CHAPTER 378: FOCUS STAB?

"Looks like I win, huh?" Lillian snickered smugly as pride swelled up inside her chest.

Millis rolled her eyes and chuckled at Lillian’s words. The Heroine then pulled out something from her pocket before holding it up with her index finger and thumb for Lillian to see.

The Rabbit squinted her eyes and wondered what Millis was holding, but then realised it was the coin she had used to signal the start of their race.

Lillian’s face darkened before turning deadpan as a wry smile plastered itself over her lips, "Y-you really picked up my coin along the way...?"

"Hell yeah, I did!" Millis pocketed the coin before folding her arms, "Ya can’t waste such good money, that’s out-of-character for ya, Lil’!"

Lillian sighed and waved her hand dismissively, "Yeah, yeah..." Before looking towards the entrance of the nursery, which was another tunnel that led to a massively open area.

After entering the room, Lillian looked towards the ceiling and noted how it was around 500 metres away from the ground. Lillian then looked towards the curved walls and stared at the small chambers inside them.

Using the light coming out from her mining helmet, Lillian looked inside the small chambers and found... Eggs—pale white eggs numbering several dozen, even more.

Monster biology was extremely hard to explain, even through scientific ways, so it wasn’t strange to find that creatures that normally wouldn’t lay eggs could.

Especially due to the fact that there were a variety of evolutions a monster could go through that influenced this.

"Tch... It’s so dark..." Lillian muttered with an irritated expression. She then drifted her gaze forward and revealed what seemed to be—

SWISH!

—A large metallic claw sweeping towards her.

Lillian’s eyes glinted at the sight of it as she flashed her sword forward. But right as her sword was about to make contact with the armoured forearm, a pillar of stone erupted from the ground.

Millis, having prevented the attack with a preemptive pillar, bent back 90 degrees and dodged a separate claw sweeping over her body. And right as the Heroine was about to counterattack, a torrent of water crashed into whatever was in front of her.

Leaning back up and brushing back her purple hair, Millis nodded at Lillian, who was startled at the sudden ambush.

Using the light projected from their helmet, they each looked towards a hulking monster that prowled in the darkness around them.

They were extremely similar to Barrel Moles with their thick plated exoskeleton that acted as metal armour and large forearms. Its fangs were beastly, already taking on a palish yellow.

However, the only difference was that these ones were much bigger, at least 8 metres tall and only had armour situated on only the more vulnerable places, which allowed it much better movement.

It was... Quite similar to a gorilla in a way, if it were partially bred with a rodent and had metal platings stitched to its bare skin.

Lillian recognised the two of them as the royal guards of the Alpha and were ones that had managed to acquire three mana shells, making them a Savage Maw. And with these stats, they were on the level of the Beetle.

Lillian felt her body shiver and her fingers fidget, not out of fear, but of excitement. She was finally going to fight a powerful monster after so long.

Watching as Millis charged at her royal guard, Lillian did the same and leapt towards the monster before her with her shortsword drawn back.

The Mole noticed her approach and crouched onto all fours before charging towards her as well. And once the two of them met, the only sounds that could be heard were echoes of clanging metals and the scraping of one.

Lillian ducked under a swing and shot back up, slashing at its arm and leaving a deep scratch in its armour.

By this point, the monster’s armour was covered in scars—something that caused the corners of Lillian’s lips to curl upwards.

But then, the monster swung its other arm down, crashing it down on Lillian and causing her body to shatter into a puddle of water.

Its armoured claws, which had cracked the ground, were suddenly enveloped in liquid chains that were tied to the ground.

Confusion flashed through its eyes as it watched as a portion of the chain separated and slithered behind its body like snakes.

Once Lillian had achieved getting into its blind spot, she reformed back into her human self before entering into a hasty leap.

Jumping and using its back as a platform, Lillian slashed at the back of its head—

CLANG-Skrr...!

—and inflicted another deep gash on its metallic exoskeleton.

Lillian then leapt over its head. She looked down and found the monster’s claws breaking free from the chains.

Using her boot’s air platform, Lillian narrowly avoided an upward slash from the monster’s claws.

Lillian clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes. She shouldn’t get careless.

If Lillian were to fail to time her dodges or her transformations, she would undoubtedly be ripped apart and crushed into paste. However, with each risky move she made—

CLANG!

—She chipped away at both its animalistic ego and also parts of its armour.

Seeing that she was getting nowhere, Lillian decided that it would be best to prepare her final attack. As Lillian stood in the air, she summoned a boring scythe into her left hand.

And by swinging it to the side, Lillian propelled herself, while simultaneously dodging a downward strike that shattered the air platform previously beneath her.

THUD!

The Mole’s claws shattered through the platform and caused a small crater in the stone ground. Using the rocks, it threw them towards Lillian, who dodged them with supreme dexterity.

As the wind brushed through her hair and the smell of blood wafted into her nose, Lillian’s mind went into overdrive as her eyes widened and her nose flared.

With exceptional nimbleness, she propelled herself around the mole and through the air, reaching the height of the ceiling.

And as Lillian regained her balance in the air, she focused her gaze down.

Lillian looked towards the Mole’s scarred and bloodstained body and watched as it roared at her in agitation.

Lillian breathed a deep sigh and felt herself in tune as she fell. Lillian felt the wind brush against her skin before grinning maniacally.

With a spin, she swung the scythe behind her. And like that of a bullet, she shot forward with maximum deadliness as she stored her scythe away.

Lillian spun in the air and regained her balance as she continued to build up both speed and momentum.

At the 250 metres point, Lillian positioned her body and shortsword into a stab, aiming her black-jagged weapon at the monster, who raised its maw to meet her.

Lillian then slowly closed her eyes and focused on an enchantment.

[Focus Stab].

Upon activation, the surroundings in the corner of her eyes blurred and narrowed, warping as her entire focus shifted onto the monster before her. This was the enchantment’s downside—tunnel vision.

However, if one were to ignore this glaring negative, then they would find that...

C-crack...!

That whatever they had intended to strike—

PSHT...!

—Would become a reality.