Chapter 85 - Strength Of The Apex

"First things first, you foul creatures, just how many of you actually are there?!"

Ignis shouted at the chameleons who were still in camouflage mode, hiding from them despite the Slayers already knowing their plan.

With no response from the monsters, Ignis Silva and the others prepared for their showdown against the sneaky foes.

His eyes turned towards Hector, as if he had communicated something clearly without the use of words whatsoever.

The A Rank Fire Slayer who should not have even supposed to coming with them in this expedition simply nodded.

Hector Incendium took out his grimoire and immediately casted a spell.

Ignis instructed the fighters to stand back, for fear of them getting hit by it.

The young prodigal Slayer, as called by many others, flicked through the pages in quick succession.

Once he found what he was looking for, the chameleon's cover was about to be blown.

Hector placed his hand upwards, towards where the sky was, after a few seconds, he immediately directed his hand towards where the chameleons were hiding in front of them, in the snow.

Black rain came from above.

"W-What is this? Water? Why is it black?"

Someone in the back asked.

"That is a highly advanced pre-immolation technique which can only be done by gifted Fire Slayers." Gavin fixed his hair and stood back a bitr more. "That is not water, that is oil, my friend."

The Serpent Summoner had always been intelligent, known to frequent the libraries and has never been seen without a book (not his grimoire) in his rucksack or in his hand at all times.

"Not all Fire Slayers can perform that spell, the amount of Anima concentration required for each droplet is not a small feat to achieve. The main purpose is basically to make the enemies much more susceptible to flames. But, Ignis had probably thought of using it as a way to sniff out these chameleons and their whereabouts. Look."

He pointed.

The chameleons were now scrambling, there were about hundreds of them crawling around the snow, bumping into each other in an attempt to regroup.

Ignis Silva's pupils dilated.

"There you are."

He whispered gently.

"A bit creepy, Ignis, you definitely have got to chill out, man."

Luken said.

Faust immediately rushed in and cut a chameleon's oily throat.

A chameleon immediately jumped on top of him and attempted to scratch his nape off, this had happened while Faust Keisuke anticipated it. A few minutes ago, while the chameleons had their eyes on Hector Incendium, curious as to what he was about to do, Faust took the time to armor his whole body with a solid rock coating.

The chameleon's fingers cracked after coming in contact with Faust's hardened skin.

"Get off me, you pest!"

The S Rank Earth Slayer was now engaged in combat, about a dozen chameleons were squaring him up.

Hector Incendium immediately swooped in and decapitated five of them just in one fell swing.

"Are you alright, mister?"

He asked Faust Keisuke.

"I-I was fine! I really was! Why did you have to go and steal my moment like that?"

Faust felt down and scratched his head comically.

Ignis now jumped upwards and lit his weapons on fire.

His choice of weapons was definitely surreal and out of the box, one might say that with absolute certainty, as his hands had ten pairs of cards in total. Five in each hand and gap between the fingers.

The SS Rank Fire Slayer threw them towards the chameleons that Hector's oil rain had marked.

Upon impact, his cards exploded with such fiery intensity. 

"How pathetic."

Ignis thought to himself.

The screeches of the chameleons were heard for a short while before deafening themselves after succumbing to death. 

Hector and Faust Keisuke were fighting with their backs turned against each other.

The Earth Slayer was doing precise and swift motions while Hector was swinging his double-bladed axe with no effort whatsoever.

"Holy crap, are you telling me that kid is a rookie?"

Another Slayer in the spellcasters column asked.

"You know how tedious the Inferno Garden application process is if you are not handpicked or chosen by their higher-ranking members are, right? That kid has probably gone through a lot, not more than we did, but definitely he has had his fair share of hardships."

Gavin cleared his throat.

"I agree. His movements might seem callous and careless to the average person, but they are in fact clean and well thought out. It would be a travesty if Hector Incendium had exterminated more than our rough and rugged young S Rank Slayer – Faust Keisuke."

Gavin let out a playful chuckle.

This was not a mere fight.

No, it was an execution.

An extermination that was not meant to be halted no matter what these chameleons might do.

They were fighting with all their might while Luken was simply playing around with his finger guns, aiming directly at their heads and letting loose.

Their organs splattered on the ground as each dead chameleon had its camouflage skill turned off in default.

Ignis Silva was cutting through them with his throwing cards, yet he was careful not to aim them near his comrades, as the explosions were definitely no joke.

"We are not your typical Slayer conquest squad. We are the best of the best. Next time, choose your targets well, because if you do not, then choosing horribly will be the last thing you green cretins will ever do."

Ignis said to a chameleon with pure anger in his eyes as the creature was shaking in fear.

"Good. Fear is something we should all be happy to experience. Once you conquer your fear, you will become stronger than you ever were yesterday, but now, the question is, can you conquer me?"

Ignis Silva ended the single chameleon's life by immolating its blood from the inside out. Red buckets of blood had no gotten on his black coat.

Faust Keisuke enchanted his feet with his Earth affinity, turning it rock solid while kicking the monsters straight in the head.

He switched the rock enchantment whenever he used a specific type of limb. 

Once he was fighting with his fists, he concentrated his Anima cells to focus on his hands.

"T-That young boy is the Primal Hound's second in command…"

"Is he really? His movement is stiff but his power is undeniable."

The Slayers there were approving of their methods, one might even say that they were pleasantly surprised to see such monstrous Slayers up close other than themselves.

As the mission deployments commonly only use two S Rank Slayers at most, in fear of over using their strengths in a specific mission that might be overdoing it.

So, it was definitely a breath of fresh air to have most of the strongest Slayers in the Corps all in one squad in total.

But there were also several others that were looking down on them, angered that their rankings were lower than they had hoped it was.

"Tch. Big freaking deal, I can do what that kid is doing and ten times more efficiently."

"Hah! If that is the bare minimum of what you need to join a top organization, then color me surprised! At this point, I might even lead one myself judging by how weak these children are"

"Yeah. I might be able to respect Ignis Silva and Luken Regalia's strength as a whole, even though their mouths are pretty insufferable, but those kids? They are not that big of a deal. Remember their names, you will see it on the obituaries sent out in the newspaper one of these days."

There were truly some people bringing them down, their fellow Slayers at that.

Gavin heard them talking smack about Faust Keisuke and Hector Incendium's fighting style, calling them overrated and not worthy of their respective organization's position.

He turned around and attempted to single out those who were dissing them.

His green orbs fixated on the crowd of Slayers.

"I for one do not exactly know who said that, but let me be clear, those 'kids' as you call them, are the future of humanity. As young as some of us are, our time will come much sooner than theirs. And it will be up to them to handle humanity's biggest burden, this god forsaken war against the winged harbingers, and what do you people do? You waste your time and breath talking shit for no reason, is it jealousy? Are you that petty? These 'kids' have achieved more than you did at their age. You can talk trash in private to each other, but if I ever hear one person bring their fellow Slayer down in public like this, I will make sure to go out of my way and rip you pieces of shit a new one. Mark my words."

The ones who were dissing Hector and Faust tucked their tail between their legs and did not speak a single word.

They knew that the Serpent Summoner was renowned for a reason, and to see him this angered was fairly new to them.

"Just watch the show and shut your mouth if you have nothing good to say."

Gavin said as he turned back around and watched his fellow Slayers dismantle this entire group of chameleons.