The battle raged on.
As for how much time had passed, it was completely unknown; in this very moment, time had utterly lost its meaning. The only thing one could comprehend was that it felt truly, excruciatingly long.
Dodge with all his might, dodge, and dodge again!
Amidst the almost infinite repetitions, he had to seize the fleeting window of opportunity to gain a single chance to charge a sword swing, leaving a wound on the Veteran Goblin General before him.
Isagi felt not a shred of discouragement in his heart; instead, he could feel his body becoming increasingly excited.
As long as a health bar appeared and damage could be dealt, then no matter how miniscule, victory was possible!
Damn it, even a Wretch with a broken wooden club can kill the Tree Sentinel.
Surely he was stronger than that right now?!
And most importantly, he wasn't fighting alone!!
"[Dio Grail]!"
A sky-blue, pure white shield of light emerged from thin air. With Filvis's assistance, it blocked the Veteran Goblin General's hammer strike, which was wrapped in rolling thunder.
Although it lasted only a brief instant.
But it was enough for Isagi to adjust his position. He then utilized the [Glimmer Echo] and [Glimmer Slash] combat art loop, successfully leaving two more wounds between the opponent's arms.
The coordination between the [Elf] girl and the boy was getting better and better; actual combat was always the optimal way to improve quickly.
Filvis was busy.
Unlike Isagi, who had to focus entirely on the enemy within arm's reach—where any mistake could result in unpredictable, severe injury or even death—she had to roam the entire battlefield, making clear judgments on the unfolding situation.
Should she seize the moment to use her short sword and offensive magic to inflict damage, or assist Isagi in blocking the opponent's attacks to let the boy escape danger or counterattack?
Aside from this, she also had to keep a constant watch on Lefiya, who was unleashing magic from a distance.
Helping her compatriot block the lightning spears the Veteran Goblin General occasionally raised its hand to throw, as well as the magic reflected back by that damned lizard!
Lefiya could now skillfully manipulate the [Arcs Ray] magic after it was fired.
She could even make it circle a few times in mid-air, like a writhing long snake, to precisely hit the intended target.
However...
That lizard was too smart!
At the last moment, it would suddenly turn around, or even wave its long, thick tail to actively intercept and reflect the girl's magic!!
Outrageous!
Although it didn't succeed every time, it undeniably drew upon Filvis's energy.
Because the speed of the reflected magic was too fast, and it caused area-of-effect explosions, Lefiya, even with her recent training, inevitably couldn't dodge it one hundred percent of the time.
Moreover.
The Veteran Goblin General wouldn't be completely tied down by Isagi.
Every so often, it would abruptly turn its head and change direction, charging towards her or Lefiya.
Whenever this happened, Filvis had to immediately take Lefiya and evade the charge.
With the [Elf] girl's speed, purely dodging the Veteran Goblin General's attacks wasn't difficult. But because she had to roam the entire battlefield, she suddenly became overwhelmed with work.
But it didn't matter!
Even throwing caution to the wind—aside from the charges that would definitively cause severe trauma to her body—Filvis began choosing to help Isagi block as many of the Veteran Goblin General's attacks as possible.
For a Level 3 Magic Swordsman like her, [Endurance] was obviously not her strong suit. But it didn't matter, because since the "Nightmare on the 27th Floor" incident, the surviving she was no longer human... ah, strictly speaking, she could no longer be considered an "[Elf]".
Normal methods could not kill her.
This was the experience the girl had gained from countless previous attempts to end her own life.
For the current Filvis, even death had become something of a luxury, which was one of the sources of the distortion and madness in the girl's heart.
Therefore.
This curse, which was once incomparably deep and pitch-black to her, could now be put to use to help Isagi and Lefiya.
Inexplicably, it even gave Filvis's empty soul a slight sense of reality.
Even if she had to bear certain risks of exposure—such as losing an arm or a leg and nothing happening, or having her body pierced without it affecting her movement.
And because of the [Elf] girl's "desperation."
The battle became much smoother. The wounds on the Veteran Goblin General visibly increased. Even the lizard beneath him was bathed in blood; its scales, originally capable of reflecting magic, had been largely shaved off by Isagi using the greatsword.
The progress toward victory was pushed forward significantly.
And Lefiya, at the right moment, stepped on the "gas pedal" of the battle!
From beginning to end, the girl focused on doing only one thing: chanting magic and outputting damage against the [Monster] before her!!
This is the sole duty of a Mage.
Choosing to entrust all danger to Isagi and Filvis, the girl devoted herself to chanting her magic.
Even...
After discovering that the easily controllable single-target magic [Arcs Ray] lacked power and couldn't deal much effective damage.
Lefiya improvised.
As if suddenly thinking of something, she began to loudly chant another of her wide-area annihilation spells.
"High-pride warrior, forest archers. The encroaching plunderers are before you, take up your bows. Respond to the voice of your brethren, nock your arrows."
"Kindle the flames, lamp of the forest."
"I order you to loose arrows, firebolts of the elves."
"Rain down furiously, burn the barbarians."
The power of magic is sometimes directly related to the length of the chant.
The longer the time, the more magic power can be gathered. This is a kind of "natural law," although a Mage's personal technique can also quickly "fill" a large amount of magic power in an extremely short time.
But without a doubt.
The difference in total magic power between magic released in one second and magic released after spending ten seconds is absolutely more than tenfold.
Lefiya deliberately slowed down her chanting speed to ensure the maximum amount of magic power was poured into it.
At the same time.
She had to carefully control the surging magic power within to avoid sudden accidents—such as Filvis having to carry her away to dodge the Veteran Goblin General's charge.
An abrupt halt to the casting process could extremely easily trigger a magical self-detonation.
[When a Mage releases magic, it is like holding an extremely unstable bomb.]
This is the most direct metaphor for using magic within the [Elf] race.
As a race that, aside from the [Spirits], has been able to use magic since ancient times without needing the [Falna] of the gods.
The [Elves] have a natural affinity for magic, as well as experience accumulated over thousands of years.
Lefiya was very young.
Therefore, she lacked the opportunity to turn the experience of her predecessors into practice. This might require a long process, but perhaps it only required a single instant.
Just like now.
Focus completely, thinking of nothing else. If the chant is interrupted, immediately start chanting again.
The important thing is to do it, otherwise one will never learn.
Thus.
In this long battle, no matter how small the chance, as long as one keeps reaching out, there will eventually be a moment to grasp it.
Isagi was like this, Filvis was like this, and Lefiya was like this too!
So, the [Elf] girl's magic finally finished chanting at this moment.
"[Fusillade Firebolt]!"
Several streaks of scorching flame exploded once again from the tip of the staff held high by Lefiya.
Under normal circumstances.
The moment the magic chant was finished, the girl would heave a sigh of relief and let her body rest, because a Mage only needs to complete the magic.
But not now; successful release was only the beginning. There were more important things to follow!!
[The essence of magic is imagination.]
The experience summarized by countless [Elf] sages was engraved deep in the girl's soul, surfacing at this moment.
Thus.
The flames, which would originally have blanketed a large area with only a rough distribution of their landing spots, began to be woven into shape in mid-air by hands formed of the girl's mental power.
They changed their original flight trajectories.
They even twisted in mid-air, brushing past each other as if narrowly avoiding collision, and bypassed the lizard that was still attempting to intercept them with its tail in an extremely bizarre curve.
Staggered in timing, they exploded thunderously against the side of the Veteran Goblin General's head.
One, two, three, four, five, six...
Although the impact points weren't exactly the same, they were close enough.
Crimson flames exploded one after another, and Lefiya was right: damage to [Monsters] triggers a qualitative change once a quantitative change is reached!
After the thick smoke and roaring thunder.
Most of the Veteran Goblin General's wild, grayish-white long hair had turned into flying ash and sparks. Its originally incomparably resolute face had likewise mostly turned into crimson charcoal, still burning like molten fire.
Yet it still wore no expression, as if even such heavy injuries were insufficient to make it feel pain.
However.
Both Isagi and Filvis simultaneously sensed that a "change" was imminent.
Suddenly! That old lizard abruptly raised its upper body high. Its body, far more massive than the Veteran Goblin General, stood on its hind legs, giving off an intense sense of oppression like a giant bear.
Then.
The raised body crashed down again, instantly knocking back both Isagi and Filvis, who were originally beside it.
This strike dealt little damage, nor did it need to, because—
In the next instant, the lizard had already leapt high into the air. While the Veteran Goblin General sitting on its back raised the iron hammer high, blinding lightning completely surrounded it like a sun—rotating, gathering, and looking ready to crash down.
"Jump!"
Isagi shouted almost instinctively towards Filvis and Lefiya in the distance.
But the [Elf] girl, having just released her magic, was exhausted. Fortunately, her compatriot quickly arrived at her side, hoisting her up as usual, and then, without a second thought, chose to trust the boy's judgment and leapt high into the air.
The superhuman athletic ability of [Adventurers] allowed Isagi and Filvis to leap at least three meters high in the blink of an eye, almost touching the ceiling which was only about four or five meters high to begin with.
And at the same time.
The "Thunder Sphere" also smashed down violently. The splashing dazzling colors even directly "vaporized" many goblin corpses originally in the garden—because the [Magic Stones] within their bodies were impacted and destroyed.
But it wasn't over yet, because visibly, the pale stone slabs on the ground that had long since shattered were now shining with a deep purple lightning that made one's heart palpitate.
F*ck!
There's a secondary explosion?!
Filvis and Isagi made this judgment simultaneously.
The good news was that Lefiya's original position was far from the center of the garden, so right beside her were giant stone pillars used for support and decoration.
So Filvis decisively took out a short sword and stabbed it directly into the pillar, allowing both of them to hang from it and avoid touching the ground.
But Isagi couldn't.
Isagi was originally located in the central area with the Veteran Goblin General and simply didn't have time to get to the nearest stone pillar—Day 1 of missing the [Shinobi Prosthetic] grappling hook!!
With no other choice, the boy, after landing, could only rely on his instinct to jump up again before the lightning gathered underground exploded a second time!!
Silent, blinding purple lightning instantly submerged everything. The dense crackling sounds that arrived several seconds later only made one's scalp tingle from the bottom of their heart.
But it wasn't finished!
It wasn't just a secondary explosion, but...
Three times, four times, five times!
It never ends, does it?!
The interval between each explosion was different, forcing Isagi to take out the greatshield from behind his back while jumping, ready to aim downwards and release the combat art [Heavy].
Adding some insurance.
This strategy was correct; after all, one might be able to jump just right to dodge once, twice, three times... but humans always make mistakes.
At the moment the lightning exploded for the last time, it happened to be when the boy landed from the sky.
[Feels like input reading, fam.]
Thus.
It instantly swallowed Isagi's figure.
[It doesn't hurt!!]
When the blinding colors gradually faded, allowing Filvis and Lefiya to finally see the situation in the garden clearly, the boy was nowhere to be seen.
However, very quickly.
Isagi once again passed through the Fog Gate and returned to the interior of the garden.
"Damn, got one-shotted."
As if speaking of a trivial daily occurrence, the boy drew the long blade at his waist.
"Again!"
___
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