Ceobe's agility was astonishing.
Even Franka, who prided herself on her agility, couldn't help but show a little surprise.
You have to understand.
She had undergone countless professional training sessions and life-or-death missions to develop such skills. Yet, the girl in front of her, who clearly had no professional training and didn't even know the most basic fighting methods, possessed such absurd resilience and agility.
Especially.
Her moves were wild and unrestrained.
It could be said that her wide-sweeping attacks didn't distinguish between friend or foe. Even allies probably wouldn't dare to get close to Ceobe while she was fighting, for fear of being hit by friendly fire.
"Aaarararara!!!"
At this moment.
The group finally understood why Ceobe always carried so many weapons on her back.
They weren't for slashing people at all, but for...
Throwing.
Whether it was a spear, a longsword, a dagger, a long blade, or even a crossbow, as long as it was an object, she could throw it. The only thing she probably hadn't thrown was her beloved little axe with her name carved on it.
Her throws were incredibly powerful, almost every one piercing through a monster's head.
The flaming spear also seemed to confirm that her Originium Arts were related to fire.
However.
After all, she lacked systematic combat training. Relying solely on instinct could easily lead to mistakes. More and more monsters were surrounding her, seemingly trying to capture Ceobe.
Soul Swap—
The aura around Jessica suddenly changed.
Not far away, Ceobe's eyes lit up. That special soul aura had appeared!!
*Hooo~*
A breath infused with the power of lightning flowed from between her teeth.
[Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash]
[Sixfold!]
As Lucas Reeve's fingers lightly pushed the handguard of the sword at his waist, the longsword revealed its cold glint. Then, lightning enveloped his entire body. Accompanied by a slight trembling of the ground and rumbles of thunder, Lucas Reeve instantly vanished in a flash of light.
The others could only see a streak of orange-yellow light weaving back and forth through the dark village streets.
In an instant.
The heads of the monsters that were about to surround Ceobe exploded simultaneously like watermelons. The faint blue light in their skulls dissipated into will-o'-the-wisps under the night sky.
"Liskarm, protect Miss Podenco and Miss Darwin."
"My name is Magallan!!!"
Franka instructed.
Drawing the rapier from her waist, she activated her Thermite Blade. The blade glowed red-hot as if it had just been pulled from a furnace. Franka charged out. As a mercenary, there was no room for fear. As long as a creature could be killed, then that creature was not to be feared...
The scorching Thermite Blade pierced directly through the head of one of the creatures.
The sizzling sound of the monster's skull being burned was continuous. With a light flick, the entire head flew into the sky.
Five minutes later.
The battle outside had reached a fever pitch.
The villagers inside their houses could definitely hear it, but no one dared to come out, not even to peek through a crack.
"This is bad... there are too many of these monsters..."
Although they weren't individually strong, and could even be described as weak—basically one-shot kills—
there were simply too many of them. They swarmed in from other parts of the plain, seemingly endless.
This won't do...
Relying on breathing techniques to clear the field is impossible. Hacking them down one by one would take forever.
Thinking of this.
Lucas Reeve leaped into the air, then sheathed his longsword and drew the two pistols from Jessica's outer thighs.
[Noble Phantasm! Knight of Owner!]
Crimson patterns spread across Jessica's arms. Soon, her entire arms were dyed black, and the pistols in her left and right hands, entwined with the crimson patterns, were completely transformed from ordinary pistols into Noble Phantasms. Although their rank was not high, a Noble Phantasm was still a Noble Phantasm.
He mobilized the power within his body.
The moment he landed, Lucas Reeve took a deep breath.
His fingers pulled the triggers.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat~~~*
Bullets formed from magical energy spewed out from the pistols continuously. Furthermore, under the modification of the Noble Phantasm, the pistols' rate of fire was already comparable to a submachine gun, perhaps even faster. And the power of each bullet was immense.
*Bang bang bang~~*
From the muzzles of the black pistols covered in crimson patterns, red tongues of fire continuously erupted. A rain of bullets poured out densely, and in an instant...
The heads of countless monsters exploded like glass light bulbs.
The bullets seemed endless.
For such small pistols, the magazines never seemed to run out.
Within the village.
More and more monsters' heads exploded. Their bodies fell limply to the ground, turning into black smoke and disappearing. Some monsters had their heads blown off the moment they stepped out of the night's curtain, their souls returning to the west. They died right after leaving their front door and went straight back to the respawn point—a death that would be laughed at by their peers for a decade.
No one expected Lucas Reeve to have such a move up his sleeve.
Franka quickly pulled the still-bouncing Ceobe into a nearby wooden house to prevent her from being hit by the stray bullets.
Liskarm, however, was speechless.
Isn't... that a pistol?
A magazine only holds sixteen rounds...
Why.
When he uses it, it's like a submachine gun that doesn't even need to be reloaded, and every shot is incredibly powerful.
What kind of X-dynasty veteran is this, is he using cheats?!!
As Lucas Reeve continued his barrage.
The zombie-like monsters were finally killed off. It wasn't until no more monsters appeared out of thin air from the night that Lucas Reeve finally stopped, signaling the end of the battle.
*Hooo~*
When he lowered the pistols.
Lucas Reeve was so tired he collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.
Jessica's internal Originium energy was not particularly abundant.
That round of shooting lasted a full ten minutes. Who knows how many 'bullets' were fired. Jessica's energy had long been depleted, and he had even used some of his own soul energy as a substitute for magical power.
Now Lucas Reeve faced a problem.
Jessica's physical strength wasn't great. It seemed he had to find a way to increase Jessica's overall power. The breathing techniques themselves were of average intensity, so their effects weren't obvious, but with a Noble Phantasm-level power like [Knight of Owner], the limits were already becoming clear. In the future, there might be even more powerful abilities.
It seemed that after this mission, he would have to spend an opportunity to choose an ability from the system that could enhance Jessica's physical strength.
"All done~"
After a short rest.
Lucas Reeve got up and walked back to Podenco's house, whose gate had been broken by the monsters, and gave a thumbs-up.
The little girl Podenco had finally recovered from her shock. She looked at the four 'explorers' before her in disbelief. They were all so strong? They weren't afraid of such terrifying monsters at all, just charging in and killing them one by one... *sob*! So strong! I'm so jealous!!
"Huh? Ceobe, didn't you leave? How did you end up here?"
Lucas Reeve looked at Ceobe, a little puzzled.
Ceobe paused, thought for a moment, and then said slowly.
"Because... there are monsters here... If I don't come... you might get eaten by the monsters... You give me food... and scratch me, I don't want you to be eaten..."
Ceobe spoke in fits and starts.
Perhaps because she spent so much time in the forest and rarely spoke to people, she stumbled a bit when trying to say such a long sentence all at once.
"Good girl~~"
Lucas Reeve laughed and ruffled Ceobe's soft and comfortable 'doggy head', and Ceobe's face showed extreme enjoyment.
Jessica: "Ahhh! Mr. Reeve! Don't be so intimate with other girls so casually~~ I'll get jealousヽ（≧□≦）ノ!!"
"You can rub my head too..."
Just as Ceobe was thoroughly enjoying Lucas Reeve's petting.
Miss Podenco also walked over.
"So your name is Ceobe, little one."
Upon seeing Podenco, Ceobe also stretched out her head, and Podenco gave her head a few pets as well.
"Miss Podenco, you know Ceobe?"
Franka asked, puzzled.
This time, before Podenco could speak, Ceobe spoke first.
"Before, when I came here to forage, the other villagers would hit me... Only she gave me food... She's a good person..."