At this point, the level 9 monster had only been partially weakened by Oslo before it escaped farther away. Three of its legs were still working, and its health should still be mostly-filled.
Althea was only level 8, and going against it was extremely dangerous.
"Ms. Althea!" They couldn't help but exclaim. How could they bear watch such a delicate, beautiful woman, who just gave birth, deal with the strongest monster?
Althea had long been chewing on a mana cookie and, after waiting for a while of watching the others fight, her lost mana had recovered by a bit. She had her Bellagio out and hit the monster lunging at Drake, reducing its remaining life by half.
It also drained much of her mana, so she took more cookies while she changed her weapon to the Katana upgrade to D-class by the weaponmaker Brenda.
The weapon was made of Terran steel with no special effects. The system classified it as a weapon with a level D material but gave it an overall rank of upgraded level E.
Of course, to deal any decent damage to monsters, it had to be heavily improved by Brenda, the new C-class weapons maker.
Ironically, this showed how Xeno iron was more effective than Terran Steel in this world despite the latter being a superior material. She had actually studied this and judged the composition of iron to still be weaker than her steel.
She can only attribute it to the fact that Weapon Makers could input the Xeno-exclusive force called aether to the weapons, making them more effective. It was a magical thing and she hoped to study this mysterious force someday.
Anyway, for now, like any other level E weapon, the katana could now be used up to level 10, but its effectiveness heavily depended on the user.
With a bit more confidence, she started to parry her sword while avoiding the monster's sharp claws.
It was really, really, fast. And it damaged her outer clothing a bit. However, she had Rainbow Silk undergarments so she wasn't worried about showing anything.
As for the Medina Robe, she didn't wear it for now, as it could be used to pull her instead. At the moment, it was being worked on and modified by Letty to allow its use during closed-range fights.
She was hyperfocused and got used to the monster's speed. She naturally didn't think she could deal with it easily. After all, not only was it a level higher than her but also the fact that it was a beast that could take on ten people of the same level.
However, considering everything, she was doing very well. She hadn't given damage after the Bellagio shot, but she hadn't been injured either.
She had not formally trained in using the katana, but she had been depending on it for life for so many days. Partnered with her fencing knowledge, she developed a more innate understanding of it and was able to use it with increasing skill with every battle she fought.
Although struggling, she had managed to defend herself in plenty of dangerous attacks, which was much more than what the guards had been doing.
The people watching were in awe. They just thought Althea was awesome with her super bow, but they never saw her in close combat.
"FOCUS!" Rowan yelled, saving one from being eaten due to the moment's distraction.
"A-Ah! Sorry!" The man yelled, and most of the others flinched and fully focused on their own fights.
However, Ansel couldn't help but still be distracted, and the aborigines couldn't blame him.
Oslo and Rowan's eyes met and they nodded, with Rowan staying to watch over the others while Oslo would guard Althea's safety.
Back to Althea's fight, she still couldn't see a way to deal damage until she recovered enough mana to use the bow again. But she didn't want to be too dependent on it.
She tried thinking of ways but it didn't help that, from her peripheral vision, she could see a lot of people staring in her direction with worried faces. Ansel was even nicked because of his distraction.
"Focus on your own fights!" She yelled, and slashed the sword to guard from another maul. "You're distracting me!"
Rowan glared at the few who still wouldn't listen. "Didn't you hear her? You're not helping! It's like you forgot we are here!"
Ah, right.
Seeing her fine, the others reluctantly turned away and fought the other monsters together.
They knew the aborigines wouldn't let her get too hurt, anyway.
The guards then turned and fully focused on their own fights. Their momentum increased, knowing a brave woman was in a direr situation than they were.
Drake awakened a Sheildsman occupation, Ansel and Helios had awakened the Swordsman occupation, while Hugo was a spearman.
During the previous beast tide, a lot of people awakened new skills. Now, they decided to use their skills to improve their damage and to practice the skills, as well.
Hugo used a skill called "Cyclone Guard", where a small attack field would be produced as he circled the spear around him.
It was also a fitting name for a wind user. It was estimated that he could incorporate the element well into this when he awakened.
It also looked quite impressive. It was just that it took a good bulk of his mana.
Helios learned a skill called "Aetherwave slash" where a wave of aether attack was formed with a swing, extending his reach and damage.
And then there was Ansel, who learned a variation called "Resonance Strike" wherein the force took place after a slash on the body—a belated reaction of sorts and could be harder to guard against if used well.
On the other hand, Drake used his sword to Parry. And then, using his Clutch-customized iron shield, he activated his new Sheildsman skill "Small Reflect", which could reflect 1% of attacks, lasting for a minute. He reflected the damage that was heading to Ansel, before joining the redhead in his attacks.
The two aborigines stayed not far away from them, watching their moves with complicated expressions.
They couldn't help but marvel at these people's growth. Although people could indeed trigger fighting occupations easier than life occupations as long as level 5 was reached, it was not too easy.
At least, to their knowledge, less than 40% of people who specialized in a weapon ended up triggering the respective occupation. This was an important distinction as they would be able to inherit skills Class C and above.
The majority just settled with the low-level skills they could get by practicing the weapon for years, calling themselves swordsmen, shieldsmen, etc, despite not being stamped by the system as such.
But Alterans… as long as they reached level 5, they will more or less trigger a fighting occupation.
Some of them weren't even formally trained in their weapons. They just learned as they fought!
Just… what kind of minds do the Lord and her people have?