Chapter 508: A Single Effortless Blow
Benjamin took a stance as if he was about to back-slam something.
His feet planted firmly on the ground, his knees bent, his body low and ready.
He went low and crouched, his left arm bulging just a little but noticeably grotesque, filled with veins showing from even the tight long-sleeved top he wore. The transformation was subtle but very obvious, a sign of the immense power that he was preparing to unleash.
The atmosphere changed immediately, and the adventurers got terrified... at Benjamin.
The shift was palpable, a sudden weight in the air that pressed down on them like a physical force. The temperature seemed to drop, the light appeared to dim, and the very ground beneath their feet seemed to tremble with anticipation.
They had been afraid of the dragon, had been terrified of its power and its fury. But now, standing beside Benjamin, they felt a different kind of fear, a deeper and more primal dread that came from being in the presence of something they could not fully comprehend. Could probably NEVER comprehend.
His arm was different, not just in the physical way. The transformation was subtle but visible, a shift in the very nature of his being that made the adventurers’ skin crawl.
It seemed like the arm belonged to some other monster that was separate from Benjamin himself.
The veins that bulged beneath the skin were dark, almost black, and they pulsed with a rhythm that seemed to echo the beating of a heart that was not his own.
The fingers were longer, the nails sharper, and there was a faint glow that emanated from beneath the flesh, a sickly green light that spoke of power beyond mortal understanding.
"Dragons are hopelessly territorial," Heka smiled and explained, with her voice calm and conversational. "If it realizes that a dense magic power suddenly appeared on its hunting ground, with that size, it’d charge to confront it."
Her words were prophetic, a prediction that came true immediately. As if on cue, the ground began to vibrate and tremble from the massive beast slamming its limb into the ground, dragging itself towards their direction, covering miles in minutes and ready to kill.
The earth shook with each impact, the sound of its approach growing louder and more terrifying with each passing moment.
Trees were uprooted, rocks were shattered, and the very landscape seemed to bend and warp under the force of its advance.
Oddly, the Adventurers knew that Benjamin was the more dangerous fellow in the environment, so they actually felt safer with him, even when the beast looked like a train that had lost its brakes.
The contradiction was strange, almost absurd, but it was true. The dragon was terrifying, but Benjamin was something else entirely.
He was an unknown, a variable that defied all their attempts to categorize or understand.
But in the face of this unknown, there was a strange kind of comfort, a sense that perhaps everything would be alright.
KAPPPOOOOWWWW!!
Benjamin suddenly appeared far closer to the beast at the distance, near the side of its jaw; and with arm swinging sideways, it connected with the wyvern head.
The movement was so fast, so fluid, that it seemed almost like a blur, a streak of motion that defied the laws of physics.
One moment he was standing beside them, and the next he was at the dragon’s side, his arm swung and ready to strike.
It was such a force from a small figure in Benjamin, but on impact, the sound rebounded across the area, immediately bending trees that were even miles away.
The noise was deafening, a thunderous crack that seemed to split the sky in two.
The shockwave rippled outward, flattening grass, shattering windows, and sending flying beasts scattering in all directions.
It became a miniature wind storm that threw even the city into a mini mayhem. People were knocked off their feet, buildings shook, and the very air seemed to scream with the force of the impact.
The result was a dead kaiju with its upper body completely and forcefully bent to the other side that its bone had shattered and broken out, tearing the thick flesh out and revealing the innards of itself, while a river of blood flooded the area in dark crimson.
The blood pooled around it, dark and thick, soaking into the ground and turning the grass a sickly red.
"..." Everyone were left speechless.
The silence was absolute, a void where sound should have been. The adventurers stood frozen, their mouths open, their minds struggling to process what they had just witnessed.
Eric and his party had wide eyes. They did not understand what happened.
A dragon that had been terrorizing the city, that had been holding its own against the best adventurers in Thaad, had been grisly killed in a single blow. A single, effortless blow.
They knew he’d win. But they expected a fight, even a one-sided fight. Not a death slap that concludes things so completely.
[Wh-What have...Eric and his party brought into Thaad?!] [Lena]
[She... broke its... What...?] [Eric]
His thoughts were fragmented, broken, unable to form a coherent narrative. He had seen Benjamin as a powerful ally, a valuable asset.
But now he was realizing that he was something else entirely, something that defied all his expectations.
[How... How much p-p-power is needed to burst open a beast of this size...?] [Maria]
Her mind was running calculations, trying to quantify the force that had been unleashed.
She was a warrior, a fighter, and she understood the physics of combat. But this was beyond that, beyond any framework she could imagine.
[I sensed zero magic in that move... That was not even the reason he was gathering magic. That was real power? But from where in such a small body?] [Sophia]
Her magical senses had been attuned, ready to detect the flow of energy. But there had been nothing, no magic, no spell, no supernatural force. Just some raw, physical power.
[I knew she was a very powerful woman... But this is not... I don’t understand. Is this a god?] [Katana] Her thoughts were filled with confusion and spirals.
[Geez, Benjamin! You could afford to let it stomp me just a bit!] [You know who] The thought was playful, teasing, but there was a hint of disappointment beneath the surface.
[Shut up, pervert! I love you more than you love yourself!] [Ben] The mental retort was sharp, affectionate, and it carried a warmth that seemed out of place in the midst of such devastation.
"Okay...? Uhm, this is where you guys praise me a bit?" Benjamin raised a brow as the group stared at the large corpse.
His voice was light and playful, as if he had just performed a simple party trick rather than killed a monster of incredible power.
They all quickly looked at him, made wry smiles and started clapping.
The applause was hesitant at first, uncertain, but it grew in volume and enthusiasm as the reality of what had happened began to sink in.
"Y... You’re pretty strong for your gender..." Eric said awkwardly.
His voice was strained, his face flushed with embarrassment at his own words.
"What’s that supposed to mean?!" Benjamin snapped and glared at Eric, his expression shifting from amusement to irritation. "And is it just me or has there been a huge misconception about my gender?"
"Ah, there they are!" Another voice cut in from behind, getting the attention of Benjamin and the others. The voice was sharp, commanding, and it had a note of urgency that made everyone turn.
Turning back, they saw about 30 adventurers, more than half wounded, and many being rushed into Thaad.
The group was in disarray, their faces pale with exhaustion and fear.
Many of them were being carried by their comrades, their bodies broken and bleeding from the battle they had just escaped.
But two of them particularly caught Benjamin’s interest: A short and petite girl who looked dark and gloomy, holding a sword her frame suggested she shouldn’t be able to lift.
The girl was tiny, and looked like a teenager in her proportions, but there was something about her that commanded attention.
Her hair was dark, falling in tangled waves around her pale face. Her eyes were shadowed, hollow, and there was a weight to her gaze that spoke of deep sorrow.