Taguchi took out his sniper and set it on the ground, he took aim and with a loud BAM, the sniper rifle took recoil, launching an bullet in a straight line. It struck the ground about ten meters away from the children on the plain.

The sudden attack made the children sneer at Taguchi. The object of their mockery was the missed bullet. Of course, the children could not hit a target that was over one hundred twenty meters distant either, but they seemed to have forgotten that. The vast disparity between the attack they had received and their numbers made the children's violent instincts swell. They shouted in unison, and charged

At Taguchi with wild abandon. The somewhat slower werebears followed from behind them as well.

Driven into a frenzy by their bloodlust, they did not form up into ranks, nor did they protect themselves with their muscular hands. Their minds were a sea of white. As he verified that fact, Taguchi smiled thinly.

"Loose!"

He sent another bullet downrange when the enemy was ninety meters distant. This time, the bullet did not fall short, but pierced a children' of the forest's cranium. The mutant at the end of the formation took a few wobbly steps before collapsing to ground as his brain matter spilled out.

The other children seemed to be only briefly startled by the sudden death of one of their own, but with barely any pause at all as they continued charging.

The distance between them shrank, but there was no worry in Taguchi hand, which was holding his sniper. This was because he was confident that someone would protect him, even if the enemy reached him.

"Die you bastards."

Nomi took out her gun from behind Taguchi and fired it at them, hearing his colleague's voice, Taguchi nocked in another bullet in his rifle.

Fifty meters out, an bullet went through the head of another child, who collapsed and did not get back up. Aoi decided to make his move as well.

Although the children were agile, the werebears had large strides, and so their speeds were roughly the same. That said, over a charge of nearly one hundred meters across a plain of dead grass, the werebears with their stronger legs ended up in front while the children lagged behind. The two groups drew away from each other. What Aoi was about to do would not be a one hit kill but

Still, that was enough. After, aoi's first objective was to pin down or kill one werebear.

Aoi took out a rocket launcher which he had been carrying all this time and fired it towards a werebear.

A whistling sound could be heard before the rocket left the launcher, and it flew straight ahead.The werebear's legs were as durable as a thick tree trunk, so there was no way a bullet would damage it… But, a rocket's destructive power was different.

The rocket struck the werebear at the same spot where a normal person would have a hip joint.

The werebear was blown into the air, with blood bursting from its pelvis. It landed flat on its back a few meters away, its eyes rolling in its head. The werebear's legs were crippled, but it was still alive and struggling to right itself.

At the same time, Lucifer — followed by oxy — stroller leisurely forward.

He did not seem to be exerting much effort, but they were moving at a

Comfortable pace. Although his feet were moving slowly, the size of his steps was enormous. They were wide and confident, the movement of a man who had complete faith in himself.

"This place is quite open, isn't it. It's almost like we're in a large arena like in a video game."

At the side of Lucifer, oxy nodded at his words.

As the werebears running at the head of the mob approached him, Lucifer reached his hands behind his back to grasp the hilt of his sword. Oxy too reached under his cloak and brought forth his gauntlets.

Sato brandished his broadsword, tracing a great arc in the air. The dazzling light reflecting off the blade made the mercenaries gasp in surprise.

The sword that Lucifer wielded — over 100cm long — looked exceptionally ornate. They resembled works of art more than tools of war.

How was he, a mage able to wield a sword?

He had skills like [create greater item], [create lesser item], and those were normal skills which usually player's of any class could get at around level 95 for the former and level 60 for the latter, so even through he had those skills he could not create everything and anything permanent. Anything he would create would only last for a small while.

For example, [create lesser item] skill would let you create a weapon of any kind but the weapon thus created would only last for 5 minutes, a maximum of 8.

And then it would vanish. He could increase the longevity of those items by creating them using an ability like [enchant weapon], but that would only add to the time the items would last. So instead of 7 minutes, at most the item would last for 12 minutes or 15 minutes. The time depended on how much mana he spent in enchanting it.

[Create greater item] could create items up-to lesser legendary rank or very rare rank and they would have a durability instead of a limit.

That durability would reduce every second the object would exist, so even a very rare or an uncommon rank item would vanish if used.

And even those wouldn't exactly be the same as if you found that item.

For example, you would create a uncommon rank sword, the durability of that sword would be low. Which means it would become completely useless a lot more easily than the one crafted by a craftsman.

The effect's of a sword created by him using this ability would only be half that of a normal one. So if the sword had an effect of +20 attack or something, when he created that sword, it would be +10 or even lesser.

Even the durability of the object's created would be less. If an object crafted by a craftsman had a durability of 100, then the same object being created by him would have a durability of 75-80 at most. And that durability would go down very fast.

So using those skills, you really could do nothing more than create temporary items with a low lifespan, and with a durability that goes down quicker than a girl's patience if you don't text her within 30 seconds. That is why, even though he knew these skills, he never used them unless he absolutely had to. It would be a waste of mana, but here, he had no choice.

It didn't seem possible that an enormous sword like that could be easily wielded, but Sato handled it with fluid movements and graceful poise.

As they beheld his majestic figure, the Blood wolf's drew a breath in unison. If what they had seen before made them gasp, what they saw now was a scene that struck them dumb.

Swords got heavier the longer they were. Long swords like the ones Lucifer was holding could not be wielded easily, even with weight-reducing materials. Granted, they already knew that Lucifer possessed preternatural arm strength from their short time with him, but even so, they could not believe anyone could swing that broad-sword with such ease without a cyber skeleton or something of sorts.

However…

Lucifer casually whipped it through the air like a sticks. Truly, it was an awe-inspiring sight.

Saul and nomi were mesmerized and shocked by the sight of his sword technique. The way Lucifer moved with the sword made it seem like the weapon weighed as much as a twig. Lucifer wielded the sword as if he had no regard for the law of physics, as the broadsword slashed through the air.

As a warrior himself, he immediately knew just how strong one's arms would have to be to pull off a stunt like that. His shock was because he had no idea how long Sato had trained to reach that level of ability. Although he had always felt that Sato was on a different level from himself, being confronted with the truth made his legs tremble uncontrollably.

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Even the unintelligent children were terrified by the sight of Lucifer, their legs slowing from their mad dash as they went around him to go for sail and the others.

Only the werebears, who were too stupid to be afraid and who were supremely confident in their brawn, continued heading toward Lucifer.

As they closed in on him, a werebear got on two egs and raised their two front arms to slam down on Lucifer.

The werebears' forelimbs were covered by thick bones, and they were almost twice as thick as their legs. They swung down at Lucifer like clubs. Their size could leave a huge impact if it met target and was not dodged or blocked.

Lucifer' stepped forward.

His movements were as swift as the wind. And then, faster than that, he swung the broadsword in his right hand. The flashing blade left a silvery afterimage in its wake as it cleaved through the air.

The stroke was an astounding one — it raised goosebumps on the onlookers' skin. Even though the blade was not aimed at them, they could not help but feel that death stood by their side.

It was over in a single blow.

Lucifer turned his gaze from the werebear in front of him, seeking another target. As though waiting for Lucifer to look away, the upper body of the werebear slid off and fell down to the ground with the sickening clench. No, it wasn't the upper body, the first thing to fall off were it's forearms and then immediately followed it were it's upper body.

A single flash.

With that singular attack, Lucifer had taken down a werebear, a mutant that was ten times stronger than a normal bear, with a single blow. And it had taken almost no time at all.

Even the werebears who were behind their fallen comrade and were coming up behind him could not believe what had just happened, their eyes widening in shock. The werebears stumbled and slowed in their tracks, staring at the scene and the fallen werebear, unable to comprehend just what had happened.

"…Amazing."

Someone muttered those words, which carried clearly across the silent battlefield.

"…Absolutely incredible. This is beyond gold or titanium… no, could he be diamond?"

Cleaving a foe into two parts.

This was not an impossible feat of arms. A rare few exponents of swordsmanship — or those bearing powerful cyber weapons — might be able to do it. However, it was common sense that one could not use one's full strength when wielding a two-handed broadsword with one hand. After all, two-handed weapons were, as the name implied, intended to be wielded with both hands, using the weight of the weapon and the leverage of its length to do damage. They were not intended to be wielded by arm-strength alone.

Therefore, from Lucifer's movements, the possibility existed that his sword might be crafted with the best materials on earth or that Lucifer with one hand was stronger than a regular warrior with both arms, or both.

In the face of this jaw-dropping sight, the werebears unconsciously began backing off with looks of fear on their faces. Lucifer' strode forth, shrinking the distance between himself and the werebears.

"What's wrong? Not coming?'

The voice was soft, but the mocking tone was clear, and it sent a chill down the werebears' spines.

There was silence as the werebears stood still, and then they roared in unison, turning tail and making their escape.

Only a handful of them stubbornly attempted to face off against Lucifer.

It was not out of courage but out of foolishness and stupidity. As another werebear advanced, it swung down it's thick, meaty forearms at Lucifer. The impact of a strike from those bear claws was hard enough to break bones but Lucifer blocked it with his broadsword and took a step back.

Then in an instant with one slash, the upper torso of the werebear flew a few meter's away from Lucifer's and landed on the ground with a loud thud, where it died.

It's internal organs spilled forth alongside undigested meat and blood.

The stench of blood reeked in the air and some of it got on Lucifer's white armour, staining it crimson.

The sight was gruesome and Lucifer frowned as he looked at his armour.

"Disgusting." He murmured in a low voice.

This whole situation reminded him of being a level 100 and then occasionally going to the starting area and bullying the mobs which killed him when he was a newbie over and over again.

That brought Lucifer back to reality. It was time to finish off the situation here.

"…Then, as for the rest of you…"

Lucifer stepped forward. The ugly faces of the werebears froze, and they retreated even faster.

The children of the forest's circled around the werebears and Lucifer's defensive line to attack Saul and the others. The mercenaries, stunned by the sights they had just seen, managed to react to the assault and began moving.

Saul raised his katana and large shield, prepared to take on the ten or so children headed toward him. He slashed forward, sending a child of the forest's head flying into the air, and then Saul evade'd the arterial spray before entering melee with the other forest children.

"Take this!"

The yellow toothed forest child responded with a garbled cry that was hard on the ears.

Saul's adroitly blocked the child's hand's with his shield, while his reinforced armour took the rest.

The attacks were clumsy and lacked precision, and they were also easy to predict. Saul was more than used to dealing with the attacks of animals. The forest children had the same lack of technique.

He kicked one of the attacking child in the stomach, sending it reeling back. A few of the other children tried to pounce on him then, but he blocked them with his shield.

Just then, two missiles struck a pack of the forest children trying to attack Saul from behind. They collapsed like its strings had been cut.

Half of the forest children surrounding Saul rushed the other three mercenaries, but none of the children dared attack ox, who stood beside the storm of death called Lucifer.

The children could not bear to approach because of fear, but they knew that if they got close to him, their heads would fly off like the other werebears.

Taguchi put down his sniper and drew a short dagger from his waist. Together with Nomi, who wielded just her bare hands, the two of them ran to Luna and placed their backs against her's.

Saul and Aoi were matched against five forest children, and the odds seemed roughly even. Although the mutants were being eliminated one by one, it was still very time consuming, under the present circumstances.

Luna surveyed the battlefield anxiously, with an eye toward conserving her energy. Although some of the werebear's were immobilized by gunfire, she might have to deal with them if the situation changed.

As for Saul, he was engaged in a fierce battle with six forest children, and the struggle went back and forth several times.

The reason why they had not been overwhelmed by twenty forest children was because the children's charge had been blunted. After seeing Lucifer's preternatural ability to kill werebears in one blow, the children's' morale plummeted, and they could not make up their mind whether to flee or fight.

However, the situation was in a stalemate. They had to change something.

Then, Lucifer swung his sword in a grand, sweeping arc, as though announcing his intent to utterly demoralize the children.

As the sound of the displaced air swept into everyone's ears, they could hear the sound of a heavy weight hitting the ground. It was soon followed by three more such sounds.

Just as everyone had expected, the number of werebears corpses steadily increased. There were two more werebears struggling to hold on to life. One of them was crying in pain down by the grass, while the other was quaking in fear before Lucifer.

Lucifer's helmet turned to face the last werebear who was still opposing him. The mutant seemed to sense Lucifer's expression through the slits of his closed helm, because it made a strange cry before turning to flee, discarding one of its teeth as it ran for the forest. It was moving faster than when it charged, but there was no escape for it.

"ox, do it."

"Heh."

As the merciless order rang through the air, oxy — who had been standing by behind Lucifer — nodded slightly.

"[Thunder]."

The electrical discharge thundered through the air as it leapt forth, and the stroke of lightning cleanly pierced the fleeing werebears body. It even went through the mutant behind it and a little of the effects went towards the one who had been pinned on the ground.

That single spell finished off three werebears.

Lucifer planned to answer any questions about this as it being a one time use cyberware.

The forest children, who had watched this scene in stunned silence, began fleeing as they screamed in terror. However, Saul was too fast for them, and the demoralized mutants were no threat to him.

The mercenaries felled the forest children two and three at a time. In addition, Aoi — No longer bound to protect — began firing missiles blindly into the fray. In the blink of an eye, the children had been crushed, with no survivors.

The entire battle took less than five minutes from start to finish.

Amidst the vile corpse-stench that hung in the air, Aoi patched up Saul's and Taguchi's wounds with bandages. With nothing else to do, Nomi began cutting off the dead forest children' ears with a dagger.

They would be paid for turning in the ears to the mercenary company. Of course, mercs did not claim their bounty with monsters' ears alone. Rather, they submitted different body parts as appropriate for different types of monsters, However, the forest children and werebears were humanoid, so for the most part, ears were used in their case.

Nomi cut the ears off with practiced ease, and then she noticed that Lucifer and oxy were looking around the place where most of the werebears had died. They seemed to be searching for something.

"What's wrong?"

After hearing Nomi's question, Lucifer' lifted his head and replied:

"Ah, I was just thinking… do these monsters drop items, in particular, red stones or the like?"

"…stone's? I've never heard of werebears carrying anything like stone."

"I see. I was just wondering if they carried treasure."

"Indeed. I'd be jumping for joy if werebears had treasure too," Nomi replied as she removed the werebears' ears with practiced movements.

"It looks like that was wishful thinking."

Lucifer said, his voice filled with a hint of disappointment.

"Sato-san, but what kind of sword is that? I've never seen such valuable looking sword before."

"I know now that what you said at the company was not a bluff. Truly, you're on par with the strongest mercenary in Japan."

Oxy held his nose high as he watched from the side. However, Lucifer was frantically waving his hands about:

"Oh, there's no need to say that, it was nothing much."

"Nothing much…"

Saul and friends smiled bitterly.

"…After that battle, I finally understand what they mean by ' there's always someone better.'"

"I'm sure you'll all be able to surpass me with ease."

Lucifer's reply made the smiles of the mercenaries' faces even more bitter.

Saul and the others had worked hard to make themselves stronger, and they had carefully saved all their earnings, using them to strengthen themselves.

They could get along because they all shared the same goal. However, even when they looked back on all the effort they had put in since becoming mercenaries, none of them could imagine themselves on Lucifer's level. To the blood wolf's, Lucifer stood upon a pinnacle that almost nobody could reach.

This person traveling with them would someday become a hero, whose name would be known to all. He would become a great person that would stand atop all other mercenaries.

Everyone was certain of that.

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