When they had just reached the entrance of the urn-shaped hole, the monster's claws suddenly approached in their direction with a powerful blow. 09 and 010 were carrying a hostage each, and they had no time to defend themselves. Only 08 stood in the way, facing the attack bravely.
At the same time, Keiko pulled out the army dagger that was stuck on the monster's body.
Only now did she realize that her dagger had actually pierced the monster's back spine. No wonder the monster went berserk so abruptly.
As Keiko pulled her dagger out of the monster's body, the monster started shrieking in pain again, and its entire body trembled violently, making the attack from its tail much looser and the trajectory slightly deviated.
Although it had been reduced and wasn't as deadly as initially estimated, the impact was still so strong that 08's hand became partially numb when he blocked the attack head-on. But despite being unable to feel his hand for a moment, he still firmly stood guard, protecting 09 and 10 who were carrying the targets on their backs.
Keiko pulled out the army dagger, got up, and took a big stride, directly stepping over the monster's head.
She had a bold assumption that, despite having a head like a human, the Scorpii body's anatomy was closer to a real scorpion than a human. So, with all her strength, she thrust her dagger into the monster's body.
The dagger in her hand then fiercely stabbed into the cephalothorax region—the joint between its head and the torso, which seemed to also have the function of a monster respiratory organ similar to the human trachea.
Because Keiko was attacking from behind, from this angle, the monster couldn't do anything to defend itself, similar to how a human would be helpless when their throat was sliced from behind, so she succeeded so easily.
To make sure that the monster would be incapacitated after Keiko stabbed the monster's body with the army dagger, she plunged the army saber in her left hand at the same time. Under such a ferocious and decisive attack, the blood sprayed through the gaping wound.
More and more blood covered her body but Keiko didn't care in the slightest. She fiercely pressed the saber and the dagger deeper into the cephalothorax and then with her monstrous strength stretched both of her hands to the opposite side, tearing open the section that connected the head and the body.
The monster's neck was directly pulled open with a huge opening, the airway was completely severed, and only a thin piece of flesh was left between the brain and the body.
The terrible head swayed back and forth on the back, and it was about to be completely disconnected.
Keiko's blow was too ruthless, causing an irreversible fatal injury to the monster. Although this monster squirmed and struggled for a long time, it finally died of hatred.
The body fell to the ground with a slam, the head tilted, smashed to the ground, shattered a hole, and the brain slowly leaked out.
Its bulging belly was exposed, and everyone realized that someone had cut a big hole in the abdomen, and the dense worm eggs were pouring out.
Keiko leaped away from the monster, and when she saw such a scene, she felt slightly uncomfortable inside, thinking about the battle that they had been through.
The battle was actually not that difficult. When Keiko challenged the monster arena, she also had her fair share of dealing with this monster. If she was using Hela, she could finish this fight with only one or two strikes.
But, she was actually quite surprised that even without the mecha, she could actually deal with the monster with relative ease. It seemed that she had been underestimating the physical strength of her body all this time.
It was just that, other than her, most of the team had never seen the Scorpii's terrifying and disturbing appearance before, so they naturally felt frightened and shocked at first contact.
Under such an impact, it was understandable that they would make some mistakes. This was what made the battle harder than it should have been.
"Who cut his stomach? It's disgusting!" Sergeant 05 complained.
"01, It's you!"
Sergeant 02 looked at Antonio beside him. This guy was limping on the ground and couldn't stand up, and his body was covered with insect eggs. It was obvious that he did it.
"I... I was also in a hurry and wanted to help the second lieutenant, so I went down and cut its abdomen. I didn't know... I never thought it would be so disgusting!" Antonio said with disgust in her eyes, while covering his mouth with his hand, making sure not to vomit.
"Okay, everyone has worked hard, hurry up and clean up," Keiko stated sternly before contacting Captain Amanda, who was waiting outside, to report.
"The mission was successful, and the target had been secured. The monster has also been eliminated."
"Good job. Thank you for your hard work, Second Lieutenant Lee," replied Captain Amanda with a satisfied tone. Then, she asked, "Are the targets injured?"
"They are still unconscious right now, and the specific situation needs further examination."
"Okay, go back immediately."
Keiko organized everyone to send the unconscious Professor Bailey and the unknown adventurer out of the cave, and the non-commissioned officers also climbed up the cliff, one after another.
Keiko was the last person to ascend. As she reached the midway, she suddenly felt a prickling sensation on the back of her neck. She reached out and touched it, but she didn't feel anything unusual. She only felt a little wet and thought it was water dripping from the top of the cave, so she quickly ignored it.
When they finally came out of the cave, the two wounded people were immediately sent for treatment, and the eleven combatants, including Keiko, were greeted by Captain Amanda with a lot of praising words and a promise that when they got back, she would give everyone extra military merit.
Seeing that Keiko was all right, Jeanne didn't go over but instead went back to the camp with the medic team first.
After a big battle, Keiko was a little tired. She was a bit relieved that the eldest lady didn't come over and approach her. She was so embarrassed by her appearance, covered in monster blood like a brute, that she just wanted to go back to the camp to have a quick shower.
The emergency rescue team returned to the camp, and the eleven soldiers who participated in the battle annihilated a Scorpii predator without anyone being injured, which could be said to be a very impressive record.
This time, the battle unexpectedly went very smoothly, which might have a lot to do with the female predator laying eggs and weakening.
In addition to Keiko, who gave the most fatal blow in the battle, Antonio cooperated with Keiko to cut open the monster's belly and made a great contribution.
Keiko recalled later that Antonio's cutting of the belly was probably the same as the one he plunged into the monster's neck. The time coincides; no wonder the monster died so fast.
In addition, the paralyzing poison arrow of Sergeant 06 also greatly delayed the mobility of the monster, which was a great contribution.
08, 09, and 010 were successful in guarding the hostages, and the rest of them also had assistance to varying degrees.
Seol-Hyun Ae chased Keiko and asked questions, hoping Keiko would recount the story of the battle that happened inside the cave. Keiko dealt with her patiently, but she felt her body becoming more and more fatigued.
In the end, Second Lieutenant Lilian noticed that Keiko was tired and stopped Seol-Hyun Ae from pestering her.
Back at the camp, Keiko vigorously recovered and quickly returned to his lieutenant's tent, where she cleaned herself up in the makeshift shower room.
She came to this world and experienced two exhilarating battles in such a short period of time. Keiko believed she was too violent and wild; perhaps the adrenaline rush had taken over her reason.
Since she had fought various zergs and predators in the simulation chamber, she embarrassingly accepted that she was a little bit of a battle junky. Just a little bit, Keiko always convinced herself so.
But still, she didn't want to always be dirty every time; she wanted to be more refined and elegant and wasn't always covered in blood every time. She might have to put extra effort into her training.
If other soldiers could peek into her mind right now, they would be awestruck by her thoughts.
As expected of the Death Reaper, she was not thinking about how to preserve her life and how to kill the enemy when fighting, but instead thinking about being elegant and refined?
After taking a shower and changing into clean clothes, Keiko felt even more tired, and her eyelids became so heavy that she couldn't muster any strength to open them again once they closed.
She didn't care about anything else, threw herself on the camp bed, and fell asleep.. In almost a second, she lost her consciousness.