Luke had been on the offensive from the start, yet his sword couldn’t reach Lefiya. Tilting her head, bending over, crouching, she dodged everything and even deflected his attacks with the sword in her right hand without issue.
“Luke…!”
Nano could not cheer for either of them as impatience crept into Luke’s expression.
“Damn it…! Why?!”
It was simple. He was lacking in speed and strength. He was lacking in tricks and techniques. And more than anything, he simply wasn’t a threat.
He was indeed superior in melee skill. But compared to Aiz or Bete, the way he fought was like a child. The people Lefiya had trained with were first-tier adventurers, true beasts who stood at the summit.
Even if she was inferior in hand-to-hand combat, Luke’s flurry of attacks paled in comparison to the intensity of those world-class adventurers.
Lefiya’s eyes easily picked up on where his eyes were looking, where he was exerting his strength, and even his emotional state.
If I couldn’t manage this much, Bete would kick me right into the heavens…
Her situational awareness was much better than when she was a dedicated mage. Her heart was also terribly calm. That she could keep up with this high-speed combat was perfect proof. Lefiya’s body was being molded into something new.
Quietly demonstrating the fruits of her training, she had the wherewithal to even imagine a certain werewolf’s face as she bantered a bit with herself.
That she could be so at ease was proof that she was in control of this fight.
And after staying on the defensive this whole time, she spun the wand in her left hand.
“Unleashed pillar of light, limbs of the holy tree. You are the master archer.”
Shock consumed Luke in that moment.
Even as they were fighting, Lefiya began to sing.
“Concurrent Casting!”
As Nano and the others watched on with stunned faces, the magic circle that unfurled across the ground swelled with an amber glow of magic power.
The pinnacle of a magic swordswoman. The ultimate technique that set them apart. The speed and precision far surpassed anything the 7th Squad had ever seen before, and the sheer volume of magic power was on a completely different level.
Nano and Milly, who were well versed in magic, were both speechless.
“Loose your arrows, fairy archers.”
“D-damn it…!”
Sparks flew as the longsword and the shortsword clashed several times, but Lefiya’s chanting never faltered even once.
Countering, defense, evasion, casting. As he watched her handle all four of those simultaneously without delay, impatience engulfed everything in Luke’s eyes.
The magic power was far too enormous. There was no way a single attacker could block it. If the spell were completed, Luke would lose. He pushed his body to the limit to try to stop her chant.
And Lefiya carefully took note of his impatience.
Channeling magic power ostentatiously, she laid out a bomb before his eyes. It was a feint to evoke impatience and unbalance her opponent. Manipulating the enemy’s actions and luring them out was the true essence of the decoy tactic Riveria had taught her.
It was easy to read Luke’s agitation. She also knew exactly what he was going to try next.
“Ugh, uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
A reckless charge when he could hold on no longer.
As expected, he stepped in from the right.
I got you.
With that murmur beneath her breath, she also rushed forward, right where Luke was going.
“?!”
She stepped into his range, into the dead zone where his sword could not hit her, and slashed.
Her sword knocked his weapon aside as she thrust her wand right into his face.
“Pierce, arrow of accuracy.”
She had reached the final line. Easily completing her chant, Lefiya finished the fight.
“Arcs Ray.”
The knockout blow…did not erupt from the wand.
She dispersed it just before activation—scattering the magic power gathered in the shining wand as countless light particles. The accompanying magic circle disappeared from around her feet. A second later, the sword she had knocked aside slipped from Luke’s hands.
She canceled her magic the moment it was clear that she could have landed her blow if she wanted to.
Luke froze like a statue, staring at the wand right before his nose. The others, watching with bated breath, stood in shock.
“This is my win, Luke. I will have you obey my instructions now.”
Lowering her wand, Luke staggered one and then two steps backward.
It might have been closer if they had been at the same level, but Lefiya would still have won. Their experience levels were different. The carnage they had made it through was different.
Luke and the rest of the squad, too, had not yet experienced true, overwhelming absurdity.
That was the decisive difference.
“…That’s…”
Luke mumbled in vacant disbelief.
Lefiya was concerned she may have overdone it. She had intended to persuade him, but she might have shattered his pride in the process. Ditching her attempt to come off as cool and collected, she wanted to see if she could comfort him somehow—when her ears perked up.
“This sound…agh, come on. What awful timing.”
Even while fighting Luke, Lefiya had been watchful for swarms of monsters or the early signs of an irregularity. As she grumbled, she spun suddenly in a different direction.
It was one of the entrances leading into the room.
Moments later, she saw a certain band of adventurers rush through.
“Mord! This is bad! There’s a ton of them!”
“I know already! We’re gonna git while we still can…oh-ho-ho!”
At the head of the pack was the spitting image of a scoundrel, and seeing the five of them, he smirked nastily.
“Hey, brats! Here’s a present from us to you!”
With that, they cut past the 7th Squad and Lefiya’s reproachful glare. The students looked confused, not understanding what was going on. Lefiya was the only one who grasped the situation.
“Luke, pick up your sword! Everyone, form up!”
“Huh…?”
“Now!”
She shouted when they did not move immediately.
Raising her sword and wand again, Lefiya stared down the path the adventurers had come from.
“We’ve been tagged!”
The next moment, a massive swarm of monsters poured into the room.
“Y-you don’t mean…?!
“A pass parade?!”
Finally understanding the situation, they gasped.
It was a common practice among adventurers to escape danger. Realizing they had been used as decoys, the top students paled in the face of so many monsters.
“Attack!”
The only active adventurer among them, Lefiya, was calm even as she led them into battle.
That was right. This was normal in the Dungeon.
Nothing special, just an everyday occurence.
Back-to-back fights were no big deal.