Infinite Rewards Harem System: My Rewards are x10,000-Chapter 36: Khoi City

Without looking, Terrence ducked and dodged a swift sword slash, aimed to make him look like Jeepers Creepers after he threw his head off the bus.

The blade sliced through empty air with a vicious whoosh, close enough that the displaced wind tugged at the collar of his dark blue shirt. He twisted at the hips, feet sliding smoothly across cracked concrete, body flowing like water around every follow-up swing. Another sword came in low, aimed to gut him. Then high, then diagonal. He leaned, sidestepped, ducked again, letting the attackers overcommit while notifications flared in the corner of his vision.

[x1 Epic-Grade War Hammer Received!]

[Godzilla’s Toenail LV. 1]

[Description]

A grotesquely heavy war hammer forged from a crystallized fragment of a titanic abyss-beast’s claw.

Each swing converts the user’s motion into compressed kinetic energy, storing it inside the hammer’s core for a fraction of a second before violently releasing it on impact.

When the hammer strikes, the stored force detonates outward as a localized seismic burst, sending shockwaves through anything nearby.

[Effects]

[Kinetic Compression] Stores a portion of the wielder’s swing as condensed kinetic energy and releases it on hit, massively amplifying impact force.

[Seismic Detonation] Generates a short-range ground shockwave on impact, damaging and staggering enemies in the surrounding area.

[Aftershock Rupture] Targets struck directly suffer a delayed internal tremor, reducing stability and defense for a brief duration.

[Tectonic Weight] The hammer becomes progressively heavier during continuous combat, increasing both kinetic and seismic damage per strike.

Terrence chuckled at the name before he looked to see who tried to kill him.

Twenty dark-red dragons loomed across the ruined yard. Each of them were seven feet of corded muscle and malice, obsidian horns curling backward like blackened scythes, molten-gold eyes burning with hate. Bulky armor plates of volcanic glass and bone covered their torsos and shoulders, etched with crimson runes that pulsed angrily. In their clawed grips, massive two-handed greatswords dripped black ichor that hissed and smoked on contact with the concrete. They formed a tight circle around a single seated figure, wings half-unfurled in threat display, tails lashing the ground and kicking up dust.

The person in the center sat cross-legged on a rusted metal plate that had once been part of a loading dock, long curly black hair spilling over narrow shoulders like spilled ink. A filthy white dress clung to a petite but toned frame. From this distance Terrence could only make out the delicate curve of her shoulders and the way her hands rested lightly on her knees, fingers forming faint, trembling seals.

She made a handsign.

"Eliminate him."

The dragons exploded forward as one, their twenty bodies surging in perfect unison. Swords rose in glittering arcs, edges catching the weak daylight in deadly flashes.

They connected with him and laughed as they continuously sliced, stabbed, and slashed.

Steel rang against something far harder than flesh. Sparks erupted in brilliant white bursts, lighting up the overcast afternoon like fireworks.

The woman shook her head in disappointment then closed her eyes and crossed her arms, head hanging low.

"They’re really into huh.."

Her head snapped up and her widened eyes looked at Terrence through her hair like she seen a ghost.

Because the figure they were butchering wasn’t bleeding. It wasn’t flinching. It simply dissolved..pixel by pixel into harmless azure motes that drifted upward on the wind like dying fireflies.

Terrence was now sitting beside her smiled and then pointed, making her slowly turn her head.

It was..another Terrence? Turns out the one she was sitting besides was a clone.

The clone flashed her a lazy two-fingered salute before fading completely, leaving only a faint shimmer of afterimage hanging in the dusty air.

Real Terrence was in the air posed with his War Hammer in the upwards position.

He hung fifteen feet above the shattered concrete, body coiled like a spring. Godzilla’s Toenail rested across one shoulder. It’s grotesque, crystalline head glinting dully under the gray sky. The weapon already felt noticeably heavier; Tectonic Weight had begun stacking the instant the fight started, each heartbeat adding invisible mass.

[New Active Skill acquired!]

[Richter’s Scream LV.1]

[Description]

A catastrophic downward strike that converts all stored kinetic force within the equipped war hammer into a focused seismic release.

Upon activation, the user compresses motion, gravity, and impact momentum into a single collapse point beneath the hammer’s head.

When the strike lands, the compressed force erupts into a violent seismic shockfront that tears through the ground in expanding fault-lines.

"Dun dun dun dun hammer time!"

Terrence shot down like a lightning strike and when the tip of the hammer reached the ground the aftermath was cataclysmic.

BOOOOMM.

The sound wasn’t just loud, it was apocalyptic. A blinding ring of compressed force detonated outward from the hammer head, ripping the concrete apart like wet cardboard. Rebar snapped like twigs. The impact crater collapsed inward, then exploded outward in a violent bloom of dust and debris.

Jagged fault-lines raced across the yard in a perfect expanding circle, swallowing the dragons’ clawed feet before they could even register the shift. Their laughter choked off mid-breath.

The first wave lifted them. Their bodies hurled skyward like discarded toys, wings flailing uselessly against the sudden updraft.

The second wave crushed them. The impact slamming them back down onto shattered pavement, scales cracking, armor buckling, ribs splintering with wet, sickening snaps.

The third wave tore through from the inside out.

Dark-red scales folded inward like wet paper.

Massive swords spun end over end into the air, gravity briefly forgetting its rules.

Several dragons snapped in half mid-flight, spines severed clean.

The rest never touched ground again.

Their bodies detonated in midair, cores shattering, armor bursting outward in razor fragments that rained down like shrapnel.

The entire ring of summons collapsed into dust and broken metal in less than two seconds.

The shockfront didn’t stop. It slammed into rusted containers and collapsed beams, sending twisted steel flying and kicking up clouds of dust that blotted out the weak daylight. A deep, rolling thoom echoed across the abandoned yard as Aftershock Rupture triggered inside whatever scraps remained.

When the dust finally settled, there was no battlefield anymore.

Only a massive sunken crater where the loading yard used to be.

At its center, Terrence stood smirking wider, one knee bent, his war hammer embedded head-deep into the pulverized concrete. Dust clung to his dark blue shirt in faint gray streaks.

"So-" he rose to his full height and focused on the woman somehow still sitting and unharmed on her rusted plate. "Who are you and what location is this?"

She still looked at him in shock, but what she did next surprised even him.

THUMP.

Terrence looked down at her hugging him in confusion.

Her arms wrapped around his waist with surprising strength. Her small, trembling hands clutching the back of his shirt like it was the only solid thing left in her world. Her face pressed against his abdomen, curls spilling over his hips, shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

"How do you go from trying to kill me to hugging me? Not saying I don’t like hugs, but its kinda strange."

He could feel his shirt getting wet and wondered why she was crying as well.

Warm tears soaked through the fabric in spreading dark patches. Her body trembled and she released silent, wrenching sobs that made no sound at all.

She then looked up at him.

Silver irises shimmered like liquid mercury under the gray sky, framed by thick black lashes clumped with tears. High cheekbones, full lips pressed into a trembling line, rich warm brown skin glowing faintly even through the dust and grime. She had a 5’4 petite frame, but corded with lean muscle beneath the filthy white dress. She was beautiful, undeniably. But exhaustion and grief had carved hollows under her eyes and drawn her mouth into a permanent, weary downturn.

She pointed to her mouth and shook her head.

Terrence raised an eyebrow. "You can’t talk?"

She nodded her head yes and then took a step backwards. She took out what looked like a notepad and started swiftly writing.

The notepad was battered. The pages yellowed and curled at the edges, spine reinforced with layers of duct tape and what might have been dried blood. She wrote with furious speed, pen scratching against paper like it was fighting her.

She then showed it to him.

"I’m sorry for trying to kill you, I’m just so used to others trying to rob, steal, or do worse to me. To answer your earlier question, we’re on the outskirts of Khoi City."

"You’re good. Kinda used to women trying to beat my ass before getting to know me."

One brow arched, silver eyes narrowing slightly. She looked curious, wary, a flicker of almost-amused disbelief cutting through the grief.

"Anyways, my name is Terrence. What’s yours? And give me a rundown of Khoi City. Are there powerful people there? Monsters?"

She flipped a page of her notepad and started writing again.

After a minute she turned it to him.

"My name is Isis Star. Pleasure to meet you Terrence. Khoi City is a place where evil is prominent, but hidden behind a facade of stability. Powerful people called Apostles roam there while others called Stragglers are in the outskirts. Stragglers are also powerful, but not as powerful as Apostles."

Terrence nodded his head in understanding as she flipped another page and continued writing. She stopped for a second and glanced at him then looked back at her notepad.

She shakily sighed and then showed it to him.

"Apostles and Stragglers are Summoners. I myself Summon Dragons. A long time ago I was deemed too weak and got banished away from Khoi City..away from my family..away from my little brother and sister. Unfortunately most Stragglers gain hindrances when they awaken their Summoner powers, mine was that I could no longer talk-"

Well that made sense didn’t it?

The pieces clicked into place. She hadn’t wanted to kill him, she’d just assumed he was another predator in a world that had already taken everything from her.

"I know your first impression of me may not be the best, but I can tell you’re powerful and I ask no beg of you..can you help me get back to my family? What kind of Summoner are you?"

Terrence smirked widely as he finished reading it.

What kind of Summoner are you?

Well...

His smirk stretched into something sharp and promising, eyes glinting with dark amusement as he hefted Godzilla’s Toenail onto his shoulder again. The hammer hummed faintly, still warm from the fight.

Not your average summoner.