Reito opened his eyes and saw Lily opening a medicine bottle, drinking it, then rinsing her mouth.
'What the hell is she doing?' That was what Reito thought right before something horrifying happened.
Pffft!
She spat the entire mouthful of medicine straight into Reito's face — eyes, nose, mouth, everything got hit.
"AGHHHHH!!!!"
"Oh, you're finally awake?"
"What the fuck did you just do?! Blegh! It's all in my mouth!! It tastes like absolute shit!!"
"Such a child. Don't you know how to speak respectfully? I just used that medicine to wake you up and clear your head."
"I was already awake before you spat that disgusting mouthwash straight into my face! Fucking disgusting!!"
Reito wiped his eyes and glanced to the side — the situation over there was extremely tense.
Baron and Kai were fighting Irelia. Kanna was enthusiastically supporting both of them against her.
Wait—Kai?! Since when was Kai here?! And he's actually holding his own against her!
"You still got mana left? If not, ask Kanna or Violet to transfer some so you can keep fighting! I still need to go help Abaric and Vakoth."
"Ah yeah, no way I'm getting left behind."
Meanwhile…
Irelia summoned a barrage of ice spikes erupting from the ground at high speed, aiming straight for Baron.
Kai reacted instantly, stepping in front of Baron. He swung Icebreaker and shattered all the ice spikes, then fired needles from his sword.
Irelia slid away on the ice, created several identical ice clones of herself, and dashed in another direction.
"Hey, you know what that is, right?" Kai asked, pressing his back against Baron's.
"Ice clone substitution technique. As long as she wants, she can instantly swap places with any of those clones."
"Annoying as hell. Let me figure out how to break it."
"Kai, she's targeting me. This isn't looking good."
Irelia slid again, formed a long ice spear, and stabbed it into the ground.
Immediately both of them felt razor-sharp ice lances about to erupt from beneath their feet.
"Pipi!" Pandora warned from Kai's shoulder.
"Jump, Baron!"
Kai slammed Icebreaker straight down, completely shattering the ice spears.
But Irelia had already predicted it. She hurled the spear directly at Baron.
"?!"
Kai reacted lightning-fast, swinging Icebreaker and slicing the spear in half, successfully protecting Baron.
…Or so he thought.
Irelia clenched her fist. The bisected spear exploded, turning into razor-sharp ice thorns shooting in every direction.
"Motherfu—!"
Kai realized it was bad. He kicked Baron far away and took the full hit himself.
"Kai!" Baron, sent flying, looked up and saw two or three parts of Kai's body already frozen solid.
Irelia knew she couldn't win in close combat against Kai, so she switched to long-range attacks — and it was extremely effective.
If she had fought like this from the beginning, Kai wouldn't have had any chance to counter.
After that, Irelia created snowflakes and blew them toward the others.
"You coward! You really will use every dirty trick just to kill all of them, huh?!"
Baron clapped both hands together, formed a ball of electricity, and fired it.
The electric orb moved slowly, but it attacked everything in its path — no matter how small.
The snowflakes were instantly destroyed by the electricity. Then the orb changed course toward Irelia.
A homing electric sphere — extremely useful.
"Tch!" Irelia backed off, already thinking of a new tactic.
Thanks to Kanna's Rune magic warming him up, the ice on Kai's body melted. He spun Icebreaker once and handed it to Pandora.
"Change the curse, Pandora."
"Pi!"
"Kai, what now? She lost her auto-defense barrier, but she's still fast enough to dodge everything," Baron said, walking up to him.
"…Actually, I just thought of a strategy. I'm just worried you won't be able to handle the pain."
"You saying that is basically looking down on me. A real man doesn't whine about pain!"
"That's some manly energy! Here, take it."
Kai handed the newly cursed Icebreaker to Baron. They looked at each other.
"Brand-new combo. Hope you don't pass out."
"Trust me bro."
BOOM!
She had already dealt with the electric orb — and used that time to prepare a new plan.
With this plan, they were all definitely going to die. No survivors.
She had strengthened herself with forbidden magic, drastically shortening her own lifespan — but who cares?!
Her win rate had to be high. She would never allow herself to lose, no matter the cost.
She slammed both hands onto the ground. Her eyes glowed brightly.
Instantly, two long vertical ice walls rose, trapping the entire group inside.
Kai and Baron decided to charge together — Kai taking point.
"ETERNAL ICE RAGE! MAMMOTH!"
A massive ice mammoth statue appeared in front of her. Then she summoned countless ice spikes from the ground.
The plan was simple: the spikes would force them to dodge — and when they did, the mammoth would charge, shattering the spikes into razor-sharp shrapnel flying everywhere.
Anyone who touched even one piece would start freezing. If they were unlucky, they'd get hit by multiple fragments.
Icebreaker could probably destroy the mammoth — but the mammoth's ice was explosive. Kai might survive, but Baron definitely wouldn't if he got hit.
Seeing Kai and Baron jumping and dodging the spikes just as she predicted, she smirked.
But… where's Icebreaker? She didn't see Kai holding it. Did he give it to Baron?
But with Baron's strength, she doubted he could shatter ice with the same destructive power as Kai.
"BARON! GET READY!" Kai suddenly grabbed Baron by the collar.
"YEAH!"
"UOHHHHH!!!" Kai spun Baron around with all his strength and hurled him — still clutching Icebreaker — straight toward the mammoth.
"?!"
Baron's lightning body accelerated him even further. Electricity crackled around his entire form.
Gripping tightly, he raised Icebreaker like a shield and smashed head-on into the mammoth.
Instead of shattering it, the mammoth was actually pushed backward — Irelia was stunned.
"Damn it! That octopus changed the curse?!"
The moment the mammoth slammed into the ice wall, she saw Kai already charging toward her, firing needles.
She backed up, only to sense killing intent right behind her. She instantly raised an ice wall.
"Idiot."
"!"
She spun around — Baron was already right in front of her.
"Uohhh!!!" He swung Icebreaker straight at her.
"You forgot I still have my ice clones?!" Irelia prepared to swap.
"STUCK!"
Instantly, both Baron and Irelia were rooted in place — unable to move their feet.
Even her substitution magic failed — her feet were literally got stuck by skill.
"How?!"
She looked at Kai. He was still standing on his sword, which he had stabbed deep into the ice floor — activating the skill. Since his feet weren't touching the ice, he wasn't affected.
He stood up on his blade and leaped toward her.
Baron threw Icebreaker into the air. Kai caught it, passed it to Pandora to change the curse again.
"Grr!! You—" Magic gathered in her hands as she prepared her next move.
"YOU TALK TOO FUCKING MUCH!"
Kai slashed downward — from her shoulder all the way through.
"AGHH!!" Blood sprayed violently from Irelia. She tried to use something—
"Unstuck!"
Immediately both of them could move again.
Without wasting a single second, Baron leaped onto Kai's back, vaulted over him — his other hand crackling with insane amounts of electricity.
"RAIKOU!"
A terrifying bolt of lightning erupted from Baron's palm, slamming into the already bleeding Irelia.
She was blasted straight into the wall, smoke rising from her body.
"Yeah! Dab me up, my boy!"
"Yeahhhh!!"
Kai and Baron slapped hands repeatedly, then gripped each other's forearms like two gigachads.
Irelia coughed up a huge amount of blood onto the floor. Her eyes burned with pure hatred as she glared at them.
"She's using forbidden magic again," Baron said, taking off his shirt and tying it around his waist, revealing a lean but solid physique.
"She's really trying to go all-out bloodbath with us… I'm worried she might actually beat us…"
Then both of them grinned and said at the same time:
"If it was just the two of us."
Irelia's eyes widened.
Right after they spoke, the other three instantly appeared beside them.
"Sorry for making you guys handle it alone."
"I'd feel useless if I didn't help my juniors…"
"I'm definitely getting revenge on her!"
Reito, Abaric, and Vakoth had returned to the fight.
"Phew! Healing them was exhausting! Good thing Vakoth revived after we put his parts back together… Abaric needed stitches…" Lily wiped sweat from her forehead while Kanna and Violet massaged her shoulders. Aura was still lying somewhere, quietly watching the battle.
"You guys… every single one of you keeps getting in my way… My goal was to make this place better, and you still stop me?" Irelia struggled to stand, releasing every last drop of remaining mana in an explosion.
"I get what you mean. Honestly, I don't really care that much about this place, BUT—"
Reito extended his hand — a black hole formed in his palm.
Abaric sprouted blade from his arm and a knife, crossing them to form a plus sign.
Vakoth tore off the last scraps of cloth on his body and gripped Icebreaker.
Baron clasped his hands — lightning continuously crackling between them.
Kai held his sword pointing downward, then raised it to his chest.
"You choosing exactly the people I know about to sacrifice — so of course I'm going to stop you. After all… I still treasure these relationships."
'…Did they just strike a group pose for aura farming?' Aura blinked, thinking to herself.