The battle between these three girls and myself dragged on, even with Sylla's spell making the whole fight uncomfortably difficult to continue.
"Heek! Wait, don't look!" Cremia Dolche cried out, embarrassed as her soaked clothes clung to her.
"..."
Seeing her crouch down and hug herself for cover, I simply turned away and kept clashing with Griffa.
"Hey, just so you know, ignoring her like that is even more disrespectful than glancing for a moment!" the elven girl shouted, oddly angry that I wasn't indulging in the situation.
"No, that'd be way worse for me!" Cremia snapped back, still covering herself.
"Stop wasting time!" the demi-human barked, cutting their bickering short.
"Y-yes!" the two replied in unison.
With Cremia rejoining the fight, I found myself even more on the defensive than before.
"[Electro Shot]"
Small orbs of electricity shot through the air toward me.
Because of the water spell Sylla had cast earlier, the humid air amplified the effect, spreading shocking currents around the orbs and widening their range.
I had to focus hard, dodging Griffa's deadly strikes, Cremia's sword slashes, and Sylla's spells all at once.
But I needed to act.
With precision, I dodged the sword slashes Cremia threw at me. Jumped out of those orbs, carefully avoiding them and their increased range.
I felt as if I was in a literal bullet hell where I had to weave through te tiniest he's to even keep being alive.
However, once I jumped far away enough, Cremia seems like she acted too quick for her own good.
It was bad timing on her part. Griffa was still turning around mid-flight to attack me. The orbs where already dodged and Sylla still was chanting the next wave of Electro Shots.
She was all alone against me—
Exactly the moment I was waiting for.
"[Wind Hammer]!"
I shouted, manually casting the spell so it would manifest horizontally and strike Cremia.
"Watch out!" Griffa yelled. Cremia braced herself, convinced she couldn't dodge in time.
That's when my tactic began.
"The spell—it failed?!"
I'd learned the benefit of manually casting a spell, then failing it on purpose. Doing so refunded my mana, letting me pull off surprise attacks. It was a difficult technique, though—I wasn't skilled enough to do it reliably with faster spells.
Feather Dart gave me room for error thanks to its duration, but the more advanced the spell, the more precise the timing had to be. With practice, I had managed to manually cancel spells quickly enough to make the technique viable in real combat.
I'd never named it, but if I had to, I'd call it something simple: Spell Cancel.
The process was straightforward—channel mana, intentionally fail the cast, then get the mana refunded instantly.
This paired perfectly with my Fake Incantationless Casting. The refunded mana went right back into reserve, ready for immediate use.
"[Wind Hammer]"
This time I cast it upward, from the ground beneath Cremia.
The sudden, heavy gust slammed into her whole body before she could react.
"Gah!" she gasped as the wind launched her into the air.
Her guard down and her frail body unable to endure, Cremia passed out midair.
Griffa swooped in, catching the unconscious girl by the arms with her talons.
"[Feather Dart]!"
I aimed at Griffa and released a barrage of feather-like darts.
"!!!" Her eyes widened. She jerked sideways, flying behind the trees for cover while holding Cremia close.
"Sylla!" she shouted.
"Aye!"
I Spell Canceled Feather Dart, mana rushing back into me, and sprinted toward the elven girl.
"[Branch Stop]"
She only had time to chant the quick version. Branches sprouted from the ground, slithering upward to grab my feet.
"He tripped!"
A root snagged me, sending me tumbling forward—but my body reacted on its own. My passive skill prevented me from falling, flipping me smoothly back onto my feet without losing momentum.
I kept charging, full speed.
"How!?" Sylla cried.
"Flows of rivers, de—"
Before she could finish the incantation, I was already upon her.
"Ah—wai—"
"[Wind Ram]!"
The spell slammed into her face, knocking her backward.
Sylla had surprisingly high defensive stats, so it wouldn't defeat her outright, but it would wear her down.
I couldn't linger—Griffa would come at me from behind.
Sure enough, when I turned, she was already swooping toward me at high speed.
"[Feather Dart]!"
I cast, forcing her to dodge at the last second. Even that slight loss of momentum was enough for me to react.
"[Vine Wrap]!"
Too late, I realized Sylla had used the distraction to cast again. Thick vines wrapped around my legs, anchoring me in place no matter how hard I struggled.
All I could do was take a defensive stance and pour mana into my Elemental Defense to block Griffa's charge.
Her talons struck the swirling wind barrier with bone-rattling force, shaking my body despite the shield.
"You're wide open from behind!" Sylla whispered, her hands pressing against my back.
I'd focused everything forward, leaving my rear exposed.
"Surge with paralyzing power"
"[Volt Shock]"
The tier-two lightning spell hit me like a live wire, amplified by my soaked clothes. My whole body convulsed, breaking my stance.
Griffa capitalized, flying past and raking her talons across my shoulder in a shallow cut.
"You did it, boss! Nice last hit!" Sylla cheered.
"I didn't! I missed—I barely grazed him!" Griffa shouted, mid-flight.
"What? No, I saw you—"
In truth, her dodge against Feather Dart had altered her angle. Combined with my defense being set in the perfect spot, she ended up flying higher than expected. That tiny difference saved me from a lethal strike.
By the time Sylla realized Griffa hadn't connected, I was already behind her.
I wrapped my arms around her neck, squeezing until she began to lose consciousness.
And though I hated the thought—Sylla now served as a human shield, keeping Griffa at bay unless she wanted to risk hurting her ally.
The elven girl thrashed in my grip, struggling desperately to free herself.
Griffa circled us with a troubled expression, clearly torn over what to do next.
I kept my… human shield… firmly in front of me, making sure she couldn't get a proper angle to attack.
"I give up. Let her go," the demi-human said in her usual expressionless tone, though I caught the frustration buried in her voice.
"N-no… don't worry, boss…" Sylla managed through my grip. "Keep… fighting…"
Despite her words, Griffa Irea had already stopped flying. She landed with heavy steps, her silence weighed down by defeat.
"Keep on… fighting… Descending Dragon Attack…" Sylla croaked, her eyes flashing with determination.
Griffa's eyes widened at the name of that technique that also caused me so much intrigue.
"Don't complain later… this is what you wanted," Griffa muttered, her voice heavy but still flat.
She took flight again, her white wings beating hard as she gained altitude.
Higher and higher she climbed until reaching the peak she needed. Then, folding her wings and arms tight, she dove—her body streamlined into a living bullet, speed multiplying with every second.
I had only a split moment to decide.
Let go of Sylla, risking a counterspell from her and still taking the hit if my luck failed…
Or hold onto her, using her body as a shield to absorb the impact.
Neither option felt like winning.
Not even three meters away!
At the last second, I shoved Sylla aside, freeing her from my grip.
Planting my feet, I took the wind stance and poured everything—every drop of mana—into one last defense.
The swirling barrier spun violently in front of me, ready to meet the oncoming strike. My vision blurred under the strain of channeling so much mana at once.
Then Griffa twisted midair, extending her leg.
The fall from that height. The speed from her tucked wings. The final spin.
All of it combined into a devastating kick.
When it struck my Elemental Defense, the impact sent shockwaves across the ground, cracking the earth beneath my feet.
But the barrier shattered.
Her kick smashed through and slammed into my shoulder, driving me to my knees under the force of her momentum.
"That was it! The Descending Dragon Attack!" Sylla cried, watching Griffa triumph in the clash.
I caught myself with both hands before I hit the dirt face-first, but Griffa wasn't finished.
She struck again, her kick slamming into my side and rolling me across the ground.
"Got it!" she shouted, snatching the badge from me.
"Let's go, boss!" Sylla called as she bolted from the fight, Griffa close behind.
I lay sprawled on the grass, staring up at the orange sky.
They're… just going to leave me here?
But it didn't matter. I didn't need to retrieve the badge—as the examiner, I'd already seen enough. They all passed.
And tomorrow… I'll have to deal with something even worse.
Descending Dragon Attack…? So that's the technique…
In the game [Dragon's Roar], you could position units beside each other—whether in the academy or on the battlefield—and they would have conversations.
These interactions revealed how characters related to one another, dropped bits of lore, and increased their trust levels.
In Griffa and Sylla's trust conversation, this very attack was mentioned.
It had started as a joke—an over-the-top move Sylla came up with after reading too many books.
The embarrassment didn't just come from the flashy, exaggerated name. The real issue was the word dragon. In the world of Terra, that term carried heavy taboos.