The next second, the black and white shattered, and the world returned to normal.
Leon watched that heart-stopping scene and murmured:
"There it is. Persephone's magic..."
...
Desolation and Withering: places all enemies within range into a "Withered" state, massively reducing all Basic Abilities while drastically cutting healing and regeneration effectiveness.
Wide-area negative curse.
...
This was the effect of Persephone's curse.
Not only could it inflict group-wide debuffs on enemies, it also applied healing reduction on par with "lethal," "grievous wound," and "ignite" effects.
It had no offensive power on its own, but at the strategic and tactical level, whether in PvP or PvE, this curse's threat level and contribution to the team were absolutely top-tier.
It was precisely because of this magic that Demeter Familia, even before Leon joined, had been able to protect their interests. Once someone bought Persephone enough time to get this curse off, Demeter Familia's enemies were in deep trouble.
Unless the power gap was simply too massive, anyone at a similar level or even a notch above Demeter Familia would die with their eyes open under this curse.
Tch. She's the captain of a harvest goddess's Familia, yet she wields curses like Desolation and Withering. The queen of gap moe strikes again.
After that brief moment of admiration, Leon wasn't about to fall behind.
"Frost Nova!"
A shockwave of freezing mist swept across the water's surface, and a thick sheet of ice formed across it.
Everyone, buffs already stacked and battle-ready, turned their eyes to Jeanne in unison.
The Holy Maiden leveled her Banner Lance forward and brought her left arm down in a sharp chop:
"Attack!!!"
After unleashing its breath, Amphisbaena's massive body had locked up in a brief moment of recovery.
As a water-dwelling monster occupying favorable terrain, it naturally held an enormous advantage.
For a normal party, this brief window of vulnerability meant nothing. In that short span, ordinary opponents would struggle just to close the distance, let alone deal meaningful damage.
The deep pool beneath this waterfall was the Water City Monster Rex's natural moat.
Without a way to rapidly create footholds, no tactic mattered. You either needed a mage with ice-attribute magic to precisely construct an ice path, or you spent a fortune acquiring a few greatsword-type Magic Swords with ice attributes to create footholds.
One or the other. Pick one.
Otherwise, every strategy was just talk.
But Amphisbaena had clearly underestimated the threat Leon's team posed. Its simple little brain thought this group was just part of the same team it had already beaten half-naked and left sprawled across the ground.
All you can do is stand on the embankment and lob fireballs across the water. It would concede the fireballs packed a terrifying punch, but a two-headed dragon with the Crimson Mist wasn't worried about that kind of attack.
With its Crimson Mist as a shield and the moat as a barrier, a double layer of defense, as long as it didn't do something stupid like climb onto the embankment, what could these idiot Adventurers do to it?
I'm untouchab...
A crackling roar of ice tore across the water. Before Amphisbaena could even process what was happening, the next second...
It stared, dragon-faced and dumbfounded, as the moat it had considered invincible was frozen solid before its eyes.
"Groh?"
Almost the instant the ice formed, a cluster of dark figures, halos of gold, green, and red stacked beneath their feet, came charging straight at it across the frozen surface.
Three of them moved so fast they practically skimmed along the ground, appearing directly beneath its chest.
Kureha took rapid, precise steps across the ice, and once she'd closed to range, slammed the heel of her thigh-high boot down hard. A single leap brought her directly underneath the beast.
Sword Saint's Duel, activated!
Clyret Bloodline, activated!
Battle Strife, activated!
Sword of Atonement, activated!
A deep breath.
Her right hand gripped the hilt at her left hip. She snapped her head up, sharp eyes narrowing, locking onto the single gap in the dragon's chest armor.
"Clyret One-Sword Style: Holy Sword!!!"
The entire world seemed to freeze for an instant.
Everyone's vision was consumed by that breathtaking arc of silver steel.
From below to above, left to right, Kureha compressed every ounce of Holy Sword's cutting edge into this single slash through sheer technique, amplifying that split-second of explosive force to its absolute limit.
Blood erupted from a horrific wound that cleaved across the dragon's entire chest.
Two seconds later, Amphisbaena finally registered the agony and let loose a shriek of pure pain. Somewhere in its agonized roar, you could hear its voice cracking and going off-key.
...
...
Behind the battlefield, at the far edge of the embankment.
The Astraea Familia members had already been revived from unconsciousness, Alise and the others burning through Elixirs without a second thought.
But recovering combat capability in the short term was obviously out of the question.
"Greater Harvest Vintage!"
"Noah Heal!"
Ryuu and the Familia's sole healer, Maryuu Reage, bearer of the title Half-Day Saint, had stabilized the worst of the injuries with potions and were now casting healing magic for a second round of treatment.
"Ryuu, Maryuu, how are Neze, Noin, Asta, and Ryana doing?" Alise asked, her face tight with worry.
These were all Astraea Familia's frontline warriors.
When the encounter with the two-headed dragon had kicked off, they'd been on the first line bearing the greatest pressure. Naturally, with three full Levels of difference, their injuries were the most severe.
They didn't have Alise's overtuned Level 4 performance, nor Kaguya's exquisite close-combat technique and experience. The two-headed dragon had smacked them around without mercy.
Even Asta Knox, the dwarven heavy-armor warrior, or Neze, the wolf-girl bearing the title Bloody Justice Fang, couldn't overcome it. Racial talents or not, the chasm in Levels meant the two-headed dragon had steamrolled them all the same.
...
...