The girl dashed faster than Jessie at her fastest speed as her frozen claws tore the orc's thick body like paper. In less than a second, one of the creatures that brought them so much difficulty had been torn apart by her claws.
However, things did not end there. First was its head, next were its limbs. Even after blood gushed and splattered all over her surroundings and herself, the young girl did not stop.
Before anyone knew it, the girl's hair had turned white and her eyes were glowing blue, just like when she previously showed the powerful energy built up within her.
Viktor wanted to check what was going on there, but the orcs surrounding him did not allow him to divert his attention elsewhere. It was only after killing the dozen orcs around him that Viktor finally had the chance to ask the Djinn to analyze the young witch.
However, by the time he looked her way, the young girl was already covered in blood.
[Vasiliza - Battle Power 61]
He did not know how the girl did such a thing, but it appeared that she managed to instantly raise her battle power by 25 points.
No wonder she could perform such a powerful attack.
Furthermore, after taking a closer look, Viktor could tell that she not only managed to increase her battle power, but the frozen claws on the girl's two hands were certainly a product of a powerful spell.
"Djinn, what the hell is she?" Viktor muttered in a low voice, only enough for the Djinn to hear while watching the girl finish the last orc near her.
<She's a half-blood.>
"Mind explaining a little?"
<To put it simply, a half-blood is a human that was born with a glint of a primordial gene within, which gives them the power to transform.>
From the Djinn's explanation, it appeared that the girl would get even stronger as her bloodline developed. Theoretically speaking, it would be amazing for the group to have more combat power, but at the same time, Viktor worried that she would one day lose control because of it.
However as there are many more orcs to be dealt with, Viktor quickly dashed forward to attract more of the present orcs to come toward him instead. By doing this, he hoped that Liza would not return to her usual self just yet.
Just like before, the next 20 orcs came charging toward them and Viktor repeated the process. With him at the head of the spear, most of the orcs would surround and try to kill him first while only a few would attack the girls at the back.
The girls could face the incoming orc more effectively than before as Jessie was now able to adapt to Liza's power, putting herself in the best position to protect both Eva and Liza.
Realizing that things were working as planned, Viktor's confidence considerably rose, and with his newly-found confidence, he moved much more swiftly as he dashed forward, ready to fight the next batch of incoming orcs.
Then came the third batch, and after that came the fourth batch.
After finally finishing the fifth one, Viktor slowly dropped down from exhaustion. It was only after sitting down on the ground that he felt somewhat better. Casting both [Metal Fusion] and [Strength Up] simultaneously was just too difficult, and the extended period of usage certainly did not help.
The group needed to rest for a while, so that was exactly what they did.
While he was recovering his energy and observing the others' conditions, Viktor noticed the happy expression on Eva's face. She was finally able to break out her fear and tried her best to help fight the orcs.
As for Liza, she was simply too unpredictable for him to properly read. Viktor could only hope he could keep motivating the girl to fight while keeping her from going out of control.
After an hour of rest and his spirit pool was finally refilled, Viktor used both [Metal Fusion] and [Strength Up] again and wreaked havoc among the orcs. While at it, he would also practice his [Chain Strike], allowing him to slowly gain better mastery in controlling it.
It took Liza a few minutes before she could transform again. However, unlike the previous time, she did not only fight using frozen claws. Instead, as soon as she finished transforming, the girl immediately started casting the spell she had learned, [Ice Wall].
The moment Liza cast the spell, a wall of ice instantly appeared from the ground in front of them, freezing the orc that stood on its path and blocking the charges from other incoming orcs. Liza prowess quickly makes the fight much easier for Viktor.
After a dozen batches of war parties, the group finally managed to clear the 11th level.
[You have gained one spirit force.]
Which translated to his alien bracelets as:
[Earth Realm level 24 - High stage]
In total, it took them about 6 hours to fight all the orcs on the 11th floor.
Looking around, it seemed that Viktor was not the only one who was exhausted by the long battle. In the end, he decided to take a longer break to refill his spirit pool again so they would be able to properly continue to level 12.
Now that they had gained better experience in fighting the orcs, Viktor and the group could finish the next level considerably faster than before.
After clearing levels 11 and 12 with just four of them, Viktor gained two levels. Meanwhile, the two girls, Eva and Liza, gained five levels. Only Jessie did not gain any levels and stayed at level 30.
The four of them then decided to returned to the training hall and gathered with the others. Viktors took them time to check how much their strength had improved.
[Viktor Romanov - Battle Power 51 - Earth Realm level 25]
[Jessie Wineberry - Battle Power 41 - Earth Realm level 30]
[Kosta Tamyr - Battle Power 32 - Earth Realm level 13]
[Barry Pennyworth - Battle Power 30 - Earth Realm level 9]
[Torri Helsinki - Battle Power 32 - Earth Realm level 9]
[Boris Oslo - Battle Power 32 - Earth Realm level 9]
[Evangeline Bardott - Battle Power: 38 - Earth Realm level 14]
[Vasiliza - Battle Power 40 - Earth Realm level 14]
The group that stayed in the training hall gained two more levels after they consumed the spirit stones. It does sound like a great boost but it cost Viktor more than 1000 spirit stones for it.
Viktor's heart teared up a little thinking about the sheer number and the effort required to get that many spirit stones. It was only after repeatedly reminding himself of their progress that he felt better about the spirit stone.
Now that the group's strength had increased by quite some amount, everyone was excited to once again battle and challenge the next level.
"Ok! Level 13 here we come!"
? Barry, Kosta, Boris, and Torri all had learned the two battle arts [Speed Up] and [Strength Up]. Even though they could only use one of the two battle arts at a time, the battle art still gave them 10 extra points of battle power, boosting the whole party's battle power past 40 points.
"Fight!!" Viktor shouted as a group of orcs came charging at them from the other side.
Splat! Splatt!!
This time, Viktor did not use his [Metal Fusion]. Instead, he tried using his new spell, [Silver body], in its place. While it indeed covered his whole body with silver metal like his [Metal Fusion], It, unfortunately, did not give him any stat boost.
At least it still gave him some extra protection, which he definitely needed if he wanted to fight in the center of the battle without consuming too much of his spirit pool.
With more people working together to fight, the group managed to clear level 13 in less than 4 hours. It was not incredibly fast, but it was certainly much faster than their initial clearing speed.
The same day, they continued to levels 14 and 15 together, which took them about 15 hours in total.
Everyone managed to gain a few more levels after clearing the three floors, making the group much stronger than they were before they challenged the floors.
When night came, a notification surprised him. All those fighting and grinding made him forget an important task that he apparently had just completed.
[Congratulations, you have successfully stayed devout for one month.]
[Quest completed.]
[You have been awarded a one-time divine skill rebirth.]
"!!!"
"Yes!! Finally!"
Viktor's heartbeat sped up. At this moment, the grin on his face was so wide that if anyone were to see him, they would have thought that something was wrong with him.
No words could describe how he felt. Now that he had this, he practically gained immunity from death.
However, the divine skill was quickly forgotten as Viktor suddenly realized he was finally free. He could finally let go of his restraints and do what needed to be done.
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