Melody’s two targets broke away from the group of four, both moving in opposite directions to try and catch her in the middle.

She let them think it was working, a wide grin on her face.

She kept her sword at her side and dashed forward, activating her bracer. In that instant, she seemed to disappear from view, her body shifting to match the red sand around her.

To the beasts, it was as if she had somehow disappeared into thin air.

They dug their legs into the sand, sending it spraying into the air as they skidded to a stop. Confused chitters left their mouths as their heads swept from side to side, trying to find her.

Melody was already behind the one on the left.

She drove her sword through the gap between two shell segments at the back of its neck, the blade sinking deep and severing the brain stem.

She removed her sword and plunged it straight into its brain.

The beast convulsed, every leg locking at the same time, then its body went slack.

She stored it before it fell.

[You have killed an E-rank Razor Chilopoda]

The second beast spun towards the sound. Its legs dug into the sand, razor tips raised, its body pulled into a tight coil ready to spring.

Melody deactivated the bracer.

She appeared directly in front of it, close enough that the beast flinched backwards at the sudden presence.

She grabbed the two front legs before it could reset itself, one in each hand, and pulled them apart with a grunt.

The underside opened up, and she drove her sword into it.

The beast screeched in pain, trying to pull away, but it wasn’t fast enough. Melody kept stabbing, sending green blood spraying into the air.

The beast dropped.

[You have killed an E-rank Razor Chilopoda]

She stored the corpse, wiping her sword against the sand.

Now she had four kills, the same as Lukas.

She smiled to herself. They were still tied.

As for Akira, she had a wide grin on her face before the first beast even reached her.

The two Chilopodas came at her together, their legs throwing sand back in the air as they lunged towards her.

They seemed to be working together, a silent agreement to fight over the food after it was dead.

She could have used her [Death Bolt] to take one out before the other reached her, but it would be way too easy. She found it genuinely exciting to take them on at melee range instead.

She ran towards the beasts, dashing towards the one on the left. She shot a [Death Bolt] at the ground, forcing the beast to leap into the air.

She took advantage of the opening, slashing at the joints on the right, where its first set of legs met its body.

[Temptation]’s edge bit clean through the joint, and the beast lurched to the side, its balance broken on that side, its remaining legs scrambling to compensate.

She spun behind it before it could recover, leapt onto its back, and drove the blade through the back of its skull.

The screech cut off immediately.

[You have killed an E-rank Razor Chilopoda]

She touched it, storing it in her spatial ring. As the corpse disappeared, she dropped to the ground, already turning.

The second beast was already in the air above her, its body fully extended, all twenty razor tips angled downwards.

It had tried to leap onto her when she was above the second beast, but now, it left her looking up at it as it descended.

She raised [Temptation] point-first above her head, stepping into the shadow of the falling beast.

The beast came down onto the sword.

The sword punctured through the center of its underbelly, the beast’s weight plunging it down until the full blade was deep inside the beast.

She grunted, tearing out her sword from the side, almost bisecting the beast into two. The only thing holding it together were two scales connected by a thin piece of meat.

[You have killed an E-rank Razor Chilopoda]

She laughed at the sight, sending her sword back into her spatial ring, along with the corpse.

This floor was definitely fun.

They pulled back to the main group, the four of them running.

Karrakas slightly changed direction. "We’re angling to the west gradually," he called out as they ran.

"Isn’t the B-rank beast west too?" Melody yelled, not slowing.

"It was sighted west, yes, and we can use it to our advantage. As long as we don’t stray too far west, we should be safe. The closer we get to the beast, the more reluctant the weak beasts would be to chase us."

He glanced back. "As long as we don’t go far enough to find the B-rank itself, we’ll be fine."

They adjusted their angle and kept running.

A Chilopoda erupted from the sand directly ahead.

Lukas was ready to jump towards it when Karrakas threw an arm out.

"This one’s mine."

The beast was bigger than anything they’d faced so far. It was thicker, and its shell darker, its aura radiating out from it.

The beast was D-rank.

Karrakas dashed ahead of them at a full sprint. A silver bow appeared in his hands as he ran, the bow glowing softly under the light of the sun.

He drew it back without stopping, pulling the string with all his strength, and fired.

The arrow blurred forward, hitting the beast dead center. But it didn’t stop.

It punched through the shell, through whatever was inside, and out the other side, kicking up a spray of sand beyond the corpse as the beast dropped.

Karrakas ran past it without breaking stride, touching it and storing it away.

They caught up to him a few seconds later.

No one said anything for a moment.

The man was E-rank, same as all three of them, and he’d just dropped a D-rank beast with a single arrow.

That was what a strong [Item] in experienced hands looked like.

As they ran behind the man, the three of them couldn’t help but exchange impressed glances.

Then something tore through the air from their left. A beam of fire, sickly in color, the flame an off yellow that looked diseased rather than bright.

It was coming straight at them.