[Chapter 276. Additional surprises]

Iris's dark blade cut through the incoming Stonehide Strider in one fluid arc, the frost coating its midnight steel freezing the blood that threatened to spill on contact. The kill was clean. The creature's lifeless body fell to the ground in two severed halves; there was no blood spray or pooling on the hard-packed earth. There was just a lifeless husk slowly being reclaimed by the System. The creature's rocky shell cracked as blue light pulsed from beneath, breaking its form down into particles that would eventually regenerate elsewhere in the Labyrinth.

"Get your heads out of the clouds and get back to work," Iris snapped at the four young women standing several meters away. Their eyes were still wide with wonder as they admired the gleaming Valkyrie-like armor they had just received from Searanox. Her voice carried across the desolate expanse like the crack of a whip—sharp and commanding—causing them to flinch and turn their attention back to the endless cycle of combat that sustained their new existence.

"I also got this book in mine..." Lana said, bringing out the Vita Tome. The leather cover was worn smooth with age, its pages bound with intricate silver filigree that seemed to pulse with a gentle, life-giving energy. "I think this one is for you, Carmen." She held it out. Her fingers trembled slightly as they brushed against the tome's surface; the warmth radiating from it was a contrast to the unforgiving environment of the Labyrinth.

Carmen took the book and turned it over in her hands. It was surprisingly light, almost weightless despite its substantial appearance. She ran her fingers over the embossed symbols on the cover, the leather cool against her skin, and felt a faint thrum of power that seemed to resonate with her own essence.

Sarah leaned in and whispered in a teasing tone, her breath warm against Carmen's ear, "Are you going to dual-wield now? I bet you will. That would look so cool." Her eyes sparkled with mischief; the thought of Carmen wielding both her staff and the book sent a thrill through her that momentarily eclipsed the fear gnawing at the edges of their consciousness.

Carmen stored the book away in a pale flash of blue light, and in its place, a dagger materialized from her inventory. It was wicked-looking the blade had a deep, sickly green hue, with a razor-sharp hooked edge that perpetually glistened with a thin, translucent ooze. The hilt was crafted from a strange, blackened wood that felt almost alive to the touch. Its surface writhed with subtle patterns that shifted and changed as Carmen wrapped her fingers around it, the weapon fitting her hand as if it had been forged specifically for her.

"Is that for meee?" Sarah's squeal was even more shrill than the one she'd let out upon seeing Iris's armor. Her voice cracked with excitement as she bounced on the balls of her feet, her eyes fixed on the dagger with an intensity that made Carmen take an involuntary step back. The woman's desire for the weapon was palpable in the air between them.

"I doubt that it is for me, or for anyone else here," Carmen said while looking at the thick blade in her hand, her mind already cataloging its properties. The sickly green ooze that perpetually coated the dagger's edge seemed to pulse with a sinister life of its own, and she could feel a faint warmth radiating from the strange, blackened wood of the hilt. "But you won't be able to use it for quite some time, Sarah. It's a level twenty weapon."

"What? It's a dagger—you stab things with it. It has nothing to do with level," Sarah protested, snatching the dagger right out of Carmen's hand. Her fingers closed around the hilt with a familiarity that belied her ignorance of its true nature. The blackened wood seemed to writhe in her grasp, as if responding to her touch. "Ohhhh~ I want to stab something with it."

Her eyes beamed as they wandered over the blade. The look she gave it was the exact same one she would give an attractive man—filled with desire and a touch of mischief. The way she held the dagger, caressing its length with her thumb, made Carmen's skin crawl. It was almost sensual, the intimate way Sarah explored the weapon's deadly curve.

"I'll give it back to you after you reach the correct level," Carmen said, snatching the dagger back with quick, decisive movements. The moment the blade left her hand, Sarah's expression soured, her lower lip pushing forward in a petulant pout. "But for now, you should get to work."

Sarah pouted, but her attention was quickly drawn away as two more Stonehide Striders pulled themselves out of the ground in front of them. Their rocky hides cracked, shedding dirt like snakeskin. Their glowing eyes fixed on the group with mindless aggression, the light pulsing in their depths as they lumbered forward, their massive feet scraping against the hard-packed earth.

Iris moved with deadly grace, her armored form a blur of black metal and silver trim as she closed the distance. Her frost-laced Zweihänder swept out in a wide arc, carving through one creature's leg with a screech of grinding stone. Ice crystals formed along the wound's edge, spreading like a web across the Strider's rocky flesh. It stumbled, its massive body crashing to the ground with a thud that shook the very air around them.

"Vanessa, focus your fire on its joints!" Lana commanded from behind her shield. Her new armor gleamed as she positioned herself firmly between the creatures and her teammates. The Valkyrie-like plate felt strange on her frame—lighter than she expected, yet somehow vastly more protective. She could feel the power thrumming through the silver, a promise of strength she was only beginning to understand.

Vanessa's tome glowed with pale, ethereal light as she channeled her power through intricate arcane matrices. Her fingers traced symbols in the air, leaving shimmering trails of multicolored energy that coalesced into bolts of raw magical force. These bolts shot across the battlefield with unerring precision, striking the second Strider squarely in its shoulder joint. The impact resonated with a thunderous crack, sending fragments of stone-like armor scattering across the cracked earth. The creature staggered backward, its right limb hanging limply at an unnatural angle, crystalline fractures spiderwebbing across its rocky hide.

Sarah vanished in a shimmer of distorted air, her form dissolving like heat haze above the scorched terrain. The space she'd occupied seconds before rippled with residual energy as she reappeared behind the wounded Strider in a burst of motion too quick for the eye to follow. Her daggers—simple steel that paled in comparison to Kasaka's Venom Fang—plunged deep into the creature's back, finding a weak point between armored plates where softer tissue lay exposed. The creature roared in pain and fury, attempting to twist around and crush its unseen attacker, but Sarah had already danced away, her movements fluid and practiced.

Before she could finish it off with a decisive blow, Iris suddenly stood next to her. Her arrival was marked only by the faint displacement of air and the subtle scent of frost. The dark metal of her blade descended in a silent, deadly arc, decapitating the beast in one fluid swing. Freezing the cross-section as the blade ran through its flesh, dark crystalline ice shards formed from what passed for the creature's blood, creating an eerie crown of jagged ice around the severed head as it rolled to a stop.

"Sarah, you will not be able to draw out the dagger's true potential if you don't fulfill the requirements. If you want to truly wield it, you have to become stronger. I will leave you girls on your own now; do not disappoint him. Carmen, contact me if there is anything of importance."

Iris's voice carried the cold precision of her blade. Her silver eyes met each of theirs with calculated intensity before she dashed off into the distant haze, her armored form becoming a mere silhouette against the desolate landscape.

Sarah stared after her retreating form until Iris fully vanished from sight, her mouth slightly agape as she replayed the image of Iris slaying two beasts without even slowing down. "She is so strong... They just fall dead beneath her blade." Her voice was barely a whisper, filled with equal parts awe and despair at the vast chasm that separated their own meager abilities from the effortless lethality of their superior.