The Laughing Swordsman

Willow's arm was trembling violently. However, this action wasn't voluntary. It was because of how badly injured Willow was that her body began trembling reflexively.

But she made use of that trembling, making her attacks even more violent and through.

The time Willow spent fighting off the three secondary reformed beings was short. However, in that short time span, the situation turned from really bad, to worse.

This was because Hex was left unattended to. He already cut through hundreds of black beings, letting their flesh combine into countless reformed black beings.

In fact, there were even some secondary reformed beings that were created because of this.

Willow was in a pretty bad situation now. Before, things were still alright because there were no secondary reformed beings interrupting her.

But now, she was unable to properly deal with Hex's aftermath, meaning even more secondary reformed beings had appeared.

It was like a switch turned on, changing a game's difficulty from easy, to hard.

However, despite all these troubles, Willow's face was tranquil. In fact, even if the situation was far worse, she would still have the same expression.

Because she wasn't thinking about how bad the situation was, but rather, focusing every thought she had on fighting.

Willow instinctively went after Hex, almost like a dead man performing their last action even after their last breath.

Several reformed beings got in her way, but she dived and rose among them, dodging all of their attacks. It was almost like a play was being acted out, where the beings were skillfully playing their role as actors, just barely missing Willow.

Several of the beings she passed by exploded into a bloody mist, while those farther off were torn to ribbons.

But that wasn't the end of it.

Five secondary reformed beings charged towards Willow with the intention of smashing her into a pulp.

They approached rather quickly, surrounding Willow from the front, like a crescent moon.

It was as though Willow was approaching a council of giants, where each member had a giant, imposing statue behind them.

Just their presence alone was enough to make some turn back.

But not Willow.

She slowly began to spin, as though her body became a rotating bullet.

Suddenly, Willow began spinning faster, accelerating at rates that didn't make sense.

The secondary reformed black beings didn't care about this change. They continued charging forth ready to smash Willow into paste.

But when they were a few meters away from each other...

Willow suddenly jerked to the left.

An uncomfortable metallic screeching sound filled the air. One that resembled nails grating against a chalkboard. 

Willow traced a horizontal arc with her flight path, one that went through all the secondary reformed beings.

Making them all explode into a bloody mist.

It wasn't as though the secondary reformed beings didn't try to attack Willow. In fact, they swung at her.

But before their claw could land, it burst like a bubble.

It was as though Willow was a natural disaster, something that living things could only run away from, not fight back.

She continued to rip apart countless black beings, swooping and rising unpredictably until eventually, she reached Hex.

This time, while Willow took care of the bodies Hex left behind, she also ripped apart the surrounding black beings. It was far more efficient and thorough compared to how Willow was doing it before, but at the end of the day, there were still too many.

It did not take long for corpses of the secondary reformed beings to litter the ground. As such, their chunks of flesh gathered together, forming something... new.

These new black beings were nearly ten meters tall, double the height of those before them. This size made them giant reformed beings.

Their limbs were noticeably larger in relation to their body, while their arms were long enough to reach the floor. It made them look clumsy.

Unfortunately, this was not the case.

Although the secondary reformed beings were grotesque, consisting of scattered flesh and limbs, the giant reformed beings were even more so.

It looked as though flesh was haphazardly put together. Various limbs would awkwardly stick out from its body, while several faces with dull expressions appeared across the giant reformed being's skin.

It was not trying to hide what it was made out of. Instead, it proudly displayed itself for all to see.

And coincidentally enough, Apollo was going in its direction, with Layla on his back.

Apollo was flying a little over a meter above the ground, while Layla wrapped her legs around his waist, clinging onto him tightly.

A secondary reformed being charged forth, straight towards Apollo. As for Apollo, he dashed forward even faster, leaving trails of lighting in his wake.

The secondary reformed being swung its claw.

But missed.

Apollo suddenly sped up, slipping past the claw. Then, his bokken flashed.

The secondary reformed being was split in two. Apollo continued forth, passing in between the two halves.

At that moment, Layla smiled brightly as her hands shot out to her sides.

A deep thud resounded.

Layla hit both halves of the secondary reformed being, smashing it into paste, and killing a few other black beings that were unluckily in the way.

They had a bit of synergy, which made flying through all the monsters a smooth journey.

However, it could only be smooth for so long.

Apollo's gaze naturally drifted upwards to take in the full grandeur of the giant reformed being.

Although the secondary reformed beings were also tall, there was also the consideration of pure volume.

To put it into perspective, a child that was only a meter tall would be rather lanky. However, an adult that was two meters tall would not only be taller, but have a much larger width.

Altogether, doubling the height made an effect far greater than one plus one.

So when Apollo looked up to the giant reformed being, there was an invisible pressure.

Especially when it looked back with its hollow eye sockets.