With a nervous smile, she readied herself for the abomination to lunge at her.
'I would definitely love a knight in shining armor right about now..!'
The monstrosity before Ira took a stance against her; with a quick glance, she already knew what to expect—yet she had found herself unable to react in time.
It slashed at her, its sharp and hooked appendage slamming against the steel dagger—luckily it did not shatter as the sword had done.
Her instincts were incredible, something in her blood screamed at her—edging her into making the right decision; however, knowing the right decision and being capable of acting on it were two very different things; a slash she could have easily blocked would still land, a crushing kick against her ribs would always land, a knife plunging into her heart would never miss; simply because Ira lacked the battle experience to know how to successfully fend off an attack such as those.
When the abomination's limb struck down at her, she was unable to block—the slash ripped at her forearm, blood immediately gushing from the wound. As it dripped down her arm and onto her fingertips, nausea began to overtake her—now was not the time for that, so she forced herself to shake it off.
The blow was not immediately fatal—however, Ira would still need medical care soon if she did not want to die from blood loss.
'Just my luck..!' she grimaced, her teeth gritting together painfully enough to make her gums bleed.
The young girl's expression contorted into an expression of unbridled rage as the pain subsided from her sudden adrenaline rush. The monstrosity had dared to hurt her, and thus it would pay the price with its life; is what Ira wanted to say.
The abomination struck at her again—with her narrowly avoiding the blow, causing the creature's limb to be lodged into the ground.
Taking the opportunity, Ira plunged her blade into the abomination's mandible. She had finally managed to land her first blow on the creature, and it was a surprisingly effective attack.
The young girl had noticed that the creatures were surprisingly slow, with occasional bursts of speed and power; she believed that they were compressing their exoskeleton, causing strain and pressure to build up in specific parts of their bodies, and using that pressure for a burst of power; but during this process, they were vulnerable.
Ira did not know the logistics behind it—but then again, the Purge Realm did not follow the mundane laws of reality; in fact, the Purge Realm did not follow its own set of laws; plenty of places found in it followed different sets of rules than others. So why would its inhabitants be any different? Why would the logistics of mankind apply to them?
Contrary to the Purge Realm's name, it was flourishing with life—even if all of it was set against killing humanity.
Ira's train of thought was suddenly cut off as the Purge Beast ripped its lodged limb from the ground, forcing her to quickly dash away from the creature to avoid injury; the very next moment its sharp limbs began to thrash around from the pain it felt—if it felt pain.
Purge Beasts were known for their incredible endurance, their desire to destroy all sentient life made them ferocious and difficult to battle—unlike humans, they would never show mercy, only a raw, unbridled desire for destruction.
'I will kill this abomination no matter what.'
Ira also possessed an unnatural hatred towards the Purge Beasts; they had left her without a family, forcing her to experience the grief of losing a loved one—a feeling Ira wished she would never experience again.
◇
Plates slid. Joints locked. The creature compressed, folding its mass into tension. The sound reverberated through the tunnel walls as it creaked.
Ira knew what was coming; it was planning its lunge at her. She had to figure out a way to stop it—or else she would face death in all of its horror.
She lunged at the creature. The tunnel narrowed towards the beast's position, forcing her to go straight in.
She was only a mere few meters away, allowing her to swiftly intercept the abomination. The young girl ducked low and drove her dagger into the joint where a foreleg met the thorax. The blade slid between plates and bit deep. The creature shrieked, the violent screams rattled the tunnel walls. The Purge beast released anyway; Ira at point-blank range could only hope the blow did not kill her.
Before it could do any real damage, it shrieked again and miraculously combusted; the creature's blood—if it was blood- stained both Ira and the dagger.
A voice resounded out inside her head—clear and mechanical; it was Resonance.
[You have slain illusionary Strayed Beast, Slaved Man-Eater.]
'What just happened..?'
It suddenly clicked for her; when the creature reflexively released, the pressure tore outward through the compromised structure instead of driving into a lunge. Segments split, internal sacs ruptured, and the force vented in all directions at once. The Purge Beast came apart from the inside, its own built-up power turning catastrophic the instant the seal was broken by Ira's dagger.
"Haha! That is hilarious!"
Her manic laughter would make any bystander to the scene think she was insane—luckily there was no other human in this hellish desert, so no one was there to judge her actions or condemn her simply for the way she looked.
'I do not get why I was their target in the first place, there were plenty of other people with vibrant hair colors!'
Sure there was, but Ira possessed an abnormally shy voice—paired with her stutter, she seemed like an easy target. Internally, however, she was a completely different person—the silver-haired girl would stutter as she chopped you into pieces if she could!
A deep sigh left her lips, 'Well, these abominations are no longer a threat to myself as long as I remain vigilant and do not get cocky.'
Ira tore a piece of her scarf away, using it as a makeshift bandage to stop the bleeding cut along her forearm—the blood already dry along her fingertips.
'Well now that that is done, I should get a move on!' Quickly, she began to sprint down the tunnel; her footsteps were powerful and lightning quick. She needed to prioritize speed over stealth; It was made particularly obvious that these creatures already knew of her presence from the moment she fell into the tunnel.
'But why had they not struck me down while I was weak and defenseless?'
The obvious answer was that a bigger threat had already invaded the tunnels, and they appropriately allocated their forces as such.
'I wonder what one of their soldiers would look like, since the one I killed back there was only a slave to the hive.'
Would it be larger and possess an even more formidable version of the ability the Man-Eater expressed; the ability to compress oneself for a sudden boost of power? Maybe it had a different ability altogether—one thing was for sure though, Ira did not want to encounter such a formidable beast; she highly doubted the same trick she used against the Worker Man-Eater would work on an abomination of that might.
After all, if the silver-haired girl assumed that they would be a class higher than a worker, they would showcase far superior intelligence.
As Purge Beasts climbed the classes, their intelligence grows. Those of the Tyrant class were capable of leading swarms of lesser beasts with their frightening intelligence.
A rumor had even spread that an Awakened had encountered a Purge Beast capable of human speech—even if it was broken and hardly comprehensible.
Ira's neck had received a cut.
'Did I receive that in the battle earlier? No.. this is fresh.'
Another cut appeared on her cheek, and then another on her thigh.
'What the hell is going on..!?'
It was very apparent what was going on, her worst nightmare had come to life!
She had encountered it—a soldier of the hive… A soldier of the Man-Eaters!