RD 3 Ch 12

The Mul Branova all shuffled into the instance, looking around like curious children.

For some of them, this outing was the first time they had ever entered an instance. They had left broad daylight as soon as they crossed the boundary, stepping into a dim dusk. Mist filled the air as giant pines towered over them.

"This is an instance?" one girl turned to another.

"Of course it's an instance. Didn't you use inspect on it before we walked through the portal?" the other asked.

The first girl scratched the back of her head. "Uh, no. I didn't think about that. I was a little nervous."

The other rolled her eyes. "We have to pay attention. We got all this strength for a reason."

The nervous one glanced up. Her name was Kayla, and she had just been recruited in the most recent batch. She ended up having a A-rank bloodline, that of a Thunderbird, but what that meant was still rather ambiguous. So far all it had done is broken two glasses and a doorknob while she adjusted to her strength.

The Saintess had told her that she would be a powerful member of the group eventually once she learned to level and found her place, but Kayla wasn't entirely sure.

"All right everyone, group up." Thinking of the Saintess must have summoned her. The Saintess was beautiful.

Kayla pulled at her own hair. All of the higher ups of the Mul Branova, not to mention Lord Bran and the women directly around him, were gorgeous.

Was that something that came with levels? She asked herself, but it wasn't exactly something she could ask people like the Saintess. Perhaps Lady Jenny or Lady Amanda would know. Or perhaps they were just that beautiful from the beginning.

Kayla pulled at a lock of her dull hair.

"Wonderful, and as I was saying," Saintess Simone started talking.

However, she was interrupted by a roar that shook the giant pines that towered around all of them. A creature made of mossy bark came crashing through the pines, swinging its giant fist at the whole crowd.

Kayla screamed, as did many of the other teens, only to turn to those who might protect her and realize that they didn't even flinch.

The Saintess put her hands together and bowed her head as if in prayer, only for a shimmering barrier to expand from her. The barrier stopped the giant's fist. It smacked against the barrier in a dull thud that sounded oddly like when a bug hit a windshield. Its entire body was stopped dead as if it had punched a brick wall.

Saintess Simone turned and glared at the creature before wiping her finger towards it.

A giant pink heart expanded in front of her finger before it blasted off, piercing through the barrier and into the giant's chest, hurling it backwards as if it was nothing but a pest.

Saintess Simone turned back to the group and gave them soft smiles. "I apologize that some of you were startled."

Kayla swallowed a lump in her throat and checked to make sure she hadn’t pissed herself. She knew they had all just gotten abilities and had seen some of the Mul Branova lift weight beyond her imagination, move so fast she could barely see, or even throw fireballs, but watching the Saintess fling that giant with a casual spell gave Kayla the shivers.

Calling her a Saintess almost felt improper. No, she was nearly a goddess.

Kayla wasn't alone. All around her, other new members of the Mul Branova were having similar thoughts. The Saintess was a walking weapon of mass destruction.

Even though the beam had tossed the giant away, it lumbered back to its feet.

The Saintess slowly turned with narrowed eyes. "Bran, can you take care of that? Just paralyze it for now," the Saintess asked with a sweet smile on her face as if she wasn’t a walking powerhouse.

Lord Bran gave a small nod and casually waved his hand. A small red beam crossed the distance between him and the monster so fast she couldn’t see it, only for the monster to freeze up as red thorns sprouted from its body.

"Thank you." Simone turned back to the group. "As I was saying, we have all brought you to this instance to experience it firsthand. Not only that, but the monsters here are in the 80s and B-ranked. Many of you will get an opportunity to rank up your skills on this monster behind me," she gestured at the giant. "You will also get to see Lord Bran in action." She gestured at the towering man.

Kayla's eyes shone as she turned to take in Lord Bran.

He was the man of every girl's dream. He had one of those faces that would make him a star in any romance movie. Meanwhile, his body was like that of a Greek god. He wasn't overly bulky like a bodybuilder, but there was something about him that just exuded competence and expertise.

Kayla realized she was biting her lip and quickly rubbed her face as if to remove the expression.

Hopefully, no one caught her simping for Lord Bran. 

Her eyes went back to the Saintess, who had clearly been watching her. Kayla couldn't help but duck her head as she felt her cheeks turn into a bonfire of a blush.

"Holy shit, the Saintess just saw me," she muttered. 

Her friend turned to her. "Saw you doing what?" 

"Staring at Lord Bran," Kayla couldn't help but answer. 

"Well, we all do that. Duh," her friend chuckled. "Lord Bran is…" Her friend licked her finger and put it against her chest before making a sizzling noise. "You would have to be a monk. No, you would have to be completely and utterly ace not to look at Lord Bran and have thoughts," her friend spoke in a sing-song tone. 

Kayla was still mortified, but she looked back up only to see the Saintess still staring at her with a light smile.

Though, that gaze then shifted through the crowd and Kayla realized she was certainly not alone. 

"Everyone, please prepare the skill books that have been provided for you. If you have not learned them already, please learn them," the Saintess turned and gestured at the giant locked up in red thorns. 

Kayla hesitated, but several of the veterans launched forward.

The women possessed all manner of weapons and abilities that flew out at the frozen giant, almost like a firework finale.

Kayla quickly pulled out the spell book that had been given to her. She had been told it would not define her skillset, but they could trade them. However, she had been given something offensive and defensive and didn’t mind the idea of using ice.

Apparently, Simone was buying low-level skills in bulk for all of the Mul Branova. Their class didn’t have much in the way of offensive abilities.

Kayla used the skill book, and the ability Ice Spike appeared on her system sheet. She waved the floating screen away and cast the ability. 

A spike of ice the size of her palm shot out from the gesture she made and shattered harmlessly against the giant.

She felt once again mortified. Her attack had been pitiful. 

Her friend was casting a small arrow of light that had about the same level of effect. 

"Don't worry. Just keep casting," Saintess Simone’s voice floated in from the side.

Not only was Kayla faltering, but many of them were having similar thoughts. Their abilities were doing next to nothing.

"Your abilities are all at their initial stage. However, using them against a B-rank monster will rank them up quickly. They will become effective only when they are at the same rank as the monster they are attacking." Simone guided all the new recruits.

Kayla frowned, but with that information, she launched Ice Spike after Ice Spike. After about ten, she got a notification that her ability had ranked up, and she couldn't help but smile.

The Saintess was still standing near all of them, and she had dipped her head in a slight prayer. 

Kayla glanced down at her hands, realizing that her mana was nowhere near depleted. She checked her sheet again, realizing she had received a buff called Blessing of Wisdom that appeared to be keeping her mana regenerating at a much higher level than normal. The Saintess was still helping them. 

Kayla threw another dozen Ice Spikes before someone shouted from the side. She twisted her head to see a giant wrapped in mist lumbering over to attack.

But before it could reach their group, Lady Gloria was standing in the way.

The woman was beyond intimidating. Some of the Mul Branova had even said that she was a member of the mafia. 

The giant swung at Lady Gloria, and she didn't even move. She glanced up and caught the giant misty fist with a hand. In the most insane display Kayla had seen, the giant's fist stopped.

It was one thing to see a magical barrier block one, or a beam of magic send one flying, but watching Lady Gloria simply block a giant fist was something entirely different. 

Purple fire erupted from underneath the giant, encircling it, wrapping around it, and burning it to cinders in just several seconds.

After that, Lady Gloria blew some ash off her hands and shook them out, before sticking them back in her pockets and leaning against a tree while making flirty eyes at Lord Bran.

What a fucking boss bitch.

Kayla shivered. These people were insanely powerful. Could she ever get that powerful? 

"Inspect her," her friend hissed. "She's not blocking it." 

Kayla bit her lip, worried she would offend Lady Gloria. Several of the Mul Branova said that the stronger people could sense an inspect. But at the same time, many of them had encouraged the constant use of the ability.

Kayla inspected Lady Gloria, her jaw dropping at the numbers she saw. "Holy shit," Kayla said. "She's like three times stronger than Jenny and Amanda."

"That's why she's the boss," her friend said, throwing more of her arrows of light at the paralyzed monster. "Wait, if she's letting us see her stats, do you think Lord Bran...?" Her friend suddenly had a wicked smile on her face as she turned her attention to the powerfully built man.

"Holy shit," her friend's voice dragged on.

Their conversation was bleeding to the others and Kayla heard several of the others suck in large gasps.

Kayla swallowed and summoned the courage to inspect Lord Bran, her jaw nearly hitting the floor. "Whoa." Her eyes shifted and she checked Simone and the new Medusa lady, Nyx. Both of them were just as impressive as Gloria.

However, after looking at Lord Bran, it was almost a letdown. He was in an entirely different league of his own. Those stats were... They were something. She didn't even have the proper word for them.

"Now look at the monster and you can understand why these people are being so casual," her friend said.

Kayla turned back to the monster. Though it certainly dwarfed her stats, it seemed pitiful compared to Lord Bran and the ladies that surrounded him.

"It's just not even fair," Kayla couldn't help but say.

Her friend chuckled. "I don't think it's supposed to be fair. I think we're learning how to tell the difference between those who are in charge and those of us who are just grunts. The thing is though, Kayla, we could become that strong. We could become the next Saintess. All we have to do is keep killing monsters. Isn't that wild? It’s actually obtainable." Her friend had a sort of manic grin on her face.

Kayla wasn't entirely sure that the idea of killing monsters was nearly as exciting to her as it was to her friend. Though she had to admit, sitting here casting spells seemed to be a rather easy way to earn strength.

The Saintess chuckled from the side, likely hearing several similar conversations. "Don't you all worry. We will ensure you are strong enough that you can go hunt and kill monsters in several of the instances under the Mul Branova’s control. This is the strongest of the instances that we control."

Kayla found herself nodding along. If there were easier ones, maybe she could do it. She wasn't quite sure she was ready to go up against a giant, even if she had the strength to do it.

As they were all talking, there was a thundering stomp that began to echo through the forest. The ground began to rumble. A group of six smaller giants with black tortoise shells on their backs came rushing through the forest.

Lady Nyx straightened, getting everyone’s attention as she raised herself on that serpentine tail. The woman drew her bow, then with a single stroke of the string, the sky filled with arrows, peppering the giants.

Unlike Kayla’s friends' arrows of light that shattered harmlessly against the giant, these pierced through all of them, filling them with holes like swiss cheese and taking them out in a single wave of arrows.

"Whoa. Do you think my spell could do that eventually?" her friend asked.

"I don't know, but she's crazy strong. Stronger than Gloria," another girl said from nearby.

"I wonder if it's because she's like a monster." One stated.

"Shhh," another hissed. "Don't say that out loud. I heard from one of the older girls that Nyx might be sensitive to things like that. Apparently she can turn people to stone, but it’s at will."

As the girls were whispering, Kayla hadn't taken her eyes off Nyx and noticed that one of those serpents of hair had shifted towards their group, as if listening.

"All of you, shut up," Kayla snapped. "I think she can hear us."

Several of the girls swallowed audibly and straightened up.

After that, the gossip settled down amongst the new ladies of the Mul Branova, and the monsters kept coming to their group in a quick cadence. Every time a monster emerged, one of Bran’s ladies would step forward and destroy them swiftly.

It was quickly apparent that the saintess was actually the weakest of them, at least offensively. Instead, she just maintained the barrier around the group and helped them all restore mana.

Their target giant had been replaced twice. Even with their weakened skills, the mass of Mul Branova girls eventually destroyed them one after the other.

Several hours had passed when a piercing cry shattered the air and a massive shadow swept over the group. 

"Look up there!" one of the girls pointed. 

Kayla saw the giant eagle. At least, she assumed it was giant. It was so far away that its scale was hard to measure. However, as it sped closer, it grew larger and larger until it seemed to engulf the entire sky. Kayla inspected the beast, noting that it was far stronger than any of the giants they had fought thus far. 

Then, for the first time, she saw Lord Bran move. Blood ran down his wrist and quickly formed itself into a crimson sword. 

"Wait, are we going to see…” her friend gasped. 

Before she could finish her thought, Lord Bran teleported in front of the giant bird, swinging his sword in a single stroke. An arc of blood seemed to come out of the sword, slicing the entire beast in two with a single wave. 

The space was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Every member of the Mul Branova had stopped fighting or casting their abilities. They had all even stopped breathing. Kayla wasn't sure if her heart was still working. It seemed to have stopped as well. 

The awe-inspiring display of Lord Bran's strength was interrupted by the deafening boom of the two halves of the monster crashing to the forest floor. The beast began to melt away almost immediately. 

Kayla started breathing again with a gasp, her heart pounding in her chest as if trying to make up for the time it had lost. 

"Whoa," her friend said. "I didn't think he could get sexier."

Lord Bran landed and turned back towards the group with the crimson sword over his shoulder and an effortless smile.

Kayla was pretty sure she could hear a collective thump of all the women’s hearts as they started beating harder.