chapter 41 - Don't move
TL Note:
From this moment on, I will translate the reincarnated Winnie as Vanessa to avoid confusion with the names.
Looking at the accumulated Virtue, Vanessa gently licked her petal-like lips, cradling her face in delight.
A single hammer strike yielding 10 Virtue – she had expected slaying demons to earn Virtue, but not so generously.
Thinking about it, leaving these demons who dared to invade human lands alive would only cause more harm to people, so it was entirely reasonable to earn Virtue for slaying them.
“Alright, alright, don’t move around and cause trouble,” Vanessa said, her smile polite and sweet, filling the air with a warm, spring-like atmosphere that could make anyone’s bones feel softened. However, to the red demon grunts, it felt like a piece of honey wrapped in arsenic.
“To save us both some time, please, just stand in line and be patient. I’ll serve you one by one.”
“You human, how dare you!” Finally, one of the red demon soldiers, realizing the situation, grew angry. He swung his spiked club toward Vanessa with great force, creating a strong wind that bent nearby tree trunks. If the blow connected, both the person and their armor would be shattered into dust.
“Clang!” The overwhelming force should have struck through without resistance, but it was blocked, as if it were a mere mayfly trying to shake a tree.
The red demon soldier froze, then looked down in disbelief to find his spiked club was being held in place by a single hand of the girl in front of him. She stood firm like a mountain, her face unchanged, even the smile on her lips unbroken. The only difference was that the strong wind had tousled a few strands of her brilliant hair.
“You??” This block completely shook the red demon soldier out of his daze.
“Really now.” Vanessa tilted her head slightly, her other hand lazily brushing her bangs back into place.
“Why not cooperate a little? This kind of troublemaking is really going to become a nuisance for me, you know?”
Not only the red demon soldier, but also the others were shocked, their tiny eyes wide open.
Red demons weren’t the brightest, but they were definitely smarter than goblins. Now they were starting to realize something was off.
This woman had stopped a red demon’s two-handed swing with just one hand. Was she really human?!
After seeing her appearance, the red demons were all stunned. They had never seen such a beautiful woman before, not even in the demon realm.
However, in the face of mortal danger, they didn’t dare entertain any malicious thoughts.
They realized that this seemingly fragile human woman was someone who could easily defeat them grunts.
“What are you staring at? Aren’t you going to help already?!” One of the red demon grunts, realizing he was no match for the human woman, yelled urgently.
The other demons snapped out of their trance and rushed forward to help their comrade.
They knew that if they didn’t overwhelm Vanessa with their numbers, their heads would be smashed like balloons.
Seeing the enemies closing in from the sides, Vanessa remained calm and unhurried. She lifted her leg, and with a swift motion, her long, slender leg encased in white stockings and high boots kicked the red demon in front of her back.
She kicked with such force that the over two-meter-tall red demon was sent tumbling through the air, rolling several times before crashing to the ground.
The sight of a delicate girl effortlessly defeating such a huge opponent was visually shocking.
As two red demons charged at her with their spiked clubs, Vanessa tilted her body back with grace, dodging the sweeping attacks aimed at her.
To her, the attacks of the red demons were as slow as if they had been slowed down several times over.
The two red demons attacking from either side were so slow that it took them a while to realize they had missed, and when they did, they noticed their weapons were rapidly swinging toward their own comrades. They quickly tried to retract their strikes.
But with the momentum behind them, they couldn’t control their weapons in time.
“Crack!” Two sharp, loud sounds echoed, followed by the sound of bones breaking.
The two red demons howled in pain as their weapons embedded in their own comrades’ necks.
“Clap, clap, clap.” Vanessa clapped lightly, her smile full of praise. “You have good accuracy with your swings and a lot of strength behind your hits. You two did great!”
“Does it hurt? Hold on, let me...” Vanessa said as she gazed at the two red demons who had struck their comrades, still wailing in agony. She adjusted her spinning war hammer, her agile body jumping up to deliver two precise strikes.
“Let me end your suffering.”
With two loud, watermelon-like explosions, the two red demons stopped screaming and collapsed to the sides.
As Vanessa kneeled gracefully, the two red demons fell flat on the ground.
She saw the prompt in her view showing the increase in her Virtue.
‘Virtue +10’
‘Virtue +10’
‘Current Virtue: 34’
What kind of monster is this woman?!
The red demons were stunned. While they had seen powerful humans before, they had never seen one daring enough to confront them head-on in strength.
“So, who’s next~?” The massive bodies of the fallen red demons sent shockwaves through the area, yet the young girl seemed completely unaffected, still wearing a polite and composed smile.
However, to the remaining two red demons, that sweet smile now felt like the low murmur of a demon.
“Don’t worry, as long as you red demons stay still, I guarantee you won’t feel a thing.”
“The more you move, the more it will hurt.” Vanessa’s voice was as soft and gentle as ever, filled with concern. Every word seemed to sink into their hearts like a refreshing rain, as if she genuinely cared about the two red demons’ well-being.
To the two remaining red demons, Vanessa seemed to have transformed into a devil. Her eyes, shimmering with a deep crimson glow, and the blood splattered on her war hammer, were chillingly striking.
How should she explain it? Vanessa herself wasn’t sure why she had turned out this way, but the joy of smashing down on her enemies was almost addictive.
On the other hand, she was indeed thinking of the two red demons. Since they had invaded human lands, they had to be prepared for retaliation. If they were going to die, might as well make it quick and painless, right?
“Red demons never submit!” The two surviving red demons locked eyes and, like madmen, rushed toward her, shouting the names of their ancestors as though it would give them a power boost. Vanessa didn’t understand a word.
They decided to wear her down with a war of attrition.
The two red demons coordinated well, swinging their weapons with great force, and each strike tore up the ground beneath them.
However, despite their relentless assault, Vanessa danced gracefully around the attacks as if she were a butterfly in a rainy night, avoiding every blow with ease, looking elegant and poised.
It was as though she wasn’t evading the red demons’ life-and-death strikes but instead performing a beautiful court dance, effortlessly dodging their brutal blows as if they were part of the choreography.
Her refined combat skills seemed to be etched into her body as if it was a physical memory, requiring no conscious effort. At the right moment, they were naturally deployed.