Slowly, they stepped onto the path leading toward the Mana Gorge.
He stared at the lone bridge in the distance, where all sorts of elemental magic energy were tangled together, and the depths of the gorge were filled with strange plants.
Viktor knew very well that the depths of this gorge were definitely not as peaceful as they looked.
The violent surge of elements could already be felt from afar, just thinking about what kind of magic power must lie deeper inside was terrifying.
The moment Aurelian stepped in, she suddenly felt her breathing become unbearably heavy.
But she stubbornly continued to follow behind Viktor.
Viktor walked along the bridge with an expressionless face. No matter how terrifying the raging magical aura felt, it couldn't stir even the slightest ripple in him.
Very soon, a deep, heavy roar came from within the gorge. Viktor stopped in his tracks, his eyes locked tightly on the front.
In the blink of an eye, a gray shadow shot toward him from the depths.
The magical beast looked like a fox, but its entire body was covered in a shell of hard stone plates, and between those plates burned fierce, black flames.
Seeing that, Aurelian's body trembled slightly.
Her previous experience on the Mirut Plains made her instinctively want to cast a spell to attack as soon as she saw a monster.
But no matter how she tried to gather her magic, there was no response.
The chaotic magic in the gorge made her completely unable to use magic.
A mage's strength here was being greatly restricted!
But at the very moment the monster appeared, a silver card flew from Viktor's waist.
It moved so fast that only a flash of silver could be seen before the iron card slashed across the monster's throat. A spray of blood burst out.
Yet that was only the beginning, the silver card glowed with a fiery red light, and like burning fuel, the flame spread rapidly, engulfing the monster's entire body in an instant.
Soon, it turned pitch black and fell into the abyss below.
Aurelian stood frozen in place, stunned by how easily he had dealt with the monster.
Here in the Mana Gorge, she couldn't even move her magic power.
But Viktor had effortlessly defeated the creature as if he wasn't affected at all.
'And that iron card, what exactly was it?'
'So this is how a real mage fights?'
Cocotte didn't react much. She yawned lazily while sitting on her floating cloud.
It was normal for monsters to appear near the entrance of the gorge.
Viktor's performance didn't surprise her, although his methods didn't seem very mage-like.
But the farther they went, the more confused Cocotte became.
Why did she feel like this human was more familiar with the Mana Gorge than she was?
He didn't even need her guidance or reminders.
But that wasn't the main point.
Normally, the deeper one went into the gorge, the fewer monsters there should be. In exchange, those that did appear would be much stronger.
Yet the number of monsters actively rushing toward Viktor kept increasing.
At first, it was one or two, now…
Cocotte forced her sleepy eyes open, and what she saw made her almost disbelieve them.
The monsters were surging forward like a flood, endlessly swarming toward Viktor.
One after another, they trampled over their fallen kin, crazily charging at him without a shred of hesitation.
Countless monsters filled the narrow bridge, and because of limited space, the raging beasts even fell into the valley one after another, yet still, they came.
Before long, flying monsters burst out from the darkness of the sky as well.
Fanged mantises with serrated jaws, sulfur-green flies dripping with sticky slime, and green bats with four pairs of compound eyes covering their heads, all swarmed together, darkening the already dim sky as they flew toward them.
Their target, of course… was Viktor.
"This… this already counts as a small beast tide…"
Cocotte said lazily, but her tone carried a faint trace of shock.
This level was already considered an "unexpected outbreak" of the Mana Gorge.
Logically speaking, as a council member, she should be helping Viktor right now.
But…
Cocotte glanced at Viktor.
Somehow, several dozen iron cards were now floating around him, spinning rapidly, forming a dense and unbreakable wall of steel.
The moment the suicidal monsters touched it, they were sliced apart like paper thrown into a whirlwind, instantly exploding into red mist, leaving not even a corpse behind.
Whether beasts or insects, their fragile bodies were as nothing before him.
Viktor walked forward casually, hands in his pockets.
Wherever he went, nothing survived.
'This… is he really a mage?'
For the first time in over a hundred years, Cocotte began doubting her entire life as a mage.
Viktor's way of fighting, she had never even heard of it before.
Many powerful mages had crossed the Mana Gorge in the past.
Without exception, all of them moved carefully and cautiously. Even if they encountered monsters, they avoided combat due to the magic restrictions here.
Or they used the terrain cleverly to make the monsters fall off cliffs on their own.
Mages had all sorts of creative methods. But she had never, ever seen one fight like Viktor,
as if he was born for battle.
He wasn't confined to the use of magic at all. Even this seemingly simple attack pattern, Cocotte could tell, it was special.
Those iron plates were made from unique material, controlled by the release of only a small amount of magic.
It was precise, like a machine executing a programmed calculation.
As the group walked through the gorge, everyone was completely silent.
Aurelian didn't dare disturb Viktor, afraid that even a single distraction might lead to disaster.
In this place, any mistake could be fatal.
She could be "revived" by Viktor's help, but he couldn't.
She always remembered, she was here to learn and gain experience, not to be a burden.
The deeper they went, the vegetation faded away, replaced by violent lightning and raging black flames.
The lightning slithered like venomous snakes, hissing and threatening them as it struck.
The entire sky was buried under roaring thunderclouds, leaving only endless flashes of lightning ahead.
"This is the Land of Storms," said Cocotte, stroking her floating cloud as if to calm it. "It's a dangerous area of the Mana Gorge, where lightning rages all year long."
"If we go farther ahead, the monsters won't be normal ones anymore, they'll be pure elemental constructs."
Viktor didn't reply, he already knew.
A lightning monster appeared nearby, but before it could act, a fiery card ripped through the air, flying at high speed.
In an instant, the card slashed through the creature hundreds of times.
The elemental monster was shredded by invisible blades, vanishing into drifting ash before it could even scream.
The lazy elf straightened slightly, inwardly amazed.
'Even monsters here are destroyed in an instant… how strong is he?'
She still couldn't understand how Viktor possessed such frightening power.
Even she felt her own magic being restricted here, complex and powerful spells were almost impossible to cast.
If she were standing where Viktor was, she knew she couldn't do what he was doing.
Vega perched on Viktor's shoulder, pretending to be a normal, but not-so-normal, crow.
After all, no ordinary crow could even enter the Mana Gorge.
Feeling the turbulent magic around them, Vega sighed inwardly.
'What a monster.'
He'd thought it countless times, but every time, Viktor's insane combat power still shocked him.
As they walked, Viktor suddenly stopped.
Cocotte looked at him in confusion. "Viktor, why did you stop?"
The storm raged around them, lightning flooding the sky.
Viktor looked up at the blue lightning flashing above and narrowed his eyes.
"Any loot dropped by monsters in the Mana Gorge belongs to me, right?" he said calmly.
Neither of them quite understood what he meant. Cocotte thought for a moment and nodded.
"Mm… yes, there's no problem with that."
She didn't grasp what he was getting at, but the next second, her sleepy eyes went wide.
At some point, the red lines on Viktor's coat had begun flashing brightly, like molten lava flowing under the surface.
An oppressive, searing aura burst out from him.
Cocotte rubbed her eyes hard.
'Am I seeing things?'
But the next moment, Viktor's energy field confirmed it, it was real.
It felt like an ancient beast awakening from slumber, about to reemerge into the world.
The elf froze, suddenly realizing something.
Ever since they entered the gorge, every time Viktor attacked, the red markings on his coat had glowed faintly.
She hadn't thought much of it, assuming his coat was simply some powerful mage's robe.
But now she understood.
Why were the monsters swarming toward him nonstop?
Monsters had territorial instincts.
The stronger the beast, the less it tolerated any intruders in its domain.
She didn't know how Viktor was imitating such a terrifying aura, but right now, in their eyes, Viktor's presence felt like that of a world-ending fire beast.
Cocotte sat up straight in alarm.
'Wait, he's actually human?'
'What kind of human gives off a monster's scent?'
As an elf, she could sense more deeply than others, this aura wasn't even like that of a beast.
It was closer to, pure, violent fire energy.
'No wonder Heim's letter had burned up. The mystery is solved.'
Then it struck her, why had Viktor suddenly revealed this savage aura here, of all places?
And what did he mean earlier by "loot"?
"Roooaaaarrrrrr!!"
A deafening roar split the sky.
The surrounding lightning writhed like thousands of snakes shedding their skins, turning into tiny electric dragons twisting madly in the storm.
Stones began to fall from the cliffs, and a violent gale surged upward from the depths of the gorge.
A pale giant hand slowly reached up from the bottom, clutching the mountainside, dust and smoke filled the sky.
Through the clouds of debris, streaks of blue lightning flashed wildly, and then, a colossal head slowly emerged.
A blinding bolt of lightning illuminated its outline, revealing a monster vast enough to swallow the heavens.
Cocotte's eyes widened, all traces of sleepiness gone, her face filled with seriousness and dread.
"The Storm Dragon King!? Why the hell did you provoke that thing?!"
The crow on Viktor's shoulder finally spoke, its voice carried by the storm so only Viktor could hear.
"Viktor."
Viktor understood what Vega meant immediately, magic link.
But he shook his head. "No need."
He wanted to face this terrifying boss using his own peak strength.
The ruler of the Land of Storms, the Storm Dragon King.
A supreme construct of condensed magic, not a true dragon, but the ultimate embodiment of magical power.
Facing the monstrous creature before him, Viktor spoke softly, "Aurelian."
Behind him, her robes whipped violently in the storm as she struggled to keep her balance, barely hearing him through the howling wind.
The chaotic magic of the gorge made even speaking difficult.
She pricked up her ears, listening closely as his voice reached her through the flashes of lightning.
"This… is your lesson for today."
"Remember to write a report when we're back."
Viktor flicked two cards into the air, and instantly, one hundred and eight iron cards shot skyward.
They spun madly around him, forming a towering storm of cards.
Red and green light intertwined, glaring brightly under the heavy clouds.
And that was only the beginning.
Gradually, his entire body was wrapped in blazing red energy.
Beneath the coat, his form became encased in molten armor, glowing with flowing magma.
On his back, it was as if a pair of monstrous eyes had opened.
Two beams of light burst from them, blazing like twin suns, piercing through the gloom of the storm.
His whole being radiated light, like a god or demon descending upon the world.
The storm winds and lightning gradually died down, replaced by a red, burning sky and unbearable heat.
The intense temperature melted the ground beneath him, lava seeping out in glowing cracks.
Aurelian's face flushed red; she covered her mouth, staring at Viktor.
Her teacher was… So… so handsome...
Cocotte froze for several seconds, her mind blank.
"The Mana Gorge's chaotic magic flow… he actually changed it!?"
A spell that could alter the environment itself, such power was something no human could possibly possess.
Then suddenly, realization struck her, and she shouted blankly, "Calamity!?"
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/XenosX
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰