“Oh? You’re quite confident?”
Before Luomiu could speak, Karenina stepped forward, looking down at the two squads from her higher vantage point.
Her magical aura had not yet fully dissipated, and the surrounding air was filled with drifting ice crystals condensed from the moisture. Even facing two SSRs joined together, her presence remained overbearing.
“Your anger is meaningless.”
“Step back, or be eliminated again.”
As she spoke, Mio Ibuki had already stepped to the front of the team, standing side by side with Luomiu.
Annie, as usual, had vanished. This caused several members of the White Queen squad who had suffered at her hands previously to look rather nervous.
With the powerful visual enhancement of a Dragon Shinobi, Luomiu easily noticed her.
Further away, a heavy crossbow bolt was already notched, ready to be fired at any moment!
‘Cassia, you really are the chosen employee!’
Luomiu felt deeply gratified seeing this.
What was a gap?
This was a gap!
The leader talked tough, the warrior stood on the front line, the assassin cut through the backline, and they even had an outsourced hunter squad!
As for him?
He only had to stand here and enjoy the carry!
‘How could a makeshift team ever hope to defeat the friendship and bonds we’ve built using credits!’
Having lived two lives, Luomiu finally tasted the joy of being the boss!
“CAVNIER!”
Lilith’s roar tore through the silence of the standoff.
She could not tolerate the feeling of being looked down upon.
Flames instantly surged 3 feet from the blade of her giant flaming sword, the scorching heat waves distorting the air.
“You coward who relies on weapons!”
She moved.
Her entire body turned into a streak of crimson light as the giant sword carried the weight of ten thousand tons, hacking down toward Luomiu’s head.
With this strike, she used her full strength, confident it was enough to easily cleave a Level 3 monster from head to toe.
Facing this violent blow, Luomiu didn’t even move his feet.
He simply raised the Dragon Sword in his hand.
Center of gravity.
Stance.
The special training from Taran had been etched into his mind as instinct, guiding the edge of his blade forward.
*Clang!*
*Ching — !*
The sound of clashing metal was so sharp it made the eardrums ache.
The expected scene of Luomiu being sent flying along with his sword did not happen.
Instead, a massive, irresistible force rebounded from the point where the blades collided.
Lilith felt a sharp pain in the webbing of her thumb and her arms went numb. Her entire body flew backward uncontrollably.
She forcibly twisted her body in mid-air, her feet plowing two deep furrows into the ground before she managed to stabilize herself.
She looked down at her hands; they were still trembling slightly.
‘How is this possible?!’
“Your sword is heavy,” Luomiu’s voice came calmly. He held his sword with one hand, the tip pointing diagonally toward the ground, motionless. “But it’s not skillful enough.”
‘The 40-pound Dragon Sword isn’t just for show,’ Luomiu thought to himself.
Furthermore, after being strengthened by the Dragon Shinobi class, this weight felt as light as a feather in his hands.
“You!”
Lilith’s face turned pale and then flushed with anger.
This was no longer a gap in weaponry, but a total suppression of pure strength!
“Stupid, brute force…”
On the other side, Elena’s face was cold enough to scrape frost from.
She could see that in a one-on-one, Lilith had already lost.
“You don’t understand the art of the elves at all!”
She raised her staff high, the eyes behind her gold-rimmed glasses flashing with a dangerous light.
“NATURE’S BIND!”
The ground shook violently as countless thick vines burst through the soil. Like living creatures, they coiled toward the members of the Premier Squad from all directions.
Her target was clear: prioritize controlling Karenina, who could release blizzards.
However, just as the vines were about to touch Karenina.
A ghost-like shadow appeared silently behind Elena.
It was that maid!
“Don’t think you’ll succeed a second time!”
With the blessing of elven arts, Elena sensed and grasped the entire battlefield through the roots and vines beneath her feet.
Even though the opponent’s stealth was excellent, she activated her elven art immediately.
“WARDING WIND!”
A barrier made of wind elements instantly formed behind her, pushing Annie away.
“Hmph, you’ve learned to be smart.”
Annie flipped through the air and immediately re-entered stealth, waiting for another opportunity.
“Tch!”
Facing such an existence, Elena was truly incredibly frustrated.
She felt a sense of helplessness, wanting to ignore her but being forced to care.
But just as the barrier was about to disappear.
*Shuuu — !*
A sharp sound of breaking air came from the forest in the distance.
*Thud!*
The wind element barrier shattered upon impact.
It was actually a crossbow bolt carrying terrifying piercing power, penetrating the shield made of magic!
The bolt did not lose its momentum.
*Thud!*
“It’s useless.”
Elena raised her hand, instantly summoning two Level 3 earth walls as defense.
*Bang! Crack!*
After piercing through the two hastily raised earth walls in succession, the bolt still had strength left!
“What?!”
*Swish!*
A cold gleam grazed Elena’s blonde hair, tearing through her woven hair tie and letting her hair fall loose.
Cold sweat instantly soaked Elena’s back.
‘A hunter?!’
‘And a hunter with enchanted arrows and terrifyingly accurate aim!’
If the earth walls hadn’t changed the bolt’s trajectory just now, that shot would have pierced right through the center of her forehead!
“Can’t handle it anymore?”
Karenina’s cold voice rang out as she looked down at her. “You’re the ones who are surrounded.”
The members of the Black Queen and White Queen squads finally realized with horror.
The two-on-one they had imagined had been a joke from the very beginning.
A front-line swordsman with unmatched strength.
A mage who controlled a field of absolute cold.
An assassin who appeared and disappeared like a ghost.
And a hunter hiding in the shadows who could break through multiple defenses in a single strike.
What kind of monster-tier composition was this squad?!
*ROAR — !*
Just then, the roar from deep within the high-level zone became clearer and more violent.
The entire earth trembled under that roar.
A Level 5 monster was approaching!
And at that very moment, a sudden change occurred!
*Hum — *
With the entrance of the basin beneath their feet as the center, mysterious glowing patterns lit up on the ground without warning.
They spread and intertwined rapidly, sketching out an incredibly complex and ancient formation.
In just a few seconds, a massive magic circle of light covered the entire high-level monster zone.
An aura of isolation and blockade enveloped everyone.
“Is this… ANCIENT SEALING MAGIC?!”
Elena cried out in shock, the horror on her face even exceeding the moment she was threatened by death.
“Who activated it?!”
Lilith also stopped her movements, looking around warily.
They could feel that this space had been locked down!
‘Is this part of the exam too?’
“Sigh, I told you not to stop us.”
Luomiu easily parried Lilith’s giant sword.
A Level 4 Dragon Shinobi crushing a Level 3 warrior in a frontal clash!
‘Is this the April Fool’s class the developers came up with? This is too good!’
“What is this?!”
Elena clearly felt that the vegetation within the area was rapidly withering!
“Oh, that.”
Luomiu pointed at the blood-red script spreading across the ground and explained, “People usually call this Black Magic.”