"Easy!"
Valtos' voice was full of confidence, the magic power in his hand condensing into a dark purple magic bullet.
At the same time, two dark, oval-shaped spatial passages silently opened in front of him and behind Ryoma and Asta.
Valtos sneered and shot the magic bullet in his hand into the spatial passage in front of him.
The next moment, the magic bullet emerged from the passage behind Ryoma and Asta, heading straight for their backs.
However, this time Yami did not move, still staring intently at Patolli.
Ryoma, facing this sneak attack from behind, didn't even turn his head.
Crack!
A clear ice crystal instantly condensed and formed behind him.
Bang!
The dark purple magic bullet collided with the ice crystal, and without even a ripple, it was frozen, shattered, and dissipated into harmless magic particles in the air.
"..."
Ryoma felt a surge of speechlessness.
Wasn't Valtos a bit too arrogant?
A typical case of not learning from mistakes.
He actually dared to openly open a spatial passage in front of the enemy, as if the opponents were all fools and couldn't figure out what he was trying to do.
This kind of trick...
Wasn't he afraid it would be used against him?
"What?!"
Valtos, seeing his attack easily neutralized, immediately wanted to close the two spatial passages.
However, it was already too late.
Just as he was about to act, at the moment the spatial passages were about to close—
Ryoma's movements were as fast as lightning, even faster than Valtos' thoughts.
Eternal Silence Ice Thorn!
Whoosh!
An ice thorn, more condensed and sharper than any previous one, shot out from Ryoma's hand, carrying an bone-chilling cold. Its target was not Patolli in front, nor Valtos beside him.
But... the spatial passage behind him, which was about to close.
The ice thorn's speed was extreme, turning into an almost invisible white line, accurately and precisely entering that dark, distorted space.
On the other side, Valtos, who was about to close the passage, suddenly felt an extreme danger coming from the spatial passage in front of him.
His eyes suddenly widened.
What was that?!
He only saw a flash of white light pass through the passage.
He didn't even have time to react, his body's instincts hadn't even transmitted a command to dodge.
Pfft!
Valtos' body suddenly stiffened, and he lowered his head in disbelief.
A glinting ice thorn had passed through the spatial passage in front of him and also pierced his abdomen.
The icy chill instantly invaded his limbs and bones, freezing his magic power and life force simultaneously.
"Ugh..."
Valtos opened his mouth, and blood mixed with ice shards gushed out.
The confidence on his face froze, replaced by endless shock and confusion.
His magic was used... to defeat himself in return?
Thud!
His body fell straight backward, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.
"..."
Patolli looked at Valtos, who had instantly fallen to the ground, his life unknown, and was stunned. The eyes that had always maintained indifference showed violent fluctuations.
He slowly turned his head, his gaze like two sharp swords piercing Ryoma.
"You..."
His voice trembled.
"You actually dared to... Valtos..."
It was an emotion mixed with shock, fury, and disbelief.
Valtos was one of his important companions.
And now he was... fallen in front of him?
In such a humiliating way!
"I will never!"
Patolli's voice suddenly rose, no longer calm in the slightest, only a hysterical roar remaining.
"I will never let you harm any more of my brethren!"
Boom!!!
Brilliant golden magic power erupted from his body. The four-leaf grimoire flipped wildly, and the light was so dazzling it was impossible to look directly at it.
Light Creation Magic: Bright Judgement Whip!
Buzz!
Countless light particles gathered in his hand, forming a long whip made of pure light. Destructive magic power flowed over the light whip.
"Ha!!!"
Patolli roared and violently swung the light whip in his hand.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The long whip of light seemed to have a life of its own, drawing countless trajectories in the air, furiously lashing every inch of space within the cave.
Wherever the light whip reached, whether it was the hard rock wall or the ground, it was easily torn, cut, and shattered.
Rumble!
The entire cave trembled violently under this furious attack, and huge rocks continuously fell from the top.
In just a few moments, the entire structure of the cave was completely destroyed.
Accompanied by a deafening roar, the cave collapsed. Countless rocks and soil poured down, completely burying everything.
The dust settled.
The original cave became a ruin, with only a small, relatively intact patch of ground remaining where Patolli stood.
He exhaled slightly, his gaze fixed on the ruins.
Clatter—
Suddenly, a pile of rubble was pushed aside from within.
Yami's distinctive black cloak was the first to appear. He dusted himself off and walked out unharmed.
Immediately after, Ryoma and Asta also emerged from the rubble.
"Tsk, what a mess." Yami picked his ear, a look of distaste on his face.
Patolli looked at the three unharmed individuals, the fury in his eyes almost materializing.
The magic power within him surged and escalated again at an unprecedented speed.
The surrounding air seemed to solidify, and a terrifying, suffocating pressure descended upon everyone's hearts.
"Using this..."
Patolli's voice became somewhat low, every word seeming to be squeezed out from between his teeth.
"Will be your death!"
Yami's expression became extremely solemn for the first time.
"Whoa... this is truly dangerous."
"Incredibly terrifying magic power."
He could feel that the opponent's next attack would be of a world-destroying level.
Dark Magic: Black Cocoon!
Yami unhesitatingly pushed his magic power to its limit, preparing to envelop the three of them with his strongest defensive magic.
However, even he wasn't absolutely confident he could block Patolli's attack.
Patolli raised his hands high, and the grimoire in front of him glowed with a sun-like radiance.
Light Magic: Light Shaft of Divine Punishment!
Buzz!
A huge pillar of pure white light, as if to purify everything in the world, converged and formed in front of him.
The light was extremely sacred, yet it contained the most extreme destruction.
The light pillar locked onto Yami and the other two, descending with the might of judging all.
Just then—
An unexpected change occurred.
The silver-white grimoire that had been floating beside Ryoma suddenly drifted automatically to his front.
Whoosh!
The pages turned by themselves to the first page. On that page, an incredibly complex and profound silver magic circle flashed.
Buzz!
Dazzling silver-white light erupted from the grimoire, instantly enveloping Ryoma's entire body.
The next second.
Everything around seemed to have been put on pause.
Yami's movements froze, Asta's terrified expression solidified.
The "Light Shaft of Divine Punishment" that seemed capable of destroying the world also stood still in mid-air, the entire world seemingly turning into a static painting.
Only Ryoma could still move. He found himself in an incredibly strange dimension. Everything around him had turned gray, and time had lost its meaning here.
At the same time, the images that had flashed through his mind earlier, those historical fragments about the rise and fall, glory and shame, love and hate of the elves, surged forth like a tide again.
He felt as if he had personally witnessed the birth and destruction of a race.
He subconsciously took a step forward.
The moment his foot landed, the "Light Shaft of Divine Punishment," which had been static in mid-air, began to slowly retreat in a way that defied all laws.
Yes, retreat.
It was like a videotape being rewound.
The light pillar that had already descended actually shrank inch by inch back into the magic circle above Patolli's head.
And everything around, Yami, Asta, the falling rocks remained in absolute stillness.
Ryoma's magic power was being consumed at an unprecedented rate. He had only taken one step, and he felt as if his body had been drained.
Just selecting a target and reversing its existence in time had consumed such terrifying magic power.
His head swam, and he almost lost his balance.
Just then—
An incredibly familiar power surged from the deepest part of his body without warning.
That strange power that didn't belong to this world and was beyond his control.
Buzz—
The air in front of Ryoma began to distort, and a Space-Time vortex formed out of thin air and began to slowly expand.