The moment the snake realised it had Leon pinned, it began curling its body to squeeze him to death, and considering that its body was about a meter thick, it only needed to wrap around him twice to completely immobilise him.
Leon understood that, so without hesitation, he thrust out his left hand, blocking the section of the snake's body attempting to coil around his head. With his right hand, he released a burst of lightning directly onto the exposed patch where he had torn away its scales, the lightning hitting its flesh and drawing out a hiss of pain that forced it to quickly uncoil.
At the same time, Camellya activated a Blade Storm around its head, the wind blades cutting through its scales and spilling more blood as the flesh beneath was torn open.
Leon dashed away immediately to avoid being caught again, conjuring another lightning spear in his left hand and throwing it straight toward the snake's eye, forcing it to lower its head to avoid it.
Unfortunately for it, Camellya fired a Flame Arrow at the lightning spear the snake had avoided, causing it to explode mid-air and knock the snake's head down slightly, and Leon rushed in beneath it and leapt upward, delivering an uppercut that knocked its head backwards.
He landed on the ground, staggered slightly, and dashed away to avoid the snake's fangs that snapped down where he had just been, lightly punching his left hand through the air to shake off the lingering numbness from when he had used it to hold back the snake's body earlier.
Wind blades tore through the air rapidly, pelting the snake's body from all directions, and as it tried to slither away to evade Camellya's attacks while closing the distance, Leon moved in from the side and threw another lightning bolt toward its eye, forcing it to lower its head.
It fired ice spikes from its tail toward Leon, but he extended his left hand in that direction and released lightning bolts that knocked the spikes off course, sending them crashing into the ground before he charged forward and delivered another punch to its side.
The spikes on his gauntlet dug into it again, and he tore away another patch of scales before leaping over its body to the other side, just as several Wind Arrows from Camellya pierced into the exposed area he had created.
A flame arrow followed the wind arrows, piercing into that same wounded flesh before detonating, tearing apart more scales and flesh and scattering blood through the air.
Leon jumped onto the snake's back as its body hissed and thrashed, holding on firmly. When it turned its head toward Camellya to release another stream of ice to stop her attacks, he ran along its body, leapt lightly, and punched the top of its head, forcing the stream of ice to crash into the ground instead as its head slammed down onto the ice.
He rolled forward after the hit, getting back to his feet as quickly as he could, and turned to throw another lightning spear at its eyes. But the moment he faced it, he was met with its open mouth as its fangs clamped down on his outstretched left hand, sinking into his shoulder as it forced him forward and slammed his back into the wall.
"Gark— mpfh!"
Leon bit his tongue as he screamed, losing control of the lightning spear he was holding, causing it to explode in the snake's mouth.
The blast loosened the snake's grip on him slightly, but not enough for him to pull his arm free. Worse still, the snake expelled powerful frost from within its mouth, freezing Leon's arm in place, and the ice spread outward in an attempt to freeze the rest of his body.
Leon clenched his left fist and threw a punch directly toward the snake's left eye, his fist colliding with its closed eyelid, and the spikes on his gauntlet tore through it and pierced into its head through the eye.
He released lightning into the wound, sparks scattering through the air as the snake hissed in pain, finally letting him go and flinging his body aside as it thrashed around.
The moment it released Leon, a green magic circle appeared beneath the snake, runic letters spreading across it as three rings of green light appeared around it.
"Wind Magic: Raging Tornado!!"
At Camellya's command, a violent whirlwind rose from the circle, instantly engulfing the snake's body and lifting it into the air with immense force.
Within seconds, the winds intensified into a towering tornado dozens of meters high, dragging the snake upward and slamming it hard into the vault ceiling. The force of the winds tore through its scales, ripping them apart and shredding the flesh beneath, the violent currents battering its body from all sides as it was spun through the air without control.
It struggled to circulate its magic power, unable to release its ice as it was dragged around within the storm, its body spinning continuously, cut again and again by the raging winds for over a minute.
Then, the tornado lifted it once more and slammed it into the ceiling with a final burst before the winds dispersed.
Gravity took hold and the snake's body began to crash toward the ground, but its descent wasn't smooth, because Leon, who by all rights should have been down after having his left arm frozen and with four holes in his shoulder where the snake's fangs had pierced into him, ran toward the vault wall, leapt onto it, then sprang from the wall to the ceiling, and from the ceiling he launched himself toward the descending snake, his fist coated in lightning, which he brought down in a full-force punch, releasing all of his remaining magic power in that single blow and accelerating the snake's fall, sending it crashing toward the rough centre of the room.
The snake's body hurtled downward and dropped straight onto the edge of the spear that had been embedded in the ground all this while, the tip piercing through its battered scales and flesh effortlessly, passing straight through its body and out the other side.
[[Level Up]]
As the snake's body went limp and collapsed, Leon, his strength drained, fell from the air straight to the ground at accelerating speed.
He was on track towards having a violent meeting with the thick, icy floor of the vault, but just before he hit the ground, a loud whooshing sound rang out and Beriel appeared in a flash, catching him and lowering him safely to the ground.
Leon didn't have any strength left in his legs, so he quickly sat on the floor, and Beriel didn't try to lift him, instead raising his right hand silently and conjuring a Four-ringed magic circle, its power coating Leon's left arm and shoulder in a glow of light.
"Leon!" Camellya called out worriedly as she rushed over, her steps slowing to a halt when she got close enough to see Leon calmly waving at her with his right hand, the ice around his left arm quickly thawing under Beriel's magic.
"Young master, I highly doubt that Her Grace taught you light-based detoxification spells so that you could leap at monsters to punch them right after you've just been hit with a dose of their poison," Beriel said, a light sigh escaping his lips.
At his words, Leon blinked, looked up at him, and said, "Huh? I'm pretty sure that's what she taught me them for. I mean, anybody in my situation who had a light magic spell that could keep the poison at bay temporarily would definitely jump at that fucker to punch him down."
"""No, they would not,""" Camellya, Beriel and Elidyr, who had silently teleported into the vault, all retorted instantly.
"No, wait. Think about it. I'm sure they wo—"
"""No, they would not,""" the three repeated, cutting him off.
Camellya exhaled lightly, shaking her head before stepping forward and questioning Leon.
"Leon Damariel Raviaz, are you crazy?"
Elidyr frowned at her words, about to interrupt, but Beriel grabbed him and pulled him back, shaking his head lightly to silence him while Camellya continued scolding Leon.
"I had a follow-up spell prepared to finish it off. You nearly got yourself caught in the crossfire by jumping in there."
"What? The bastard bit me. I wanted to get even," Leon said, trying to defend himself.
However, Camellya wasn't having it.
"By putting yourself in the path of my spell?! Don't ever do that again."
Leon didn't immediately respond, silently looking away for a moment before muttering, "Maybe."
Hearing that, Camellya's expression turned incredulous. "You're not even going to…"
She didn't bother finishing her words, pressing her fingers to her temple as she muttered under her breath, "You're always like this."
Camellya turned around with an exasperated sigh after saying that, leaving Leon with a slightly confused expression at her words.
However, she didn't give him the explanation he desired and instead walked over to where the snake's corpse had fallen, reaching under her hair to unclasp the choker on her neck and remove it.
The bracelet on her right wrist glowed as it vanished from her hand and returned to her spatial storage, replaced by her water bottle, which contained not water but a potion to replenish magic power.
As she sipped from the potion, her gaze lowered toward the area beneath the snake's corpse. She crouched slightly, rubbing the ground and brushing away fragments of ice left from the snake's attacks, her eyes looking through the original icy floor of the vault where a faint humanoid figure could be seen beneath it.