Picking the Hero out of the air.
(Air-picking: A shooting game term referring to the moment a character is headshotted while jumping. It can be applied to any scene where a jumping enemy is headshotted mid-air.)
“What? **[Casting]** can be used like this?” Duke the Divine Sword was instantly stunned.
As an elite Knight, he could recognize a professional when he saw one. He could tell at a glance that this Beastman Nun copy was no simple opponent; she was an expert among experts.
Selina was knocked to the ground, her face full of disbelief.
At the same time, the Crystal Beastman Nun landed and pulled out the twin swords she had thrust into the ground.
She immediately crossed the blades and stepped forward with a slashing motion. Her movements were as smooth as flowing water, radiating a powerful aura.
*Clang!*
With a sharp sound, the weapons collided.
Hake the Divine Sword moved to defend just in time, blocking in front of Selina. His sword slanted to parry the Crystal Beastman Nun’s dual-blade slash.
Even though he blocked the strike, Hake the Divine Sword had to grip his weapon with both hands and use all his strength to maintain his stance.
His back foot slid ten meters across the ground before he could barely withstand the pressure. His palms throbbed with pain, and his arms felt numb.
He had still underestimated this Crystal Beastman Nun. Her strength far exceeded his expectations. It felt as if he had been hit head-on by a Power Magic Bear; it took everything he had just to barely hold her back.
Looking at the Crystal Beastman Nun’s cold, small face—so beautiful it made him feel a sense of dread—he finally realized that the silent Half-Beast who had been responsible for the luggage had been hiding her strength all along.
But who could have imagined she possessed this kind of power? She looked younger than his own younger sister. How could she have such strength?
‘Dammit! It must be fake! The Crystal Labyrinth must have buffed her! Besides, strength alone is useless!’
“Ha!” Hake the Divine Sword’s combative spirit was ignited. With a loud shout, his entire body’s strength exploded as he pushed the Crystal Beastman Nun away.
Half-Beasts were not uncommon in the southern part of the Kingdom. Many Half-Beast Adventurers made a living there. The characteristic of a Half-Beast was their innate divine strength, a gift of nature that the Human Race lacked.
However, Half-Beasts had a fatal flaw: they weren’t very bright. They were unable to grasp profound skills, nor did they focus on speed and technique. Their main strategy was “extraordinary results through brute force.”
The class of Hake’s younger sister was Knight, and a swordsman focused even more on speed and technique than a Knight.
When not mounted on a horse, the difference between the two was basically the difference between light infantry and heavy infantry.
The south was the domain of professional swordsmen.
Besides the fact that the terrain of the Sea of Ten Thousand Forests severely limited a Knight’s effectiveness, there was another reason: Human Race Adventurers needed to suppress the Half-Beasts’ advantage.
Since they couldn’t suppress Half-Beasts with strength, the Human Race could only take the path of technique, inventing many sinister sword techniques specifically designed to counter Half-Beasts.
Of course, these treacherous sword moves were also very effective against their own kind and could be understood as an **[Anti-Human Attack]**.
As long as the opponent looked human, regardless of their race, the southern swordsmen’s moves would work.
Hake the Divine Sword was a representative of this style. Although his Divine Sword was ineffective against the Crystal Duplicates, and his current enemy was also a Crystal Duplicate, he didn’t care about that anymore.
“Switch.” He suddenly performed a backhanded upward slash, both fast and sneaky.
The sword used by Hake the Divine Sword was a light, swift blade. The Crystal Beastman Nun was dual-wielding Knight one-handed swords, and each of her blades was heavier than Hake’s. Her speed surely couldn’t match his.
However, in the end, he felt as if he had only slashed through a gust of wind.
The Crystal Beastman Nun had clearly just finished the momentum of her dual-blade slash. Logically, she should have been in a state of stiffness, unable to make an effective dodge.
Yet, she suddenly drifted backward, mysteriously avoiding Hake the Divine Sword’s treacherous upward slash.
*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*
In the next instant, the Crystal Beastman Nun used her retreat to build momentum. She spun in place, her twin blades rising like a **[Blade Storm]**.
Unlike his small, defensive moves, her style focused on being heavy and overbearing.
Yet, unlike other Half-Beast warriors, even though she relied on brute force, he couldn’t find any openings in her form.
She was like a small whirlwind. How could his sword collapse a storm? How could he block these twin blades that moved like a gale?
*Clang! Clang!*
At the critical moment, Selina the Shield Axe Hero finally recovered.
She dashed in front of her older brother, holding up her deep blue small round shield to block the spinning **[Blade Storm]**.
This was when the power of a Red-Grade Weapon truly shone. With a stable single-arm block, Selina followed up with a backhand horizontal slash, forcing the Crystal Beastman Nun back.
“Brother, are you okay?” Selina wiped a nosebleed and held her weapon at the ready.
“Selina, don’t be careless. This little beast girl isn’t simple. She’s different from the Half-Beasts we usually see. Her strength, speed, and technique are all incredible. She has no weaknesses,” Hake the Divine Sword took a deep breath, relaying the combat intel to his sister.
“How is that possible?” Selina’s face was full of disbelief.
“She’s a monster; she must have been buffed by the labyrinth. She’s not that little beast girl. Don’t show any mercy.” Hake the Divine Sword shouted his commands. “We’ll pincer her from the left and right. Use our intelligence to win.”
Anyway, no one would know. As long as they won, it would be fine.
Selina was naturally unwilling to win this way, but she wanted to lose to a Half-Beast even less, especially a Crystal Duplicate.
However, hearing her brother say the Crystal Labyrinth had buffed the Duplicate’s strength made her feel much better. The suffocating pressure she felt earlier eased slightly.
Facing the pincer attack of the two siblings, the Crystal Beastman Nun stood still, her hands hanging by her sides. She suddenly became as motionless as a ceramic statue, even closing her eyes as if she were dead.
“She stopped moving?” Selina asked in confusion.
“…”
Hake the Divine Sword also didn’t know what was happening to her.
A few seconds later, the Crystal Beastman Nun’s eyes slowly opened. Even though she was a Duplicate, her eyes seemed to have come to life.
Following that, the strange scene from before occurred again. She was clearly standing right there, but with an unfathomable speed, she drifted right in front of Hake the Divine Sword in a blink.
That kind of speed could no longer be described as “fast”; “eerie” was more appropriate.
If it were a simple charge, no matter how fast it was, he would have been able to react.
The Crystal Beastman Nun lowered her head and swung her hands into a **[Cross Slash]**.
The **[Cross Slash]** was a simple sword move with zero technical difficulty. It couldn’t even unleash one’s full strength. It was slow and clumsy, basically a novice’s move.
However, in the hands of this Beastman Nun, it was a killing move without any openings.
“Uh!” Hake the Divine Sword tried to block with his blade, but the sword in his hand was instantly shattered. His palm split open, spraying blood.
He could only barely dodge the lethal edge, but the sheer force of the sword’s aura sent him stumbling back. His back slammed into the crystal Domain Wall, and he vomited a mouthful of blood. Defeated in a single strike, he couldn’t get back up.
The pincer formation was broken just like that, effortlessly.
*Is he even playing the game right, being counter-killed in a two-on-one?*
“Brother!” Selina cried out in shock.
The Crystal Beastman Nun did not pursue him. Instead, she turned back to face the Shield Axe Hero—specifically, that Deep Blue Shield Axe.
Because she knew that only that Deep Blue Shield Axe could hurt her.
“Who exactly are you?” Selina asked through gritted teeth.
Naturally, a Crystal Duplicate wouldn’t answer her question; she could only ask through her strength.
Moreover, Selina had finally realized something. How could a Duplicate be stronger than the original? At most, it should only be able to display eighty percent of the original’s strength.
If the Crystal Labyrinth could produce Duplicates stronger than the original, why wouldn’t it just become the Mage King? Why would it stay here as a minor boss?
If that were the case, that little beast girl must have been hiding her strength.
“If you’re this powerful, why didn’t you become a Hero? Why serve as a servant for that sleazy, yellow-haired Pastoralist?”
Selina maintained her shield-and-sword mode, unable to easily switch to the shield axe.
In a flash, the Crystal Beastman Nun was right in her face. Before Selina could even see her clearly, the twin blades were already about to graze her scalp.
Selina could only enter “turtle mode,” defending with all her might. She raised her deep blue small round shield, desperately parrying the strikes.
*Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!*
The Hero could now only rely on her small round shield to withstand the **[Blade Storm]**. she had to endure and wait for a chance to strike a decisive blow.
Fortunately, her Deep Blue Shield Axe was a divine weapon of both offense and defense. If she couldn’t win in a head-on clash, she could switch to sword-and-shield mode. She could even separate her shield and blade, instantly changing her role to a Knight.
It had to be said that Selina’s adjustment speed was very fast. Both her skill and her will could be reorganized quickly.
If it were one of those white-haired saintesses with awkward personalities, they probably would have had a mental breakdown by now.
Although Selina was a bit dazed at first, she gradually found a way to face the enemy and stabilized the battle.
Because she wasn’t a white-haired saintess; like the Miworm, she was a yellow-haired female villain. Her strength was average, but her main trait was being an unkillable, frantic little cockroach.
The Shield Axe was a mysterious, ever-changing weapon, perfectly suited for shameless yellow-haired villainesses like them.
They had no gentlemanly manners and no insistence on martial arts; they only had the heart of a turtle and a fox.
In their hearts, there was an emotion far more profound than money, power, or strength: spite.
‘Damn you! Even if I can’t beat you, I’ll definitely annoy you to death!’
Under the high-intensity dual-blade slashes, the seed of malice in Selina’s heart gradually awakened. Her handling of the small round shield became more and more proficient.
The Shield Axe Hero fought with increasing courage. The Crystal Beastman Nun’s crystal twin blades couldn’t take Selina down for the moment. The dual blades were being countered perfectly by the small round shield.
It could only be said that a Duplicate was just a Duplicate. She had used her ultimate move on Hake the Divine Sword, and now she had no finishing skill to take down the Hero. In the end, she lost because she lacked a brain.
A girl who could earn the title of Hero still had some skill.
Although their raw power wasn’t great, they had high growth potential and a promising future; they couldn’t be underestimated.
*Snap!* A crisp sound rang out.
After being struck dozens of times, one of the crystal swords finally couldn’t take it anymore and suddenly shattered.
In that split second of opportunity, Selina decisively switched to her offensive stance and launched an attack.
*Click!* The sound of machinery echoed.
The Blade of Deep Blue instantly transformed into a Shield Axe, and the serrated teeth began to roar.***