The two continued on with their little training session until the sun rose in the sky.
As soon as sunlight shone through the trees and unto his body indicating another night had already passed, Seth lowered his sword.
It dropped to the floor, cracking and sinking into the dirt due to its weight.
Clare gave the sword a complicated look.
From the first time she saw it—when he decimated the forest with his emo slashes, it had grown fifty percent larger and had fully entered its great sword era.
And from its appearance, one would think it weighs less than 500 kilos, but they would be very wrong.
Over these past two days, once when she was adjusting his grip, showing him how to hold a sword properly, she had taken it from his hand and was dragged down after he handed it over to her.
It was totally unexpected and although she might not admit to it, she felt slightly embarrassed when Seth laughed.
It clearly looked like it weighed a little more than her claymore. Why is it so god damn heavy?
She felt slightly aggrieved. She didn't even bother addressing how a sword had grown and been so heavy having become accustomed to Seth's uniqueness.
An imperceptible huff escaped her lips as she moved over to her gear making Seth scratch his head confusedly.
Although, when she had asked him why he did not use a sword like hers, the answer she received confused her a little bit.
"I'm rocking a strength build. A great sword is the most plausible weapon for effective staggering."
I mean, with his strength, any weapon would have that effect, right? She couldn't understand his decision but ok.
Only a souls game enthusiast who only plays strength builds could catch his drift.
"Wake Raki. We'll be moving in thirty minutes." She glanced at him over her shoulders as she armored up.
"Alright."
He walked over to the small campfire still burning from last night and poured water into it, snuffing it out before "gently" nudging Raki with his foot.
"Oi, Raki! Rise and shine!"
A couple nudging later, the young man finally responded, rolling over in the blanking Seth laid out for him.
"Heey, stoop… five more minutes."
Seth rolled his eyes before he kneeled down and slapped his jaw softly(they still hurt cause it's Seth)
"Aaaagggh! What was that for?!"
Raki jumped up screaming as he rubbed his face, face full of resentment as he glared at Seth.
"See? Knew you could do it." Seth clapped.
"Couldn't you have woken me up gently?l" Raki gritted his teeth.
"I did though."
"How about doing it more gently next time then?!"
"But that's as gentle as I can do it."
Seth leaned his head to the side as he folded his arms in feigned contemplation.
After a few seconds, he nodded seriously.
"Alright then, I'll do it as gently as I can!"
"You were not giving it any consideration at all!"
Raki grumbled as he moved.
He quickly washed his face, gargled some water then fixed his close while Seth absorbed the blankets.
Within a minute or so, everyone was set and ready to get on the leave.
"Where are we going anyway?" Raki asked, looking between the two.
"While you were asleep last night, we got a mission."
Seth said nothing more as he gestured for Raki to come closer and once he was within arms reach, he grabbed and held him in a princess carry.
"H-hey?! What's the meaning of this?!"
The young sport's face flushed crimson as tussled in Seth's grasp trying to escape the embarrassing situation but it was futile.
His meager strength proved ineffective as his captor no longer paid him any attention, turning to the woman who was watching calmly.
"Follow me."
Clare said, as she dashed off and with Raki in his arms, Seth quickly followed.
…
They ran leisurely through the forest, en route to the town Toriro.
According to Clare, it was only about ten kilometers from where they started and they should soon reach their destinations.
As they swerved and maneuvered through the tall trees, Seth couldn't help but asked the question:
"So um… I'm a bit confused. The mission said a "voracious eater" like the one we met at Rabona is lurking in Toriro… why do we even need a team to begin with?"
It was something that he had been popping up here and there in his head while they trained.
After all, the one in Rabona had been pitifully "weak." A little more powerful than the average yoma, yes, but still. It was one-shorted by Clare.
"…I'm sure the organization has dealt with a number of them before, right? It seems odd that they'd be overestimating them this much. Then again… I barely know anything."
His voice trailed at the last words.
"The one in Rabona got that way from eating too much human guts, getting stronger with each meal. Some are claymores who became yoma, so I would assume this one's the latter."
"Ah…"
That line of thinking is way too linear. Seth couldn't help but think that there was something that's not adding up.
Since Clare's knowledge seems barely above what he knows, he promptly dropped the subject.
Though he was still full of skepticism.
For the latter part of the journey, they stayed quiet and before long, they exited the forest and arrived at clearing as far as the eyes could see.
Further in as they walked, they spotted a village in the distance.
"I'm picking up on five signals."
Clare said, pointing towards the buildings before them.
"Claymores?"
"No…" Seth glanced at her and saw her eyes had returned to its silver color, only this time, they had a faint 'glow' to them as she continued, "Yomas."
He nodded, commenting, "It would seem we've arrived too early."
As they approached the village and entered, it seemed as though they weren't the only ones who sensed the other.
"These ain't no voracious eaters…"
Five regular yoma's came out, mouths running like hose cackling maliciously as they eyed Seth's group.
"Yes. It's a group."
Clare pulled out her claymore. The yoki in her body intensified.
Seth glanced at Raki unconscious in his arms, knocked out seconds after they started their journey due to the speed and sighed.
"You're gonna have to deal with this alone. Think you're up for the job?" He grinned. Teeth sharp like razor blades.
He could've still joined even with his hands tied… but—
"I alone am enough."
"Then I guess we'll be starting without the others."
Whoosh!
Clare dashed forward, kicking up a gust of dirt as she charged towards the group.
One of them tried raising their arms to do something but its head was already in the air.
Before its body even began falling, her body blurred.
The second yoma barely had time to register its companion before Clare appeared behind it and severed every limb it had from its torso.
The third finally reacted to the first casualty and turned, only to see a flash of silver before—
SSHK!
It burst into blocks of flesh.
She then kicked the forth, having it slam into the other and took a deep breath as she concentrated a large quantity of yoki into her arm and swung—
Whirlwind!
With less than one-tenth of a second, approximately one-hundred slashes rained down onto the two yoma.
FSSH!
The two yomas burst into a mist of blood, bringing the fight to an end.
Clare exhaled softly as she straightened.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
She turned to see Seth approaching her, a pair of hands protruding from behind him, clapping as he congratulated her on her performance.
"That was damn cool, girl."
[Fight duration: 0.78 seconds.]
That's right… from the time it took for her to reach the first yoma and demolish the last two, it only took 0.78 seconds.
"You've grown stronger." He smiled at her.
I've grown stronger…. She glanced around at her handy work before looking down at herself.
Her skin had gained some color.
No longer were they pale and if one was paying keen attention to her, they'd see her limbs gained a tiny bit more width.
She had truly become whole.
She glanced up at the man smiling down at her warmly and flashed a small smile of her own as her eyes went back to their beautiful green color.
Which caught him off guard for a second.
But then—
"I see… You had already taken care of them."
A voice suddenly came from behind.
It's to be noted that they were still at the front of the village so they'd be the first to stand out when coming from outside.
"Welco—"
Seth turned around, a smile adorning his visage to see three women no less beautiful than Clare, and was stunned silent.
Chapter 25 end.
————————————
I was reading the chapter 25 notes of the manga and realized that Clare reaching the the town first to slaughter them was because she thought Teresa's killer might be there but I already did something different so I just ignored it as use being early for this.