The fastest, strongest single strike

"Humans will destroy monsters!"

"We must be wary of humans!!"

"Heroes are our enemies!!"

Just like all intelligent creatures, there were cities in the monster territory.

In the eyes of the world, monsters were usually bizarre-looking creatures that only roared mindlessly.

But in reality, they possessed a civilization no less advanced than humans.

The fugitive Succubi walked the main streets, spreading their "theory of human threat".

In short;

Humans are dangerous.

Humans will destroy monsters.

They were cruel, violent, and would kill monsters without hesitation, invading monster territory.

The monsters who heard their slogans were shocked—

What are humans?

When the Succubi gestured and explained for a long time, describing the existence of heroes among humans and how they harmed monsters…

The monsters were still puzzled;

What specific harm did these so-called "humans" cause?

The Succubi said gravely;

"Humans… killed the Goblin Centurion!"

The monsters looked at each other.

Is that all?

"They also kill slimes!" The Succubi said indignantly.

...

Ah.

So impressive.

These so-called "humans" are truly impressive, able to crush ants.

Should they give them an award, a medal of honor, congratulating them for defeating insects?

Or perhaps, for defeating slimes and Goblins, they should write an epic heroic saga?

Monsters' hatred for humans is innate, but many monsters didn't understand the term "human".

It's like some people hate insects. If you casually mention an obscure insect name, they wouldn't react.

But when an insect flies onto their face, no matter its name, they will immediately jump and swat at it.

Compared to "humans", the monsters were more interested in the alluring Succubi.

"Hello, do you know where the Succubus homeland is?" A Succubus asked a passing monster.

"Succubus homeland? I can't recall right now, how about this, come to my place, and when I remember, I'll let you know." The passing monster practically had hearts in its eyes, looking at the Succubus.

"Okay!" The Succubus agreed happily.

So every time they passed through a city, the Succubi would receive hundreds of directions.

They seemed a bit happy, but not really.

After all… with their physical attributes, it was difficult for them to withstand the advances of physically stronger monsters.

Although monsters provided them with more and purer mana…

Compared to having to eat until they were stuffed every day, human food, with its balanced diet, was more suitable for them.

They had originally planned to return to the Succubus homeland and report the human matter to the Succubus Queen.

Now, it seemed like a burden…

And it came with such suffering!

...

A week had passed since the [Extermination Hero] single-handedly annihilated the Goblin army.

During this week, Elza left the town and traveled to a city in Aldrich Theocracy.

Perhaps the Goblin Kingdom was wary of her strength, so they hadn't sent any more troops.

After all, the army they sent last time was wiped out in less than a few hours.

This didn't look like a battle between humans and goblins, but more like…

A simple cleanup.

No resistance, no fighting.

Just a simple extermination of Goblins.

If the battle had lasted longer, they could have probed the humans' strength.

But the battle ended in an instant, so they had to assume that the humans' strength was far greater than what they had shown!

By chance, Elza brought about a brief period of peace.

Since the battle was over…

It's time for treatment!

After a week, she finally found a renowned physician in Aldrich Theocracy.

Aldrich Theocracy had a strong religious culture. Almost everyone in the country was a believer, and even those who weren't still had some religious beliefs.

And that physician was no exception.

Hearing that a hero had come to him for treatment, he naturally welcomed her warmly.

Immediately, he gathered experts from every department of the hospital to conduct a consultation for Elza.

In a small ward, Elza sat at a table, facing nearly ten physicians.

She originally wanted to mention her "toilet" issue, but with so many people here, how could she say it?!

"My hair… turned red.

And my skin turned pale." Elza described her "symptoms."

"This…"

The experts looked at each other, bewildered.

If her hair and skin had turned white, and her eyes red, that would be something they had seen before, but…

Red hair and pale skin, what kind of illness is this?

They didn't know!

"Can I still be saved?" Elza asked, a glimmer of hope in her heart, but her voice lacked strength.

The experts were startled!

They… had disappointed the Extermination Hero-sama!

The Extermination Hero-sama had already seen through their incompetence!

"Extermination Hero-sama, in my opinion, your illness is not something we ordinary humans can cure!"

Suddenly, a physician said loudly.

The other physicians were startled and nodded frantically.

"That's right! If Extermination Hero-sama was cursed by a monster, we can do nothing!"

"There's nothing we can do!"

"Ah! Right, Extermination Hero-sama, did these symptoms appear after you became a hero?" Another physician suddenly asked.

Elza was stunned, then nodded slightly: "I think so."

The physicians immediately grasped at this lifeline!

If the illness appeared after she became a hero, then it was normal for them not to understand!

They had this premonition from the very beginning.

"If the illness appeared after you were summoned as a hero, then…

Extermination Hero-sama, I suggest you seek treatment from other heroes.

I remember Her Highness the Holy Maiden has healing magic." A physician suggested.

"Holy Maiden…?" Elza frowned slightly.

The physicians were startled again.

Could it be… there's some bad blood between the Extermination Hero-sama and the Holy Maiden?!

Elza: 「Who is the Holy Maiden?」

She hadn't met her and had only recently heard of her.

She heard she's a very powerful person!

"Where is she?" Elza asked.

"This… we're not sure, maybe at the border, exterminating monsters." The physician replied.

"Okay." Elza nodded.

Leaving the hospital, believers rushed towards her.

"Extermination Hero-sama, I heard you're looking for the Holy Maiden to treat your illness." A believer asked with a smile.

"Yes." Elza didn't deny it.

"Her Highness the Holy Maiden is currently at Silver Moon Stronghold, preparing for a very important extermination mission.

With you joining, the mission will surely be more successful!" The believer said excitedly.

The Extermination Hero and the Holy Maiden team joining forces?

This was truly an exciting prospect!

"Is that so." Elza responded.

She thought, if there's a mission, then by participating and providing assistance, she could ask for their help in return.

The believer said loudly: "Then we shouldn't delay! Let's set off now!"

"No."

At this moment, Elza suddenly shook her head, her crimson hair swaying.

The believers were stunned.

Elza continued: "I'll go myself.

Thank you for your help during this time."

Saying that, she turned and left.

Before the believers could react, Elza disappeared into the crowd without looking back.

"Are we… being disliked by the Extermination Hero-sama?"

"This… maybe because Extermination Hero-sama prefers to be alone?"

"Ah, we've been bothering Extermination Hero-sama for too long."

Although they only wanted to help her, for someone who preferred to be alone, it was still annoying!

But…

These weren't the reasons Elza left.

She left because she already owed them too much.

Not only did she have good food along the way, a comfortable carriage ride, but also such a good hospital and so many respected physicians attending to her.

This series of treatments made Elza feel a little overwhelmed.

After all, she was just a slime cleaner.

She had only helped kill a few Goblins, why were these people so good to her?

She had never heard of Goblin cleaners, but were Goblin cleaners treated so much better than slime cleaners?!

Regardless, she didn't want to continue receiving such preferential treatment.

She was happy, and they were all good people, but she knew…

One should be down-to-earth!

What's hers is hers, what's not hers, she can't take!

She had helped them eliminate monsters, she didn't know if that was enough to repay their kindness.

But having come this far, she couldn't owe them any more!

Go!

Go now!

Elza was worried that the believers would stop her, so she quickly ran far away, only stopping after confirming that they weren't following.

She stopped a passerby and asked;

"Hello, where is Silver Moon Stronghold?"

"Firewall!"

"Boom!"

Fire Hero Eira raised his hand, and a wall of flames appeared in the middle of the training ground, instantly blocking the view of both sides.

"Go!" Eira pushed his hand forward.

The radiating, hot firewall rapidly moved towards the four members of the Holy Maiden's team!

A white light flashed in Layton's hand as he raised his slime shield, enlarging it: "Leave it to me!"

"Boom!!"

The firewall and the slime shield collided, a large amount of white steam rising into the air—

"Haha! You've been tricked!!"

Hilo's laughter suddenly came from within the steam. She sliced the slime shield with her long sword, attacking Anyi and Ariana behind Layton!

「Witness this! This is 30 Strength!

30 Agility!

The fastest, strongest single strike!!

…Huh?」

A question mark appeared in her mind.

Was someone missing?

But at this moment, a dark shadow suddenly emerged from behind Layton.

Layton's shoulder dipped slightly, and the shadow leaped into the air, crashing into Hilo and sending her flying several meters away.

Hilo cried out, landing heavily on the ground, dazed and seeing stars.

Normally, for heroes, such a fall wouldn't even make them flinch.

But…

Hilo's Durability was the base 1 point!

Ah, her defense was about the same as a normal woman after some training!

Even a light blow from a Goblin could cause her excruciating pain.

Hilo clutched her stomach and rolled on the ground, the shadow landed.

Miruku appeared for a moment in an elbow strike position, but before Eira could use his fire attack, she quickly left her original spot, giving him no chance to exploit.

"Let me handle this."

As Miruku retreated, Anyi appeared beside Layton.

The other three members of the Silver Moon Stronghold team didn't know what Anyi was planning.

So Sephie took a few steps forward, adopting a stable stance. Her petite figure stood in front of the other two, pushing her palms forward.

「Skill: Immovable Mountain!」

Instantly, her aura changed, and her originally thin body exuded an inexplicable sense of security.

Like a mountain standing firm!

A white light flashed in Anyi's hand, the greatsword appeared. He swung the large sword horizontally and then kicked it towards the three—

"Come on!" Sephie stared at the incoming sword.

She could block this!

Her Durability was as high as 30…

"Bang!"

The greatsword struck Sephie's hand, and an unstoppable force sent her flying.

The two people behind Sephie, trusting in her defense, couldn't react and were knocked down by the greatsword along with her.

The heavy greatsword pinned them down!

Anyi slowly walked towards them: "You need more than 20 Strength to lift this sword."

And the three people on the ground only had 10 points in Strength.

Whether or not they could lift a weapon wasn't determined by the weapon's weight, but directly by their attributes.

It wasn't 10x3=30, but rather, if 10 Strength wasn't enough, then it wasn't enough. Each person's Strength was calculated separately, 10=10=10.

"Ahaha… We lost." Eira chuckled awkwardly.

Although they knew they couldn't win, they didn't expect to lose so quickly.

It looked like they had exchanged three blows, but they had actually only been fighting during the first attack.

After that, it was just Hilo rolling on the ground clutching her stomach, and then Anyi knocking them three down with a single swing.

There was a difference in strength among heroes!

"I haven't even made a move yet!" Ariana raised her staff from the side.

Saying that, she used Holy Healing on Hilo.

Hilo felt a warmth in her stomach, and the pain quickly subsided.

As soon as she sat up, she quickly walked to the three people on the ground, and effortlessly lifted Anyi's greatsword with one hand.

"Whoa—! What a great sword!"

Hilo, playing with the greatsword, suddenly forgot why she was here.

When she saw Sisrine standing up, she remembered and said to Sisrine with dissatisfaction;

"Why didn't you heal me earlier!"

Sisrine's shoulders trembled, and she whispered weakly: "Sorry… I didn't react in time…"

"So slow to react, you would have gotten me killed on the battlefield!" Hilo seemed relentless.

"Um…" Sisrine bit her lip, tears welling up in her naive eyes.

"Crying! You…"

"Hey."

Just as Hilo was about to burst out again, a hand rested on her shoulder.

She turned her head and saw the poker-faced Sword Hero.

"If you're too slow to react, just train more. Scolding her will only disrupt today's training." Anyi said calmly.

"Ah?" Hilo glared at him.