The Great Tree Labyrinth, Floor 19.
Leon and the others sprinted at full speed for roughly thirty minutes before the massive hollow-tree passage to the next floor came into view ahead.
"We're here."
The moment he spoke, the group smoothly fell into a circular defensive formation with Riveria at its center.
Ais and Heith took the front as vanguards, Riveria stayed in the middle, and Leon covered the rear, handling fire support and flank protection.
All they had to do was hold until Riveria finished Chanting and unloaded her artillery-class magic on the oncoming swarm.
"RUUUUMBLE..."
The ground began to tremble. At first it was barely noticeable, but as the monster horde drew closer, the vibrations grew violent enough to shake dust and weeds loose from the ground.
"Harbinger of the end, pure white snow... at the twilight hour, raise the raging winds..."
The elf royal's solemn, impassioned Chanting rang through the deep forest labyrinth, a massive magic circle flaring into existence beneath her feet.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
Crack! Snap-snap-snap!
Dense trees, shrubs, and underbrush were trampled and torn apart by countless monsters! The moment the black tide of beasts surged into view, it launched itself at the party in a berserk charge.
"Here they come!"
"I am gold, the handmaiden who has sworn an immortal vow...
...
"Bless, bless, bless. I am gold, calling all endless conflict to this place with the light of resurrection..."
"Earth Gullveig!"
As Heith's magic activated, a brilliant golden radiance flashed around her and vanished.
The next second, an almost manic grin split her face, and without the slightest guard she charged headfirst into the monster tide.
"Hahahahahaha, come fight me, monsters!!!"
Shk shk shk shk shk!
Streaks of silver turned into afterimages of death, flashing wildly across monster bodies!
Blood sprayed in every direction.
Half of Heith's body was drenched crimson with enemy blood, and she didn't care in the slightest. She just kept butchering monsters with pure, cathartic abandon.
Compared to Heith, who looked completely unhinged...
"Awaken!"
Wind armor wrapped around her body. True to her nickname, Ais's delicate face showed no expression at all. Like a killing machine, she cut down every monster in front of her.
Every strike was at full power. She swung her sword of despair tirelessly, repeating the same motion over and over.
Only the burning fire of vengeance deep in her eyes told you this wasn't a doll at all, but a blade of vengeance.
Riveria's chant pressed on, her voice steady above the chaos.
"...Soon, flames shall be unleashed. The creeping fires of war, destruction that cannot be avoided. The horn of battle sounds high, encompassing all tyrannical warfare..."
Leon pressed his lips together, watching his two vanguards completely abandon formation, oblivious that they'd left Riveria exposed, charging straight into the horde to slaughter.
Oh for... The moment the magic starts, formation just goes out the window, huh.
"Fireball!"
"BOOM..."
Ais and Heith were holding the front, but on both flanks and through the gaps they left, monsters poured through like a broken dam, wave after wave surging toward the passage behind the party.
Under the crushing pressure, Leon didn't waste breath on words. He just mechanically, frantically, poured magical firepower into the incoming tide.
"Fireball! Fireball! Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!"
Explosion after explosion tore through the tree line, each blast hitting before the last echo had died. Fire bloomed across the labyrinth in a rolling wave of orange and crimson.
His berserk bombardment left Riveria, Ais, and Heith completely dumbfounded.
"Wait, that's quick-cast magic, right? It has to be quick-cast!"
Heith was the first to yell, her eyes bugging wide.
"He didn't do any Chanting at all, and the magic just fired instantly!"
Her voice was full of disbelief.
"And he's chaining them with zero delay between casts!"
"What the hell is that!?"
Heith gaped at the explosions and flames blooming endlessly on both flanks, her mind going completely blank.
"Th-th-th-this, this, this..."
She pointed at the unending explosions, unable to get the words out.
"That's not magic at all!"
She stressed it again, as if protesting this nonsense to the world itself.
Ais cleaved a Walking Mushroom in half and said coldly:
"That kind of power. You're telling me that's quick-cast?"
Heith: "..."
She opened her mouth, then closed it. No comeback.
Right. The range and destructive power of those Fireballs... what part of that looked like quick-cast magic?
This man was ridiculous!
What kind of normal mage had that level of sustained area firepower?
Was that even magic?
No, that was a mage's basic attack!
It was absurd!
Even Riveria, usually the calm one, was briefly stunned by Leon's all-out, everything-on-the-table display.
The last time she'd seen him, his firepower hadn't been anywhere near this insane... had he been holding back then?
Not good!
Her focus wavered for just an instant, and the magic surging inside her nearly slipped loose!
Riveria's heart jolted. She reined in her thoughts, shut her eyes, and forced herself to concentrate on the all-important Chanting.
Being fixed in place by such astonished stares from three powerful teammates, Leon felt a bittersweet mix inside.
Sweet, because he'd just flexed hard in front of all three of them, and the feeling was like chugging an ice-cold mug of ale in the middle of summer: refreshing from head to toe.
Bitter, because exposing his true firepower was going to draw unwanted attention and scrutiny.
But thinking it over... he had plenty of valis on hand now, and only needed more Excelia to rank up again.
On top of that, he was no longer the unremarkable little rookie he'd been at Lv. 1. Getting a bit more attention wasn't going to hurt him.
His real trump card had never been any "quick-cast magic" to begin with. It was the magic library inside him, growing more and more unfathomable with time.
Exposing a bit of surface-level intel was nothing.
And besides...
Weren't there plenty of flashier people inside Orario soaking up attention?
He was just a little Lv. 2 (on the books, at least). Who was really going to put in the effort to dig into him?
At his absurd rate of leveling, maybe... by the time he actually stood at the heights of Lv. 5 or Lv. 6, the outside world's impression of him would still be stubbornly stuck at Lv. 2.
Which was, in fact, one of the reasons he'd asked Lady Demeter to keep his level information hidden.
Having a surplus of real strength gave him a lot more flexibility in whatever he wanted to do.
Shhk shhk shhk!
"Gaah!"
As more and more monsters from the rear waves piled up at the passage mouth, their numbers just kept swelling, a black tide rising like the incoming sea.
Even with all three of them giving everything, only Leon had that small-area clearing ability. Ais and Heith, relying on sword kills, were starting to fall visibly behind the rate of monster reinforcement.
The suffocating pressure pressed down on them, and the constant high-intensity combat was grinding their focus to shreds. In one lapse of attention, Heith and Ais were struck simultaneously by several berserking monsters and sent flying back.
"Gagh!"
Ais was fine. Her wind armor absorbed most of the impact. Her organs throbbed painfully from the shock, but she hadn't taken any real injuries.
Heith got it much worse. A bear's claws raked straight down her chest, top to bottom!
"Khh..."
She crashed to the ground hard, coughing up a spray of blood.
And yet, the bloodied face she lifted still wore that almost manic grin. She didn't give a damn about the wound, deep enough to expose bone and even a glimpse of organs.
"A scratch like this isn't nearly enough to test my faith in the goddess!"
She rasped the words out.
The next second, a miracle. The golden radiance around her suddenly flared to a blazing intensity.
Under that golden light, the horrific wound sealed, scabbed, and restored itself at visible speed. In a heartbeat she was whole again.
Magic: Earth Gullveig. Auto-healing magic.
Active.
While the magic was in effect, no matter how grievous the injury, her overwhelming vitality would instantly repair it.
This was the core pillar that let Heith dance on the blade's edge as a berserker, flirting madly with death itself.
But that wasn't all.
Marditas, activated.
Flare Hrimnir, activated.
Life Folkvangr, activated.
Three skills interlocked with Earth Gullveig in a perfect chain. The healing gold around her surged even more vigorously, an endless current of vitality roaring through her body.
Heith clenched her fist, feeling the power that was almost overflowing, and a bloodthirsty smile twisted across her face, ferocious to the extreme.
"Let's go!"
Before the word had finished leaving her mouth, she stomped down and shattered the ground beneath her. Like a cannonball, wrapped in searing golden light, she hurled herself once again into that raging monster tide.
Leon watched the scene, opened his mouth, and the corner of his eye twitched.
"Every single one of the Freya Familia is a lunatic..."
...
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