"Awaken."
The emerald wind scattered the heaviness within the pit.
The golden-haired girl drew her longsword and slowly floated up. The wisps of clear breeze surrounding her body fluttered gently like wings.
Ais, who usually gave people the impression of being somewhat of an airhead, now had a gaze that became extremely sharp.
Unlike Isagi, who would always involuntarily show excitement whenever he fought powerful monsters, Ais did not like fighting.
The reason driving the girl to become stronger was always only one: the hatred carved deep into her soul since birth.
Both Isagi and Ryuu noticed that the Sword Princess beside them had become somewhat terrifying.
Then.
Without waiting for the Goblin General in the distance to charge over on its lizard, Ais had already taken the lead and rushed forward with her sword. Thus, the gale and the thunder crashed together, shaking the depths of the originally dim pit and exploding with blinding light.
Before the battle started, he had briefly explained things to the two girls.
As the younger form of the previous [Veteran General Gmorrs], Isagi judged that while it should be an all-around enhanced version, it would also possess some additional abilities.
But he had just finished speaking; isn't Ais being a bit too reckless?!
No.
The girl was no longer that little girl of the past who, dazzled by anger and hatred, would only know how to constantly attack monsters.
Ais was very calm.
So, facing the charging monster, she merely made a tentative strike, clashing her sword against its iron hammer flashing with lightning, and then quickly used the force to pull away.
Ngh!
In just an instant, Ais also clearly felt that terrifyingly powerful strength!
She had "followed" Isagi for a period of time before.
So Ais had some experience with the special monsters the boy faced, knowing that fighting these guys was completely different from capturing a Monster Rex.
Because Floor Bosses were generally quite massive in size and lacked technique, battling them was, in a sense, a "battle of offense and defense."
Simply put.
Even against the [Monster Rex · Udaeus], which allowed her to gain the [Excelia] sufficient to level up to Lv.5 and was estimated by the Guild to be Lv.6, she could still block its attacks a few times back when she was Lv.4.
And for old man Gareth, who was also Lv.6, contending with it head-on, while arduous, was definitely not considered difficult.
But now, even though she possessed the level of Lv.5.
She absolutely could not be easily hit by the monster before her eyes. Judging just by the power she felt through the longsword in her hand, a single blow would be enough to injure her and affect the battle.
This did not mean it was stronger than Udaeus or that its level was higher than a Deep Floor Monster Rex, but purely a difference in Ability Score focus.
Just as the boy had said time and again.
The special monster before them was a specialized type with greatly enhanced Attack and Destructive Power!
And not only that.
Also—
Purple lightning flashed!
After the originally charging Goblin General was slightly obstructed by Ais, it did not choose Isagi or Ryuu as targets to continue charging back and forth as in Isagi's memories.
Instead, the lizard under it suddenly leapt up at a bizarre angle, turning its body around. At the same time, violent lightning erupted from its entire body.
Like a tiny deep purple sun blooming in mid-air.
Ais, who thought she had struck and retreated, suddenly realized that her body was uncontrollably "yanked" forward.
And in this instant.
The Goblin General raised its free left hand high again. Amidst the flashing lightning, it hurled an explosive lightning spear toward her!
Perfect timing!
The coordination between the Goblin General and the mount lizard was seamless. This battle technique, tempered by a thousand hammers and a hundred refinements, was something even many veteran adventurers could not reach.
Because Ais was yanked this one time, her body deviated from its original position.
Thus, the lightning spear pointed straight at her chest.
"Haa!"
In this extreme moment.
While retreating rapidly, Ais barely opened a moment's distance from the rushing lightning spear, then managed to turn sideways to dodge it.
Crack!
A piercing sound of electric current came from the rock wall behind her. The invisible lightning spear blasted a small crater straight into it, while constantly crackling and exploding, turning the surrounding several meters into an annihilated void.
In this instant.
Ais seemed to understand why Tiona, after adventuring with the boy a few times, had not only leveled up and broken the limits of her Ability Scores but also learned a Special Technique—her growth in just a few short months was simply frighteningly huge.
The reason was simple.
Life-and-death combat where one could not relax in the slightest was the fastest way to improve oneself. Tiona, hailing from Telskyura, was actually very good at this, so she adapted quickly and didn't feel anything was abnormal.
In contrast.
Ais was actually a little unaccustomed to it.
Because the girl's past battles were all against monsters, and ordinary monsters were too easy for her. Strong enemies were not encountered often, and the subsequent Monster Rex subjugation battles were mostly joint raids with everyone in the Familia.
Such one-on-one battles to the death were indeed very, very rare.
It even made Ais recall that night long, long ago, when she was still young. She encountered a strange god alone in the Dungeon, and subsequently, fought that "Pitch-Black Wyvern" that appeared due to the divine might...
"!"
The gale raged toward the monster once again!
Attack!!
It wasn't that Ais was reckless, but in such a battle, blindly defending and dodging would only drag out the time. And the more it dragged on, the more likely one would accidentally get hit.
Conversely.
Attacking constantly, seizing every shred of opportunity to counterattack, and killing the enemy as quickly as possible.
Call it talent, or perhaps some kind of heredity in her memories, the golden-haired girl instinctively chose the most correct strategy almost instantly.
Thus.
In the darkness of the pit's depths, Ais, holding her longsword, circled the Goblin General, finding every sliver of opportunity to leave sword marks on its body.
Soon after, Isagi and Ryuu also joined the battlefield.
But very quickly.
The Elf girl felt somewhat "stifled" because the boy had said that the scales of the lizard under the Veteran Goblin would reflect magic.
For Ryuu, who was a Magic Swordsman, this naturally became somewhat troublesome.
It wasn't that there was no way.
"Now, the forest canopy fading away, the infinite stars inlaid in the endless night sky—"
With the sound of chanting, emerald spheres of light began to emerge around the Elf girl's body.
"Come, wandering wind, traveling wayfarer, cross the sky, race across the wilderness, run with speed surpassing all things, and inhabit the starlight to destroy the enemy."
"[Star Luster]!"
There was no need to use extra mental power to control them.
Unlike Lefiya's "characteristic" of forcefully changing magic, forcing light arrows and fire spears that would have been fired directly to stay in mid-air.
Ryuu's magic, [Luminous Wind], was a type that could be manipulated at will from the start.
Coupled with her rich combat skills.
It allowed the Elf girl to find gaps in such close-quarters combat to precisely detonate the spheres of light, one by one, on the Goblin General's body.
But even so.
From time to time, that lizard would swing its tail to actively block her magic—Isagi had mentioned this beforehand, so Ryuu felt it was okay since she was mentally prepared.
But as the battle continued, this lizard would actually leap up, or sweep with its tail, or even swing its large head.
Actively hitting the spheres of light floating around her.
For a moment when she wasn't paying attention, it actually succeeded. As its pitch-black scales flashed with luster, the sphere of light originally floating beside her was instantly triggered and came right at her!
Fortunately, Isagi had sharp eyes and quick hands.
While knocking her away, he sheathed the long blade he was holding into his cloak with one hand, and with the other, he had already raised the shield "Door No. 2" high.
The bone shield, possessing the characteristic of magic reflection, bounced the sphere of light back again, smashing it against the cliff wall in the distance that had long since become riddled with holes.
"Phew!"
Damn it, this guy is indeed even more bullshit!
Consider it three people besieging the Goblin General for quite a while!!
Are we reenacting the Three Heroes fighting Lu Bu here?
Isagi discovered it. Originally, he thought that as the "Youth Version" of the previous Goblin Veteran, the [Kingdom General · Gmorrs] before him would inherit the original "Invincible Charge," the mixed doubles of the mad dog main body and the mount.
The lizard mount reflecting magic, plus the instant cast lightning spear throw, the purple lightning with "traction" characteristics, and while enhancing all of these, adding a few new moves and skills.
That would be about it, right?
The result.
His guesses were all true, but it was more than that!
Never mind that the Invincible Charge still had a zero-frame startup, it would also stop suddenly. Following the lizard abruptly turning around or leaping up, it could change direction at any time, and then follow up with purple lightning traction plus a full set of silky smooth combos.
The mixed doubles of the main body and the lizard also included that instant-cast purple lightning.
Not only could the lizard do it, but the Goblin General could too!
The hammer in its hand could suddenly erupt with deep purple lightning, pulling him and the girls while coordinating with the lizard's tail sweep or the long tongue shooting out of its mouth; it was simply impossible to guard against.
And those thrown lightning spears simply became "Poison Pools" that would constantly explode in place, taking at least tens of seconds to dissipate.
One after another.
Even the wide deep pit had become a place with not much space to maneuver.
The most important thing was.
Perhaps because it was young and had too much stamina, the lizard under the Goblin General moved endlessly. It was either on the way to charge or leaping up, tossing and turning in mid-air.
Another case of ADHD!
It was completely unlike before, where it would have to rest in place for a moment after charging for a while. Instead, it kept changing its position back and forth constantly.
It also used that deep purple lightning from time to time to pull the positions of him and the girls.
If one's attention wasn't focused at all times.
A moment of trance.
One might get dizzy and completely lose track of where they were!
And his previous strategy of using the Shinobi Prosthetic's grappling hook to constantly stick close and fight had also completely failed. The opponent would even very cleverly, at the instant he used the grappling hook to close the distance,
Release purple lightning again to actively make him come to its front faster.
Then what greeted him would be either the Goblin General's heavy hammer or the headbutt of the lizard beneath it. If not for the cover of Ais and Ryuu-senpai, he estimated he would have had to use up a resurrection chance here.
Tsk.
Does this guy still carry memories from its "past life"?!
"Damn it!"
The good news was that Miss Ais was Lv.5 after all. Holding a First-Class Armament, and under the enhancement of the skill [Revenge Princess] itself, her attack power and destructive power were quite astonishing.
She had already left quite a few wounds on the BOSS's body, causing the originally menacing Goblin General and its mount lizard to gradually be covered by most of their own deep green viscous blood.
The bad news was...
Ryuu-senpai seemed to be struggling a bit. It was bad enough that her magic was always reflected by the lizard.
The most important thing was that the Elf girl's weapon was a wooden sword. Against a heavily armored enemy, it always appeared somewhat "powerless."
Although it was a Second-Class Armament forged from the branches of the Great Holy Tree, it leaned more towards being a "Staff" than a "Sword."
Weapons were things that were hard to balance.
And watching the golden-haired girl holding [Desperate], cutting through the Goblin General's pitch-black armor with every strike, leaving bone-deep wounds in its muscular deep green body, slicing apart the lizard mount's scales, and even coming close to severing its annoying tail completely.
Inexplicably.
Ryuu felt somewhat unhappy in her heart.
The Elf girl couldn't get distracted at this moment, nor was she competing or anything, but thinking that her Familia junior had specifically gone to call the other party to raid the BOSS before them together—as a senior, she was just somewhat displeased.
[A senior should maintain dignity in front of juniors no matter what, right?!]
That's right, that's right, that's right.
[Otherwise, how can I teach the juniors to adhere to "Justice"?]
But a wooden sword was a wooden sword. Reality wouldn't turn it into a divine weapon that sliced iron like mud just because one thought of things like "friendship and bonds."
So.
Ryuu almost subconsciously placed her hand between those two small tachi behind her waist.
[I leave them to you. Don't treat them as relics; use them to your heart's content.]
That was what Kaguya had said back then.
But, just like how she once even wanted to go against her friends' last words, abandoning herself to seek death in revenge rather than wanting to live on.
Ryuu had also never drawn these two small tachi.
So...
"Use this, Ryuu-senpai."
The boy very thoughtfully threw another long sword he had been using, "Flashlight," to his Familia senior.
Although it was only a Third-Class Armament, it should still be enough.
No words were needed.
Isagi knew from the start that Ryuu could not use the weapons left behind by her former friends.
Because just as Goddess Astrea had said.
Senior was a guy who looked aloof but was actually incredibly fragile inside.
But Isagi was wrong.
Extreme combat would not only temper skills but also toughen a person's mind, forcing a guy who was always hesitant and unsure of what to choose to forcibly take a step forward and run, making a choice.
Be it Isagi, be it Ais, they both originally possessed very "hard" hearts.
So they didn't think much of it.
But for Ryuu, making a choice at this moment was actually too "simple"—because there was no possibility of retreating anymore.
Whether it was protecting the Familia junior;
Or demonstrating her strength as a senior;
Or perhaps...
Ryuu didn't hesitate for even a second, nor did she catch the long sword the boy threw. Instead, she turned her friend's relics into weapons.
Thus.
[Futaba] was stained with blood once again.
The beloved items from the Far East swordswoman of the past, those exceptionally sharp blades sliced across the lizard's long tail, instantly severing it and dividing it into several pieces.
___
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