Chapter 212: Exchange
[Day 20]
thoom thoom thoom thoom
"RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH—!"
"It appears we've reached an impasse..." remarked Vahn, maintaining his calm and standing his ground despite a ten-meter-tall, thirty-meter-long, t-rex-like monster turning its head sideways and opening its toothy maw after reaching a charging speed of more than two hundred kilometers per hour.
With the monster, known as a Razorback Devourer, abruptly slowing to a crawl, at least from his perspective, Vahn sidestepped its open maw and slapped its snout with his left hand. Despite the immense disparity in their size, his brief contact with the monster's snout caused its mouth to close and a notable undulation through its long, muscular body as it stumbled in slow motion.
As he had already received his bonus stats from defeating a Razorback Devourer, Vahn casually leaped back at the same pace the monster was stumbling forward. At the same time, Xenovia and Erza moved in perfect concert with one another, the momentum and air pressure produced by their sword slashes allowing them to pass through the temporary gaps created in the Razorback's body, creating a phenomenon that, from afar, made it appear as though they had phased through the unfortunate apex predator without cutting it.
As the Razorback was promptly split into three parts after Xenovia and Erza struck their post-swing poses, Vahn extended his hand to stop the momentum of the central section, allowing the legs, tail, and head to fly past him, carried by the monster's momentum.
"That...that was incredible...!" exclaimed Riko, producing a powerful burst of wind pressure as she dropped down from the sky, sporting her custom flight unit and wielding a rifle nearly as long as her body.
Following Riko, Tanya descended from the sky wearing similar equipment while Kunoh, a German-shepherd-sized Shiroyuki, Colette, Nanachi, Mitty, and Prushka gathered around. The expanded Party had asked for Vahn's assistance with the Razorback due to its inordinate resistance to Magic and general durability, but they hadn't expected to see him attempting to reason with and talk the fearsome creature down while relaxedly evading its boulder-crushing jaws and club-like tail—not to mention Xenovia and Erza, both modeling combat attire resembling Maid outfits, defeating it in the blink of an eye.
Though he was briefly distracted by the sight of Faputa turning into her amorphous form to drill into the Razorback's spine to consume its white and grey matter, Vahn habitually handed out headpats to everyone within range as he smiled, nodded, and stated, "And each of you will be capable of similar feats in the future. As long as you keep training, the only limiters to your growth are your passion and ambition."
With even Tanya presenting her head for petting, Vahn gently ruffled the golden-haired girl's hair with his right hand before turning his attention to Xenovia and Erza as they approached, sporting relaxed, confident smiles.