In just a few seconds, while under Katrin’s enhancement, Adam was able to kill two of the three Igno Knights. It should have been a great battle, but... it was over before the Igno Knights could even take a single swing of their spears.
In fact, Adam himself didn’t expect it to be so easy. Igno Knights were strong, fast, and quite durable, it was just... Adam had previously fought someone whose body was on a completely different level.
Moreover, when Adam fought against Nessa, he didn’t have Katrin who let his strength go to the next level.
Thus, this result was as surprising to him as it was to the others. However, Adam wasn’t going to show it too much.
"Oh, Katrin, your ability is something. I made it look as simple as if I was crushing two fruits against each other rather than the heads of strong monsters. Not bad, not bad at all." Adam muttered looking at his hands.
Erla gasped, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing and Adam’s comment was still piercing her mind. She didn’t understand how there could be such a big gap between them. Moreover, she saw that Katrin was different from them as well.
"RRRRRRRKKKKK!!!"
The last, third Igno Knight made a strange sound, lashing out at Adam with all his fury and strength.
Adam glanced at Igno Knight, and his eyes narrowed before he took a step back. Igno Knight’s spear swept right in front of his chest, almost touching his clothes.
Then, Adam abruptly stepped forward and placed his palm on the monster’s face, plunging Igno Knight’s head sharply into the ground.
Silvana, who was watching the battle through the cameras, noticed something remarkable - recently, she had seen someone else making the same motion. Adam was repeating after someone else.
"You know." Adam uttered, looking at Igno Knight who hadn’t yet regained his senses and slowly lifting his foot, "That hurt like hell, but it’ll be deadly for you."
Crackle.
Like Nessa during their confrontation, Adam brought his foot down on Igno Knight’s head.
Splashes of blood rushed outward with a loud crack from the breaking bones, from the monster’s skull that had gone flat under Adam’s pressure.
’Well, well, Nessa’s attacks seem to have left a strong mark on your mind, don’t they?’ Silvana asked as a slight smirk appeared on her face. She liked that despite his strength, Adam was one of the strongest K1-Phantoms, he kept learning and taking techniques from those who were momentarily stronger than him.
"Hah, something like that. Just decided to test how powerful that attack really is. When it attacked me, I thought I was going to pass out right there." Adam muttered without calling Nessa’s name.
Oskar narrowed his eyes and pointed his massive sword at Adam, with obvious menace in his gaze.
"Watch what you say. After this mission, we’ll split up and we won’t see each other again for a while. You can tell your teammate whatever you want, but your words are messing up Erla’s work." Oskar said seriously.
Adam didn’t answer anything, he just touched Oskar’s sword tip, nodded slightly, and turned around, heading towards the larva king.
"Protecting your teammates is a good thing, I can’t argue with that, but... You’re not stupid and should realize that if I weren’t here Erla’s failure could have deadly consequences." Adam said calmly, stepping forward slowly.
Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.
The Larva king continued to devour resources, unaware that there was no one alive anymore who could defend it. Its goal was simply to absorb enough resources for the king to be born, nothing else mattered. Larva king knew that the mirror barrier could protect it.
Oskar frowned looking at Adam’s back. He gripped his sword tightly and glanced at Erla. He didn’t want to admit it, but he knew what Adam was talking about.
If Adam hadn’t been here, the fact that Erla hadn’t killed one Igno Knight could have seriously affected the success of their mission. Against two they would probably do fine, but three Igno Knights possibly could have killed one of them.
’Tsk. Whatever, this is a hypothetical situation, there’s no point in pondering about it. You’re here now, that’s what matters.’ Oskar internally muttered before taking a deep breath and walking over to Erla.
Erla looked at Oskar awkwardly, with slight consternation in her eyes. Oskar had never scolded them for failing, but Adam’s words made her think about it.
"Come on. We still have to destroy the mirror barrier and the larva king. It’s okay, we all make mistakes." Oskar said with a kind smile on his face.
"Yeah! Don’t worry about it so much!" Lero said vigorously, placing a hand on Erla’s shoulder encouragingly.
Erla’s eyes went wide, practically glowing with surprise and relief.
"Sure... You’re right, I apologize for that weakness." Erla nodded with a bitter smile, grabbing Oskar’s hand and rising quickly.
Step. Step. Step. Step. Step.
At the same moment, somewhere outside of the Igno Ants Nest, a massive creature with a menacing aura was approaching them. The monster seemed to be looking directly at the larva king as its only target.
The corpses of monsters around the anthill did not scare the creature away, only made a wide grin appear on its face.