“Huff… Huff…”

Hunos lay sprawled on the ground, covered in dirt and grime, gasping for breath.

“Finally……”

“I got away!”

CLAP. CLAP. CLAP!

The sound of slow applause echoed behind him.

“Congratulations on your narrow escape.”

“……”

Hunos’s expression darkened instantly, a vein throbbing on his forehead.

BAM!

He slammed a fist into the ground, forcing his battered body to its feet before spinning around, his face contorted with rage.

“You damned vixen——!!!”

WHOOSH!

A ball of flame flickered to life in his palm.

“Don’t think you’ll get to die easily! Your little crutch is gone now!”

“Hm……”

Sylvia rested her chin in one hand, tilting her head as she thought for a moment, then said,

“That may be true—but do you even have any mana left to fight with?”

“Huh……”

Hunos froze, his body going rigid.

The flame in his hand sputtered and vanished into a wisp of smoke, gone without a trace.

“……”

A bead of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

“……Looks like you really are completely spent~.”

A smirk tugged at the corner of Sylvia’s lips as a vast, overwhelming aura of mana began to radiate from her body.

Hunos stared at her in terror, feeling as if he were standing before a terrifying, primordial beast rather than a human.

“Then, let’s put you out of your misery.”

“Wait! Hold on a second! AAAAAH——!!!”

Hunos’s scream of terror was cut short as a brilliant burst of magical light engulfed his body completely.

Seconds later,

a massive chasm split the ground where he had stood. Hunos was nowhere to be seen.

“Phew——.”

Having disposed of her opponent, Sylvia let out a long sigh of relief.

“Finally done. Those top brass from the Great Demon Mercenary Corps are such a hassle. If that idiot hadn’t walked right into my trap, this fight would’ve been way closer.”

After a brief rest, her gaze drifted to the nearest crimson pillar of light piercing the sky.

Even though dozens of pillars had already been destroyed, as long as the blood-red sky lingered, the World Tree would never be truly safe.

At any moment, it could collapse right before her eyes.

“I need to hurry……”

SWISH!

Sylvia’s figure vanished in a blur of motion.

Moments later, she reappeared at the base of the nearest pillar.

Only a handful of monsters remained guarding it—not a single A-Rank warrior in sight.

She dispatched the monsters with ease.

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Then, turning her attention to the red cylinder at the heart of the magic circle, she began to chant an incantation.

Moments later, a Fifth-Tier spell blazed to life, hurtling toward the cylinder.

CRACK!

The cylinder shattered into dust, and the crimson pillar of light above slowly faded away, dissolving into the sky.

“Next one.”

She wasted no time lingering. Locking onto her next target, she darted off once more.

……

RUMBLE……

Amidst a raging sandstorm,

three figures clashed violently, their attacks shaking the very earth.

“Earthen Flame Eruption——!”

Charkin gripped his warhammer with both hands, slamming it down onto the ground with all his might.

BOOM——!

A torrent of searing flames erupted from the point of impact, incinerating every grain of sand in its path and melting the surrounding rock into glass.

Molbai summoned every last ounce of strength to raise a towering barrier of solid rock, barely managing to block the devastating attack.

But the assault was far from over.

“Earthbreaker Hammer!”

A colossal hammer forged from bedrock erupted from the ground beside him, hurtling toward him like a meteor.

Molbai raised a hand to block it,

but his vision swam suddenly, his mind clouded by exhaustion. His spellcasting slowed by a split second.

That split second was all it took.

BAM!

The Earthbreaker Hammer slammed into his body, sending him flying backward.

He crashed through dozens of sand barriers before finally grinding to a halt, his body battered and broken.

Molbai lay on the ground, coughing weakly as he struggled to prop himself up into a sitting position.

“Cough! Cough! Gasp——!”

The moment he lifted his upper body, a mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips, staining the sand red.

Molbai stared at the blood on his palm, a bitter smile tugging at his lips.

“Taking on two opponents at once really is too much to ask. This trap was never meant to handle more than one to begin with.”

Shaking his head, he forced himself to stand once more, his legs trembling beneath him.

“So, what now…… I wonder how many of the others are still alive.”

BAM! BAM!

Two loud crashes echoed from the distance, growing closer by the second.

Molbai tightened his grip on his wand, his eyes hardening with resolve.

“Then I’ll die fighting right here.”

More than ten minutes later,

“Earthshatter!”

Molbai unleashed his final, most powerful spell, pouring every last drop of mana into it.

“Great Funeral Pyre!”

“Rockshard Barrage!”

Charkin and Eugene, both equally battered and exhausted, unleashed their own ultimate attacks in response.

BOOM——!

A massive mushroom cloud billowed into the sky, the force of the explosion shaking the entire battlefield.

The sandstorm that had raged for so long was blown away instantly, dissipating into the air.

Fire and earth collided in a cataclysmic blast, completely engulfing Molbai. He vanished without a trace, leaving not even a word behind—only a shattered wand, which was soon buried beneath the shifting sands.

As for Charkin and Eugene, the force of the shockwave sent them flying backward, tumbling across the ground like ragdolls.

It took them several minutes to catch their breath.

Finally, they crawled out of the dirt, spitting out mouthfuls of sand.

“Pah! Pah! Pah!”

Charkin spat out the grit in his mouth, grumbling loudly,

“I knew it! Fighting alongside you is nothing but trouble!”

“Oi, Charkin!”

Eugene came running over from the distance.

Skidding to a halt beside him, he sized Charkin up and down, then shrugged his shoulders.

“Still alive, huh.”

“???!”

Charkin’s face turned beet-red with anger.

“You ran all the way over here just to check if I was dead, didn’t you?!”

“Ah——”

Eugene immediately looked up at the sky, avoiding his gaze.

“Right! Since we’re both still breathing, we should get back to the mission! See ya!”

With that, he turned on his heel and sprinted off without another word.

“Oi! Get back here, you bastard! Explain yourself!”

Eugene ignored him completely, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

“Those damn idiots! I’ll settle this with you later!”

Charkin cursed loudly, kicking a rock in frustration.

Then, he lifted his head, his gaze falling on the remaining crimson pillars of light scattered across the battlefield.

He sighed heavily.

“Sigh. Guess I’ll have to hold off on resting until this is all over.”

Muttering complaints under his breath, he trudged toward one of the pillars, his warhammer slung over his shoulder.

“Hope I don’t drop dead from exhaustion before this is over……”

……

WHOOSH~!

The bitter wind that had howled for hours grew weaker and weaker, dying down to a gentle breeze.

The frost covering the ground began to melt away, revealing the muddy earth beneath.

“Huff… That chick…… Huff… Was way tougher than I thought!”

Aznov gasped for breath, his lungs burning as he leaned heavily on his cannon barrel for support.

“That goes… Without saying!”

Sandor panted nearby, his breath pluming in the cold air as he replied.

“That woman’s strong, no doubt about it! But……”

A wide grin spread across his face, revealing his sharp, white teeth.

“In the end, we won!”

At the same time, a short distance away,

Kina the Ice General sat slumped against an ice wall, her back pressed against the cold surface.

Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and her aura was faint and weak—barely a shadow of its former glory.

She slowly lifted her head, her gaze falling on her two opponents.

“Hmph!”

“!?!”

The moment she looked at them, Aznov and Sandor tensed up instantly, their bodies going rigid as they raised their weapons, staring at her with wary eyes.

“……”

In truth,

they could both tell that Kina had no strength left to fight.

But the sheer brutality of the battle they’d just endured had left them shaken. Neither Aznov nor Sandor dared to lower their guard, not even for a second. They couldn’t risk betting their lives on the off chance that her weakness was just an act.

Seemingly sensing their lingering wariness, Kina relaxed her posture completely, dropping all pretense of defense. But far from reassuring them, the unexpected gesture only made Aznov and Sandor take a cautious step backward, their suspicions deepening.

Only Kina knew the truth.

She really did have no strength left to fight.

Letting her guard down wasn’t a trick—it was simply that she didn’t want to waste her final moments on these two.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep