With a simple, fluid spin, Lexi delivered a devastating heel kick directly to the center of the wyvern's forehead. The thick, armor-like dragon scales shattered instantly like brittle glass.
But Lexi did not fall back to the carriage roof. Before gravity could pull her down, she used the falling, dead wyvern's huge back as a new footing.
Because the beast was the size of a small house, its immense weight provided a solid platform in mid-air. She bent her knees and kicked off the plummeting corpse.
Her superhuman leg strength transferred so much explosive kinetic force downward that the huge wyvern's body suddenly shot toward the earth like a fired cannonball, breaking the sound barrier with a deafening boom. Riding the equal and opposite reaction of that massive impact, Lexi launched herself even higher into the sky toward the next target.
Mirelle watched in absolute, unblinking awe. In her entire life, she had never seen something like this.
She's like an angel flying in the sky.
Lexi was ricocheting between the flying monsters like a deadly pinball. She bounced from one wyvern to the next, never touching the ground.
Every single strike was a one-hit kill. A spinning hook kick snapped a spine. A brutal knee strike crushed a ribcage. A descending axe-kick sent a huge beast hurtling downward like a meteor.
Lexi moved with terrifying, unfathomable speed. She was just a blur of dark and pink fabric and brown boots, leaving a trail of broken monsters falling from the sky.
Mirelle's mouth hung open. Back home, she had watched the imperial knights train in the imperial courtyard. They were proud, big men wrapped in heavy steel armor.
If a wyvern attacked the palace, those knights would need massive shields, long iron spears, and highly coordinated formations just to survive a single tail swipe. They would sweat, bleed, and shout battle cries.
But here, a single maid in a simple traveling dress was entirely dismantling an entire swarm of Disaster-class threats in mid-air. And she was doing it without breaking a sweat, purely because she was annoyed they were making too much noise.
The physical shockwaves from Lexi's rapid kicks were so intense they were physically blowing the thin mountain clouds apart.
The bodies of the massive beasts rained down into the bottomless cliff on their right in a continuous, heavy downpour of scales and flesh.
Mirelle mentally screamed. That was... amazing.
Her large blue eyes were wide, reflecting the sheer, impossible violence happening above her.
She stared at Lexi, who was casually destroying a Disaster-class monster threat with her bare hands.
Then, slowly, Mirelle turned her head to look at the wooden door behind her.
She looked inside that black carriage. My master, who bosses me around, is fast asleep. He is not giving orders and he is not worried about the swarm. He had not even bothered to look out the window to check if we were dying.
She had thought he was just a cruel, corrupt noble.
But that guess was completely wrong. Wealthy lords bought their safety with heavy bags of gold. They hid behind loud, desperate mercenaries who bled for every single copper coin. Lexi wasn't fighting for a bag of silver. A maid capable of kicking Disaster-class beasts out of the sky did not need a patron's money.
She was fighting out of absolute, terrifying devotion.
Mirelle swallowed heavily. Her twelve-year-old brain desperately tried to piece the terrifying puzzle together. She knew exactly how the worldly hierarchy worked: the armored knights were the strong, disposable shields, and the nobles were the frail, untouchable masters. Lexi possessed the raw power to slaughter an entire imperial battalion alone. She did not need a frail master to protect her.
Yet, this terrifying monster unconditionally bowed to a lazy, unbothered man reading a picture book.
He isn't physically strong, Mirelle realized, staring at the wooden door. But what kind of unimaginable, absolute political terror can command a monster like her to act as a simple maid? Just how deep does his dark influence run? How much of the empire's underworld does he secretly own to make a god-like warrior act this subservient?
The horrific screeches finally stopped and the violent rushing wind died down.
The carriage rolled forward, the heavy wheels leaving the narrow, dangerous mountain pass and entering a wide, safe dirt road surrounded by green fields.
The sky above them was completely clear. Not a single wyvern remained.
A soft thump echoed from the roof. Lexi had landed back on the reinforced alloy. Mirelle heard the maid let out another long, lazy yawn, followed by the soft sound of her lying back down on the hard metal to resume her rest.
From inside the carriage, a soft, rhythmic snoring drifted through the wooden door. The master was still fast asleep.
Mirelle sat entirely frozen on the driving board. Her blistered hands gripped the leather reins loosely now.
The pure terror was gone, completely replaced by an overwhelming, permanent sense of awe. She stared blankly at the road ahead, her worldview entirely and irreversibly altered.
The black carriage rolled to a gentle stop near a wide, rushing river. The sky was entirely dark, painted with thousands of sparkling stars.
The sounds of the forest were peaceful, completely hiding the fact that a hundred Disaster-class monsters had rained from the sky just hours earlier.
The heavy wooden door of the carriage slowly pushed open. Kian stepped out onto the soft grass.
He stretched his arms high above his head, letting out a long, dramatic yawn. He rubbed his eyes, looking completely refreshed from his deep afternoon nap.
He did not look at the sky. Not even looking at Lexi. He just looked at the exterior of his expensive carriage.
Kian frowned deeply. The sleek black wood was completely covered in thick layers of brown dust, dried mud, and weird green stains from the mountain pass. It looked terrible.
"Lexi," Kian said lazily. "I am hungry."
"I will go hunt for fresh meat," Lexi replied instantly. She did not even blink. She just turned around and vanished into the dark woods, moving so fast she did not even rustle the leaves.
Mirelle watched the incredibly powerful maid disappear. Just hours ago, being left alone with this terrifying master would have made her cry uncontrollably. Her entire body would have trembled in pure, paralyzing fear.
But now, the sheer terror was completely gone.
Mirelle had witnessed Lexi obliterate an entire swarm of wyverns with her bare hands. She knew exactly how strong the maid was.
As long as Lexi was around, Mirelle felt an overwhelming, undeniable sense of safety. No bandit, monster, or wild animal could possibly hurt her while that pink-haired monster was nearby.
Because the fear of death had vanished, her aristocratic pride and basic human annoyance finally had room to return.
Kian looked down at the twelve-year-old girl. "Orphan. The carriage is filthy. Take the wooden bucket, fetch water from the river, and scrub the exterior until it shines. Do not miss the wheels."
Mirelle's right eye twitched.
She did not flinch nor squeak in terror. But she stared at him, her face twisting into a deep, genuine scowl.
This is so annoying, Mirelle thought internally while her teeth grinding together. He just woke up from a nap, and the very first thing he does is boss me around again! Lexi just saved our lives from a hundred wyverns, and he only cares about some dust on his wooden wheels!
"Did you hear me?" Kian asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," Mirelle muttered through gritted teeth.
She stomped over to the side of the carriage, grabbed the heavy wooden bucket, and marched down to the riverbank. She aggressively dunked the bucket into the freezing water, her small arms straining as she hauled it back up the grassy slope.
She grabbed a thick rag and started scrubbing the side of the carriage. Every time she wiped away a patch of mud, she glared at Kian, who was now sitting comfortably in his folding chair, reading a comic book by the light of a glowing lantern.
When she finished the first side of the carriage, her arms were aching. Kian was completely ignoring her.
Mirelle walked over to a smooth, flat patch of dirt near the river. She crouched down, her face burning with childish frustration. She picked up a sharp, sturdy twig.
With aggressive, rapid strokes, she drew a large circle in the dirt. Inside the circle, she carved two half-closed, incredibly lazy eyes. She added a flat, uncaring horizontal line for a mouth. Finally, she drew a messy mop of hair on top. It was a shockingly accurate, deeply insulting caricature of Kian's face.
"Take that," Mirelle whispered angrily. She raised her heavy leather boot and stomped directly on the dirt face, smearing the lazy eyes into the mud. "And that!"
She kicked a cloud of loose dirt directly into the drawing, thoroughly destroying it. It felt incredibly satisfying.
"Are you playing in the dirt?" Kian called out without looking up from his book. "The front wheels are still dirty. Hurry up."
Mirelle gasped, quickly dropping the twig. "I am washing them right now!" she yelled back. She grabbed her bucket and stomped back to the carriage, her face flushed with extreme annoyance.
This was just the beginning of how the Imperial Princess became an obedient servant to a jerk master.