The battle against the first horde of the fourth day was intense and seamless yet fierce for Winston and Bryce, who were competing to rack up the most kills.
Their speed in slaying the surrounding monsters was so astonishing that it became the main focus of the battlefield. The other soldiers found it difficult to concentrate amid Bryce's brutal display of strength and Winston's rapid assault.
Although they had witnessed both of them fight before, they had never seen them so serious and ferocious. Winston, in particular, had transformed into a speeding killing machine, darting from one location to another and slashing his sword through every monster in his path.
"Interesting," Rowan commented.
He accessed his system and opened the temporary scoreboard for his two best soldiers.
(92 goblins, 13 low-rank demonic wolves...)
Evolution points earned – 5,400
(83 goblins, 5 flame-spitting lizards...)
Evolution points earned – 5,855
Rowan studied the scoreboards, amazed by the current difference between the two.
"Off the evolution points earned in the battle, Bryce is leading, but unfortunately, their competition focuses solely on kill counts, not evolution points," Rowan mused with a smile. "Winston made a smart move by targeting weaker monsters to rack up more kills."
He continued to observe the scoreboard when Winston's kill count spiked with three additional kills, while Bryce gained one more.
"Such amazing speed," he muttered, turning his attention back to the battlefield.
But his attention was drawn back to the system as a new window popped up.
[ Your captain, Bryce's Skill: One Punch (FF) has been upgraded to One Punch (F) ]
[ Skill effect has been doubled ]
"Bryce's skill has also upgraded!" Rowan exclaimed, surprised and impressed.
Winston's skill had been the first to upgrade on the first day, and now Bryce's was upgrading on the fourth day—both of them increasingly impressed Rowan with their skills.
'It seems skills automatically upgrade when a soldier fully utilizes them. Winston's Sword Master skill upgraded because he used it ferociously, slaying so many monsters,' Rowan pondered.
'Bryce employs numerous martial arts skills interchangeably during battle, which is why his skill took longer to upgrade despite his excellent performance since the first hunt. Winston was faster because Sword Master is his primary skill,' Rowan analyzed the growth of his two top soldiers.
Sword Master activates whenever a soldier wields and swings a sword. Even if they incorporate a few moves from other skills, Sword Master remains the primary skill.
When Bryce punches, his punch skill activates, when he kicks, his kicking skill comes into play. If he had a skill that combined all bodily attacks, he would upgrade faster.
Rowan returned his gaze to the spectacular battle, which was nearing its end as the last hundreds of monsters engaged with the soldiers.
His eyes scanned the field, checking the character statuses of all his soldiers.
His gaze settled on the two soldiers with the lowest evolution points in the group.
Power: N/A (43,450/10,000)
Special skill: Sword Master
Power: N/A (45,055/10,000)
Special skill: Sword Master
Aside from these two, the others had reached and surpassed fifty thousand evolution points.
As for the captains, Josh, who currently had the lowest amount of evolution points among them, had seventy-one thousand, while Bryce, the strongest, had ninety-three thousand.
Winston's evolution points were higher than Bryce's by more than two thousand.
According to Rowan's calculations, these two would most likely evolve during the second hunt of the day.
He couldn't wait to see how much stronger they would become after evolving, but at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder if they would feel pain like he did during evolution.
He had previously tried asking the system to quell his worries, but it had provided a twisted answer that didn't even match his question. He immediately understood that the system wanted him to experience it rather than explain it.
Rowan could only hope that they wouldn't experience the same level of pain as he did, considering they required ten times fewer evolution points than he did.
Additionally, they accumulated their evolution points gradually, which was a major difference from himself, who amassed the necessary evolution points during the evolution process itself.
While Rowan's mind was busy thinking ahead, the soldiers were on the verge of ending the first raid.
At that moment, only a Flame-spitting lizard remained alive.
The Flame-spitting lizard was elongated, standing at the same height as a pig, with large black eyes and orange scales. Its mouth was open, preparing to shoot a weak fireball as a last resort to escape, having realized it was the only one of its kind left.
Bryce and Winston stood at opposite locations, their eyes meeting and locking with each other. Without saying a word, both dashed toward the Flame-spitting lizard.
The other soldiers, already exhausted, stood a few meters away from the lizard.
Seeing both soldiers charging toward it, the others stepped back, giving Bryce and Winston the go-ahead.
Bryce's fists were clenched, and his eyes were focused on the lizard.
Bryce and Winston charged at the Flame-spitting lizard from opposite sides, their eyes locking for a split second. Neither wanted to lose, and both pushed themselves even harder.
The lizard trembled and began backing away in terror as the two top soldiers closed in. It had witnessed the brutality with which they had ended its peers, and it was frightened.
Its orange scales quivered, and its black eyes darted around in search of an escape. With no way out, it opened its mouth and spat a feeble stream of flame, hoping to keep them at bay for just a moment longer.
Bryce clenched his fists, ready to unleash his upgraded One Punch skill. His muscles tensed as he drove himself forward with raw power.
Winston, on the other hand, remained light on his feet. He zigzagged rapidly, making his next move difficult to predict.
Just as Bryce lunged, Winston sidestepped and performed a small feint that caught Bryce off guard. In that precise moment, Winston slipped behind Bryce's outstretched arm, dashed low, and slashed at the lizard's exposed belly with a flick of his sword.
Bryce, forced to halt his powerful punch midair, could only watch as Winston's blade pierced cleanly into the lizard. A burst of red sprayed from the creature, followed by a final trembling cry before it crumpled to the ground.
Winston stood upright, flicking his sword to clear off the blood as the crowd of soldiers cheered in admiration.
He turned to Bryce with a smirk on his face, as if to say, "I won!"
Bryce wasn't jealous or envious of Winston for taking the last kill, instead, he felt proud. If such a man had his daughter, he would be confident that he was capable of protecting her.
The other soldiers began harvesting mana cores while both of them strolled towards Rowan who watched them with a smile.
"Both of you did exceptionally well today," Rowan commented after they arrived beside him.
Both of them thanked him for the compliment but their mind were mainly revolving around the just concluded competition and who won. They asked Rowan for the results which he gave.
"Get ready to become a father-in-law soon, Bryce," Rowan laughed after revealing the result