"Leon—I've been waiting for you to say that!"
Iris sprang up at once, rubbing her hands together in excitement.
After enduring this for so long, she could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
"Don't get carried away," Leon said. "Before casting, you need to calm your mind."
He couldn't help ruffling Iris's small head. The silky feel of her hair made him sigh—no wonder she was a light elf. Even after seven days without rest, she was still spotless, like she had a built-in dust-cleaning function.
Iris's face flushed for a split second at the touch, then she realized how strange this was and quickly dodged away.
For some reason, being patted like that gave her a tiny, odd sense of pleasure. She told herself it was probably just because she now recognized him as a trustworthy teammate.
Leon turned to the distant small castle for a final assessment.
That massive man-eating flower—after a full week of nonstop magical harassment from Leon and Iris—was already in terrible shape.
Most of the vines guarding it had been burned down.
Its thick root-stalks were twisted, the rows of shark-tooth petals crooked and wilting.
The dozen-plus eyes growing from its stamen looked weak and lifeless.
Sure, once their spells traveled over a hundred meters, the power dropped and the direct damage wasn't huge.
But the plant was being harassed every day, leaving it little chance to drain other monsters to replenish mana and stamina.
Originally, it could have used mana to spawn even more vines, but with its mana steadily depleted, it clearly couldn't sustain so many anymore.
It could only keep its core six vines close, plus a handful of outer vines to harass Leon and Iris and keep them from closing distance.
And as time dragged on, their spell proficiency kept rising. Starting yesterday, their output had stepped up another notch, making the plant even more withered.
It had spent decades "growing quietly" in the Element Trap Prison, and it had miraculously reached fourth tier—something extremely rare for a weak monster.
But once it chose to settle here long-term, its fate was basically sealed.
"Iris—in a moment, we'll do a combo," Leon said. "The flower doesn't have many vines left to protect it. Three seconds after my spell fires, you immediately launch your strongest compressed Light Radiance right after it. Understood?"
"Understood."
"You don't need to count the seconds," Leon added. "The moment I give a hand signal, you release the spell you've already prepared."
"Understood."
Iris nodded with disciplined seriousness. When it was time to fight, she didn't let her mind wander.
Those three seconds were the optimal sync window Leon had calculated over days.
Light Radiance would reach the target area the instant it was released.
Matched with the timing of Leon breaking the vines, the rhythm was perfect.
Normally, with Light Radiance's speed, none of this would be necessary.
But after days of fighting, the flower had clearly learned Iris's casting wind-up. The moment she began chanting, it would snap vines into place to shield its core, avoiding the high-temperature light.
That meant even though Iris could now compress Light Radiance down to a house-sized ring, she still couldn't damage the flower's main body.
Still, at this compression level, the light's temperature was already terrifying.
Just grazing a vine would ignite it instantly, burning it down within ten seconds.
Under Leon's guidance and Iris's repeated practice, Light Radiance had effectively evolved into a different "use case."
Treating it like a laser-like high-heat spell wasn't wrong.
If someday Iris could compress that light to a single point, both range and destructive power would surge dramatically.
At that point, an intermediate spell might even reach the might of a higher-tier spell.
Of course, that step would take a long time.
The finer the control, the harder the difficulty grows—exponentially.
Iris began chanting now.
Her staff emitted magical radiance as mana gathered.
In the distance, the man-eating flower noticed Iris's movement. The vines around it immediately snapped up and clustered densely in front of its core, shielding the body from her Light Radiance.
As long as it survived the first hit, it could use mana to quickly spawn new vines and reinforce its defense.
Seeing this, Leon began chanting as well.
Mana gathered, and he thrust his palm forward.
BOOM!!
Pseudo-intermediate magic: Hurricane Flame Bolt!
Mana: -10.
A roaring hurricane wrapped a high-temperature firebolt and surged toward the man-eating flower.
Because the plant had already arranged its defenses to counter Iris's wind-up, only two vines could spare the space to intercept Hurricane Flame Bolt.
BANG!!
Both vines melted instantly.
After a week of training on Leon's side—and a week of being worn down on the plant's side—two vines simply couldn't hold Hurricane Flame Bolt for long.
The flower had to shift its protection stance and extend two more vines.
The moment the hurricane bolt touched, flames erupted.
In the end, four vines were destroyed together with the Hurricane Flame Bolt.
And before the plant could use mana to spawn replacements—
a high-temperature ring of light slammed in right after.
SZZZT—!!
The surrounding temperature was still high and the smoke hadn't dissipated.
The ring hit, and the exposed portions of the plant's body—no longer shielded by vines—were fully irradiated. Its tough outer skin crisped black in an instant with crackling pops.
The man-eating flower writhed violently.
Charred smoke rose. Its serrated petals withered and collapsed, tears on its many eyes evaporated, and the lids scorched dark.
Five seconds later, newly spawned vines finally arrived to block the front, shaving off the ring's strongest damage.
Soon after, as Iris's control began to drop, Light Radiance gradually faded.
This exchange ended with the flower losing a huge amount of mana and suffering heavy damage to its main body.
It was also the single greatest damage they'd ever inflicted on the plant's main body in the entire week.
Leon estimated this wave alone had cut at least 15 HP.
Vines could be regrown anytime; cutting vines didn't reduce HP directly—only its mana.
"I'm sorry," Iris said, head drooping. "I messed up. I couldn't maintain Light Radiance long enough to completely destroy its body."
If the plant hadn't managed to spawn new vines to block, Iris was confident she could have ignited it entirely with another twenty seconds of exposure.
But now that the chance was gone, the same trick might not work again.
If they fell back into a war of attrition, it would take several more days at least.
"Iris, don't worry," Leon said, patting her head again. "That was just the appetizer. I actually have a secret weapon."
Iris snapped her head up and stared at Leon.
"We can win?"
"Yes," Leon said with a smile. "We can finish it today. Now—watch me."
He gathered mana in his palm and began casting.