Max
After finally securing a few hours of much-needed, uninterrupted sleep in his own bed, Max woke, washed himself, and headed down to the mess hall for a quick breakfast. Today was the day he needed to tackle the mountain of Guild paperwork required to officially establish his shop, and he wanted to get a head start.
Done with his meal, he was walking out into the courtyard when he crossed paths with Raymond.
Seeing the Familia's Head Merchant reminded Max of the pending Guild transaction. Expecting good news about his payout, a polite greeting formed on Max's lips, but it faded before it could be spoken. Raymond lacked his usual composed demeanor. While he didn't look exhausted, there was a distinct, nervous tension in his posture.
Without a word, Raymond cast a quick glance around the courtyard before gesturing firmly for Max to follow him toward the administrative wing.
Once inside his private office, Raymond shut the heavy oak door and ensured it was secure before turning to face the younger adventurer.
"Good morning, Raymond," Max said, leaning casually against the back of his chair. "Is something wrong?"
Raymond walked around to his desk, keeping his voice carefully measured. "There was an incident yesterday regarding your payout from the Guild. It seems your transaction drew the attention of Sir Hedin."
Max frowned, giving the merchant his full attention. "What kind of incident?"
"A Guild runner came to my office yesterday in a state of sheer panic," Raymond explained, clasping his hands on the desk. "He had just been thrown out of Lord Hedin's office. The boy was shaking so badly he could barely speak, and he actually asked me if the incident needed to be reported to the Guild's security."
"And what did you tell him?"
"I told him absolutely not," Raymond said, waving a hand dismissively. "I reminded the boy that since the delivery was technically handed over to a Familia executive on our own grounds, it is strictly an internal matter. The Guild has no jurisdiction here. Once he acknowledged that, I sent him on his way. But the issue is what he was delivering."
"Which was?" Max asked.
"Lord Hedin confiscated the entire delivery," Raymond stated. "He took the manifest, a sealed private letter addressed to you, and the funds. He locked the cash inside his vault to forcibly balance your outstanding debt. The total liquid payout delivered was one hundred and seventy-five million Valis."
Max paused, processing the number. "Wait. One hundred and seventy-five million?"
"Yes," Raymond confirmed.
Max's brow furrowed. "That payout is too high. I should have only received around a hundred million in liquid capital. If they sent an extra seventy-five million..."
The realization clicked into place.
"One of the metals wasn't there," Max deduced aloud, his eyes narrowing slightly. "They couldn't or wouldn't want to give me everything. Most likely Orichalcum was missing. So they compensated me with the cash equivalent instead. That's what the sealed letter is for—their formal explanation."
Raymond nodded in agreement. "That is exactly my theory. Fortunately, Lord Hedin cannot touch items stored directly under your name at the Pantheon. You can go to the Guild, request a detailed account of the transaction, read a copy of that letter, and have the remaining physical metals handed over to you directly."
Max stood quietly, the gears in his mind turning. Since all of his liquid cash had just been confiscated, he couldn't simply take it back without a direct confrontation.
"Where is he right now?" Max asked, his tone dropping. "If this happened yesterday, why hasn't he dragged me into his office yet?"
"After he confiscated your delivery, he went in pursuit of you," Raymond said. "He reportedly made his way straight into the Dungeon to hunt you down. I'm actually a bit confused... did you not come across him during your dive?"
Max blinked in surprise. He hadn't seen the elf anywhere near his route. Then the realization hit him. Right. He had completely bypassed the agonizingly slow travel times by using his teleportation. A deeply vindictive amusement briefly pierced his irritation. The pristine, arrogant White Elf had likely run himself in exhausting, infuriating loops somewhere deep in the Middle Floors, furiously searching for a party that was already safely back home. Max genuinely hoped the elf was still lost down there.
But the amusement was fleeting. Hedin had still gone entirely too far. Max had already begun secretly paying off the debt himself, testing the waters and honoring the ledger without prompting. For Hedin to ruthlessly seize his very first major payout completely disrupted the immediate plans Max had for that capital.
Seeing the dark, calculating shift in the boy's eyes, Raymond grew visibly weary.
"Master Maximus," Raymond advised, his tone shifting to a stern caution. "It is best to clear these things up respectfully. I strongly advise you not to offend him. He is the Chief Strategist, and you do not want to make an enemy of him."
Max looked up, his eyes darkening as a cold spike of anger flared in his chest. Respectfully? he scoffed internally. I'm not the one who should be worried about offending anyone here. He stole my money and confiscated my private correspondence.
That fucking elf was going to get exactly what he deserved, Max decided.
Masking his boiling irritation behind a calm facade, Max gave the merchant a polite nod. "Thanks for the help and the information, Raymond. I appreciate it."
Leaving the merchant to his ledgers, Max exited the administrative wing. He kept his stride perfectly even and composed for the benefit of the lower-ranked members passing him in the halls, but internally, a cold, dark fury was simmering.
How dare that arrogant elf freeze the payout he had explicitly bamboozled Hermes to get? It wasn't just about the Valis; it was the sheer, suffocating disrespect of confiscating his private mail and dictating his finances like he was a child. Hedin was officially getting charged an extortionate premium if he ever wanted to use the teleportation network.
He made his way directly toward Hogni's room. He needed to share the good news of his own Level Up, check the Dark Elf's stat sheet to gauge their growth from the contract, and figure out exactly how to respond to Hedin. Because right now, Max could only think of one response the White Elf would actually understand: pummeling him straight into the ground.
As he walked, he let his anger fuel his focus, mentally reviewing his options for the inevitable confrontation. The White Elf was undeniably fast, highly disciplined, and completely merciless when provoked. But as Max recalled his new class and the staggering numbers on his updated status sheet, a fierce surge of absolute confidence washed away any lingering caution. His newly evolved Mid-Class Devil physiology, combined with his shattered limits, gave him all the assurance he needed to handle whatever the executive had planned.
Lost in his tactical thoughts, he reached Hogni's quarters in no time. When he knocked on the heavy wooden door, it opened almost immediately.
Hogni peered out. His hair was a bit disheveled, but the moment he saw Max, the tension in the Dark Elf's shoulders vanished. He quickly stepped aside to let him in.
"Maximus," Hogni greeted, closing the door behind him. "Are you well?"
"I am. Hope I'm not disturbing you?"
Hogni shook his head, gesturing for him to come further into the room. "Not at all. I was merely reorganizing some texts."
"Did you get your Falna updated yet?" Max asked, looking around the room.
"Not yet," Hogni replied, moving to tidy up a small stack of books on his desk. "I plan to request an audience with Lady Freya later this evening to have it done."
"Well, I bring good news on my end," Max grinned. Standing there with the Dark Elf who had guarded his back through a literal deathmatch, Max let his lingering irritation regarding Hedin fade. "The dive was a massive success, Hogni. I'm officially Level 3."
Hogni froze, the book in his hand slipping from his grasp to hit the desk with a heavy thud.
His eyes widened dramatically behind his glasses, staring at Max as if the boy had just spoken in a dead language. "A-Another level up? Already?" The Dark Elf looked genuinely staggered, his mind failing to process the math. "But... you just joined the Familia a fortnight ago!"
That managed to crack Max up. A genuine laugh escaped him as he leaned casually against the wall, enjoying the sheer disbelief on his friend's face.
"Yeah, it's a bit ridiculous," Max admitted with a cheerful nod.
He let the monumental weight of the news settle over the room for a moment, giving Hogni the space to absorb the impossible reality of a two-week Level 3.
But as the silence stretched, the reality of what was waiting for him outside the room crept back in. The warmth in Max's eyes cooled, replaced by a sharp, calculating edge.
"Anyway, as much as I'd love to celebrate, we have a more pressing issue," Max said, his voice dropping into a serious register. "Apparently, Hedin went looking for me."
Hogni tensed immediately, the shock of the Level Up instantly overridden by ingrained Familia survival instincts. "He... he did?"
"Yep," Max said, a vindictive smirk tugging at his lips. "He marched straight out the front gates and went directly into the Dungeon to track me down."
Hogni blinked, confusion crossing his face before realization slowly dawned. "But... we bypassed the travel routes entirely. We used your spatial anchors to return."
"Exactly," Max chuckled darkly. "He doesn't know that. Right now, the pristine, arrogant White Elf is likely running himself in exhausting, infuriating loops somewhere deep in the Middle Floors, furiously hunting for a party that isn't even there."
For a moment, Hogni just stared. Then, a rare, genuine laugh burst out of him. The Dark Elf actually cracked up, his shoulders shaking as he pictured his chronically high-strung, immaculate peer wandering aimlessly and frustrated through the damp, monster-infested tunnels.
Max grinned, though his gaze remained razor-sharp. "It's funny now, but he's eventually going to figure it out and come back here. And when he does, he is not going to be happy. Which is fine, because frankly, neither am I."
Max walked over and sat down directly on the wooden floor. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a handful of silver Trinitas rings, and spread them out on the ground between them. Hogni, his amusement settling back into strict tactical focus, sat down across from him.
"We need to plan for when he kicks that door in," Max said, picking up one of the rings to begin his assessment. "Let's figure out exactly how effective the Kidō will be against him in close quarters."
As they sat on the ground discussing the varied outputs of the barrier and attack rings, a soft plop sounded next to Max. Kairu, finally awake and fully rested, materialized beside him, bouncing cheerfully against his knee to announce his presence.
Max smiled, gently patting the slime's cool, gelatinous surface. "He did great against the Green Dragon, but Kairu didn't level up yet," Max shared.
Hogni nodded in understanding, knowing familiars developed at a different pace. He picked up one of the attack rings, turning it over in his hand as he returned to their strategy. "Regarding Hedin... his primary strength lies in his casting speed and his devastating lightning output. If we can use the Dankū barriers to restrict his range and force him into a physical confrontation—"
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sharp, incredibly precise rapping at the door cut through the room like a gunshot.
Hogni went completely rigid. His eyes darted to Max, genuine alarm flashing across his face. "That... that cadence. It is Hedin."
Max's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. He must have just gotten back from his little Middle Floor excursion.
"Let him in," Max said quietly. He didn't stand up, but his posture shifted instantly into a coiled, combat-ready baseline.
Kairu, who had been resting on the floor, seemed to completely understand the assignment. The slime bounced cheerfully across the room, extended a thick pseudopod, and pulled the heavy door open.
As expected, Hedin Selland stood in the doorway.
But instead of the rumpled, dust-covered mess Max had anticipated from a man who had just spent a whole day in the Middle Floors, the White Elf looked as immaculate as ever. His uniform was perfectly pressed, his boots gleamed, and not a single strand of blonde hair was out of place.
Max blinked, genuinely surprised. For a split second, he wondered if he was tripping. Did this absolute psychopath really take the time to shower and change clothes just to come confront me?
But immaculate or not, the air around Hedin was literally crackling with raw, unadulterated fury. He didn't offer a condescending greeting. He didn't demand an explanation for the Goliath or the missing money. His eyes locked onto Max with pure, unfiltered killing intent.
Without a sound, Hedin charged.
He moved with the blistering, terrifying speed of a Level 5, closing the distance to Max in a fraction of a second, his hand outstretched to grab the boy by the throat. Hogni reacted on pure instinct, stepping laterally to intercept the charge, but Max was faster.
"Bakudō #81. Dankū," Max cast effortlessly from his seated position.
A transparent, rectangular wall of absolute energy snapped into existence directly between Hogni and the charging executive. Hedin slammed into it. The barrier held perfectly, absorbing his kinetic force with a heavy, resonant hum.
Hedin stepped back, his eyes narrowing to terrifying slits. As if profoundly, personally offended that he had dared to defend himself, the White Elf raised his hand. The sharp, acrid scent of ozone instantly flooded the room.
"Caelus Hildr!"
Blue lightning shrieked into existence, hyper-compressing into dozens of lethal, jagged arrows aimed directly at the barrier. He unleashed the volley, intending to shatter the shield and Max behind it without reducing Hogni's room to absolute rubble.
But as the lightning tore across the room, Kairu retaliated. From the doorway behind Hedin, the slime expanded violently, firing a rapid-fire barrage of highly condensed slime bullets. The precision was impossible. The heavy liquid projectiles intercepted the lightning arrows in mid-air, neutralizing the high-voltage magic in a series of sharp, hissing explosions that filled the room with thick, blinding steam.
Seeing his spell countered by Kairu, Hedin's fury reached a boiling point. He raised his hand again, the static in the air growing suffocating as he prepared to cast something far more destructive.
Enough, Max thought, his patience evaporating entirely.
Max didn't use a spell. He didn't use a weapon. He tapped into his physical stats after dropping the barrier and surged forward through the steam.
Hedin's eyes tracked the movement, the elf instantly ready to dodge. But seeing the attack and having the physical mass to stop it were two entirely different things. Before Hedin could shift his weight, Max's fist, wreathed in terrifying, dense pressure, was already there.
Max drove his fist squarely into the center of Hedin's chest.
The impact sounded like a cannonball firing indoors. The sheer, overwhelming physical strength behind the blow shattered Hedin's footing instantly. The White Elf was lifted cleanly off the floor, launched backward out the open doorway, and sent flying across the corridor before slamming into the opposite stone wall with a loud, bone-rattling THUD.
-◈ -
General Pov
Pressing his advantage, Max didn't give the executive a fraction of a second to recover.
Before Hedin could even slide down the cracked masonry of the corridor wall, Max closed the distance. He appeared directly in front of the White Elf, slamming his forearm across Hedin's collarbone and pinning him flush against the stone. It was a perfect, deliberate mirror of the intimidation tactic Hedin had used against him on this very floor—but this time, the roles were violently reversed.
"You have a lot of nerve attacking me like that," Max hissed, his voice low, cold, and vibrating with absolute menace. "And putting my familiar in danger."
Hedin's pristine composure fractured. The stone ground uncomfortably into his back, and while he possessed the sheer strength to break the hold, the physical mass and pressure pinning him there made no logical sense. He must be using some artifact! Hedin's mind raged, his frantic logic trying to patch the gaping hole in his worldview. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!
He was a Level 5. He possessed decades of brutal battle experience and ironclad stamina. How could he be manhandled with such force by a mere rookie? And where was Hogni? Shouldn't his fellow executive be intervening in this farce, considering the boy was clearly using some illicit artifact to overpower a superior officer?
As if hearing the arrogant demands echoing in Hedin's mind, Hogni finally moved.
"You still doubt him, don't you?"
Hedin froze in Max's grip.
It wasn't the words themselves that stunned the Chief Strategist; it was the delivery. There was no stutter. No anxious hesitation.
Hogni had always been a bumbling fool in social settings. Even back on their wretched island, locked in eternal conflict, the Dark Elf had been terrified of his own shadow, constantly masking his crippling anxiety beneath a fabricated, theatrical persona. But this voice... this was calm, grounded, and absolute. When that mental limiter was removed, this was the real Hogni—the devastating warrior King that Hedin actually respected.
Hogni's next words pierced through Hedin's racing thoughts like one of his own lightning arrows.
"This narrow hall cannot contain the truth of your conflict," Hogni declared quietly, his silver-green eyes locking onto his rival. "Maximus. Take us to the sanctuary."
Hedin's eyes widened in outrage. He was not going to be dragged anywhere in such a compromising, humiliating position. He gathered his mind, intending to charge a Caelus Hildr point-blank to make this insolent boy and his traitorous shadow see their absolute folly.
But before a single spark could dance across his fingertips, an intricate light bloomed beneath them.
For the first time that day, Hedin was left entirely speechless.
Spreading across the floor beneath Max's boots was a magic circle unlike anything Hedin had ever seen. There were no superfluous runes, no standard Falna geometry, no bloated elven incantations. It was pure, alien perfection—lines and patterns intertwining to form a unique, singular sigil at its core.
A magic circle.
Hedin's mind stalled. The physical manifestation of a spell circle was the undisputed hallmark of the Mage developmental ability. And developmental abilities were only unlocked upon ascending a Level.
He leveled up. In two weeks, Hedin realized, a spike of genuine shock piercing his ironclad composure.
But just as quickly, his fanatic loyalty to his Goddess smoothed the shock away. Of course he did, Hedin rationalized, regaining his mental footing. I should not expect anything less from an anomaly our Mistress took such a profound interest in and poured such vast resources into.
Before Hedin's analytical mind could dissect the alien magical architecture any further, the circle flared with blinding crimson light.
VWOOM.
Every battle-honed instinct in Hedin's body screamed at him to escape the spatial lock, but the physical hold on his neck, combined with the sheer speed of the spell, was too much. As the world dissolved around them, Hedin forced himself to take a rigid mental breath. Calm yourself, he ordered his racing heart. Let the Strategist take over.
Panic had already made a fool of him in Hogni's quarters. He refused to debase himself further by thrashing like a trapped animal.
As he locked his emotions away in an iron vault, the crimson light vanished.
Hedin blinked. The cool, pristine air of Folkvangr was gone.
The heavy, sweet perfume of blooming flora and night-blooming jasmine rushed into his lungs. The sudden silence was vast and echoing, entirely unlike the enclosed walls of the manor.
"This is..." Hedin breathed aloud, entirely unable to control his shock as he looked around. "The Under Garden? Floor 28? But how?"
The three of them stood amidst a sprawling field of luminescent blue and silver flowers. The sheer, tranquil beauty of the safe zone stood in stark, jarring contrast to the violent killing intent still radiating between them.
Hedin pulled himself from Max's loosened grip, taking a measured step back to smooth his rumpled cloak. His brilliant mind ran through a dozen impossibilities before the only logical answer locked into place.
Teleportation.
He recalled the brief moment when Max and his party had vanished from Floor 24. Does this mean he can use spatial transit? Was that the special magic he unlocked from the Grimoire?!
If so, the boy was unimaginably fortunate. He had acquired one of the most coveted, near-mythical magic types in all of Orario.
Hedin nodded to himself, his breathing steadying as the pieces finally aligned. That makes sense. It was only natural that his Mistress had deliberately hidden the boy's Status even from him, her Chief Strategist.
With that realization, the tension in Hedin's body began to ease. A profound epiphany dawned on him, neatly explaining away the sudden, impossible boost in the boy's physical stats he had just experienced.
Of course. He isn't abnormally strong; he is simply bypassing the attrition of the Upper Floors, Hedin rationalized, his bruised ego comfortably repairing itself. He has been making multiple, instantaneous trips to the Dungeon. Cutting out the travel time back and forth would give anyone an overwhelming advantage in Excelia farming.
His mind immediately shifted gears, abandoning the insult to his pride to focus entirely on how to ruthlessly exploit this newfound boon. With a teleportation network, the Familia could reach unprecedented heights. Supply lines, rapid deployment, immediate extraction...
SNAP.
The sharp crack of fingers snapping directly in front of his nose pulled Hedin out of his strategic musings with a jarring halt.
He blinked, his vision refocusing to find Max standing just a few feet away, leaning casually against a massive, beautiful tree.
"Back to the world?" Max questioned, an arrogant, thoroughly devilish smirk playing on his lips.
Hedin's jaw tightened. He despised that expression. But he chose to be patient. Max was an incredibly valuable asset now—the key to the absolute transformation of the Familia's standing. Hedin decided he would tolerate this disrespect for now, much like he would magnanimously forgive the punch he had received earlier. It was the burden of a leader to manage difficult tools.
Lifting his chin, his tone returned to its cool, unbothered baseline. "Now that things have been cleared, shall we get back into the details—"
"What was cleared? And when?"
Max's voice cut through the tranquil air, sharp and unyielding. The smirk vanished, replaced by a cold, heavy seriousness.
"You've got a lot of nerve, Hedin," Max pressed, stepping away from the tree. "Barging into Hogni's room like that. Attacking my familiar. And before you try to spin this into some twisted lesson in discipline—let's talk about the money you froze without notice. The private letter from the Guild you confiscated. The manufactured debt. Everything, White Elf."
Max stopped a few paces away, his eyes burning. "And on top of it all, that smug, condescending look on your face every time you look at me. You are going to answer for all of it. Now."
Before Hedin could unleash a scathing retort to the boy's demands, Hogni stepped smoothly into the space between them.
"Hedin," the Dark Elf said, his voice carrying the solemn, impartial weight of a judge. "Maximus has challenged you to combat. Are you willing to accept it?"
Realistically speaking, Hedin should have paused. He should have thought through the raw physical might Max had displayed in the corridor, the effortless way the boy had shattered his guard and lifted him off his feet. One does not casually disrespect a fighter capable of manhandling a First-Class adventurer, regardless of how much they were holding back.
But the revelation of the teleportation magic had blinded him completely.
In Hedin's mind, the boy's strength was merely a byproduct of an exploitable trick. He felt his magnanimity in letting the boy punch him earlier had been taken as weakness. He didn't feel threatened in the slightest, supremely confident in the vast, insurmountable gulf of combat experience between a Level 5 veteran and a newly ascended rookie.
More importantly, Hedin knew this challenge would be highly useful to him. Once he thoroughly defeated Maximus, putting the boy back in his rightful place, he could stipulate a complete monopoly over the teleportation magic and dictate exactly how it would be used in the rise of his Familia.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Hedin nodded. "I accept."
Max smirked, the predatory gleam returning to his eyes. "Wonderful. When I win, I want you to release the money you froze—in excess of the debt. You will hand over the letter from the Guild. You will pay whatever price I decide to charge if you ever want to use my teleportation network."
Max took a final step forward, delivering his ultimate condition with absolute finality. "And most importantly... you will not interfere in my business, in or outside of Folkvangr, ever again."
It was a fitting cage. Max intended to make himself utterly untouchable to the one person who intended to use him purely for his own ends. It was written clearly on Hedin's face; whatever conclusion the elf had jumped to after experiencing the teleportation, it had only reinforced his desire to control Max as an asset.
Listening to the boy's demands, Hedin felt a dark wave of irony wash over him. Their stipulations were exact opposites of each other—absolute independence versus absolute control. Yet, unlike the doomed novice in front of him, Hedin didn't bother to share his conditions aloud. He simply chose to nod, arrogantly assured of his inevitable victory. The terms of the loser did not matter.
Hogni looked between them, acknowledging the wager, and nodded to both.
He stepped back toward the edge of the flower fields, giving them the space to prepare.
Max didn't hesitate. He pulled his armor from his spatial pouch, strapping it on with practiced, efficient movements, before drawing his rapier. The blue edge of the silver caught the ambient light of the Under Garden, humming faintly.
Hedin raised his staff, the air around him already dropping in temperature as the scent of ozone returned, sharp and lethal.
Satisfied that both combatants were ready, Hogni raised a hand into the quiet air.
With a sharp, concussive bang of his magic that echoed across the crystal canopy of Floor 28, the battle began.
The very second Hogni's magic echoed across the cavern, the air pressure plummeted.
Hedin didn't waste a breath. His lips immediately began to move in high-speed, concurrent chanting, preparing the devastating area-of-effect spell Varian Hildr.
But Max refused to give him the space to cast it.
Closing the distance with explosive speed, Max lunged. He led with a flurry of heavy, sweeping strikes from his rapier, his free hand weaving in brutal, close-quarters punches laced with dark, crackling Destruction magic.
Hedin engaged the melee seamlessly, intending to parry the rookie and push him back, but the moment their blades crossed, the White Elf's eyes widened. The physical feedback traveling up his staff was monstrous. Max's stats weren't just high—they were overwhelming. Even with many levels of gap, Hedin's parameters leaned heavily toward Magic, and the sheer, unbridled force behind Max's strength was visibly superior to his own physical output.
Refusing to be caught off guard and manhandled like he had been in the corridor, Hedin instantly shifted tactics. He abandoned parrying altogether. Relying entirely on his phenomenally high Agility and Dexterity, the executive wove, ducked, and sidestepped through Max's lethal barrage by mere millimeters.
Realizing he was playing into the boy's domain, Hedin expertly flipped his staff, struck the ground to create a burst of kinetic distance, and decided to explicitly remind the rookie exactly who the superior mage was.
Abandoning the long charge for a moment, Hedin pointed his staff.
"Caelus Hildr!"
The air above the flower field ignited. Not dozens, but hundreds of jagged blue lightning arrows materialized in the sky, completely blotting out the ambient light of the safe zone. Without Kairu there to provide anti-air support, Max was entirely on his own.
With a flick of Hedin's wrist, the lightning rained down like a localized apocalypse. Hedin immediately resumed charging for Varian Hildr, intending to finish the fight the moment Max was pinned.
Max wasn't delusional enough to think his armor or his natural durability could tank a barrage of Level 5 magic head-on.
"Bakudō #73. Tozansho!" Max incanted rapidly.
A massive, inverted pyramid of crystalline energy formed around him just as the first wave struck. The safe zone shook under the relentless bombardment. Because Hedin wasn't holding back a single fraction of his power, spiderweb cracks immediately began to violently splinter the Kidō barrier.
Curious to see exactly how his innate magic interacted with raw elemental lightning, Max fed a pulse of his Devil mana directly into the crumbling shield.
The transparent barrier instantly tinted into a deep, ominous violet. The Destruction magic didn't just block the lightning; it actively ate it, disintegrating the blue arrows on contact. The tinted barrier held its ground magnificently against the swarm from all angles, right up until Hedin noticed the anomaly and casually dropped a single, massively concentrated spear of lightning directly onto the apex.
The barrier shattered like glass.
Max instantly coated his body in a thick, dense layer of Destruction, letting the dark aura absorb and nullify the splash damage and the remaining smaller arrows.
Realizing he couldn't efficiently conjure hundreds of miniature Destruction spheres to counter the swarm shot-for-shot, Max decided to make the elf suffer through sheer, concentrated output.
He thrust his hand forward, aiming directly into the heart of the blue storm.
"Maiden's Lament!"
A roaring wave of golden lightning erupted from Max's palm. The Maiden's Lament tore through the sky, obliterating Hedin's smaller blue arrows with ease as it carved a massive, destructive path straight toward the White Elf.
Hedin paused his chant. He easily possessed the Agility to step out of the golden blast's trajectory, but his pride and his sheer curiosity as a mage anchored him in place. Fascinated by the peculiar, high-density lightning the boy had just conjured without a chant, Hedin decided to test it.
He released the volatile charge he had been gathering for Varian Hildr, sending a massive, blinding beam of blue lightning forward to intercept Max's attack.
The two spells collided in the center of the field. Blue and gold lightning violently rejected each other, creating a deafening, blinding sphere of chaotic plasma that scorched the grass and sent shockwaves rippling through the cavern.
Unbeknownst to Hedin, Max had been waiting for exactly this kind of arrogant clash.
Using the blinding explosion as a perfect smokescreen, Max surged through the peripheral steam. He bypassed the blast radius entirely and appeared directly in front of the White Elf, his hands perfectly positioned to lock Hedin down.
"Bakudō #61. Rikujō—"
PING.
Max's Auto-Evade screamed in the back of his mind. A lethal, impossibly fast object was approaching from his blind spot.
Max aborted the spell instantly. Trusting his magic completely, he kicked off the empty air, using Geppo to launch himself violently upward.
--> Devil in a Dungeon <--
AN:
Well that's how it all began...
Coming to this chapter, we have the flashback of how things came up to be and Max also learning about the confrontation and deciding to pivot to Hogni's room to discuss how to deal with Hedin instead of going to the guild. Obviously he didn't expect Hedin to be back this quickly as he wasn't aware he saw them teleport and made beeline to Folkvangr. And the generous White Elf decided to forgive Max's transgressions as soon he deduced Max had Teleportation ;)
And now both of them are duking it out to finally settle their differences. The most interesting thing I feel about Hedin is, even though almost everyone knows about his magic, they underestimate its lethality and range, like if his charged Varian Hildr hit Max, Hogni and Kairu on Floor 24, there is a high chance Max and Hogni would have suffered severe burns and electrocution in addition, Kairu would have lost 80% of his mass. Yea, he is broken like that. Would be interesting to see how Max counters him.
Also for those of you wondering why didn't Max wager to cancel the debt (150 million) as a whole? The answer is simple, he accepted it from the beginning and took it as a matter pride.
Don't forget to share your thoughts on the story in a review/comment.
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Next update will be on Friday.
Ben, Out.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.