Chapter 100: Timeless Schemes Warm the Heart (End)

The spiked mace swung forward, the intense pressure of the wind it stirred parting even the roaring, rolling flames. By the light of the fire, the mutant leader could clearly see the dark, spiked head of the weapon, gleaming with a menacing reflection. Yet, the mutant leader felt no fear. Such an attack could never hope to harm him.

"You're courting death!"

With a thunderous roar, the mutant leader didn't even bother with the Gatling gun strapped to his back. He threw a punch directly at the incoming mace. In his mind, this puny weapon could never inflict any damage on him. As for the cowardly sneak hiding behind the flames, he would be crushed into a pulp under this full-force strike!

Unfortunately, dreams are beautiful, but reality is cruel.

The moment of contact, the mutant leader felt a wave of overwhelming, incomparable force surge through his arm. He felt those iron spikes tear through skin and muscle that not even pistol bullets could pierce, crashing straight into his finger bones, which shattered like eggshells. His arm muscles, unable to withstand such terrifying power, instantly bulged and burst, sending blood spraying from the wounds. The mutant leader let out an uncontrollable shriek—not since his mutation had he ever tasted such agony!

"Boom!"

Daryl stared in stunned silence as the mutant leader, who stood twice his height, was sent flying backward like a discarded sack of rags. He tumbled across the ground, carving a long furrow into the earth. His massive arm, strong enough to choke a black bear, now hung limply at his side like a punctured balloon, devoid of any former strength or ferocity.

*Am I dreaming?*

Daryl wiped his eyes with his only remaining hand and looked forward, only to be struck by another wave of shock.

Emerging from the flames was a petite, cat-eared maid in a maid outfit. Daryl recognized her—she was the familiar who had been with the doctor. But… looking at the mace dangling in her hand, Daryl felt his entire body tremble. He had assumed this familiar was a magic-user type, never imagining that this petite, adorable girl was actually a powerhouse!

To send such a massive mutant flying with a single blow—what kind of strength was that?!

"Roar!"

While Daryl stood frozen, the two mutant soldiers beside him could no longer restrain themselves. Their opponent was just a woman, and a tiny girl at that; how dare she lay a hand on their leader and knock him down? This was a provocation against all mutants! An act that could never be tolerated!

With savage roars, the two mutants grabbed their heavy iron hammers and charged at the cat-eared maid.

If they were human, seeing a young girl effortlessly defeat a mutant would have raised alarm bells. But mutants were different; they were the very definition of "strong limbs, weak mind." After seeing their leader knocked away, their first reaction wasn't to flee, but to charge with their hammers!

A woman! If they couldn't even handle a single woman, what was the point of all the suffering they had endured in the wasteland?

The hammers the mutants carried were not small tools, but massive, person-sized sledgehammers meant for driving piles. A normal human would struggle to even lift them with both hands, yet these mutants wielded them with one hand as if they weighed nothing. They rushed before the cat-eared maid and swung the hammers downward. Had their target been an ordinary human, they would have been reduced to a smear of paste.

But unfortunately for them, they were not facing a human.

"Clang!"

Delin pivoted, holding her skirt with one hand and swinging the mace upward with the other. The mace collided with the descending hammer. The leading mutant let out a howl of pain. To ensure the kill, he had gripped his hammer with both hands, swinging with all his might. Seeing the girl standing her ground, he had even felt a flicker of joy, already envisioning the gruesome sight of her being crushed.

But what followed defied the simple-minded mutant's comprehension. When his hammer struck the mace, it felt as though he had slammed into a mountain of solid stone! No, even a stone mountain would have cracked under his blow. But this…

The mutant's barren brain couldn't process what he was experiencing, but his body reacted with brutal honesty. The hammer rebounded high into the air, and the force of the recoil snapped the mutant's elbow joint with a sickening crack. Before the wretch could even react, the cat-eared maid thrusted the mace forward, driving it into his abdomen. With a wet *thud*, his massive torso was cleaved in two, the upper and lower halves spinning apart as viscera and blood showered the ground.

Watching this, Daryl felt his senses going numb.

*Are you kidding me? A girl in a maid outfit with cat ears swings a mace and cleaves a mutant in half? Is there any justice left? I know familiars are powerful, but could you at least respect human logic? If you have this much strength, show off some abs so we can at least fight properly! You dress like that, then turn a mutant into that, and now the situation has become this—how are we supposed to accept this!*

Delin, of course, had no idea what was running through Daryl's mind. The cat-eared maid's fighting style was far more barbaric than Ferren's—she was all about raw, relentless aggression. If she didn't crush you with the first blow, she'd cripple you, then finish you off until you were nothing but meat paste. If anyone dared to resist, she simply reduced them to fragments, leaving not even a scrap behind.

*She's a demon!*

Watching the maid smile as she raised her mace to smash the head of a twitching mutant soldier into a pulp, Daryl felt his sanity slipping. He told himself he had to leave, but his legs refused to obey. He remained paralyzed on the ground, trembling as he watched the carnage until the last resisting mutant was slaughtered. Only then did he snap back to reality.

Now, it was his turn.

"Wait, I surrender! I surrender!"

Seeing the cat-eared maid walking toward him, Daryl completely broke down. He wept and begged, snot and tears streaming down his face, hoping to spare his life.

But before Daryl could finish his plea, Delin raised her right hand, and the flying mace shattered his head into pieces.