'Seed of Chaos' System

A/N: The contents of this chapter may not be suitable for all audiences. Please read at your own discretion. (mild gore)

Keenan, the Dark Elf Necromancer, went second. After he chose a wicked-looking scimitar, the Captain signaled for a monster. The one he faced was a peculiar, bipedal rodent man with moose antlers, covered in raven-black feathers instead of fur. The Captain introduced it as a Greed Demon, famous for stealing both riches and babies alike. Keenan brutally hacked it to bits and had to be told to stop attacking after he leveled up. The Captain seemed very displeased with his behavior.

After that, the Captain called up Sullivan, the first Symbiotic Mage and a boy who looked like the very definition of "nerd:" skinny, dark-haired, with taped-up glasses. Did he even still need those? Alesha wasn't sure. In any case, he chose a sharp-looking spear before standing at the ready. His fingers loosened on the spear when a tall, willowy female monster was brought forward. Her skin was pale and covered in snakelike scales, her eyes bound tightly by a black cloth, and she wore loose-fitting, sheer garments that barely covered the parts that mattered. Sullivan visibly flushed.

"This monster," the Captain explained, "Is known as the 'Silky Mistress.' As you can see, even with its eyes covered, its seductive aura is nothing to sneeze at. Don't be fooled, Sullivan. This monster is deadly. It breeds by eating mens' hearts and laying its eggs in the cavity that remains. It doesn't care what the species is, so long as its partner is sentient. If you don't mind your children feasting on your corpse when they eventually hatch, feel free to let it seduce you; though of course, we can't allow its children to acquire the traits of a Hero, so we'd burn your corpse before that happened."

Sullivan looked like he was about to faint. "S- seriously?" He stammered. "That monster really does that?"

"Indeed," the Captain replied solemnly.

Putting on a brave face, Sullivan shouted, "How dare you, vile temptress!!" and jabbed his spear towards where he thought its heart would be. The creature died shortly thereafter, sending a swirl of golden light dancing around Sullivan as he leveled up.

The Captain nodded in satisfaction. "Good reaction, Sullivan. When you heard how dangerous the beast in front of you was, you changed your approach right away. Excellent."

After that, the other Heroes came up in succession and killed a variety of humanoid monsters using the weapons they had chosen. Each time, the Captain would not call for a monster until the Hero had picked their armament, and Alesha suspected that there was a hidden purpose to this. She had no idea what it could be, though. 

When it was Cadence the Saintess's turn, she chose a spear like Sullivan had done, likely because she could be further away from the monster when it died. Apparently, the soldiers had some level of pity for the timid girl, because her monster was just a goblin -- which she slayed with trembling hands. Like the day before, she vomited off the back of the platform as soon as she was done.

Alesha took a deep breath to steady herself before choosing her weapon. If she were to go with what she really thought would work, it would have been the spear; but seeing such a variety of weapons go unused after being brought out didn't sit right with her. There was also her desire to be different from the rest to consider. She knew it was irrational, but some part of her felt like she'd lose her identity if she too often chose something that was popular; a few others had also chosen spears after seeing their effectiveness, so Alesha felt pressured to choose something else instead. In the end, she went with a bident. It was close enough to hopefully still function well, but different enough that it felt like a unique choice. 

She laughed at her own foolishness when she saw the monster that was brought before her. Unlike the mammalian, reptile, or avian humanoid monsters the others had been given, hers was an insectoid. What was Captain Swallow's aim with this? Was it to call her out on her stupid choice?

Whatever the case, this squat, bipedal creature covered from head to toe in chitinous armor didn't look easy to kill, even though it was both drugged and restrained. The carapace looked quite strong. She walked around the monster, searching for weaknesses. It had no neck to sever; the head was nestled directly into its torso, which was itself one large, seamless piece. Its arms had rounded "shoulder" knobs, as did its legs. Could she take advantage of that somehow? Looking at the positioning of the limbs, she thought her plan was plausible… if she had chosen a spear instead of a bident, that is. The two flat prongs of her weapon made it too wide to fit in the gap even if she were to successfully remove the arms. No way would the bident be able to reach the monster's vitals.

She frowned at her weapon unhappily. A quick glance towards the Captain dissuaded her from asking if she could switch, though. Then, looking again at the oversized bug before her, Alesha wondered if the bident could be used as a lever to get between the head and chestpiece. It was worth a shot.

Shortly after that, Alesha successfully used the bident as a lever to apply force to the head, popping it off in a decisive blow. Soldiers then carried the body off like they did with the others.

The last person, Kennedy, used a sword to make quick work of a heavily muscled orc. Even though proper weapons training hadn't begun yet, it appeared that the "Sword Saintess" class suited her quite well.