Eva and co arrived at the nearest scout encampment in no time at all. They could've easily used Luxia - who was currently residing in Eva's inventory - to move about at the speed of light, but doing so would attract too much attention.
The colossi were the size of mountains, with the most powerful ones reaching sizes so high that their upper bodies were hidden way above the clouds. Using Luxia, who left a long and bright trail of light wherever she traveled, would simply be courting death.
As such, they passed through the forests and plains of this small world to reach their first destination. On their way there, they encountered some weaker monsters that were easily controlled by Zaine thanks to her Charm skill.
NPC skills worked fundamentally different from player skills, so Zaine's version of Charm was ten times stronger than Draco's. This was primarily due to the fact that she was specifically a succubus, while being an incubus was just a subset of Draco's Dark Angel Inheritance.
Just like Gil-kun, Draco was a living archetype, possessing the most ancient versions of these various powerful bloodlines, but against someone who specialized in something, he could not display as much mastery/focus.
(Author's Note: Gil-kun refers to Gilgamesh from the Fate series.)
Another main difference was that Draco's Charm could possibly capture stronger enemies, as Rank did not affect it. It was solely based on his Charisma stat vs the targets.
Zaine's could not trap anyone at the same level of power as herself or above, limited to those below her. However, the tradeoff was that Draco could only capture 1 enemy for 1 hour per day, while Zaine could capture hundreds for 12 hours and the cooldown was 18 hours.
Both had pros and cons, so it depended on how Zaine utilized it. However, this skill was very suitable for an intelligent woman like her, as she would be able to command an army of cannon fodder to protect her while she used mental abilities.
Currently, Zaine's band of cannon fodder was 50 strong and still climbing. By the time they reached the perimeter of the encampment, she had 70-odd different monsters that were marching stately before her.
Loki's eyes flashed after he witnessed his mother's awesome display, and it seemed like the little tyke had some ideas of his own. However, he was unable to display any combat ability until he became a toddler, and the same went for Rosella.
As for Rila, she was locked until further notice.
The encampment was in a clearing of the forest, with a clean and linear setup. There were rock houses that looked like miniature cave homes, and a big campfire existed in the middle of these houses.
There were some tables set up for eating as well as latrines on the side. All in all, it looked like a functional base camp that many operations could be held out of.
Of course, when the women appeared with their beast army, they had been spotted by the scouts. These scouts then assembled in the way of Eva and co, allowing them to inspect these colossi.
The colossi at Rank 1 - the foot soldiers, scouts, and mages of their race - were the closest looking to humankind they had. In fact, the colossi could be divided into two groups.
There were the males who had grayish and coarse skin, like the color of cotta stone. They were all buff and bulky, with not a single one being slim or compact males among them.
On the other side were the females, who had light brown skin, like the color of desert sand. Their forms were slimmer as well as more streamlined like most females of various species, and their skin was far smoother than the males.
However, one undeniable fact was that no matter the s.e.x, all of them were exactly twice the size of Eva and co. They had to crane their necks to see their faces, which was quite a new feeling for them.
One male and one female from the colossi scout encampment came forward and sized Eva and her entourage up. "Who are you and what are you doing in our small world?"
It was the male who spoke and his voice was extremely deep and grating, like two stones rubbing each other. His words made Eva's eyebrows rise up.
'Their' small world? Were these colossi actually so shameless or just plain tyrannical? They had yet to control the small world, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to enter in the first place.
Even if managed to take control, it wouldn't change the fact that they had arbitrarily entered someone else's home and killed those people, yet they acted like it was their own?
Eva could only tsk with annoyance, as it was something she and Draco had done multiple times in the previous timeline, and it was definitely something they would do again in this one.
"Who we are is none of your business. Without possession of the source of the small world, you are just one of the many inhabitants here." Eva replied with a derisive snort.
This time, the female colossi spoke with a voice that sounded like sand being tossed in a bucket. "Your words are irrelevant to us anyway. We only asked to gauge your intent and purpose. No matter what, you would have to be killed for trespass."
After she finished speaking, the various colossi on her side removed their weapons. Some used blades, some used clubs, some also took out magic tomes. The diversity was truly impressive, but it didn't faze the women here.
Hikari simply transformed into her semi-Draconic form, since it would be easier to channel Worldly Energy like that. After all, unlike other NPCs or players with magical capabilities, she had never relied on something like mana.
She directly used Worldly Energy for her spells, and Roma was also in this same category with her Mystic Arts. Zaine naturally relied on stamina for her activities, as she was not a magic-user.
As for Eva, she was too lazy to enter stealth. She directly took out the Chaotic Blades and used Short Blink to approach the male captain of their group.
Zaine waved her hands forward, commanding the monster army she gathered who roared and rushed at the colossi, aiming to rip them to shreds.
Roma's hair began to rise as her whole body was coated in a scary and ominous greenish aura, and her eyes also became green. She raised her free arm and began chanting in a bizarre language.
What topped off the effect was the fact that her voice echoed on itself, like many different women were speaking at the same time. Rosella seemed intrigued by this effect, and her little body also glowed slightly green, but not enough to do anything.
It was more of a resonance, showing that she had an affinity with Mystic Arts.
From the ground burst out many hands that gripped the earth. These hands pulled out heads, then a torso, and finally legs. From the ground came many semi-undead gypsies that wore mocking expressions with arrogant smirks.
Like banshees, they screeched and rushed at the colossi with shocking speed, using their claws and some lesser Mystic Arts to fight. These were Roma's legendary Witch Slaves, a perverted ability that made even Qiong Qi feel like Roma was extremely special.
Zaine's beasts were the first to enter the clash, and it was like throwing an egg against a rock. Not only did they not deal any comprehensive damage, but they were easily beaten back with single hits.
If the colossi were so easily dealt with by basic woodland critters that were even weaker than Zaine who had never trained, they would not dare to set up a long-term camp in the middle of such a place, and they certainly wouldn't be so feared.
However, Zaine wasn't bothered. In fact, there was a mocking light in her eyes. It had nothing to do with the fact that these monsters were expendable, but due to her perfect teammates who were just as overpowered as she was.
In this case, it was Hikari!
｢White Light Healing – Active skill
Effect: Infuse an injured target with the holy light of purity, alleviating their pains and bringing them back to full health.
Cooldown: None
Autocast: Off｣
This had been described by Draco as the most broken, most cheat-like healing skill in the history of gaming. It was extremely perverted, even slightly more so than Roma's Witch Slaves.
If Hikari turned on autocast, she could autonomously heal every ally in her team endlessly. Well, endlessly here was subjective to reasonable limits, as she was only Rank 1 after all.
Currently, Hikari had it off but once the battle began, she turned it on. As such, every monster that was beaten back by the colossi was instantly healed and rushed back into the fray, and this was even more for the Witch Slaves that entered the battle slightly later.
｢Name: Colossi Swordsman – Specialist Rank monster
Level: 35
HP: 55,000/55,000｣
｢Name: Colossi Archer – Specialist Rank monster
Level: 33
HP: 41,000/41,000｣
｢Name: Colossi Mage – Specialist Rank monster
Level: 37
HP: 30,000/30,000｣
These were the basic troops on the colossi side. Their HPs were slightly above average for Specialists at this level, and their basic defense and physical damage resistance was extremely high with their stone skins.
As such, the basic monsters were unable to do much, but the Witch Slaves performed excellently. They used the beasts as a vanguard/cover while casting Mystic Arts at the colossi troops.
The most common one was the black flame Mystic Art, which was a wave of dark fire that could burn anything in its way. It was much like the black fire from the Armageddon large-scale active spell, which was the pinnacle of the fire magic branch.
While mages of the fire element treated it as their endpoint and goal, this was a common skill even a dog in the gypsy clan could cast. The gap between Mystic Arts and common magic was extremely huge.
Luckily, the weakness of the Mystic Arts was its long chanting time, the stringent requirements for practice, as well as the somewhat double-edged effects some of the more powerful spells had.
Eva was currently locked in battle with the male colossi captain.
｢Name: Colossi Sergeant – Sergeant Rank monster
Level: 40
HP: 75,000/75,000｣
He was certainly a cut above his compatriots, but he was a paper tiger to Eva who could even kill Void Destroyers. One should know, a single Rank 1 Void Destroyer could raze half of this small world on its own.
There was a reason why despite being Rank 1, the Abyss Event had still been classified as a World Event. If measures were not taken, the Void Monsters could cause irreparable damage to the world as a whole, much less a small world.
This fellow could not match Eva's skill and speed. She didn't even bother to use her bloodline, and just used her basic Control as well as her own techniques.
While Draco's 360 Sword Skills were legendary in both timelines, she was also a powerhouse only just slightly below him, Ranked 2nd in skill among 7 billion humans.
Not only that, but Eva was also a monster who had copied many of Draco's Sword Skills during their years of enmity, and her obsession made it easy for her to do so.
While she could not claim to do so for Overcharge or Counter Kill, after all, she had only seen them once in action, she could mimic almost all others.
"Sword Skill 45: Cross Slash!"
With Eva dual-wielding two shortswords, this skill was perfect for the scenario, only that she had to get much closer due to the short range. However, this was not a problem for her, as Eva had the Optimal trait.
In other words, she benefitted from two Avenger passives, Cloud Feet and Revenger! As such, the boosts, when coupled with her relatively high Dexterity, allowed her to close the gap with ease, executing the powerful technique.
-20,000!