Recovering from "death," Aurelian felt mentally exhausted.
Although she wasn't actually dead, for some reason, every time she was teleported back to her starting point, she always had the feeling that she had "died" once.
It was as if the world itself were mocking her failure.
Aurelian didn't want to fail.
She began to quietly think.
Every time she "died," everything started over from the beginning.
Her state would be restored, and the monster before her would also have its stamina restored by her teacher.
It was as if something was telling her, "You must defeat it in a single try."
This was a test.
Aurelian told herself that.
She gathered her strength again. A magic circle formed over her body, and while the demon was restrained, she cast various minor enhancement spells upon herself.
The moment the demon charged at her, she released the black mist again…
High in the sky, Viktor hid himself and watched it all.
Once the boss was about to land a potentially fatal blow on Aurelian, he would use teleportation magic to bring the two of them back to their original position.
And at the same time, he would restore both the forest demon's and Aurelian's full states.
He was thoroughly enjoying it.
Vega looked down below. When the blue light flashed and Aurelian and the forest demon were once again teleported back to the same place, it couldn't help but complain.
"Does she have a grudge against you? You're torturing her like this."
"Though… I admit, it's kind of interesting."
After all, Vega had never seen such a "novel" kind of battle.
A powerful monster that could never truly kill its opponent, and that opponent reviving over and over again to challenge it repeatedly.
It was like watching some kind of absurd game.
But Vega didn't think this kind of training had any real value.
The strong were always forged through battles between equals.
The gap between that monster and the princess was just too vast, Aurelian could never kill it.
Unless, of course, she could reach Viktor's level of abnormality.
Thinking of how Viktor had once fought a Calamity for three days and nights and was only injured once, Vega couldn't understand it.
Even an entity as powerful as a Calamity had been completely analyzed by him, what couldn't Viktor do?
As if reading Vega's thoughts, Viktor's calm voice sounded, "You once asked me why, as a mage, I still possess such refined close-combat skills."
Vega was slightly stunned and looked at Viktor.
His expression was still cold as ever, but there was now a trace of indescribable nostalgia in his eyes.
"It was in an environment just like this, where I kept fighting again and again."
"Once, twice, dozens of times, hundreds of times… even thousands of times."
"If I failed once, I started over from the beginning."
Viktor's eyes gradually burned with intensity. Through his words, Vega could almost see that epic scene.
A sky blotted out by a colossal dragon, its overwhelming might pressing down upon Viktor, who could only look up at the massive beast.
In its left claw, it held a thunder spear. In its right, it gripped a divine ring. The other two claws clutched a gigantic thunder drum.
It was an apocalyptic sight, beneath the shattered floating islands stretched a dark, seething, corrupted sea, churning up vortices that could devour everything. The sky had no light, only a suffocating pressure filling Viktor's lungs.
In his hand was only a single silver blade, an unblemished sword forged from the essence of light, once used by a hero who had slain tens of thousands of demonic beasts. But beneath that dragon's shadow, even that light seemed so small, so fragile.
All around were endless fires, flames bursting from rocks struck by lightning, each one powerful enough to annihilate Viktor completely.
Each failure meant starting over.
Death. Rise. Death. Rise again.
Over and over.
Until finally, he stood atop the beast's head and severed it with his blade.
He had won, a victory as tragic as it was glorious.
Vega couldn't understand.
Why would someone keep repeating such a hopeless fight?
Even when the chance of victory was one in ten thousand, they still threw themselves at it like a moth to a flame.
"…Aren't you ever tired of it?"
Countless deaths, countless falls, just to win once, what meaning did that have?
"Tired?"
Viktor suddenly smiled.
For the first time, he showed such a smile, one of release, as if he had rediscovered a long-lost part of himself in this very moment.
"You only need to win once."
Suddenly, Vega's gaze turned toward the ground.
Aurelian's hand was glowing red. A faint, ethereal flame flickered in her palm.
Almost pressed against the boss's body, she struck the monster heavily.
For the first time, the forest demon let out a cry of pain.
It roared in rage, swinging a massive vine-wrapped chain that sent Aurelian flying.
But Aurelian seemed prepared. One of her hands flared brightly, blocking the blow.
"Success!"
She had barely shown her joy when the demon's giant claw came slashing at her.
Swish!
A flash of blue light, and she and the monster were teleported back again.
Aurelian stared blankly at the number on the ground.
"11."
The eleventh failure left her nearly breaking down.
She'd only managed to land one successful hit, and she was already so proud of herself.
That shouldn't be.
As her mana recovered and the monster's wounds healed, another round began.
Stubbornly biting her lip, she assumed her combat stance again.
"Continue!"
"12."
"Continue!"
"20."
"Con…tinue!"
"30."
"40."
"50."
No one knew how long had passed.
The numbers kept changing. Each death, over and over again, left Vega increasingly shaken.
"Why?"
She kept persisting, as if she absolutely had to defeat it.
From not even lasting ten seconds at first, now she was lasting longer and longer.
It was as if she was gradually memorizing the monster's attack patterns and movements.
By the sixtieth round, the forest demon's wounds were becoming more and more severe. It was panting heavily, and for the first time, its eyes showed hesitation.
This opponent was as weak as an insect, so why couldn't it kill her?
The demon wasn't smart enough to think beyond that.
"She's going to win?"
Vega's voice carried slight surprise.
But Viktor said calmly, "The closer you are to the end, the less you can relax."
Sure enough, from Viktor's perspective, the demon's health bar was almost empty.
Just two more effective hits would do it.
But the demon's hesitation made Aurelian think she saw an opening. Impulsively, she charged forward, completely forgetting,
The forest demon was always faster than her.
Its pounce missed, but the spiked chain it wielded was already ready to strike.
With a stab, Aurelian "died" again.
But as long as Viktor was there, it was destined never to kill her.
Once again, teleportation swapped their positions, restoring both of their strength.
"61."
This time, Aurelian's mind was nearly breaking apart.
She'd been so close.
Yet the enemy still seemed unbeatable.
Her body healed, but her spirit was on the verge of collapse.
Then, suddenly, she remembered Viktor's words from the very beginning.
"Are you… going to give up?"
The stubborn Aurelian would never give up.
She raised her hand, and as the forest demon lunged at her, a magic circle glowed.
The enraged demon lunged, crushing countless branches and trees, but when it looked up, she was gone. Only faint ice dust floated where she had stood.
[Tier 1 Spell: Ice Clone]
A perfectly timed dodge, followed by her fire magic immediately after…
From the sky, Vega watched the scene below.
For the first time, during Aurelian's battle, it sensed that they were "evenly matched."
She hadn't become much faster, but it was as if she had completely adapted to her opponent's attacks.
Her movements were steady, precise.
She read the boss's attacks, dodged, then struck.
A clean hit, never greedy, then retreated swiftly.
A perfect rhythm of battle.
Finally, under Aurelian's relentless spell harassment like a buzzing fly, the demon completely lost its mind. It fell to the forest floor, rolling and thrashing wildly.
Aurelian retreated, waiting, for the right moment.
As the demon rolled uncontrollably farther away, she knew, this was her chance.
[Tier 2 Spell: Flame Scattershot]
In an instant, red circles began to form in the air.
Though it was only a second-tier spell, it required the simultaneous creation of multiple fire bullets midair to maximize concentrated damage.
For Aurelian, it was her most effective attack method,
But it took forever to prepare.
Soon, countless lines of light intertwined, connecting multiple circles together.
When the spell completed, a storm of fireballs blasted toward the demon.
BOOM!
Dust exploded into the air.
The demon stopped rolling and hurled rocks and logs toward Aurelian, swinging its massive chains at her.
But Aurelian, having seen these attacks dozens of times, dodged them with ease, countering each one.
By now, they had been fighting for twenty minutes straight.
"This is her longest run yet," Vega said in amazement.
But suddenly, footsteps echoed from beyond the barrier, catching his attention.
Through the white mist, it saw members of the Royal Knights, Gwen at the front, and the princess's royal guards.
'How did they find this place?'
'Unless…'
A guess struck Vega.
Countless soldiers burst through the mist, and at that very moment, everyone saw the same sight.
The massive monster broke through the smoke, its body burning with fierce flames and trailing shards of ice, like a giant flaming meteor hurtling toward Aurelian.
"Princess!"
Everyone froze, it was too late to save her.
Gwen jumped off her horse, drew his sword, and rushed forward, ready to shield her with his body, but, Aurelian raised her hand, a magic circle forming around her left arm.
[Tier 1 Spell: Repulsion]
A faint repelling force made the monster's arm hesitate slightly, but its strength was too great, it still struck Aurelian's left arm.
Pain flooded her limb, making it feel as if her arm were useless, but after so many "deaths," this pain meant nothing.
Gritting her teeth, eyes fierce and dangerous, she thrust her glowing right hand forward, shaping it into a blade of light, aimed at the demon's faintly exposed lower jaw.
Stab!
The light blade pierced through the forest demon's fragile jaw and impaled its skull completely.
Blood burst out, staining her clothes and body red.
BOOM!
A thunderous crash followed, the massive body of the demon collapsed, toppling before Aurelian.
She stared into its lifeless eyes, breathing heavily.
Still not fully recovered from battle, she used her magic to slowly heal her left arm.
But everyone who had witnessed the scene was frozen where they stood.
Including Gwen, who had tried to save her.
The number on the ground stopped at "61," then slowly faded away.
Vega widened its single eye.
"With such a massive difference in power… how could she possibly win?"
Then, he suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Yes, such a massive difference.
So how had Viktor defeated something as catastrophic as the Calamity?
Viktor gave no reply.
This, this was the environment he had created for Aurelian.
'You can win against me countless times.'
'But I… only need to win once.'
At that moment, Viktor looked at Aurelian's HP bar, and noticed the level beside it.
The number, fixed at Lv.15, flickered and rose.
[Lv.16.]
Seeing this, Viktor nodded slightly.
"Well then, the experiment was a success."