Chapter 18 The Razenhard, The Monkey, And The Mafia Startup

• The walk back to the clearing felt like a nightmare safari. Belle had discovered this route during her forest wanderings—a lucky find, since it cut their travel time from the city to their makeshift base to just an hour.
• Anca trudged behind Lux, her disbelief growing with each monstrous corpse they passed. Giant spiders with legs like scythes. Eleven-foot centipedes split down the middle. Twenty-foot snakes decapitated with surgical precision. Goblins and bears reduced to meat puzzles. Lux carved through them all with the casual efficiency of a woodcutter splitting logs, her expression never shifting from serene focus.
• Then, the moment the last enemy fell, her demeanor would flip like a switch—blood-spattered prince charming transforming back into a smiling, wide-eyed innocent.