912: Zefmate's Growth

With the appearance of Mea and our other allies, our front line became much more stable. Sophie’s healing also contributed greatly.

Even against the upgraded jet-black antidemons, we could continue fighting without much risk to ourselves.

The duo of Fran and Mea smashed antidemon after antidemon with their amazing coordination, while Velmeria and Zefmate protected our left and right flanks.

Velmeria rained down spears of water magic while soaring through the air.

She moved so fast that she left afterimages behind. Moreover, by releasing mana from her wings, she could instantly accelerate to maximum speed or emergency break in the middle of sky. Such aerial finesse was very impressive.

Also, Velmeria’s defensive abilities proved quite formidable as well, repelling antidemon blasts with the scales covering her entire body. It seems she’s yet to activate Dragon Form, but she could perform partial dragonification on certain parts of her body.

Fran easily defeated her in our practice battle at the capital, but it would be more difficult now if they ever had a rematch.

Zefmate had also undergone a remarkable evolution. Well, not the kind of “evolution” that beastmen usually go through. What I can say is that he used his Innate Skill in a completely different way than before. It was almost as if he really did evolve again.

The evolved form of blue cats is the “Blue Leopards”, who gain the Innate Skill “Leopard Paw”. This skill increases their speed as well as allowing them to use aerial hop.

The last time we fought Zefmate, he specialized in mobility, moving around at ultra-high speeds with his Leopard Paw skill.

Of course, he still retained the ability to move around in the air as he pleased. The huge difference lied in the number of his strikes. His past self paled in comparison there.

『That speed was pretty nasty even before, when he only used his twin swords.』

（Is he kicking now too?）

『Yeah, he’s using Leopard Paw on his kicks.』

Zefmate started making use of his full body instead of just his twin swords.

The effect of Leopard Paw seemed to be applied to his feet, allowing each of his kicks to slice his enemies apart. His high kicks sliced off their heads, and his heel drops split their entire body vertically. Each blue flash radiating from his legs meant another antidemon slaughtered.

Moreover, his movements were much trickier than before. He constantly spun his body around, dancing up and down, left and right. He performed moves reminiscent of ice skaters, as well as techniques that looked similar to capoeira practitioners.

And along with his spinning dance, his legs and twin swords spun too.

With the addition of kicks to his repertoire, he pretty much doubled the number of strikes he could deliver each second. Moreover, the momentum and unpredictability of each strike was also dramatically improved due to his tricky spinning maneuvers.

Zefmate’s fighting style changed so much since the martial arts tournament that he was practically a different man.

Back then, I assumed the Blue Leopard’s Leopard Paw skill was an inferior version of Black Heavenly Tiger’s Brilliant Lightning Rush. I thought that was the reason the blue cats hated the black cats so much.

But looking at Zefmate now, I realized my mistake. Leopard Paw’s true power embodied a combination of offense and defense.

These deadly kicks were actually the main draw of the skill, so the increased mobility was merely a bonus.

That said, I wonder why Zefmate never used it properly before? …Don’t tell me the blue cats have literally nobody using Leopard Paw correctly?

「Zefmate is so strong.」

Fran seemed thrilled as she watched Zefmate. The sight of his strength must have made Fran’s battle-crazed blood tingle.

In other words, Zefmate had become strong enough to make Fran look forward to fighting him. Maybe he’d be at least around Colbert’s level?

The new and improved Velmeria and Zefmate proved to be as reliable as Mea.

Behind our group, the Beastmen Union had set up a defense line, but we hardly let any antidemons past us.

And with their friends at their side, Fran and Urushi’s morale was at an all time high. There’s no way we can lose now.

We continued the battle for a bit, and their leader finally appeared.

The commander, a larger than usual red horned knight, stood surrounded by his four escorts, the same clawed knight-types we saw in Castel.

「Leave the commander to me. You guys take the black ones.」

「Nn!」

Obeying Mea’s words, Fran pointed her blade at the commander’s escorts. Fran knew that she was not in peak condition, but she also wanted to see how much Mea had grown.

However, the battle that followed turned out to be different from what we had expected.

The antidemons ended up being quite a bit weaker than the ones we fought in Castel. I couldn’t call them tough at all.

With Fran and her friends serious, the escorts got eradicated in an instant. Even the huge red horned knight was not nearly as strong as the Unique leading the assault on Castel.

After awakening, Mea clad herself in white and golden flames, but the boss got turned into ashes in less than a minute. Kinda a letdown, huh?

「Hmm, I suppose he was a fitting warm-up.」

「Mea, that was cool.」

「Fuhahaha! But of course!」

「Woof!」

「Urushi, good job to you too.」

「Mm-hmm! You’ve grown strong! Even I am surprised, Urushi!」

「Woof woof!」

There were still plenty of antidemons left, so battle went on. However, they had clearly diminished in number, allowing Fran and her friends enough leeway to chit-chat while fighting.

It’s just a clean-up from now on.

I was a bit worried for a moment, but it seems we’ve made it through without much trouble――

『…! More of them!』

「They’re really fast.」

Just as we got a chance to relax, we sensed a new force. What’s going on with their speed? I’d have to say they’re marching ten times faster than any antidemon army I’ve seen so far.

At this rate, they’ll reach the city in less than five minutes.

And from the presences I’m sensing, there’s also a huge number of them. Please don’t tell me the horde we defeated was just the advance party.

Mea and the others also stared solemnly toward the east, with the thick antidemon aura still lingering in the air.

A new wave of despair was approaching, and quickly.

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