Chapter 175: Brutality.

Aria’s eyes opened slowly.

The pain she had been waiting for still had not come.

Instead she felt the weight over her shift, and when she looked up, the monster pinning her was no longer staring at her throat.

All of them had turned their gaze.

She followed their gaze.

Jake stood at the mouth of the tunnel in his dark coat, sword drawn, red aura cracking the stone under his feet.

A vein stood out at his temple.

His brown eyes, edged with red, were locked on the scene in front of him.

Aria’s lips parted.

Tears filled her eyes before she could stop them.

"...Sir Jake."

Jake’s gaze fell upon her, noticing her torn uniform, the weary, drained expression on her face, and how she struggled to keep her eyes open.

His gaze held no lust.

Instead, the sight ignited another wave of anger, even more intense than before.

He tightened his grip on the sword until the leather wrapping the hilt creaked.

As he stepped forward, his deep red aura flared, causing the group of monsters to flinch.

Fear should have held them back... but it didn’t.

They all suddenly rushed Jake at once, slapping through the water, claws scraping stone.

And the monster above Aria twisted its head toward her throat as if it had felt its own death coming and wanted one last bite.

Aria froze seeing the wide mouth filled with teeth coming down at her neck fast.

Suddenly, with a

SPLASH!

A sword pierced the creature’s skull.

Dark fluid sprayed across Aria’s face and onto the nearby stone.

The monster gave a single jolt and then collapsed, twitching, across her legs.

Aria’s gaze was fixed on the blade that was stuck in it.

Then, her eyes quickly darted towards Jake.

He was unarmed because he had just thrown his sword.

The remaining group of monsters had already surrounded him.

"Sir Jake—!"

Jake looked at her and smiled.

It was brief, almost careless, as if the pack closing around him was not worth the panic in her voice.

Suddenly, his expression turned cold.

The initial creature sprang towards his throat.

Jake made no attempt to evade it.

Instead, he moved into its bite, gripped its jaw with one hand, and slammed his other fist into the side of its head.

SPLURT!

Bone gave way beneath the red aura coating his knuckles, which burst through the other side of its skull.

Jake twisted and slammed the creature into the second monster coming from his left, using its body as a shield before kicking both of them back into the water.

A third came in low.

Seeing this, Jake dropped his weight and drove his knee into its snout.

Then he grabbed the fin along its neck and wrenched hard.

CRUNCH!

The wet crack echoed throughout the cave.

He did not let go.

Instead, he swung the thrashing body into the next attacker, sending both monsters sprawling.

However, another one swiftly reached his side, its claws snagging the edge of his coat.

Jake scoffed at this, turning with the contact instead of pulling away.

He struck the monster’s jaw quickly and powerfully with his left fist.

BAM!

His right followed before the creature could recover, slamming into the same spot.

BAM!

Then he unleashed a flurry of left and right punches.

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

He stayed close, fighting the way a boxer would in a clinch, red aura flashing around both fists.

Each punch landed with a wet, heavy sound and a powerful shockwave of red aura.

Its teeth broke and flew out, and its snout caved inward.

Dark fluid sprayed across his sleeve, yet the monster still attempted to bite him.

Jake simply slipped past its snapping jaws.

Then he stepped in closer.

His fist dropped for half a second before exploding upward in a blur.

BAM!

His uppercut connected directly with its chin.

SPURT!

And the monster’s entire head exploded, causing dark fluid to splashed across Jake’s cold face.

He didn’t even blink, his dark coat fluttering from the impact.

He never seemed rushed.

Every movement was brief and brutal, intended to shatter something.

Another monster leapt at him from the side.

Jake caught it by the throat in mid-air and slammed it down hard.

BANG!

The monster looked up at him.

For a brief moment, the monster saw only a man standing tall above it, whose eyes glowed with a faint red light.

Jake slowly raised his boot, then brought it down onto the monster’s chest.

SPLURT!

The chest caved under his boot and turned into a bloody mess.

Then he slowly turned toward the last one standing.

The fish-like monster’s face was filled with fear.

It turned away from Jake and bolted toward the tunnel, fins slapping against the water as its body stayed low and fast.

Jake did not chase it.

He calmly lifted his foot from the mangled corpse beneath him.

CRACK...!

Red light gathered in his right hand, first as a thin film along his fingers, then thickening until the air around his knuckles shimmered like heat haze.

He reached into his coat and pulled out a short sword, allowing his aura to flow onto the blade.

The steel absorbed it, and the edge transformed from a dull iron to a vibrant, wet crimson, with small sparks running along the fuller.

Then he threw it.

BOOOM!

The blade left his hand like a flash of red lightning, with a short line of sparks hanging in the air behind it.

SPLURT!

It punched through the back of the monster’s skull before the thing could reach the darkness.

The body slid a few more steps from its own momentum, then collapsed face-first into the water and went still.

A silence soon fell over the room.

Jake brought his arm down.

The crimson glow around his fingers pulsed briefly before fading, leaving behind a subtle scent of warm metal.

Meanwhile, Aria propped herself up on one elbow.

With her other arm, she tried to cover her chest, as her torn uniform no longer provided adequate coverage.

But it was not enough, as her large breasts spilled past her forearm no matter how tightly she pressed, and she still kept her hand there anyway, breathing hard.

Jake stood facing away from her, his dark coat heavy with water and blood.

Aria gazed at his back.

The despair she had felt just moments before hadn’t entirely vanished, but a new feeling had emerged in her eyes and chest.

It was akin to hope, and intertwined with... something else.

And at that moment, Jake turned.

He looked at her and frowned.