Under Jeanne and Rose's combo, the two-headed dragon Amphisbaena gave everything it had and still couldn't break through.
Maximum-output breath attack, fury so extreme it practically coughed up a lung, and it still couldn't breach Jeanne's magic defense.
Luminosité Eternelle. Terrifying didn't begin to cover it.
Both dragon heads blinked stupidly, tongues lolling out, jaws closing over still-sparking embers. Those massive dragon eyes were full of confusion.
It didn't understand.
Why couldn't its full-power Azure Flame shatter a barrier that looked so fragile, especially one cast by an insect? This move had never failed against other "insects" before.
But it was out of time to think. What came next was...
A full-force assault from the Demeter Familia and Astraea Familia squads combined.
"Flames, grant me your power!"
"Fireball!"
"Barri!"
"Pure White Kite Shield!"
"Rage and ruin!"
"Storm Aria!"
"Holy Sword!"
"The shores of calamity, the moon of..."
"Bloom!"
"Gokou!"
"Burn, burn, full blaze!"
"Mousse Bomb!"
"Roar, surge, from the origin! Open the gates, survival of the fittest, deep flame of the devouring jaw! Consume all! Flame Possession!"
"O distant forest canopy, now lost to time! Infinite stars set into the endless night sky!"
"Ancient hunger buried beneath fertile earth! Entwine, evergreen thorns! Let agony be your wine, let wailing be your song!"
The post-breath stagger was the perfect damage window.
Whether it was Leon's group or the Astraea Familia's apostles of justice, every one of them was a seasoned Adventurer. Even if this was their first crack at an Amphisbaena raid, that didn't mean they hadn't studied the data on the two-headed dragon.
So the moment Jeanne fully blocked its ultimate attack, both sides unleashed their strongest firepower simultaneously.
After that chaotic barrage of chants...
A rainbow of attacks hammered mercilessly into Amphisbaena's massive body. The dragon scales, already scorched once by Leon's earlier blast, could no longer serve their purpose. They shattered under the mixed assault in an instant, every hit landing squarely on the two-headed dragon's flesh and blood.
Both dragon heads snapped back involuntarily, howling in agony.
When the smoke cleared, Leon's eyes lit up.
Looking at the ragged, varied wounds covering the dragon's body, the corner of his mouth curled into an uncontrollable grin.
"Below half HP... no, is that a sliver!? Then it's time for the enrage phase!"
He threw his hand forward and shouted across the cavern:
"Ladies, victory's right there! Full send!"
His voice echoed through the great cavern, and the moment the first volley ended, the long-chant and ultra-long-chant artillery fired again.
"Luminous Wind!"
"Feast of the Bacchanal Harvest!!!"
A thunderous cascade of detonations rolled across the water.
...
...
Eight hours later.
The two squads had been locked in a grueling war of attrition against the enraged, low-HP Amphisbaena for a full eight hours in the Water Labyrinth.
Ragged, bellows-like gasping echoed along the embankment and across the ice, rising and falling from every direction.
Every single face across both teams was etched with exhaustion.
Several backline mages had legs like jelly, heads spinning, barely able to stand, teetering right on the red line of Mind Exhaustion.
If not for the massive stockpile of Potions serving as supplies, forget these mages running on fumes. Even the stamina-heavy frontliners like Jeanne, Rose, and Alise had nearly been wrung dry by the two-headed dragon's obscene health pool.
Leon stared at Amphisbaena, expression frozen, and finally lost it.
"What the actual fuck!"
"The Dungeon's unkillable king?"
From the initial ambush to this drawn-out siege, the Demeter and Astraea squads, nearly twenty people combined, had been deadlocked with the Lower Floors' Monster Rex for over eight straight hours.
And these eight hours weren't some stop-and-start tug of war. This was a real Monster Rex raid, intensity far beyond what most people could imagine.
That kind of sustained, high-intensity combat was brutal enough for Laurier, Aura at only Level 2, and the stamina-light Kureha. But even top-tier Level 3s like Alise, stats maxed out with nothing but a Great Feat standing between them and promotion, could barely handle the drain.
The battle had burned through nearly all of both teams' Potion reserves. Even the magic-recovery Potions for restoring Mind were more than half gone. The only reason nobody had cracked open the Elixirs, at 500,000 valis a pop and nearly impossible to buy thanks to supply shortages, was because everyone treated them as last-resort lifelines, banned from use unless someone took a critical or fatal hit. Otherwise they'd have been guzzled as stamina restorers long ago.
It wasn't just Potions running dry. Under that level of physical exertion, each person had burned through three servings of Monster Hunter Special. Add in the constant use of weapon maintenance oil and whetstones, the swapping of backup magic crystals on the mages' staves...
This eight-hour raid had ground both Familia squads down to the bone. Their supplies weren't completely gone, but "scraping the bottom" was putting it kindly.
That was exactly why Lyra, Jeanne, and the others had strictly forbidden Elixir use.
This was still the Dungeon's 27th floor. Even if the raid ended successfully, they'd need enough reserves left to make it back to the surface.
Fortunately, while the squads had hotblooded types like Alise and Kureha who'd charge in headfirst, not everyone was that reckless. Cool heads like Lyra, Persephone, Jeanne, and Rose were still doing everything they could to keep the battle stable.
Looking around, the floating ice platforms Leon had created dotted the water's surface with Amphisbaena at the center, one or two figures standing on each. Every single one was doubled over, hands on knees, gasping for air, or leaning on a staff or bracing against a longsword, barely keeping themselves upright.
The only person showing zero fatigue, still maintaining high-efficiency output, was the sole Level 4 on the field: Leon.
With Endurance maxed at 1599 across three level-ups, the Demon Lord's Crest doubling his Endurance, Scholar's Heart enhancing his equipment, and Arcane Ward's energy-efficient casting, the combined reinforcement made Leon's sustained-combat capability the best in all of Orario.
Forget same-level opponents. Even against people two whole levels above him in a war of endurance, he could look around the room and say: you're all trash.
"Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!"
Detonation after detonation thundered across the cavern as Leon stood like a tireless artillery battery on his self-made ice platform, launching Fireball after Fireball at Amphisbaena with steady, precise consistency. Thanks to the Monster Rex's enormous frame, every single shot slammed home on its already-ravaged body.
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