Chapter 36: Just a little more effort

After her first clash with the Ratman, Brenda knew she needed a different approach. Even if she activated her Title and boost her attack and speed at the same time, she could not match her opponent’s raw strength and speed. A direct, head-on clash meant certain defeat.

​Analyzing his attack pattern, Brenda realized the Ratman relied entirely on brute force and the advantages of his herbert which had a longer reach but he lacks refined combat techniques. Capitalizing on her superior defensive gear, she activated both her Speed Boost and Defense Boost. She switched from her greatsword to a longsword to maximize her speed and technical skill.

​Brenda charged forward. As expected, the Ratman swung his halberd horizontally in a wide arc. Unable to retreat rapidly due to her lower agility compared to Velvet, Brenda positioned her longsword vertically at her side, blocking the incoming strike. As the halberd struck, she pushed her sword forward, sliding the blade on shaft until it interlocked with her cross-guard.

​The Ratman had poured immense energy into his swing. When Brenda forcibly redirected the halberd downward, the sudden momentum threw him off balance. Relying on his strong physique, he quickly stabilized himself. Brenda seized the moment, grabbing the halberd’s shaft with her left hand while holding her longsword in her right.

​Because the Ratman held the halberd with both hands and possessed far greater physical strength, Brenda knew she couldn’t disarm him through brute force alone. Instead, she laid the blade of her longsword along the halberd’s shaft and activated her Attack and Speed Boosts.

​She slashed her longsword straight down the length of the halberd toward the Ratman’s hands. Seeing the blade sliding rapidly toward his fingers, the Ratman realized his hands would be severed if he held on. Pulling the halberd back would take too long, so he made the only rational choice: he let go.

​Losing his weapon was his fatal mistake. The long halberd had previously prevented Brenda from attacking efficiently at close range. With the weapon disarmed, Brenda tossed it aside and lunged forward.

​Disarmed and vulnerable, the Ratman attempted to retreat toward his companions. However, he suddenly found his path blocked by Velvet. Unwilling to drag out the fight, Velvet swung her dual katanas directly at his legs.

​Instinctively, the Ratman leaped backward to save his limbs from being severed. The katanas missed, slicing into the ground and sending a shower of sparks into the air. Relieved to have dodged the lethal blow, the Ratman breathed a quick sigh of relief.

​A sharp pain instantly pierced his chest.

​Looking down, he saw a blade protruding from the left side of his chest, right through his heart. He turned to find Brenda holding the hilt of her long swordThen he suddenly realized that Velvet’s attack had never been meant to cut off his legs so that he couldn’t escape but it was a feint to cut off his escape and force him into Brenda’s strike. But it was already too late for that so darkness graduality consumed him, and he collapsed in his own pool of blood.

​Brenda kicked the corpse off her blade, then turned to Velvet and gave her a thumbs-up. Velvet gave a simple nod in return. Having fought alongside and against each other thousands of times, the two shared an unspoken synergy that allowed them to execute seamless tactical plays without saying a word.

​Brenda looked around and saw that the remaining Ratmen had already been eliminated.

​Their side had sustained minimal damage. Velvet’s pawn had taken a blow to the shoulder at that time while stalling the beginner Intermediate-rank Ratman at the start of the battle. To resolve the fight quickly, the clone had deliberately used his shoulder as bait, taking a strike so he could pin the spear of the enemy with his left hand and impale him with his katana it was a trade of an injury for a kill and it was successful because of the presence of superior armor and the quality of the other party’s weapon was not so good.

​The injury was negligible. The pawn activated his Blood Control skill to instantly restrict blood flow to the wound, preventing hemorrhage. He then absorbed the fallen Ratman’s blood to heal the injury and restore his stamina by using the blood Replenishment skill.

​Meanwhile, Velvet had effortlessly dispatched the rest of the Ratmen before assisting Brenda’s pawn.the pawn herself hadn’t taken a serious damage having played a purely defensive and stalling role. The entire engagement had taken less than thirty seconds.

​Apollo and Alexander stood frozen in shock. They had assumed the encounter would be a drawn-out struggle requiring their intervention, yet Brenda and Velvet had swept through the enemies with terrifying efficiency. Even the single casualty on their side had already healed himself using some kind of magic.

They didn’t know the skills of Smith Queens that,and in the world of Chess Players it is a common habit to not to announce one’s battle arts and skills to avoid malicious people from countering you.

​Apollo and Alexander glanced at their Queens, Malinda and Lyra, who simply shook their heads in resignation. Both Queens knew that if they had fought the battle themselves, they would have needed all their pawns just to stall the beginner Intermediate-rank Ratmen while coordinating together to tackle the mid Intermediate-rank leader.And they knew it could never have cleared the room so cleanly.

​This display of skill solidified their trust in Smith’s leadership. Completing this dungeon suddenly felt far more achievable than they had initially anticipated.

​Smith walked forward, thoroughly impressed. "Well done, Brenda."

​Brenda removed her helmet and grinned at Smith. "Don’t worry, Brother Smith. I thought this guy had real skill, but he was just a brute who knew how to swing a heavy stick. His physical strength were higher than mine, so it just took a bit more effort than usual."

​Hearing her brush off the battle as "just a little more effort" left Apollo, Alexander, Malinda, and Lyra completely speechless.

​After collecting the loot from the fallen enemies, the group inspected the chamber. The circular room featured three passages: the corridor they had just entered from, and two branching pathways on the opposite side leading in different directions.

​Sticking to their initial strategy, they decided to explore the right-hand corridor first. The group took a brief rest to recover their stamina before advancing into the dark doorway.