The men and women all whirled their heads in the direction of where the young woman and little girl had vanished, but before they could do anything, Rukiyo made her move.
With a quick and strong, yet clumsy kick, she aimed straight for the scarred man's crotch, her booted foot landing solidly in his groin.
He let out a loud, pained grunt, doubled over, and grabbed himself in agony.
"Y-You—!" He wheezed out, barely able to stay standing on his two feet, the sound of his painful huff causing the others to freeze, shock and rage crossing their faces.
"You little skank!" The woman a couple of feet away from her screeched, making Rukiyo's heart thunder in her chest.
Not only that, the sight of the scarred man doubling over in pain, who is nearer to her than the woman— she saw her chance and immediately took it.
She raised her leg once more and kicked him again, but with a panicked mind, she completely forgot that she's just disguised as a human.
So her attack has an unexpected consequence.
Instead of a light kick, one that she was expecting, she used all of her strength that she could muster and.. And to her disbelief, the man suddenly goes soaring into the air.
The man let out a strangled squeak of terror, before it turned into a full-blown scream.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH—"
Rukiyo's jaw dropped as the man, her dearest victim, launched in the air, his four limbs flailing like a ragdoll, as if it would help him get down.
The other men stared in utter disbelief, their faces frozen somewhere between horror and bafflement, utterly stunned, their weapons dangling limply at their sides— but one of them broke free from the shock and pointed at his airborne friend with a shaking finger.
"W-Why is he.." He muttered, unable to finish his sentence.
The scarred man let out another loud cry of help before he disappeared over the treeline with an audible thud in the distance.
For a solid five seconds, no one moves or speaks.
Then Rukiyo slowly turns back to face the remaining men and women.. Who were too busy gaping in shock to even think about attacking Rukiyo anymore.
They were sure that their friend's body thud against something with an audible crack before sliding to the ground.
They were sure that considering the sound they just heard.. Their buddy is probably already damaged beyond repair and is bleeding profusely to death.
For a long moment, the men and women just stared at the tree where their companion disappeared into.
Then, almost reluctantly, they turned their gaze back to Rukiyo and Rukiyo quickly braced herself for some sort of retaliation from them, ready to fight back if necessary.
But instead of lunging forward, they do something completely unexpected.
Slowly, they approach her.
The men dropped to their knees, pressing their foreheads into the dirt like they're in the presence of royalty. On the other hand, the two women, kneeled properly, with their hands on their thighs and heads bowed deeply.
"Thank you so much for freeing us from that monster." One of the women whispered, her voice shaking slightly. "He was forcing us.. Making us do things.."
Rukiyo's eyes darted between all of them.
Did she just accidentally become a hero? Or at least.. An intimidating figure that these thugs are terrified beyond reason that they decided to just say fuck it and kneel in front of her?
Rukiyo's hands curled into fists at her sides, her golden eyes narrowing as she took a slow step back.
"H-How can I know that you're telling the truth?" She challenged, her voice sharp with suspicion. "For all I know, this might be a trick to make me think you're better than that man."
She inhaled sharply, frowning. "Maybe he was just your leader and now you're trying to save yourselves by pretending to be his victims."
The men flinched and one of them audibly gulped, but the woman who spoke earlier lifted her head slightly, revealing tear-streaked cheeks and upon closer look, Rukiyo could see a bruise on her skin.
"L-Look.." The woman stuttered out, her fingers fidgeting on the sleeve of her clothing as she did her best to keep her eyes on Rukiyo's. "I don't care if you believe us or not.. But if we wanted to save our skins.. We wouldn't have bowed like this."
The woman beside her shifted, catching Rukiyo's attention almost immediately. "We would've attacked first, ma'am."
The honorific used made Rukiyo raise an eyebrow, but the woman ignored it.
"And trust me.." She continued, her gaze flicking toward the distant tree where their former leader landed, before forcing her eyes back onto Rukiyo's. ".. We are much more terrified of YOU right now."
The men stayed bowed, their shoulders trembling slightly under the weight of Rukiyo's suspicion, but they didn't say anything else and just left their fate onto the women's hands— not like they will be able to get out of the situation alive if Rukiyo so desire to end them right then and there.
So, why bother fighting?
Rukiyo's chest tightened as she stared longer at the bruised, tear-streaked faces of the two women.
Then, like a spark in the dark, the system interface flickered into view and grabbed her attention instantly, making her shift her gaze into it.
>> NEW SKILLS UNLOCKED. CHECK THE SKILL MENU TO VIEW.
She hastily pulled up the menu without a thought and the list appeared before her, making her eyes widen in surprise.
— DRAGON'S AUTHORITY (Passive):
Your presence alone commands respect and submission from lesser beings. Mortals will instinctively lower themselves before you, recognizing your divine superiority— whether they like it or not.
— DRAGON'S PRIDE (Passive):
Any attempt to deceive a dragon is met with instant detection through this ability's heightened perception of intent and deception. Lies are exposed. Manipulation fails effortlessly under your scrutiny.
— DRAGON'S LEER (Passive):
A mere glance from you makes any lesser being freeze in primal fear at the sight of a predator's gaze, even if that predator looks entirely harmless on first glance.
Rukiyo finished skimming the three new passive abilities, absorbing the information as much as she could.
Then, her golden eyes land back onto the four men and two women, studying their bowed forms.
The reaction was immediate— all of them flinched under her gaze, their bodies started shaking more visibly, their muscles tensing as if they were expecting for a blow, their spines going ramrod straight.
The two men at the back even let out an involuntary whimper, like scared puppies.
They can't explain it, but they know that something is different with her now.. She feels incredibly and horrifyingly different somehow, like she became predatory.
And that caused them to start wishing that they were the ones who are dead, not their leader.