*
"
4 orbs appeared floating at Leslie's side, then 8, then 12. 4 skills work in tandem, all achieved merely from reading and practice within her home. She was slightly older than Lastia, but it's also true that she had little experience going outside her home or talking to people. She had trouble talking to Lastia in their first meeting, maybe if she was better able to communicate she wouldn't have needed to go through that scare. The orbs alternated into many colours, fire, scalding water, violent wind, dense rock, then concentrated light, self perpetuating darkness, electricity, burning frost. She spread her arms, and launched a volley at the enemies facing her.
The balls erupted with violent energy, blowing their bodies back, but their armour was able to take the brunt of the damage. The collision seemed to have created a cloud of smoke, steam and debris, but when it quickly cleared up, there were 8 more magic spheres floating up. By the time they ran towards her again, another 4 had formed. Leslie's level was low, it's not like she had the chance to hunt monsters for exp.
It could only mean that the inhabitants of this world acquire skills through discovery rather than levels, unlike the hero who could reliably climb in levels by going on hunts. Think about it, with the amassing pile of bodies she needs to kill to level up, she was doing so with the stats of a hero. For anyone else, it was an arduous task that would take years or decades to attempt safely.
"AhH... AHHHHH!!!!!" (?)
One of them tried to run away, but as promised, his head was lopped off. A clean cut passed through his neck, his headless body dropped like a doll, and his skull rolled across the ground after landing. An unceasing well of blood began to cover the ground, rapidly forming a large puddle Looking closely at the air around them, there were black threads so fine it was impossible to observe them from afar. While spouting off earlier, she planted her magic threads in a wide perimeter around the alleyway to envelope all of them.
Her first priority was to cut off their escape. She thought she was clear in her instructions, if they had honour then they'd go down fighting to the end. One of them reached close, outputting the best their stats can give. It was a scout class who stacked all their points in speed, they know their strength is meagre, but their spirit holds tight unlike the one who ran.
"... See you in Valhalla, courageous one." (Lastia)
"My brothers are irredeemable, and so am I for abetting.
Instantly, she put up a black wall between them, blocking the outburst of light. She shielded her eyes and didn't let her side affect Leslie's performance, but it was a fact that the scout preserved his own life and his brother's for a few more seconds. The wall... Erupted into elongated spikes that reached 20 metres, they practically searched their way to the exit facing Lastia. When she put down the wall, countless bodies dropped to the ground. She didn't even level up. Might as well funnel the exp to Leslie, who's going to be a party member.
The spikes were densest the close they were to Lastia, the scout was turn apart with impalement holes so large, what's left of his body was like string. Having taken care of her side, she turned around to observe how Leslie was doing. She would no doubt level up if she could get some kills, she was only somewhere above level 10, while the enemies were all in their 20s. True to her word, she only had to fire a few volleys before Lastia was done. Black threads start to entangle them up, instead of instantly killing them they immobilised them one by one until none was left.
"... Is this, your magic?" (Leslie)
"Yeah, and I can hold them for many hours." (Lastia)
She turned around, her gaze sunk as the light went out of her eyes. She was so shocked she couldn't react, her mouth hung slightly agape with gritting teeth. As if she saw something disgusting, mixed with a tinge of fear. Bodies were left on the ground, mangled beyond recognition. Some of them were so bad that you couldn't tell they were human at first glance, the ones closest to Lastia's feet just became a red smear across the ground. The spikes had so much pressure they even liquidated some of the corpses like mash potatoes.
On Lastia's side of the alley, it was a horrible mess with garbage mixed with what used to be body parts. The wind smelt tangy like iron, and compared to the sounds of huffing and struggling over in Leslie's side, it was eerily tranquil. For a short moment, her heart stopped. She was weaker than any of these guys, sure she can conjure a bunch of magic orbs and hold them off, but even a 1 v 1 would be tough for her if they got close. Like say, one of them hid in her room to assassinate her... If Lastia wasn't a random person, but someone hired by her family...
Looking at the result now, she clearly held back from hurting her.
"... The exp they give is so little... Maybe it's relative to the level itself. How weak." (Lastia)
Leslie could hear her muttering off to the side. Maybe that's why this time she simply binded their limbs without killing them.
"Leslie, my job will get easier if you level up and get stronger. Do whatever you can that would finish the job." (Lastia)
Casually, she produced a pitch black dagger in her palm. She needed Leslie to learn, to achieve the resolve of taking the enemy's life. The earlier the better, if she hesitated in an important battle it would only spell demise for herself. Fighting and killing... In the end it's either 100 or 0.
"Use this if you need to. Don't touch the blade, only use the handle. It might tear your skin or take a finger, I'm not sure." (Lastia).
Her black constructs melt through the ground slowly when she leaves it lying around. She can alter that behaviour, but it would reduce the cutting power. In a way, every surface of her weapons were like perpetual chainsaws, constantly eroding anything in contact. For the dagger she made, at least the handle and guard won't have that erosion behaviour. Cautiously, Leslie grabbed the dagger, noting how Lastia was handing it to her by holding onto the tip of the blade.