Chapter 41: The ruthless guy

At that moment, everyone watching held their breath. Even Lyra, who had accidentally glanced in their direction, held her breath—she had turned just to see how the battle was going, but the sight of Brenda swinging her longsword toward the unprotected head of the Ratman made everyone freeze. They all expected the fight to end quickly, but things rarely go as planned.

​ Brenda who was right in front of him,saw the Ratman who seemed finished in the eyes of others, did not panic or show any emotion. He maintained the same calm expression as in their previous exchanges, which tipped Brenda off that something was terribly wrong.

​He raised his right arm toward the side of his face and bent his knees. With a sudden loud clang, Brenda’s longsword slammed into the Ratman’s metal arm guard, stopping the killing blow. Then, he did something completely unexpected: he grabbed the longsword directly by the blade, pinning the weapon in place.

​Seeing this, Brenda knew she something was not right,and just as she wasn’t to distance herself.

The Ratman, using his free left hand, grabbed one of Brenda’s hands on the hilt and shifted his weight to the left. Brenda could only watch the series of actions she didn’t know what was his intention but when she saw what was behind him she knew that thisntime she had fallen into a trap.

Earlier in the fight, she hadn’t seen what was behind the Ratman, but now she saw a personal guard behind him, swinging a heavy halberd straight toward them. Because the Ratman had shifted to the side so Brenda was now directly in the line of fire.

​Knowing the Ratman was ruthless enough to use his own head as bait and grab a live blade with his bare hands, Brenda also acted fast. Because She couldn’t pull her sword free, and her hand was trapped, making evasion impossible. Making her own ruthless move, she instantly switched her title buff from Attack and Speed to Speed and Defense. She released her grip on the longsword, reached out, and grabbed the Ratman’s right hand, closing the distance between them instantly.

​This caught the Ratman off guard; he had expected her to struggle to get free, not to close in and grab his other hand. Before he could process it, the guard’s heavy halberd struck Brenda squarely in the back. The blow was massive. Though not as heavy as an attack from the Ratman leader himself, taking a direct hit without a proper defensive stance dealt severe internal damage, making her almost cough up a mouthful of blood.

​Despite the pain, Brenda held tight. Seeing her still standing, the guard pulled back to gather strength for another strike. Brenda immediately yanked her head back and slammed her helmet covered head violently into the Ratman’s undefended face, smashing his nose. The excruciating pain temporarily broke the Ratman’s focus.

​As the guard brought his halberd down a second time, Brenda shifted their positions, pulling the Ratman into the path of the blow. The guard couldn’t stop his swing, and the heavy weapon struck the Ratman instead. Combined with the headbutt, the shock forced the Ratman to release Brenda’s longsword.

​Capitalizing on his disorientation, Brenda grabbed the Ratman’s head, yanked it downward, and drove her knee straight into his face.making him Staggering backward from the agonizing blow, the Ratman lost his focus and was in agony from the conservative blows. Brenda squatted low and executed a sweeping kick, taking his legs out from under him.

​As he crashed to the ground, Brenda sprang up, snatched her longsword off the floor, and planted her foot firmly on his chest. Before the personal guard could react, she plunged the blade straight through the Ratman’s throat.

​The sharp pain brought the Ratman back to his senses, but it was too late. With his windpipe pierced, he couldn’t speak; blood bubbled from his mouth as he desperately clawed at his neck to stop the bleeding. Knowing the wound was fatal, Brenda paid him no further attention and turned to face the remaining personal guard.

​Seeing the leader fall, Velvet stopped holding back. She had previously avoided killing the personal guards to keep from alerting the rest and to see her a threat, but now there was no need for restraint. She unleashed a barrage of rapid slashes at the guard in front of her. When he blocked her initial attack, she quickly shifted the attack pattern and she thrusted toward his abdomen. The guard used the shaft of his halberd to parry downwards, Velvet’s second katana was faster and it sliced clean through one of his hands, forcing him to drop his weapon. Before he could recover from the shock, her next strike decapitated him. ℯℯ𝘭.

​This was the signal for the rest of their forces. Brenda’s and Velvet’s pawns abandoned their defensive stances and went on full offense, completely disregarding their own defense to kill the guard in front of them.

​Working together, Brenda and Velvet quickly finished off the rest of the personal guards. However, the victory came at a cost: both Brenda and Velvet lost one pawn each, as the pawns had traded their lives to eliminate the targets. Since they were pawns, their deaths were not permanent; they returned to the spiritual space, where they could be re-summoned after absorbing energy orbs. The two surviving pawns were severely injured, so Brenda and Velvet recalled them to the spiritual space to rest.

​Though Brenda had sustained internal injuries and Velvet had sustained a shoulder wound while fighting off two guards at once, neither had time to heal fully. Velvet used Blood Control to stem her bleeding, and together they rushed off to reinforce the other group.

​When they arrived, they found the situation far better than anticipated. Although Lyra’s pawn had been killed and Matilda was struggling, the team had already slain nearly thirteen Ratmen. Matilda was holding her ground against a group of intermediate rank Ratmen, and Lyra was locked in combat with the mid-intermediate rank Ratman while there pawns where fighting against the remaining Novice-rank ratmen.

​Without breaking stride, Velvet and Brenda joined the fray, helping the group clean up the remaining Ratmen in short order.

​With the battlefield finally clear, the injured group gathered themselves. Since this was the final room of the dungeon, they wasted no time and immediately collected the loot dropped by the fallen enemies.

​Once the area was cleared, Smith—assisted by Velvet—walked up to the raised platform. Before stepping past the throne, he paused to inspect it. Although carved from stone, it featured intricate, beautifully crafted patterns that gave it a majestic and solemn presence.

​He didn’t linger long, moving past the throne to face the silver chest resting on the platform. Illuminated by the chandelier-like object hanging above, the chest had a striking visual appeal. Smith took a brief moment to appreciate it before placing the chest directly into his inventory.

​The moment the chest disappeared, a bright white portal materialized in front of the throne. Recognizing the dungeon exit, the group smiled—they had officially cleared the dungeon, and their path back home was open.