"Watch out!" León shouted, snapping her out of her trance, but it was too late, those things were already too close for her to defend herself, and her sword was stuck several meters away.
'Damn it, for being distracted.' Myra thought as she turned to see those things just inches from her.
But before those monsters could touch her, León ran toward her, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her against his chest.
He was surprised by his own speed, which, despite being only 10% of Myra's total power, was still remarkable.
'Huh…?'
It took Myra a few seconds to react when she realized she was being held by the boy she had just met. She was stunned by everything strange that was happening.
She raised her gaze to his face, looking at him in surprise while he wore a smile after jumping back with her in his arms, saving her.
'W-Who is this guy?'
Everything about him was strange. At first, he had seemed like a frightened man, as one would expect in those circumstances, but now that she had formed a "contract" with him, he seemed to have benefited more than she had…
"Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"
"Excuse me?" she asked, seemingly finally snapping out of her daze, looking around to locate the monsters and adopting a more serious expression.
"Yes… thanks for earlier."
"Don't worry, it was his way of paying you back for doing the same for him," León replied, releasing her from his grip and turning his attention back to her sword, which was a few meters away, surrounded by those things.
"Do you absolutely need the sword? Or can you use magic?" he asked, remembering the spell from earlier.
She took a few seconds to respond before smiling again like before.
"Yes, don't worry about me," she said, glancing at him, then at the sword. "You're stronger, right?"
"Hmm, I'd say so," he said, looking at the sword again, tightening his grip on it.
She turned her attention forward again, taking a few steps.
"Good. Then I'll leave my rear guard to you," she said, launching herself forward without fear, at a much greater speed than before.
'Wha—?!'
She herself was surprised by her increase in speed, and not only that, when she reached the creatures, she used wind magic to cut them down, realizing she had torn them apart instantly.
'Incredible…' León was stunned by that girl's strength. Then he turned his attention back to his own surroundings, those things were surrounding him in droves.
Then he looked one last time at the system screen, which made it clear why Myra was stronger.
[Report: Upon forming a Dominion bond, not only does the host receive an increase in stats.]
[Myra Drevast obtained a +15% increase in all her abilities and stats.]
[The duration of these will also depend on the duration of the contract as a whole.]
"I see," he muttered, lunging forward, sword in hand in a somewhat clumsy stance, having never held one before.
When he got close enough to one of them, he struggled to dodge its punch, which came within inches of hitting him.
'Shit.' That thing almost killed him. He couldn't rely solely on a small percentage increase, he was still far too vulnerable to those things.
So as he dodged the attack, he spun on his axis, slashing the beast and making it growl in pain.
Before rolling across the ground to avoid another one's stomp.
He quickly got back up, raising his sword as a shield, using his other hand to stop the arm of the same beast he had cut.
"You're tough, huh?" he muttered with a hint of amusement before increasing his strength, pushing it back and cutting it in half with a single strike.
"Alright… I'm done playing games."
He lunged forward again, fully focused on trying to predict the movements of those things, which, thank God, were damn predictable.
With swift movements, he began cutting down each one, forming a pile of corpses.
Then he blocked the kick of one that caught him off guard, sending him flying several meters back before crashing into something, or someone.
"You're doing amazing."
Upon hearing Myra's voice, he couldn't help but glance back over his shoulder, seeing that she was standing with her back to him, sword in hand.
Then he raised his gaze to where she was looking, smiling at the large pile of mutilated corpses.
"You're not doing so bad yourself," he muttered, turning his attention back to the front.
-x- -X- -x-
After a few minutes of killing and killing those things that kept appearing, he reached his limit. He had already lost count of how many of those things he had killed.
And he could already feel his body exhausted, his reflexes dulled.
"Ughh…" he spat as he was struck in the stomach by one of those things and ended up rolling across the ground.
He turned again to grab the sword, but it was stomped on and destroyed by those things advancing toward him.
'Shit.'
FLASHHHH!
In front of him, Myra appeared in a leap, her sword already to her side after unleashing a slash fused with wind magic that not only destroyed the beasts but also shattered the rocks around them.
"Alright… those were the last ones," she muttered, sheathing her sword.
Hearing her, he couldn't help but sigh in relief, letting himself fall onto his back on the ground, staring at the strange sky of that place.
'Finally… those things are a pain in the ass.' he thought as he saw the system screen appear in front of him.
[Contract successfully completed.]
[The host's and Myra Drevast's stats have returned to normal.]
[Loading rewards…]
[Status panel unlocked.]
After that, it completely disappeared again before he could access that new panel.
"You surprised me," Myra said, walking toward him. "I didn't expect you to have that much power."
She said this while massaging her neck.
"Maybe you could end up being useful to me."
"Wha?!"
What did she mean useful to her? What he wanted right now was to rest and go back to his world, sure, that place excited him and all, but he had a life there.
At that moment, he noticed her hand resting on his cheek as his body began to move on its own.
'Hmmm?'
'HMMM?!'
The two of them came together in a long, deep kiss. León couldn't help but look into her eyes due to how close they were, she looked at him somewhat seriously, as if she knew something like this would happen.
"…So this is your reward… you're a pervert, huh?" she said with amusement, pulling back slightly.
León was even more surprised and confused, did she know about the rewards? And did the system refer to those things as rewards?
Then their bodies moved closer again on their own. He couldn't move, and it was the last thing he wanted to do, Sofía was waiting for him back there…
At that moment, he noticed that Myra had an even deeper blush on her face, with an incredulous look, seemingly embarrassed by what she had to do.
"S-Seems like you can't refuse this either, can you? Or am I wrong?" León said, pressing his lips against hers.