Chapter 112 – The Eight Blades of Fury.

Diana's decision was made the following morning, in the inner courtyard of the Lower Cauldrons Estate.

If Zarek was determined to shadow her across every corner of the Third Circle, she wouldn't waste time trying to drive away a Level 60 demon with verbal jabs. To the logic of her Greed, having a combatant of that caliber nearby without putting him to work on the front line was an unacceptable waste of resources.

Diana donned the Dragon Chestplate over her linen shirt, adjusted the Crown of Sovereignty upon her brow between her obsidian horns, and looked at the man perched on the wall ledge.

“We are heading to the Valley of Blood Manticores,” Diana said, her voice cutting through the courtyard's silence. “If you want to walk behind me, you're going to be my shock vanguard, and you won't see a single copper of pay for it. If you're slow or get in the way of my casting, I'm heading back to the city alone.”

Zarek dropped from the wall with an effortless leap, drawing both moon steel swords from his back with a twin snap of metal.

“It will be a pleasure working for free for my future partner, Commander.” Zarek grinned, baring sharp teeth.

They slipped out of the city via the high eastern trails, bypassing Beelzebub's patrols and penetrating the border's deepest gorge: a red-rock canyon where monsters started at Level 48.

***

The first clash came in the bed of a dry ravine littered with ancient beast bones.

Three Blood Alpha Manticores (Level 49) swooped down from the cliff walls in a low dive, flanked by a colossal Sulfur Basilisk (Level 50) crawling through the loose earth with thirty-two hundred hit points and eyes venting petrifying mist.

Diana raised her left hand to prime Mana Prison, but Zarek took two strides forward, cutting into the monsters' line of sight.

“Leave the vanguard to me, Diana,” Zarek said in an easy tone. “Just burn whatever's left.”

In the next second, Diana understood why this man bore the title of Candidate for the Sin of Wrath.

Zarek didn't fight like Kael, who planted his shield in the dirt to absorb the brunt of the blow.

Zarek fought with continuous, lethal momentum.

His four secondary arms of black chitin shot razor-thin, translucent threads of Moon Steel Silk through the air. The threads anchored into the ravine's stone walls in a millisecond, creating a web of shearing cables that pinned all four limbs of the Level 50 Basilisk to the ground before the reptile could strike.

In his two main hands, Zarek's curved swords began spinning at a speed ordinary eyes could not follow.

The swordsman's unique Sin skill triggered:

ASCENDANT FURY!

Zarek's six eyes — the two main amber ones and the four secondary ones on his forehead — flared a vivid crimson. With every slash delivered, the speed of his arms climbed by ten percent, and the kinetic force of the lunar blades tore through the air with dry snaps of vacuum.

One of the Level 49 manticores dove with its acid stinger primed.

Zarek didn't even look up.

He crossed both swords through the air in an upward slash of 60 Strength, severing the manticore's entire tail and cleaving both leathery wings before the beast even touched the ground.

CRUNCH! CRITICAL DAMAGE: 720!

***

Diana didn't just stand there watching the show.

Backed by 189 Intelligence, the Commander slotted into the rhythm of slaughter with the precision of solving a mathematical equation.

She deployed [Mana Prison] to seal the petrifying gaze of the Basilisk trapped in Zarek's web of threads.

Next, she concentrated energy into the two obsidian horns on her brow.

OBSIDIAN HORNS' IGNEOUS FOCUS!

PZZZZT!

The slender beam of white fire lanced from the tips of the obsidian, boring through the carapace of the Basilisk's neck in a flawlessly cauterized puncture.

The very second the carapace gave way under the heat of the beam, Zarek whipped his frame through the air and brought both lunar blades crashing directly into the wound opened by Diana, severing the colossal head of the Level 50 monster in a single blow.

The remaining two manticores were butchered by Zarek's blades and incinerated by Diana's [Greed's Flame] in under three minutes of combat.

All four Level 49 and 50 beasts lay dead in the dust of the ravine.

***

The colossal surge of experience from the Level 50 hunt flooded Diana's interface:

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

[ENEMIES DEFEATED: SULFUR BASILISK (LEVEL 50) + 3x ALPHA MANTICORES]

- Experience Gained: 3,200 EXP (+640 Anomaly Bonus).

[SYSTEM: YOU HAVE LEVELED UP!]

- DIANA HAS REACHED LEVEL 41!

[ATTRIBUTE ALLOCATION - DIANA (LEVEL 41)]

- Progression: Level 40 -> Level 41 (5 Free Points).

- Class Passives (+3 INT, +2 PER, +1 WIS): Applied.

- Allocation: +3 Free Intelligence (175 + 3 + 3 = 181 INT! + 20 from Crown = 201 INT! -> Broke past the two-hundred-point barrier!), +2 Vitality (59 -> 61 VIT -> HP reaches 610 POINTS!), +2 Perception (78 + 2 = 80 PER!), +1 Wisdom (35 + 1 = 36 WIS!). (MP reaches 1,340 MP POINTS!)

[COMMANDER'S LOOT ACTIVATED (+30% BONUS)]

- Direct Coins: +25 pure Silver Coins!

- Rare Materials: 1x Level 50 Basilisk Core + 6x Alpha Manticore Eyes.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

***

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

[FULL FINANCIAL AUDIT]

Previous Balance: 390 Silver Coins and 50 Bronze.

Loot from Level 50 Beasts (+30% Bonus): +25 Silver Coins!

[NEW ABSOLUTE NET WORTH: 415 SILVER COINS AND 50 BRONZE (41,550 Bronze / 41.55 GOLD COINS!)]

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Four hundred and fifteen silver coins in the vault. Over Forty-One and a Half Gold Coins.

Diana at Level 41 with 201 Intelligence and 1,340 mana points.

***

Zarek flicked the black blood from his lunar swords with a sharp snap of his wrists and sheathed both blades across his back.

He turned to Diana, resting two of his secondary hands on his hips while using his main hand to push back the black hair on his forehead, an obvious smirk of satisfaction on his face:

“So, Commander? Did I pass my practical vanguard test?”

Diana glanced at the severed head of the Level 50 Basilisk on the ground, then back to the six-armed man's flawless combat stance.

Her analytical mind weighed the reality: with Zarek's crowd control speed and cutting damage clearing the way, her progression to Level 50 would take half the estimated time.

Diana sheathed her black steel dagger at her waist, straightening her black leather coat with a faint, sharp, pragmatic smirk:

“You're not useless, Zarek. You can keep walking behind me.”

Zarek let out a hearty laugh that echoed off the ravine's walls, falling into step beside the black-horned Commander as they gathered the spoils from the red earth.