SLASH!
A demons head rolled to the ground. Liana put a foot on it cleaning the sweat on her forehead with her sleeve. "Now this is way better than using a pickaxe," she muttered.
To the far side was Cedric who punched a demon with his warhammer. "Oh yeah, I remember you using that."
The demon flew over to the third person—a girl—they were there with and she slashed it into two.
"How'd you get this good with the sword?" The girl asked, sheathing her blade as they grouped at the center. She had yellow hair and it was tied in a braided bun with a sun pin.
"Me? Oh, I just uh…" Liana cleared her throat. "I used to train with a stick back in the village."
"Oh, I see. It's always been a dream of yours to fight against these monsters then?" The girl asked.
"Mm, a big one." Liana laughed. "You're really good too. Better than me I'd say. I ought to learn from you sometime."
The girl laughed, covering her mouth slightly. "I'm no guru, but I would entertain having an apprentice of my own. But you won't need to learn much since you're already this good."
"No little knowledge is useless," Liana smiled.
The girl turned to Cedric. "I should not be one to ask, since you're already good with your hammer, it means you've been using it for some time now."
"Not at all. This is my first day, using it," Cedric replied. "I still don't know how to pick a weapon. I use what I feel like using at the moment."
"Wow. Using a hammer for the first time and it looks like you wield it your whole life? Impressive I must say," she admitted.
"By the way, I never asked even though it's been just us three for a couple of minutes now. Your name?" Liana chimed in.
The girl hesitated for a moment before looking down with a light chuckle. "Sylvia Masett Volksnon. Sylvia Volksnon works fine though."
Liana nodded, sheathing her sword. "Oh, nice name—" then she paused, her head slowly turning to Sylvia. "Sylvia Masett Volksnon?! From THE Volksnon family?!" Liana gasped, her eyes wide in shock.
"Yes," Sylvia giggled. "Don't make it look like you found a treasure chest." She waved her hands, urging Liana to not over exaggerate.
"Wow, that was a surprise." Cedric admitted, also shocked.
The Volksnon family was one of the most influential families in the Kingdom of Cloveland. Their services in all aspects of the Kingdom's growth hadn't gone unnoticed. And the most iconic thing about them was their swordsmanship.
One of the statues Cedric and Liana had seen in the Atrium of Founders yesterday belonged to Jacob Volksnon. One of the Cerulean Guardians first and greatest swordsman.
It wasn't out of the ordinary for anyone to be surprised, seeing someone from such a family wielding a sword.
"Of course I found treasure, what do you mean?" Liana raised her hands exaggeratedly.
"But, why are you a Novice-rank?" Cedric asked, his curiosity trying to understand if she wasn't as talented or something else.
"Yes, he's right. Why?" Liana added.
"I'm not," she replied simply, with a smile.
Liana and Cedric blinked at her, waiting for something else.
"Go on," Liana prompted.
"I'm not a Novice-rank actually. I'm actually a Guardian-rank, but I feel it's best to start from scratch for more experience and understanding, rather than just… going up." Sylvia explained. "Elite Melvin also said it was a good choice."
It was a lie. She just hated that people had to be treating her differently because of her family's status in the society. She just wanted to be herself and break out of the chains tied by her family's nobility.
Cedric and Liana nodded, though the fact that she was all the way at Guardian-rank still hit them unexpectedly. They were expecting her to be Sentinel-rank like them, but looking at it her background again made it clear.
"So," Sylvia clapped. "Your own introductions will be much appreciated."
"Liana Damon. Sentinel-rank."
"Cedric Ford. Sentinel as well."
"Beautiful names. And it seems the three of us are all odds in this team." Sylvia laughed, covering her mouth.
Two demons suddenly jumped out of a rained house, but immediately, Liana and Sylvia unsheathed their swords, slashing both to the ground.
"We make a lovely team, mm?" Sylvia remarked.
"Indeed we do," Liana exhaled.
… …
Deeper into the ruins, Nolan was busy taking down demons on his own.
All this while, he had just managed to kill 5 demons out of 24. "How weak can this fire ability be?" He grunted, punching a demon in the face and taking another's head, bashing it into the wall continuously, until it died.
Now that he decided to check his reserves, he realized that having a hundred in mana reserves was actually stupid.
[Mana: 27]
How long had he been using the fire ability and his reserves were now at 27? For an F-Tier ability?
Nolan quickly let the flames die off and he jumped back, gaining space.
He did the one thing that was best.
[Switched Ability!]
[Fire Affinity > Ice Affinity]
He raised his hand, his palm growing pale as small crystalline particles started to appear, turning into a hilt of a sword, before it started forming the blade.
But then, the blade stopped halfway.
"What?" Nolan gave it a questioning look and tried again, but the system confirmed his fear.
[You have run out of Mana!]
[Mana reserves replenishing...]
[Replenishing will take 20 minutes!]
"How exactly do I get my reserves up?!" Nolan complained, his grip on the hilt of the ice half-formed sword tightening.
The system didn't reply.
Pouring all his frustration into his hand he swiped at the demon lunged at him, using the half-sword to cut slash its chest. But it didn't die. He wasn't strong enough, so he had to stab its neck again when it hit the ground.
As the others looked, contemplating whether to attack or not, Nolan drew his leg back and lowered his body, turning his waist.
He held the sword low and breathed out, calming himself down. Maybe he wasn't strong enough, but he was fast enough.
[Iron Tank Activated!]
In one fluid motion, Nolan blitzed past the horde as they came for him. "That's a plus five to strength, right?" he muttered in a calm tone.
Five of the demons had the upper halves of their bodies leaving the lower halves in a clean cut.
Nolan stood straight, turning to them.
"Now," he said, pointing his half-sword at the remaining demons. "don't go wasting my time."