"Watch out!" Lyam shouted, snapping her out of her daze, but it was already too late, those things were too close for her to defend herself, and her sword was embedded a few meters away.
'Damn it, for getting distracted.' Myra thought as she turned to see those things just inches away from her.
But before those monsters could touch her, Lyam ran toward her and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her into his chest.
He was surprised by his own speed, which, despite being only 10% of Myra's total power, was still something remarkable.
'Huh…?'
It took Myra a few seconds to react when she realized she was being held by the boy she had just met; she was stunned by how strange everything was becoming.
She lifted her gaze to his face, looking at him in surprise while he wore a smile after jumping back with her in his arms, saving her.
'W-Who is this guy?'
Everything about him was strange. At first, he seemed like a frightened man, as one would expect in those circumstances, but now that she had formed a "contract" with him, he seemed to have benefited more than she had…
"Are you okay? Did it hurt you?"
"Excuse me?" she asked, apparently finally coming out of her daze, looking around to locate the monsters and putting on a more serious expression.
"Yes… thank you for earlier."
"Don't worry, it was his way of paying you back for doing the same for him." Lyam replied, releasing her from his grip and turning his attention back to her sword, which was a few meters away, surrounded by those things.
"Do you absolutely need the sword? Or can you use magic?" he asked, recalling the spell from before.
She took a few seconds to respond before smiling again like earlier.
"Yes, don't worry about me." she said, glancing at him, then at the sword. "You're stronger, right?"
"Hmm, I'd say so." he said, looking at the sword again, gripping its handle.
She turned her attention forward again, taking a few steps.
"Good. Then I'm entrusting you with my rear." she said, lunging forward without fear, at a much greater speed than before.
'Wha—?!'
She herself was surprised by the increase in her speed, and not only that, when she reached the creatures, she used wind magic to cut them down, realizing she had torn them apart instantly.
'Incredible…' Lyam was astonished by that girl's strength. Then he shifted his attention back to his surroundings, those things were surrounding him in droves.
He glanced one last time at the system screen, which made it clear why Myra was stronger.
[Report: Upon forming a Dominion bond, not only does the host receive an increase in stats.]
[Myra Drevast has obtained a +20% increase in all abilities and stats.]
[The duration of these will also depend on the overall duration of the contract.]
"I see." he muttered, lunging forward, sword in hand in a somewhat awkward stance, having never held one before.
When he got close enough to one, he struggled to dodge its punch, which came within inches of hitting him.
'Shit.' That thing had almost killed him, he couldn't rely solely on a small percentage boost; he was still far too vulnerable to those things.
So as he dodged the attack, he spun on his axis, cutting the beast and making it growl in pain.
Before rolling on the ground to avoid the stomp of another.
He got up quickly, raising his sword like a shield, using his other hand to stop the arm of the same beast he had cut.
"You're tough, huh?" he muttered with a hint of amusement before increasing his strength, pushing it back and cutting it in half with a single slash.
"Alright… I'm done playing around."
He lunged forward again, now one hundred percent focused on trying to predict the movements of those things, which, thank God, were damn predictable.
With a few swift movements, he began cutting through each of them, forming a pile of corpses.
Then he blocked the kick of one that caught him off guard, sending him flying back several meters before crashing into something, or someone.
"You're doing amazing."
Hearing Myra's voice, he couldn't help but glance back, seeing that she was standing with her back to him, sword in hand.
Then he lifted his gaze to where she was looking, smiling at the large pile of mutilated corpses.
"You're not doing so bad yourself." he muttered, turning his attention forward again.
-x- -X- -x-
After a few minutes of killing and killing those things that kept appearing endlessly, he reached his limit. He had already lost count of how many of them he had killed.
And he could already feel his body exhausted, his reflexes having worsened.
"Ughh…" he spat as he was struck in the stomach by one of those things, ending up rolling across the ground.
He turned again to grab the sword, but it was stomped on and shattered by those things advancing toward him.
'Shit.'
FLASHHHH!
In front of him, Myra appeared with a leap, her sword already to one side after unleashing a slash fused with wind magic that not only destroyed the beasts but also shattered the rocks around them.
"Alright… those were the last ones." she muttered, sheathing her sword.
Hearing her, he couldn't help but sigh in relief, letting himself fall onto his back on the ground, staring at the strange sky of that place.
'Finally… those things are a pain in the ass.' he thought as he saw the system screen appear before him.
[Contract successfully completed.]
[The host's and Myra Drevast's stats have returned to normal.]
[Loading rewards…]
[Status panel unlocked.]
After that, it completely disappeared again before he could access that new panel.
"You surprised me." Myra said, walking toward him. "I didn't expect you to have that much power."
She said this while massaging her neck.
"Maybe you could end up being useful to me."
"Huh?!"
What did she mean useful to her? What he wanted right now was to rest and go back to his world, sure, that place excited him and all, but he had a life there.
At that moment, he noticed her hand resting on his cheek as his body began to move on its own.
'Hmmm?'
'Hmmm?!'
The two of them came together in a long, deep kiss. He couldn't help but look into her eyes due to their closeness; she looked at him somewhat seriously, as if she already knew this would happen.
"…So this is your reward… you're a pervert, huh?" she said playfully.
Lyam was even more surprised and confused, did she know about the rewards? And did the system refer to these things as rewards?
At that moment, his body and hers moved closer again on their own. He couldn't move, and that was exactly what he wanted to do, Sofía was waiting for him back there…
Then he noticed how Myra had an even deeper blush on her face, with an incredulous expression, apparently embarrassed by what she had to do.
"I-It seems you can't refuse this either, am I wrong?" she said as she pressed her lips against his.