bore solid, thick, heavy muscle and physique worthy of the large category.
This kind of rhinoceros monster could be found all over Floor 51, and every one of them had the ability to one-shot a Minotaur in an instant. If they appeared on the floors above, they would without question be Boss-class monsters, no less impressive than a Floor Boss.
And now, they had appeared here in a pack, charging at Leo and the others while bellowing and roaring, their momentum so astonishing it seemed they could trample the whole ground to pieces.
Faced with such a large pack of Black Rhinos, even if a ten-person squad of all Lv.4s came, they would probably have no choice but to flee in disarray, not daring to face them head-on at all.
However, the girls looking at this pack of monsters charged out one after another.
"Hyah!"
Tiona was the first to rush forward, letting out a cute cry while wildly whirling a great double-bladed weapon with her slender hands, like a spinning windmill.
This was a huge, vicious weapon joined together by a thick, heavy hilt, with both ends no different from the blades of two greatswords.
It was bigger than Tiona herself and longer than a longspear, absolutely a super-large-category weapon fit to rival a great battleaxe. Its blade was extremely wide and thick, and one look told you its power was extraordinary.
Its name was Urga, a First-Class weapon forged from the highest-quality Hardsteel from the Deep Floors. Its power, durability, and weight could be called the highest tier even among the many first-class equipment pieces. It was a weapon Tiona had commissioned a Blacksmith Familia to custom-make for her.
To get her hands on such a weapon, Tiona had spent a full 120 million valis, a price even higher than Ais's Desperate.
Now this heavy great double-blade, which even a Dwarf would have to lift with veins bulging, was spun by Tiona with an extraordinary strength out of proportion to her own slender frame, as if dancing gracefully, leaping nimbly along with her charge as it swung at the oncoming Black Rhinos.
In a single crisp, clean slashing sound, the great double-blade in Tiona's hands easily split open the Black Rhino's prized thick hide, cutting this monster standing under two meters tall clean in two and sending blood spraying everywhere.
"I'm not done yet!"
The fierce Amazoness girl, wearing an innocent smile, charged into the monster pack like a ferocious beast, swinging her great double-blade again and again in a whirl of turns and leaps, dismembering Black Rhino after Black Rhino on the spot.
Following right behind Tiona, Ais likewise drew her beloved sword from her waist, the silver blade flashing a cold arc of light in the dark space.
Her eyes were sharp, the usual ethereal, detached air gone from her now. Her whole self was like a drawn blade as she cut straight into the monster pack.
She didn't display the same terrifying monstrous strength as Tiona, but her speed and agility were even greater. A single sweep of the Desperate in her hands immediately carved out dozens of streaks of sword light that enveloped one Black Rhino after another.
In a flash, one Black Rhino after another was cut down by the silver blade in Ais's hands. They either had their chests run through by Ais, destroying the magic stone outright and dying, or had their heads cut off, their necks struck, or were even split in two at the waist or shoulder, their deaths utterly gruesome.
Ais slaughtered these monsters with a cold face, as if she bore a deep hatred for them, her strikes not only merciless but particularly cruel.
"You two! Don't charge too far ahead!"
Tione was a step behind her own little sister, and a step behind Ais. Only after shouting this did she become the third to cut into the monster pack.
Unlike her little sister with her huge vicious weapon, she used a pair of recurved blades designed to fit the palm.
Those two recurved blades were only about the size of short swords, but like Ais's Desperate and Tiona's great double-blade Urga, they were First-Class weapons, made from the fangs of wyverns. They weren't difficult to make, had strong general utility, and could even be used as throwing weapons. Although their price didn't match Ais's Desperate or Tiona's great double-blade Urga, they still cost 58 million valis.
Wielding these two recurved blades, Tione cut into the Black Rhino pack, drawing out two cold arcs of light with a flip of her hands as she slashed at the surrounding Black Rhinos.
The Black Rhinos struck by the recurved blades practically burst with blood on the spot, their arms cut off and thighs taken out amid their screams of pain. Only after they had completely lost the ability to keep fighting did Tione drive a blade into their heads, ending their lives.
Three beautiful girls displayed astonishing power matching first-class adventurers, slaughtering the Black Rhinos that ordinary people feared like tigers as though they were killing chickens. The scene could only be described as a massacre, not a subjugation.
"S-so amazing..."
Lefiya was somewhat stunned by it.
It wasn't her first time seeing Ais and the others fight, but every time she witnessed this scene, she got a feeling of being shaken.
There was no helping it. Compared to these first-class adventurers, she really was too green.
"Garururaaaah!"
One Black Rhino slipped through the killing net formed by Ais's trio, became the one that got away, and charged at Lefiya.
"Lefiya!"
"Watch out!"
Tiona and Tione saw this scene and, along with Ais whose face tensed, simultaneously stopped their charging steps.
The Black Rhino gave the girls no time to react, lunging straight at Lefiya, leaving her whole body frozen there, her mind gone blank.
The next second, a streaking meteor suddenly flew in from beside Lefiya, struck the Black Rhino, and blasted its entire huge body flying.
"Don't space out!"
Leo had at some point raised his emerald-colored staff, aiming it toward Lefiya, calling out a stream of dancing meteors while speaking to the Elf girl.
"Hurry up and chant your Magic!"
As he spoke, Leo controlled meteor after meteor, picking off one by one the ones that had slipped past the killing net of the three first-class adventurers.
The meteors looked as if drawn by invisible hands, wandering and dancing up and down through the labyrinth while curving around the line of fire of one Black Rhino after another, sometimes bending their path and sometimes suddenly accelerating to burst straight forward, striking the Black Rhinos one after another.
They didn't explode when they hit the Black Rhinos, but seemed to become spears of stars, running through the Black Rhinos' chests in succession, precisely shattering the magic stones inside their bodies and killing them instantly.
Through this magic-shooting ability that was like a performance show, Leo's speed at slaughtering Black Rhinos was actually not the least bit slower than the three first-class adventurers, looking nothing like a second-class adventurer who had only recently risen to Lv.3.
"Quick!"
Leo controlled the dancing meteors and urged Lefiya, prompting her to hastily raise the Forest's Teardrop in her hands.
This staff, whose tip was shaped like a flower bud, was Second Class equipment that could raise Magic power. The magic treasure stone at the center of its front end reacted to the wielder's Magic and gave off a pale white glow. Worth 37.8 million valis, it was far better than the Emerald Staff worth under 6 million valis in Leo's hands.
But even holding such a staff, Lefiya's mind remained blank. Her mouth opened and opened again, yet for a long while she couldn't chant out the incantation of her Magic.
Seeing this, Leo frowned slightly but said nothing, only silently increasing the number of his Magic attacks, calling out a good many more meteors and sending them flying toward Lefiya's side, killing off one by one the monsters that meant to attack her.
And so, Leo and Ais's trio alike slaughtered the monsters at an astonishing speed.
By the time all the monsters had been slaughtered, the corpses of the Black Rhinos crumbling into ash and scattering, leaving only crystalline magic stones and drop items scattered across the scene, silence visited this battlefield not far from Floor 50.
Everyone came up before Lefiya one after another, looking at the Elf girl, wanting to speak but holding back.
"I-I'm sorry!"
Lefiya's face was deathly pale, her eyes welling up as she apologized again and again.
She knew she had made a very serious mistake in the fight just now.
Faced with the fierce Black Rhinos, she had been so tense and afraid she couldn't even chant the incantation. As a Mage, that was truly far too incompetent.
"Why does it turn out like this?" Tiona scratched her head, her face full of puzzlement. "On the floors above, Lefiya could chant her Magic just fine, so how come she can't do it after coming here?"
This actually wasn't the first time Lefiya had been like this.
In previous expeditions, Lefiya would also from time to time get so nervous and panicked that she forgot to chant her incantation, so quite a few people, Ais included, knew about this problem of hers.
Lefiya had always felt somewhat inferior and ashamed about it.
Facing ordinary monsters, she wouldn't get like this, and during an expedition, surrounded by teammates with someone protecting her, she could chant her Magic normally too. But once a monster rushed up to her face and she had to confront an opponent whose ability far exceeded her current level, her mind would instantly go blank and she could do nothing, only stiffen up there, sometimes unable even to move.
"As I thought, I still can't do it..."
Lefiya's eyes brimmed with tears, her manner turning humble.
She had worked up her courage this time too, wanting to change herself, to change this timid state, but in the end nothing had changed at all.
"You just get nervous too easily, Lefiya." Tione comforted her. "Don't overthink it, and don't be afraid of those damn monsters. With your Magic, you could burn them all to a crisp in one shot, right?"
Ais also looked at Lefiya and gave a light nod, as if encouraging her.
"But I always end up like that when it comes down to it, and I can't remember even a single word of the Magic incantation..."
Lefiya's face crumpled, looking like she'd completely lost her confidence.
Leo didn't say anything, only watching the dejected Lefiya, no telling what he was thinking.
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