Luna and Mina

30 minutes ago, at the furthest point away from the impending battlefield.

Inside a small restaurant situated in the north section.

Two people were sitting at the table in a private room. One of them was an olive-skinned girl with a ponytail who was munching on a dessert with a happy expression.

The other was more expressionless as she only ate her food with a neutral look on her face. But the gleam in her eyes indicated that she was enjoying her meal with contentment.

"Mina, the food here is really good, isn't it?" The ponytail girl asked with her ponytail wiggling for some inexplainable reason.

Mina whose fox ears twitched slightly upon hearing the girl's question, smiled a little as she nodded:

"It sure is. But I wish sister Sia could join us though."

Mina was part of a humanoid sub-race called the Beastmen that appeared after the Remnants' arrival.

There were two types of Beastmen in existence — Beasts turned humans and humans gaining beasts' characteristics.

A few different species of animals were lucky enough to conquer the Remnants. Hence, they slowly evolved and eventually...gained the ability to transform into humanoid form, creating the first type.

As for the second type, there was no need for much explanation — exactly like what its name was.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. Big Sis said she was busy or something." The ponytail girl said as she scooped up another spoonful of her dessert.

Mina looked at her with a meaningful gaze, which made the girl turn her attention back to the fox girl and asked puzzledly:

"What? Something on my face?"

"Luna...don't you afraid you'll gain weight after this?"

The ponytail girl whose name was Luna froze at Mina's question, before stuttering:

"I-it's f-fine..."

"Didn't you gain more than 2 pounds last month?" Mina asked doubtfully.

"...First of all, it was only one and a half. And secondly, I'm not eating that much right now so it should be ok!" Luna choked on her words for a second before replying.

"Suit yourself." Mina shrugged her shoulder and started eating again.

The two girls continued to talk about miscellaneous topics while laughing and talking for a bit more.

All of the sudden, Luna's watch rang out which made her shift her gaze to it. She picked up the call and an urgent voice shouted in her ears:

{SOUTHEAST SECTION! GET EVERYONE HERE!!}

The voice was so loud that even Mina who was sitting on the opposite heard it loud and clear.

The duo was dumbfounded by the sudden call and it took them a moment to understand what happened.

"...Sister Sia?"

A loud sound of siren rang out which drew Luna and Mina's attention to it, then a panicked voice spoke hastily on the other side:

{THE CITY HAS BEEN BREACHED BY A HORDE'S ATTACK AT THE SOUTHEAST SECTION!! I REPEAT! THE CITY HAS BEEN BREACHED BY A HORDE ATTACK!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!! I REPEAT! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! PLEASE EVACUATE TO A NEARBY SHELTER IMMEDIATELY!!!}

It was at this moment that the duo understood the reason behind Sia's call as they both looked at each other in a tense manner.

Luna turned on her watch again and dialed a certain number. The call was reached instantly as she spoke in a low tone on the watch:

"Big sis said to gather at the southeast section! Hurry up! We will also head there soon."

The ponytail girl stopped the call without waiting for the other party's reply. She looked at the fox-tailed girl for a moment and as if in prior agreement — they vanished from their position, leaving behind the empty room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to the present, the bloody and hellish battlefield against the Corrupted ensued without any sign of stopping soon.

Achilles and Sia dived into the horde's backline as they decimated hundreds of monsters at a terrifying rate.

As they fought together for the first time, the former realized how much synergy they had with each other.

It was as if the couple could hear the other's thoughts loud and clear which would help them offer valuable support whenever it was needed.

Just like this moment for example, Achilles perfectly parried a dog-like Corrupted's attack and pushed it back.

Sia utilized this chance to cut it in two with one beautiful move. The dog disappeared into smithereens within seconds which made Achilles feel slightly curious about her ability.

Another thing he had paid attention to was how the grey-eyed elf beside him was getting more powerful the more she kills.

Every time a Corrupted fell under her blade, he could feel the beauty's strength rose to a new height. Even though they were only bits and pieces, that small amount was slowly gathering to become something greater, faster, and deadlier.

While he was feeling impressed by Sia's mysterious abilities, something was approaching over the distance which made them gaze over at it.

'Higher Surpassed...And an exceptionally formidable one...' The couple thought with grave expressions as they looked at where the nightmarish creature was coming from.