Floor 17, before the entrance to the Monster Rex's room.
Leon and his group had finished their preparations. Weapons gripped tight, gear strapped down, breathing settled into its steadiest rhythm. They gathered in silence beneath that great wall famed throughout the Dungeon, the 『Wall of Grief』, their gazes nailed to what lay ahead.
Every one of them wore matching black hooded cloaks, the golden grain-stalk crest on each chest glinting faintly in the dim light. They stood in a row, each in a different posture: some with arms folded standing still, some with hands braced on their knees, some down on one knee, some with a hand resting on a sword hilt. The silent figures formed one heavily imposing silhouette.
Say what you would, just standing here like this was already pure style.
Crack...
A clear, cold splintering sound, as if rising from deep in the earth, burst without warning across the mirror-smooth 『Wall of Grief』, slamming hard into everyone's heart.
Jeanne's eyes, half-closed until now, snapped open. She swung her arm and a crisp shout left her lips.
"All right, everyone, buffs up!"
Leon stepped forward, rapped the Twisted Staff against the ground, and in the instant his right hand rose, flung out a handful of glittering 『Magic Powder』.
In that instant, a riot of multicolored light burst, wove, and flickered wildly through the group.
"Word of Truth: Endurance!"
"Strength Blessing!"
"Arcane Wisdom!"
"Frost Armor!"
"Golden Oath!"
"White Grail!"
"Feast of the Bacchanal Harvest!"
"Karmic Flame Calamity All-Slaying Heavenly Maiden!"
"Hurricane's Aria!"
"Pure White Kite Shield!"
"White Art!"
...
A string of buff states and the radiance of sustained magic rolled and flickered madly through the team.
Even what had been a team of fewer than ten swelled rapidly to a full twenty, padded out by the ice clones.
"Hah..."
A breath of stark white frost slipped from Leon's lips, drifting back along the corners of his mouth.
He traded a glance with Jeanne. The Holy Maiden gave a slight nod and gave the order again.
"Everyone, sit down and take the 「Monster Hunter Special」 and the 「Wild Mixture」! Top your states back up!"
Eat, drink.
The stamina and Magic spent applying the buffs got quickly restored through the specially made dishes and mixtures. This sequence let everyone meet the challenge in flawless condition.
One second, five seconds, ten seconds passed...
Rose raised her shield and strode to the very front of the team, calling back without turning her head.
"Here it comes!"
"Get ready to fight!"
"Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack...!"
The two sides seemed bound by some cruel, unspoken accord. The very instant Leon and the others finished every last preparation for battle, the smooth mirror surface of the 『Wall of Grief』 was already covered in spiderweb cracks, climbing and spreading rapidly toward the ceiling.
"Crack...!"
"Rumble...!"
The next moment, the countless fissures hit their breaking point.
The whole "mirror surface" shattered in midair with a roar! Along with a deafening bellow, a mountainous giant shadow swung its arms and came crashing wildly out through the collapsing barrier!
The Monster Rex, the Giant Goliath! Level: Lv.4!
...
"Hah..."
Breathe in, hold.
Jeanne thrust her flag forward. "Go!"
At that single command, every figure, ice clones included, scattered fast, fanning out around the Monster Rex like an opening sack closing in!
"Shoom...!"
Jeanne and Rose dropped low, the ground beneath their feet splitting at once, and the two shot forward hugging the floor like arrows loosed from a string, like falcons skimming the ground, driving straight for the very front of the battlefield.
As the team's hardest shield and sharpest edge, they had to take the heaviest pressure first.
At the same time, Persephone, Kureha, and Laurier flew out three abreast, carving wide sweeping arcs, the glow of buff magic streaming endlessly around them as they turned into three sharp side-blades, flanking in on Goliath from both wings!
"Whish, whish, whish, whish...!"
The rear-guard Mage squad wasn't idle either, opening fire the same moment the vanguard launched its attack.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom...!"
Aura's arrows, Margaret's flung fire, and Irisviel's Angel's Poem, a continuous long-range bombardment burst across Goliath's torso, drawing roar after roar from the colossal beast!
...
"Swish...!"
Another figure moved.
It was Leon.
While steering the ice clones into their assigned positions and starting to cover his allies with dense volleys of Ice Lances, he split his mind two ways and drove straight forward, right on the heels of Jeanne and Rose.
Unlike his low-level days. Back then, he'd fought mainly as a turret Mage, because the hard limit of a low level meant that even with broken Basic Abilities and skill amplifiers, for the sake of his own neck he'd always dodged when he could and never tanked a hit head-on. And if he truly couldn't dodge, he'd never grit his teeth and meet the fight either, instead pivoting to a "strategic redirection" without a moment's hesitation.
As for the fact that "strategic redirection" tended to lead in the opposite direction, well, don't worry about that.
But now, today was different from before.
A level of Lv.4, plus the broken Basic Abilities built up through repeated sublimations, already kept his standing stats comfortably above the average Lv.5 line. Add the absurdly long health and mana bars and the monstrous damage reduction granted by the 『Demon Lord's Crest』 and 『Arcane Ward』...
I'm a higher level than you, my stats crush you, and I've got broken skills backing me up. If I still hid in the back taking potshots, what would the girls think of me?
So today, Leon, in the guise of a "mage-tank," charged hard for the front line right behind Jeanne and Rose!
"Frost Armor!"
As the distance to Goliath closed fast, Leon glanced at the ice-crystal armor flowing across his body, frowned, feeling a little uneasy, casually raised a hand, and laid down a fresh layer of ice armor before finally grinning with a settled mind.
『True Essence of All Magic』, activate!
Concurrent Chanting, special edition, go!
His eyes blazed with a faint blue magical glow, and as he surged forward he began to chant.
"Now, in winter's name I command..."
At the same time, every ice clone raised its arms in unison and clenched its fists in the air.
"Secret Art: Transcendent Magic Circle!"
"Hummmm...!"
A solemn chant resonated and echoed through the space, and with each ice clone's feet as a node, a vast and intricate, colossal magic circle unfolded all at once.
"Let the howling cold wind rend the heavens, let the blades of ice crystals sweep across the earth,"
"Let the lifeblood of all things congeal into frost, let boiling vitality return to silent death."
"Winter is coming, and this is an ending none can defy."
"I am the frost sovereign returned from the wastes, and by the kingly authority of eternal cold, I grant this world... everlasting permafrost!"
"Descend upon this place!"
"Blizzard!"
"Wooooooooooo...!"
Heavy snow swirled through the air, everywhere at once!
In the blink of an eye, the Monster Rex's huge room turned into a frozen world of ice and snow!
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