Chapter 22: Level-Up Rewards

The hearts of the pirate grunts trembled suddenly, but it was already too late for them to react. The pirates in the front row hadn't even had time to pull their blades back before the ones behind surged forward in a menacing throng, packing this violent crime scene as tightly as a train station during the New Year rush.

Such a dense formation is precisely what every hero with an area-of-effect skill dreams of. With enemies so accommodating, pulling off a twenty-nine kill spree is hardly out of the question.

"Judgment!"

Garen gripped his greatsword tightly and spun into the crowd like a meat grinder. The [Judgment] skill, which looks almost comical in the game—turning Garen into a whirling iron top—reveals its true brutality when translated into reality. The spinning greatsword, living up to its name, creates a storm of death from which none can escape, cleaving through the mob at dizzying speed. Human bodies, so fragile, burst into grotesque clouds of crimson mist at the slightest touch, and whole forms are swiftly shredded to pieces.

There was nothing bright or righteous about this scene; on the contrary, it looked as though a vampire had wandered onto the wrong set. But the justice of Demacia has never shown mercy to evil and foes.

Back on Samwell Island, the young peace officers nearly suffered lasting trauma just from helping to clear away the bodies left by the Steel Blade Pirates.

[Judgment] lasts three seconds—not long, perhaps, but more than enough when dealing with a mass of tightly packed pirate lackeys. By the time Garen ceased his spinning and slowly lowered his sword, not a single enemy remained standing before him.

The few pirates left went pale with terror. Uncaring now how Captain Buggy might punish them, they turned and fled in a wild panic.

Suddenly, Buggy the Clown and his two lieutenants, Cabaji and Mohji, lost all their earlier air of assured victory. Their faces twisted as if they'd just eaten two pounds of filth.

"M-Mohji?" Buggy stammered, cold sweat streaming down his face, his prominent red nose quivering uncontrollably. "Why don't you go test his mettle again?"

"Ah?" Mohji the Beast Tamer blinked, then forced a strained smile. "My... my pet lion is, um, teething these days..."

"Roar-roar-roar~" The lion, Richie, who seemed to understand every word, clapped his massive jaws and rolled on the floor in feigned agony. Rolling and rolling, the big lion had, before anyone realized it, managed to put a dozen meters between himself and the battlefield, an