Only after Schop had completely turned into black ash did Jean finally breathe a long sigh of relief.
The danger of this battle was unprecedented, but the sense of exhilaration from defeating a powerful enemy after carrying out her own will was also incomparable.
She pulled herself together to clean up the battlefield.
First was the Teigu. The Six-Ball Teigu: Shambles "Great Pitcher" was a highly potent weapon, and possessing six different attributes provided even more versatile combat capabilities.
Finding a cloth bag nearby, she packed the six balls inside. Although she tried to use them, she felt a clear rejection from within the Teigu; it seemed she was not suited to use it.
Next were the projectiles she had thrown.
She first checked the poison needles on the ground. The tips were twisted, and the Wisteria extract inside was exhausted, leaving them with no salvage value.
She only managed to recover two throwing knives; the rest had been crushed by hand during her harassment tactics.
After pocketing the throwing knives, Jean began to inspect her nichirin blade.
After such a fierce battle, the nichirin blade itself was undamaged, but a long, narrow crack had appeared on the scabbard. Fortunately, the crack didn't go all the way through, and the internal airtightness was still acceptable.
The crack had certainly reduced the scabbard's strength; this kind of jet-propelled Quick Draw Slash could probably only be used one more time.
But with the powerful enemy defeated, Jean felt proud of her own creative modifications.
This was the result of the modifications Jean had specifically commissioned from the Workshop a few days ago, including adding a sealing ring to the tsuba and lengthening and airtight-sealing the scabbard. This allowed her to accumulate wind elements within the scabbard and then use the elemental explosive force to launch a powerful Quick Draw Slash.
At the same time, a poison needle that could be propelled by a gas jet was installed at the bottom. This mechanism was designed to prevent the opponent from counterattacking when she was unable to parry due to her single-handed grip being too weak after a failed Quick Draw Slash.
After all, during a Quick Draw Slash, the other hand is holding the scabbard, making it the perfect position to fire a poison needle.
Although the toxins currently being researched couldn't kill a demon, they could still achieve paralysis.
Since this was a contingency plan for when a close-range Quick Draw Slash failed, aiming at such a short distance was certainly not an issue. Furthermore, even if the paralysis effect was poor, causing even a momentary stagger would allow a follow-up attack.
In fact, Schop had been done in by this meticulously designed combo.
---
After collecting the loot and confirming her remaining combat capabilities, Jean opened the system to check the mission rewards.
[Mission 3: Kill any demon of Lower Moon rank or higher. (Completed, rewards issued.)]
[Achieved: Mission 2 target, Participation: Solo kill, Reward: 1300 T-Points.]
[Mission Update Note: Return Function unlocked. After selecting Return in the mission menu, please remain stationary. A Channeling bar of approximately 120s will begin; if you move, the Channeling will fail and you must restart.]
The harvest this time was quite good. The rewards for Mission 3 and Mission 2 were issued separately, providing a total of 1600 points. Although she didn't know their purchasing power, it was equivalent to at least 160 demons.
Actually, the main gain from this battle was the feeling of total concentration while dodging those Teigu balls. It was like a Touhou pro's hidden potential exploding in an emergency, performing frame-perfect operations like a human TAS.
While she couldn't immediately re-enter that state, the current Jean wouldn't be so pathetic if she encountered the same enemy again. Perhaps this was growth.
However, thanks to that, Jean now felt as if she hadn't slept for days; her body still had physical strength, but she was mentally exhausted.
She walked toward the village and returned to the inn. Since the battle had been over for a while, many villagers had plucked up the courage to return and check the situation; after all, while there were demons in the village, the forest outside was equally fraught with danger.
Among them were the innkeeper and his wife. When the wife saw Jean return, she immediately approached with a smile.
Jean pulled out a few gold coins and gave them to her, requesting a room and some food.
Jean was currently drained of elemental power, and her mind was groggy and listless. Although she had some physical strength left, she wasn't completely unscathed. Fortunately, the durability of her clothes was high enough to withstand a lot of damage.
While waiting for the food in the lobby, she suddenly seemed to hear the voices of the innkeeper couple. With her elemental power depleted and without the enhancement of wind elements, she could only faintly hear a few words.
"...child... in belly..."
"But... saved... our lives..."
"...demon... because of her... put this... inside..."
Then came the sound of someone leaving through the back door.
She sighed softly. Based on her years of experience reading novels, she probably wouldn't be able to eat this meal.
She took a look at the kitchen and saw only the innkeeper's wife, whose eyes were darting around nervously. The husband was nowhere to be seen. So, Jean told her not to prepare the food, stating that she needed to rest in her room and should not be disturbed.
Returning to her room alone, she bolted the door, sat on the bed, and began to think about her next move.
First, while it was highly likely the innkeeper had gone to snitch, it was still just a suspicion. Jean wasn't Boss Cao; she wouldn't exterminate an entire family based on mere suspicion.
As for exiting the trial, there was no rush. This was a remote mountain area; having one Teigu User was already extraordinary. If a squad of Demon Soldiers really came, they would just be free points.
However, just waiting would inevitably put her at a disadvantage; she needed to be proactive.
The immediate priority was to replenish some food. She didn't dare eat the inn's food, but fortunately, she had some rations on her.
She pulled out the Snickers Shiraori had handed her earlier, tore open the wrapper, and took a small bite.
But that one small bite only brought Jean one sensation: bloating.
Massive elemental power flooded her body, and the power she had just exhausted was now over 80% restored.
She hurriedly used Appraisal:
[Item Appraisal:]
[Name: Snickers (Special)]
[Type: Consumable]
[Description: Snickers. You're not you when you're hungry. Sweep away hunger, be yourself. Snickers, it really gives you a kick.]
[Note: The interior is extra-filled with a large amount of elemental power. The wrapper is made of special paper that blocks detection. It may be a custom or homemade product.]
Only then did Jean realize that these two Snickers bars weren't for hunger, but were actually two big blue potions. Moreover, the anti-detection ability of the wrapper could even block the system's Appraisal, which was why she had only gotten the result of "ordinary food" when scanning them before.
---
—Audience Theater 3—
(Footage of Jean defeating Schop is playing.)
'D': Not bad, not bad. That little dirty trick really has my style.
'D': Eh, she's not coming back after finishing? Didn't you say just getting her a weapon and a newbie tutorial would be enough?
Shiraori: Isn't this fine? Although that child looks like she doesn't expect anything from tomorrow, she lives through the present very earnestly.
'D': But for you to give her this kind of energy-replenishing snack, it looks like you'll be a doting mother in the future.
Shiraori: Shut up! Do you know what the first meal I ate after my rebirth was? What's wrong with making sure she doesn't follow in my footsteps! (Trying to use aggressive language to hide the fact that she added too much elemental power.)
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