"You're annoying."
Louispold muttered and reached out his hand toward Rudger. Just as he was about to pierce Rudger's heart, Louispold's hand bounced to the side with a thud.
'What was that?'
Louispold panicked as pain shook his five organs.
He turned his head to see Rotheron standing there with his fist outstretched. Its golden eyes, like the pupils of a beast, glared at him.
In that split second, Rotheron fist struck. It was the blue human form at his back that struck the blow.
Staring at him with a beaky gaze, the blue figure had an enormous presence that resonated with the soul. Similar to necromancy, but different, rather, it was far more advanced. It must be a [Unusual] type of magic.
As his mind wandered to that point, he felt an intense hunger again, a hunger that scraped at the very bottom of his soul, fueling his greed.
Louispold wet his lips with his tongue.
If he ate that, maybe he could get the same magic for himself.
At that moment, a strong presence at his back jolted him out of his reverie. It felt like countless thorns, thin and sharp, piercing his entire body.
Turning his head, he saw the figure of a gray-haired female swordswoman in a black uniform.
Holding a sword in each hand, Trina Ryanhowl swept past him and in an instant a brilliant display of swordplay enveloped him.
Landing on the ground, Trina's expression crumpled.
'The sensation at the tip of the sword is shallow.'
Even with her sword coated in aura, she felt a tremendous amount of resistance to her slash. In fact, there were only countless shallow cuts on his body, none of which could be called fatal.
Even those wounds healed at a remarkable rate, so it was almost as if the blows hadn't struck.
It was then that Passius, seeing an opportunity, stepped forward. With a high leap, he landed on top of Louispold's floating body.
With his left foot planted on his abdomen and his right arm on his shoulder he lifted the sword he held in his back hand and thrust it down with force.
A compressed aura, distinctly sword-like and unlike any other aura, formed on his blade. It was aura blade, the symbol of a master.
The white glowing aura blade pierced through Louispold's heart and his sturdy body, which had only suffered cuts from ordinary swords, crumbled before the aura blade.
With his heart pierced, Louispold tumbled to the ground along with Passius but Passius didn't stop there, plunging his sword deeper and deeper, releasing a powerful aura.
Pure white auras erupted along with spider web-like cracks, scattering fragments of the destroyed ground into the air.
A normal human would have been shredded cell by cell by the aura particles.
"It hurts."
But rather than disintegrating, Louispold scowled and glared at Passius. He even clutched the aura blade that had pierced his chest with both hands.
The surging aura particles melted both of his hands but the melted hands regenerated at a terrifying rate, and began to push back the aura particles.
The hands, blackened with demonic energy, now had a firm grip on Passius' sword and began to push back.
Passius's eyes widened. He tried to push with more force, but he couldn't stop his sword from being drawn.
'I can't believe he can exert this much force……!'
The power of a Master that transcended humans was being pushed back.
Louispold physical abilities had long since surpassed those of a knight. At that moment, the face on one of Louispold shoulders stared at Passius and opened its mouth.
Passius clicked his tongue, drew his sword, and stepped back. Immediately afterward, a sharp whirlwind soared toward the ceiling of the central area.
If he had been a moment too late, the wind would have caught him and torn him to shreds.
As Louispold tried to rise, translucent vines flew out and bound his limbs. It was Lau Flume, Chris's magic tree.
"Now!"
Chris shouted, and the servant mage released the power he'd been channeling for the past few moments.
The entire hollow was bathed in a reddish hue and Louispold could see the cause as a round sun had risen above his head.
The servant mage dropped a huge fireball as if to say goodbye to his fallen comrade-in-arms.
Louispold tried to use his strength to tear the vines apart and free himself but Rudger was not one to stand idly by.
He stamped the ground with his staff, and the ground shifted, wrapping itself around Louispold's body in layers like handcuffs.
Even those cuffs cracked and shattered as he strained. Rudger had bought enough time for the sun above the hollow to fall.
Fifth-rank fire elemental magic [Sun Fall].
The sun descended and swallowed Louispold's body as it landed on the ground and exploded in a fierce storm of light.
A huge pillar of fire rose up with the explosion as sweat broke out on his forehead as he concentrated on maneuvering his magic.
The flames, which had been spreading in concentric circles, changed direction and spun in place, gradually shrinking in size. The heat that was trying to escape was trapped inside, burning hotter and hotter.
Even when the heat stopped spreading, it still burned the skin of those watching and soon a sphere of fiery yellow flames formed where the vortex was compressed.
It was a three-meter diameter fireball that looked like a tiny sun sitting on the ground and, of course, there was unimaginable heat inside it.
Sun Fall was a spell of epic proportions that lived up to its name.
"That's amazing."
Belaruna, who was no stranger to magic, gasped in admiration.
The Sun Fall was comparable to a sixth-rank Great Magic in terms of power.
It had the disadvantage of requiring a very long preparation time, but thanks to the people around him, he was able to cast it safely.
An attack of this magnitude would have surely killed even Louispold but no one in the room was celebrating.
The chills that had been sending shivers down their spines hadn't gone away. In fact, it had only gotten worse since the little sun had consumed him.
It was then that something changed in the bright yellow sun.
Suddenly, a black dot appeared at its center, which gradually increased in size until it engulfed the entire sun.
The dazzling sun turned into a black sphere, like a solar eclipse in the middle of the night and when the flames died down, what emerged was a jet-black egg with a hard shell.
It cracked at the center and snapped in half.
Inside, Louispold stood motionless.
As if he had been reborn from within the egg, his appearance was both normal and alien.
The servant wizard was dismayed when his strike failed. His most powerful attack, fueled by all the magic he could muster, had failed to produce any results and he despaired.
There was a movement in the stiff atmosphere, and it was Rudger Chelici who acted.
Countless beams of light bent at various angles and began to strike at Louispold's body. Those who had felt hopeless for a moment were brought back to their senses by the magic.
The dazzling beams of light dazzled the eyes, drawing constellations around him. He tried to ignore it as it wasn't enough to do much damage to his body.
At that moment, two beams of light struck his eyeballs.
No matter how strong his body was, there was nothing he could do about his pupils, so he opened his mouth to spit out his annoyance.
"E……!"
A spear of light pierced the inside of his open mouth. The huge beam of light wriggled inside his mouth, burning the inside of his throat.
Louispold staggered for the first time, falling to one knee.
At the sight of him, Trina shouted.
"Push!"
The fight wasn't over yet.
With that shout, Trina swung her sword vertically at Louispold. Rudger, meanwhile, controlled the movement of the light beam, making sure it didn't reach her.
Louispold felt a shiver of air cut through him and stepped back. Immediately afterward, Trina's sword sliced into the ground as if it were firewood and caused it to crack.
Louispold, who had regenerated his eyeballs quickly, sneered at Trina.
"Alas, you missed."
"No, no. I didn't miss."
Louispold was about to ask what that meant when a rumbling sound came from beneath the cracks in the ground.
The ground began to tremble slightly, and then the vibrations grew to the point where they resembled an earthquake.
What was that?
Louispold's eyes sharpened, fixating on the crack in the ground.
Immediately, a stream of water gushed out of the crack Trina had created.
"Water?"
Louispold looked at it, puzzled.
Was the attack from earlier intentionally meant to draw up the water flowing below?
"Are you trying to drown me?"
Just as he was about to say that there was nothing they could do with this much water. He saw the endless stream of water rising into the air and felt a strange sensation.
Something was wrong with the water's behavior.
Like a fountain, the gushing water should be falling back down. But instead of falling, the water continued to spill over and spread out into the air. It was as if the water had a will of its own.
For the first time in his life, Louispold frowned at an incomprehensible phenomenon.
They don't create water with magic, but move existing water like that.
A piece of information flashed through his mind.
'Such wizards existed on this continent.'
Then his gaze shifted to Casey Selmore.
There was something about her that seemed to have something to do with water, from the magic she exuded to the color of her hair.
He had just woken up, so it was too late to recognize her.
Louispold murmured in wonder.
"A [Colour] wizard."
"Call me a genius detective!"
Casey shouted back, extending her arm toward Louispold.
The rushing waters stopped at once and Louispold squinted as the vast mass of water had transformed into countless spears.
Casey smirked at him.
"Not that you'll be calling me that in the future."
Casey's outstretched hand clutched at Louispold and the countless spears of water rained down on him almost simultaneously.
As the spears flew at him from all directions, he was enveloped in black magic power.
Water spears rained down on him like a rainstorm on an umbrella but Louispold flesh, protected by demonic power, remained unscathed.
However, there was no end in sight to Casey's assault. Each spear that was thrown would return to the air, transform into a new spear, and shoot toward him.
"How bothersome!"
Louispold strongly expanded his black magic power as a black dome formed around him, deflecting the spears.
The mouths on his body gaped open and unleashed their magic as huge streaks of lightning, hot balls of fire, and sharp whirlpools spread throughout the central area.
It was a multi-elemental attack of unbelievable power unleashed simultaneously and everyone else had to step back to avoid getting caught in it.
"A single individual unleashing that much power."
"You still have time to mutter such words?"
Rudger tugged on the back of Chris's head as he muttered in disbelief.
Even as he backed away, Rudger's gaze remained fixed on Casey, who stood frozen in place.
The great underground water continued to gush from the ground and using her mana and willpower to control the water, she began to battle Louispold in earnest.
Huge fireballs and bolts of lightning clashed with her water spears and steam rose in the air.
Roars that echoed through the central area along with shockwaves that made the skin crawl. It was like watching giant beasts fiercely bite at each other.
The seemingly equal fight turned in Casey's favor over time as Louispold's attacks had a time limit, but Casey's didn't.
There was an endless supply of water from the underground, and the water that had been scattered by the various spells gathered once more, drop by drop, to join the great flow.
'This is amazing.'
Rudger was honestly impressed.
This was why single-element wizards were feared because as long as that element was present, their attacks would be unstoppable.
Water, in particular, is the very foundation of this world. From the clouds that float in the sky to water vapor in the atmosphere, rain falling in torrents, flowing rivers, groundwater pooling in rock formations underground and endless oceans.
Water's greatest strength was its endless circularity and since there was an endless supply of the element, at least for that moment, Casey was unstoppable.