The smoke and water vapor blanketing the eastern wing of the Great Plains slowly thinned out, swept away by the twilight breeze carrying the scent of dust and blood. At the bottom of the crater that had just borne silent witness to the fall of the elf sisters, Bell Cranel stood, his breathing slowly returning to a steady rhythm.
A warm, holy light radiated from within his chest. The absolute skill, Vanadis Tevere, worked with absurd magic, weaving torn cells back together and closing the slash wounds all over his body from the previous battle. The paralyzing exhaustion that had gripped his bones slowly evaporated, replaced by fully restored vitality.
Not far behind him, Heith Velvet—the Freya Familia's ace healer—knelt on the muddy ground. Her staff emitted a soft green glow of healing magic that enveloped the bodies of Ryuu Lion, Ais Wallenstein, and Lefiya Viridis. Thanks to Heith's swift and efficient treatment, the physical wounds of the three female adventurers began to close, although their breaths still carried remnants of exhaustion.
Ryuu slowly stood up, supporting her body with the sword Alvs Iustitia. Her sharp blue eyes stared straight toward the center of the battlefield, where Zald stood towering like a monument of despair.
"Bell," Ryuu called out in a low voice that rang clearly through the silence. "What do you think? Do we still have a chance to win?"
Bell did not answer immediately. He tightly gripped the hilt of the Hestia Knife in his right hand, while his ruby-red eyes scanned the center of the formation that had been leveled to the ground. There, the five strongest pillars of Orario—Ottar, Leon, Finn, Gareth, and Riveria—lay helpless.
"Honestly... our chances of winning are extremely slim, Ryuu-san," Bell finally answered, his tone heavy and straightforward.
The youth's tactical brain spun at maximum speed. He had formulated various strategies in his head, sorting through probabilities, but they all led to a dead end. The power gap between them was too massive. Zald wasn't just at Level 9; he was a veteran monster with Deus Ambrosia, which made his physical endurance and stamina seemingly limitless.
Bell recalculated their remaining trump cards. Haruhime's Kokonoe magic initially had a specific target limit before completely draining her stamina. The level boost from the Uchide no Kozuchi magic had already been used four times in the previous battle—for Bell, Ais, Ryuu, and Lefiya.
Only two left, Bell thought, his jaw tightening. On whom should these remaining boosts be used to create an opening against that monster?
Bell's tactical reverie was shattered when a heavy, air-vibrating baritone voice swept across the entire battlefield.
"Want to fight me now, Bell?!" Zald shouted from a distance.
The man twirled his giant sword Grattor with one hand and planted it into the ground. His dark brown hair fluttered wildly in the wind, revealing the transverse scar on his face, now sporting a wide grin, and letting his gray eyes glare sharply toward the eastern wing. His pitch-black armor and dark red cloak radiated dominance.
"Honestly, you guys don't have the slightest chance of winning!" Zald mocked, his voice echoing full of intimidation.
Facing that absolute provocation, Bell did not take a single step back. He glanced at Ais, Ryuu, and Lefiya, who were now standing upright thanks to Heith's magic. Without needing a long command, the four adventurers began stepping forward simultaneously. Their steps were steady, crossing the scorched earth toward the center of the formation.
"Win or lose, it doesn't matter!" Bell retorted loudly. The distance between them was shrinking. "Because to be able to stand here... to reach this level, I have also experienced so many failures, Zald-san!"
Bell's eyes sharpened, radiating a resolve forged from despair and pain.
"And it's time I show the true results of my training with my aunt!" Bell continued. A pure white aura began to erupt around his body. "I won't disappoint my aunt!"
Hearing Alfia's name mentioned, Zald's eyebrow twitched slightly. The dismissive smirk on his face slowly faded, replaced by a very strong flash of interest. He knew very well how brutal and deadly Alfia's training methods were. If the youth before him managed to survive and inherit something from the Silence, then this fight might not be as bad as he thought.
"Hoo..." Zald lifted the Grattor sword from the ground and rested it on his shoulder. "In that case, show me, Bell!"
Right at that moment, from the ruins on the flank, other adventurers arrived. Welf Crozzo and Mikoto appeared, carrying Asfi Al Andromeda and Sanjouno Haruhime.
"Haruhime!" Bell called out without looking back, his eyes remaining locked on Zald. "Use your two remaining level boosts to boost me and Ryuu-san!"
The Renard girl wasted no time. She brought her hands together, focusing her final remaining Mind.
"Grow large... Uchide no Kozuchi!"
Two pillars of golden light immediately struck down from the sky, encapsulating Bell and Ryuu's bodies simultaneously. The phenomenon of violating the Falna system occurred once again. Ryuu Lion, who was at Level 6, felt her physical parameters break through the boundary wall, landing firmly at Level 7. Meanwhile, Bell Cranel, whose true status was Level 7, broke through the limit once again to reach Level 8.
The golden light merged with the white aura on Bell's body, creating an air pressure that cracked the ground beneath his feet.
Zald observed the phenomenon with narrowed eyes, but he didn't look panicked at all.
"A level-boosting ability again, huh," Zald murmured, his tone sounding slightly disappointed. "Is that all you have planned, Bell? Do you think Level 8 brute strength is enough to tear down my wall?"
Zald had no intention of giving them time to form up. He gripped Grattor's hilt with both hands. His giant muscles tensed, triggering the full activation of Deus Ambrosia. The veins on his arms and neck bulged wildly, holding back an incredibly dense flow of Mind and power.
"Rea Ambrosia."
Hellfire, pitch-black and blood-red, erupted, covering the blade of his greatsword. Zald prepared to unleash another giant-scale Afterglow sweep capable of leveling the land and ending Orario's remaining resistance.
"Fall back!" Bell shouted suddenly. He stretched out his left hand, giving an absolute signal to Ais, Ryuu, and Lefiya. "All of you, fall back and stay away from me!"
Without waiting for a reply from his comrades, Bell instead dashed forward alone.
Zald swung his Level 9 slash. The reddish-black shockwave shot forward with apocalyptic speed, cleaving the air and tearing the earth. It was the same slash that had just brought down Orario's five strongest adventurers in a single sweep.
However, a surprising thing happened. Bell Cranel did not raise his knife to parry at all, nor did he jump to evade.
The white-haired youth ran straight through the vortex of hot wind. His red eyes blazed brightly, pushing his Initiative ability to an absolute limit he had never reached before. Time seemed to slow down in Bell's eyes. He read the movement of the muscle fibers in Zald's arm, the direction of the wind, and the gathering point of kinetic energy on Grattor's blade.
A mere fraction of a millisecond before the giant sword cleaved his body in two, Bell took an incredibly impossible diagonal step. He darted right into the blind spot of Zald's swing rotation.
Instead of attacking the giant's body, Bell focused the Afterglow technique onto the tip of the Hestia Knife. He did not release it as a projectile or a destructive slash. Bell compressed it as a Kinetic Dampener.
With extremely precise movement, Bell struck the Hestia Knife exactly against the blunt side (the back of the blade) of the rapidly advancing Grattor.
Clink—!
A strange, incredibly clear ringing sound echoed in the air. Bell struck his weapon with the exact same frequency, angle, and rhythm as Alfia's Silence punch technique, which had knocked him down and tortured him for a full month.
Physics reacted violently. The collision of opposing frequencies instantly canceled the kinetic energy of Zald's slash. The Rea Ambrosia fire flickered and faded momentarily. The Grattor sword, which had been swinging with mountain-leveling momentum, suddenly stopped in mid-air as if hitting an invisible wall.
For the first time in the history of Zald the Gluttony's life, he felt a highly sickening and confusing sensation: his attack hit a vacuum. The instant cancellation of momentum ruined his massive body's balance. Zald's foot slipped a few centimeters forward, leaving his defensive posture wide open.
In that fraction of a second when Zald lost his balance, Bell pulled his left hand back. The clear sound of a bell chimed within his soul, signaling the instant activation of Argonaut.
"Firebolt!!"
Bell's left-hand punch, coated in red firebolt magic and Argonaut, landed squarely on Zald's solar plexus.
BOOMMM!!
An explosion of red fire erupted from the veteran's chest, creating a shockwave that swept away the dust within a radius of tens of meters. Bell was blown backward by the repulsive effect of his own explosion, performing a backflip in the air before landing smoothly on the ground.
Thick smoke covered the center of the explosion. Lefiya, Ais, and Ryuu's hearts pounded, hoping that the genius and unexpected attack had succeeded in bringing down the Gluttony.
However, as the smoke cleared, the massive silhouette was still standing.
Zald had only retreated three steps. The black armor on his chest was slightly cracked and scorched, with a wisp of smoke rising from his neck guard. The direct hit that should have been able to punch a hole through a Level 8 adventurer's body apparently only inflicted minor damage, thanks to the combination of Deus Ambrosia and his high-level Strong Body.
Zald rubbed his smoking chest. He looked at Bell with a completely changed expression. Astonishment was clearly visible in his eyes.
"That technique just now..." Zald murmured, his voice filled with a mix of disbelief. "You managed to copy Alfia's cancellation punch technique? And used it to ruin my balance from the weapon's blind spot?"
Bell straightened his body, regulating his slightly ragged breathing due to the extreme concentration just now.
"I knew I would never be able to defeat you with ordinary close-quarters combat strategies, Zald-san," Bell said, the corners of his lips turning up slightly to form a small smirk. "You are too strong. Your physique is absurd."
"Then why did you pull that suicidal stunt?" asked Zald, pointing the tip of his greatsword at Bell. "It was a brilliant execution, kid. But if that was your secret weapon, you failed to bring me down."
"Showing off the results of my aunt's training just now..." Bell twirled the Hestia Knife in his hand, his eyes glancing briefly behind Zald. "...was only to draw your attention one hundred percent to me, Zald-san."
Hearing Bell's words, Zald frowned. His monster instincts, honed over decades, suddenly screamed danger from behind. The Gluttony turned his head quickly.
What Zald saw behind him managed to make his feral smile bloom once again.
Where the five Orario pillars had laid helpless moments ago, a phenomenon defying the laws of nature was taking place. Heith Velvet, the Freya Familia's ace healer who was previously on the eastern wing, now stood amidst the bodies of Ottar, Leon, Finn, Gareth, and Riveria.
The female healer had just chugged an extremely high-dose Mind Elixir potion. With her magic capacity fully replenished, Heith chanted her ultimate healing magic, a miracle that put her name on par with Airmid.
"Zeo Gullveig!!"
An incredibly bright golden light exploded from Heith's staff, sweeping the entire surrounding area. This was not just ordinary healing magic. This was absolute restoration magic capable of pulling someone on the brink of death back to prime condition in a matter of seconds. As long as the target hadn't completely bled out, Zeo Gullveig would restructure shattered bones and burned organs.
Under the shower of that light, the severe burns on Finn and Riveria's bodies closed rapidly. Gareth's crushed ribs crackled back into place. The massive body of Ottar and the knight Leon Vardenburg, previously broken by the Afterglow, stood up again, taking deep breaths.
Not only those five pillars, but Heith's light also enveloped Sanjouno Haruhime kneeling nearby, fully restoring the Renard girl's Mind limit.
Honestly, even though in terms of pure healing ability Heith might rank second to Airmid of the Dian Cecht Familia, there were two things that made Heith's healing magic far more terrifying on a real battlefield. First, her extremely wide area of effect, allowing her to heal an entire army at once. Second, her highly unnatural Mind capacity, allowing her to constantly spam that deadly magic. Bell still clearly remembered the terrifying miracle of Heith's magic since the War Game against the Freya Familia.
Zald growled softly, cursing his own carelessness.
"Yes, this seems to be my mistake," Zald said, more to himself. "Honestly, during the Zeus and Hera Familia era and up until now, there has always been a healer in the party. But on average, they prioritized combat power more, or made pure healing a secondary task. Relying on absolute power for too long made me... unconsciously ignore the existence of a rearguard healer."
Zald looked at Heith Velvet with the respect of a warrior. Because of his negligence in not eliminating the healer first, the absolute victory he had achieved in the first round was now completely voided.
However, Bell Cranel's surprises were not over yet.
Haruhime, who had recovered, stood upright. Her fox tail puffed out. She didn't hesitate at all to activate the boosting ability once more.
"Come forth! Grow! Uchide no Kozuchi Kokonoe!!"
Because her Kokonoe magic had been reset by Heith's recovery, Haruhime once again unleashed the system-limit-breaking golden pillars. Six pillars of holy light shot out and struck the bodies of Ottar, Leon, Finn, Gareth, Riveria, and Ais Wallenstein.
The air on the Great Plains vibrated again, distorted by the surge of Excelia and the absurd mass level-up.
Golden light enveloped them. Before Zald, the enemy formation had transformed into the most terrifying combat lineup in all of Orario.
Now, upon this battle stage, Bell's group possessed a lineup of power that broke through the bounds of common sense:
Two Level 9 adventurers: Leon Vardenburg and Ottar.
Four Level 8 adventurers: Finn Deimne, Gareth Landrock, Riveria Ljos Alf, and Bell Cranel.
And two Level 7 adventurers: Ryuu Lion and Ais Wallenstein.
This formation was the manifestation of every strategist's wet dream, an orchestration of power that might have only been achieved during the golden age of the Zeus and Hera Familia.
Leon Vardenburg gripped his sword, ten swords of light orbiting around him again thanks to the magical recovery. Ottar cracked his neck, his eyes glaring sharply, ready to reactivate Vana Arganture if needed. Finn, Gareth, and Riveria took their positions with much more mature precision than before, realizing that they now had Bell Cranel, who could shatter Zald's concentration from close range.
Zald looked at the eight monster adventurers surrounding him. Instead of feeling despair or fear, Zald's chest rumbled. A low chuckle slipped from his throat, slowly growing until it turned into echoing laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Zald laughed, his laughter filled with the pure joy of a warrior who had finally found a battlefield worthy of testing his existence.
He twirled Grattor, slamming the tip of his sword into the ground, creating a new crater. The reddish-black fire of Rea Ambrosia flared up again, much denser and more massive than before, covering his entire giant body with the aura pressure of absoluteness.
"Now, this makes the fight much more interesting!" Zald exclaimed, his face smirking, his eyes radiating an absolute enthusiasm that couldn't be hidden.
The Gluttony took his perfect stance, staring straight at Bell and the Orario pillars who were now ready to charge at him at any moment.
"Alright, new generation!" Zald roared, his voice the war horn marking the start of the true battle. "Let the second round of our fight begin!"
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P - Gem_Blanks
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