Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

He could tell that the Brigand Master was not going all out yet. While the two bandit leader were having their own thoughts, the Human Golem that Chuck had assimilated with, also stopped its attack and observed the battle going on not far away.

His eyes which were always clear, at this moment, had a cloud of doubt covering them as they looked at the weapons on the provisional adventurer's hands. Those blades for some reason felt oddly familiar to him and he had a faint doubt that he had seen it somewhere.

If not for the urgency of the situation that did not allow him to think deeper, Chuck might have been able to recognise the weapon. The two bandit leaders after a momentary pause started attacking him together once again.

When everything seemed like it was progressing favourably for the convoy's side, a loud beastly roar one that was extremely feral sounded out from one side of the battlefield.

When everyone turned their eyes to see where the commotion had erupted from, a battered figure of a woman who had cuts and wounds all across her body came crashing down after skidding onto the ground.

The alluring figure of the woman whose clothes was now dyed with blood, was none other than the guard commander who had been fighting the butler.

"Hehaha, this is it, thIs feeling is the best" a voice that contained some beastly growl in between rang out. The figure of Jeeves walking towards the fallen Alavra came in sight.

At this moment, half of his clothes were cut and sword wounds could be seen all around his body. But what attracted the onlooker gazes were the peculiar glowing marks that could be found covering his hands, chest and back.

A threatening amount of energy fluctuations could be felt coming from them. Jeeves threw the half-torn tailcoat away and slowly walked toward the guard commander who was having difficulty standing back on her feet.

The moment she stood up, the butler charged in a full sprint and threw multitudes of wild attacks that had no patterns, at her.

Alvara dodged the attacks and skilfully attacked him whenever she found any openings. Compared to her, the old butler should be the one heavily injured as each and every attack of her landed on him squarely.

However, for some reason since a few moments ago, most of her attacks failed to deal much damage and was unable to penetrate deep within his skin. It was like his skin had become like steel. The feeling he was giving her was like she was fighting a monster not a human.

It could be seen from the mindless way he was attacking her, his attacks had no skill and only had raw power imbued within them. However, even then one couldn't take an opponent like that easily, the condition of her body was the proof.

Though she had dodged most of his attacks, even the air that grazed her skin, was able to cut quite deeply. A grim expression descended onto her face, she tightened her hands which was numb and bleeding, before taking her stance once again. 

<br/>She who was a [Skyguard Warrior] a rare class that focused more on Agility and Magic, should be able to contend with a person whose stats seemed to be focused around Endurance and Defence. But for some reason, most of her attacks that were previously able to deal significant damage previously, was unable to bring out the same effect again.

If she had to take a guess, she would associate the strange behaviour of the butler with the appearance of the glowing marks on his body. Those strange marks seemed to hold a power that she was powerless against.

Nonetheless, Alvara did not back down. Concentrating all her strength, she focused her mana on her sword. If random attacks were not working, she had to condense all her power to create an attack that could penetrate through even that steel-like hide.

Taking a deep breath, she aligned her sword vertically and allowed her mastery over gale magic to engulf it. The [C] tier Sword, Twisted Vines did not provide any mastery over magic like the scorching hammer or the Twin blades and simply provided raw buffs and augmenting skills that could strengthen the user.

Along with the sturdy material with which it was created, the sword of Twisted Vines could absorb an immense amount of magic without being destroyed.

After the gale magic engulfed the sword, the blade became a shade of green and if one observed carefully, invisible winds so sharp and fast that they could easily pierce through any defence were rotating around it.

The air around the sword seemed to distort at this moment and the very aura around Alvara had changed. A sharp and incisive sensation permeated every corner around the surrounding making it harder for anyone to breathe.

The only exception to this was Jeeves whose entire presence very much resembled a monster. Seeing him charge at her, she did not hesitate to put all of her strength on her sword and thrust it forward.

SHIIINGGG…

CHII…

A sharp cry of a sword penetrating through the air and striking something rang out.

Aaaarggghhh… a miserable shriek followed next. The sword of twisted vines managed to penetrate the steel-like skin of the butler and come out from the other end.

The power within the sword was so concentrated that even after penetrating through the butler's body, the power within it was still able to drill holes on the many trees and boulders behind the man.

The butler screamed painfully, although he had managed to avoid getting hit on his vital areas, the sword had still managed to penetrate through him making a small gaping hole on his body. 

The extreme pain that he had never suffered before, made him almost lose his mind and his eyes started resembling a beast's.

It was at this moment when Alvara tried to pull her sword back and recover some of her strength, she noticed that she couldn't pull the sword out and before she could even react, a hand had suddenly grabbed her neck.

"I'll Kill Youuu" grabbing Alvara by her neck, Jeeves roared out loud. At some point, his skinny body had started becoming increasingly brawny and those peculiar glowing marks, finally came into everyone's view.

The markings on his body were drawn in a way that it resembled something… looking carefully it looked very much like an ape monster. Those same markings were not only on his back, but also on his elbows, chest and legs.

The abrupt situation of the guard commander suddenly becoming the one being suppressed, attracted everyone's attention. it was only a few seconds ago everybody thought that she was the victor of her bout when the butler had suddenly started acting weird.

His skinny body had become so buffed that he looked like a completely different person and the way he spoke, was grating to one's ears.

"Kugh" Alvara tried her best to shake off the hand that clawed at her neck but her struggles were futile. The strength that the butler had erupted out with was in a completely different realm and wasn't something that she could match.

"So it was like that huh. Tch, that's why I think humans are so foolish, they would stop at nothing to strengthen themselves. To think that detestable method is still being used and researched upon to this day" Adalinda muttered in a disgusted tone.

This was the first time, Simon had seen the little girl display such intense negative emotions to something.

"Oi.. do you think that you have enough room to pay attention to someone else fight?" the Brigand Master commented in between his attacks, displeased by the way how the young man was not paying full attention to their fight.

Simon did not bother entertaining him and simply deflected all of the attacks aiming at his vitals, his attention was on the fight between Alvara and the butler. With his experience, he could naturally tell that those sudden power buffs of the butler, was due to those glowing monster patterns.

Lightly stepping onto the ground, he opened a distance from his enemy and asked Adalinda who was similarly intensely gazing at those patterns on the butler's body.

"Can you tell me what those patterns are?".

The little girl looked disgusted nonetheless, she opened her mouth to utter some surprising words "It's not like I can't tell you… but you should hurry up and stop hiding your strength or else that girl will die".

Simon arched his brows, it was a shock for him to realise that the little girl was aware of their circumstances. Although she pretended to be indifferent, her words were enough to give him the idea that she did not wish to see the whole convoy get wiped out.

Simon was surprised no less, though at the same time he was annoyed that Adalinda had put all of the problems on his shoulders. 'Do your own share of work dammit' he cursed internally.

After being repeatedly ignored, the Brigand Master finally had enough. Since when was it that he had been looked down upon like that? The young man's attitude to not bother much about their fight, made him incessantly pissed and when he saw the latter finding the time to converse with someone else, his patience had snapped.

A dangerous glint flashed over his eyes and he activated all the augmenting skills he had and also the ones bestowed by his weapon. The burst of power that he had erupted out with, naturally attracted the surrounding gazes.

Needless to say, Simon who was keeping an eye on him, was naturally aware of the thought process of his opponent, a wicked smile crept on his face and he used the [Lightning Magic Mastery] bestowed by the weapon to conjure a huge column of lightning shaped into a crude arrow in merely a few seconds and threw it towards the unprepared bandit.