With the prisoner rescue team, Erina was fighting against Sylphaer. The earth hammer struck the elf's spear, sending her flying backward. Taking a step back, he pointed his finger forward and released a beam that looked like green light.
"Vortex Cannon."
The beam hit Erina's shoulder, making her take a step back. Making her hammer lighter, she moved behind Sylphaer, who had recovered his spear. His head turned back just in time to see it, but his torso was struck by the large hammer in front of him.
"Two hundred tons."
Erina noticed that somehow the damage she dealt seemed to hurt him even more than it should have. That was because, besides coughing up blood, he made a face of extreme pain. Her opponent was thrown to the right, crashing through several trees.
"It seems you're injured."
"Yes, I am, and you're lucky. If that human hadn't hit me with that arrow, you'd already be on the ground."
"I see, so you're the elf the professor said was injured? What, there's no cure?"
Her words were mocking, which irritated Sylphaer. All the healer mages were on the enemy side, so they had to train someone to take that role. The problem was that they were all Circle Six and none of them managed to heal that wound.
"So he would be like your teacher? I think I know how to get my revenge."
"You can try."
With an irritated face he stood up and poured mana into his spear. Throwing it forward, it split into three gales rushing toward Erina. Without retreating, she spun her hammer with even more earth magic embedded within it. The three gales were undone upon touching the hammer, as if they were simply wind striking a rock.
"Your attitude irritates me."
Erina heard the voice from above and raised the hammer, managing to strike Sylphaer's kick that came from above. When his foot touched the hammer, the elf spun, and a piercing vortex around his body began cracking the ego weapon. Erina felt pain in her own soul. As Enrico warned them, they had to be careful not to have their ego weapons destroyed.
"Resistance enhancement."
Using her earth magic, she strengthened her body and the hammer's durability. With that, the cracks stopped spreading, and using the new resistance she had gained, she pressed her knees into the ground and with force Sylphaer was thrown upward, having lost the frontal clash.
His foot was bleeding as he stepped on the air. Just when he was about to breathe to recover his stamina—especially because of the wound that would not heal, inflicted by Enrico days ago—Erina was already above his head, her hammer's weight light again. Making a descending strike, she increased its weight to three hundred tons.
Sylphaer was struck by the powerful blow and felt the bones in his back and part of his skull break, disorienting his thoughts. His body hit the ground and continued sinking deeper into the earth, opening a long hole as it descended.
'I have to stop this. I have to win to get my revenge on him.'
Using wind magic in his hands, he created blades and lodged them into the sides of the stone that began appearing. It took time before he stopped his descent. Before he could catch his breath again after the attack from Erina—
"This is the most I can do."
The voice from above made him immediately raise his head and see that Erina had followed him. She had dropped in the same direction the hole was going, with the hammer's weight at maximum. Desperation filled his eyes as he focused his mana in his hand and released a beam of wind even stronger than before, aiming mainly at Erina's forehead. If she died, that magic would disappear.
'I just have to kill her—'
"Just letting you know…"
She moved her head with some difficulty since the attack was fast, managing to dodge almost entirely. The right side of her hair was cut, and a thin line of blood ran down from that spot.
"I doubled the hammer's weight, so goodbye."
Now her ego weapon weighed six hundred tons. That was the maximum she could reach with her current circle, but it was enough. With the speed she was falling and that weight, if her opponent did not die, he would at least be gravely injured.
And that was exactly what happened in the next second. His remaining bones shattered, his organs ruptured, and his spine collapsed. The explosion that emerged from the hole made the ground vibrate like a sudden earthquake, spreading cracks and raising a cloud of dust. A larger crater opened at the center of the attack while Erina saw that her opponent was still alive, undoubtedly suffering.
"That's cruel, so I'll make it quick."
With the back of the hammer she created a blade and drove it into his head, ending the elf's suffering quickly. Sighing, she wiped the blood from her face and some from her clothes. She had dismissed the hammer and now walked out of the hole she had created.
"I managed to lead her away from the prisoners, so now I have to go back and see if my companions also won."
As she walked, she looked at her own hand with pride in her strength. Without a doubt, becoming Enrico's disciple had been the best decision she could have made to become stronger.
Leaving the crater, she saw in the distance Tailon and Azharkiel fighting among the clouds. That battle was between Circle Eights and looked like a disaster spreading across the entire area. Darkness covered everything along with lightning, two forces clashing without retreat.
"Thalen must still be fighting as well."
Before she could go farther to search for her companions, she saw that the elves who came with her were losing against the corrupted elves who had brought the prisoners along with Sylphaer. Thalen was weaker than her, since he had awakened Circle Six only a day ago through training that she suspected had received a push from Enrico.
'Trust Thalen, he will win.'
"If the professor says so, then I'll believe it."
She recreated her hammer and ran toward the place where the elves and corrupted elves were fighting. One of the opponents was already struck in the face by her while another tried to attack from behind. Turning around, she grabbed his fist with a small smile.
The more time she spent with him, the more she and the other disciples gained some of his traits. Like feeling excited when seeing themselves evolve.
'I'll go even further, even if I remain behind those two.'