"It's starting."
"It's starting."
"It's finally about to start."
Watching that giant roaring up at the heavens and the youth, tiny as an ant yet still standing firm amid the immense wave of sound, not retreating so much as half a step, the same thought flashed through the minds of every member of Loki Familia.
"It really is the Floor Boss!"
"Is he, is he really about to challenge the Floor Boss alone?"
"Is he insane?"
"Wait, that adventurer, don't tell me he's..."
It wasn't only the Loki Familia crowd. The outsiders present all broke into a clamor as well, some in disbelief, some with brows knit tight, some with mockery on their faces, some who had finally recognized Leo's identity, faces full of shock.
But all of this had nothing to do with Leo anymore.
Because the giant that had been roaring up at the sky had already charged at him, its huge sole crushing the ground, kicking up a tremor that shook the whole hall on the one hand, while on the other, carrying a savage momentum, it raised its great arm high.
The next instant, a blow to crush everything came thundering down.
The heavy great arm fell from the heavens and slammed down with a roar, and the ground, as though struck directly by a meteor, instantly let out an explosive crack, throwing up a shockwave and a gushing cloud of dust, sending rubble flying everywhere too.
That blow drained the color from the faces of more than a few adventurers who had never seen Goliath cut loose, their eyes full of dread as they watched that gray-black giant.
The Loki Familia crowd watched with a tightening in their chests too, and those of weaker nerve or who fretted out of concern, Lefiya, Line, and Raul among them, even let out cries of alarm.
There was no helping it. Goliath was a Lv.4 Floor Boss, and in terms of pure strength it was all but invincible below Lv.5. Even a Lv.5 first-class adventurer wouldn't find it too easy to put down, a strength already surpassing Loki Familia's Second Army, leaving even a Lv.4 like Raul unavoidably tense.
Only Ais, Finn, and the other first-class adventurers still watched it all calmly.
With their dynamic vision, they naturally caught it cleanly: before Goliath's heavy blow even landed, Leo had already shifted his footing, his form flickering, and dodged the strike.
Out of the surging dust, Leo's figure abruptly shot from one corner, his whole body retreating fast, opening up distance from that huge Floor Boss.
"Light of heaven, sword of stars."
He didn't hesitate, the sword in his right hand, the Emerald Staff drawn from who knew where in his left, leveling the staff at Goliath while he chanted rapidly.
"Meteor Dance!"
A magic circle blooming with dazzling starlight unfolded before the gem atop the emerald staff, and countless thick meteors burst out from within, tearing across half the huge chamber, blasting toward Goliath.
Goliath, which had only just pulled its fist out of the crater in the ground, before it could chase after the retreating Leo, was struck head-on by the countless thick meteors, blast after blast booming across its whole body.
The roar swelled until it became a mountain-shaking, sea-churning bellow, and this sudden barrage of firepower blasted Goliath until sparks scattered across its whole body, its form staggering back as it let out a howl of pain.
The skin on its body was blown open, blood spraying out as if it cost nothing, a thoroughly grisly sight.
This scene sent the Loki Familia spectators into immediate excitement.
"It worked!"
"Leo's Magic wounded Goliath!"
"Incredible!"
Every single one of these members who had never seen Leo fight was stunned by the sight before them.
"No... you're kidding, right?"
"He actually wounded Goliath?"
Tiona and Tione were taken aback too.
That was Goliath, after all!
Classified at Lv.4, yet a super-large-class monster specialized in Endurance, capable of reaching Lv.5 in Endurance ability alone. By rights it shouldn't have been possible for the Magic of a mere Lv.2 to wound it.
Never mind that it was only an ultra-short chant Magic, even the famously fearsome firepower of ultra-long chant Magic shouldn't let a Lv.2 leap three Levels to wound a Goliath whose Endurance ability rivaled Lv.5, right?
Yet Leo had done it!
What did that say?
"That bastard...! His Magic's firepower can already rival Lv.5?"
Bete, who had been watching with a cold, indifferent face, lost all control of his expression on the spot, his whole body snapping bolt upright as though he'd burst.
Even Lefiya, who had been watching the field with a tense face, couldn't help being stunned.
Because even she had only gained Magic firepower comparable to Lv.5 after reaching Lv.3.
And yet this rotten man who pestered Ais all day long had managed it back at Lv.2?
How was that possible?
While everyone marveled at this, only Finn, Riveria, and Gareth exchanged a glance with one another.
"So this is that Star attribute Magic Loki mentioned?"
Finn watched the battlefield ahead and spoke.
"So it really is just like Loki said. It can raise its power by spending extra Mind."
Gareth clicked his tongue in wonder.
"His Magic firepower right now really has reached the Lv.5 level." Riveria gazed at Leo's figure and said in a low voice, "It's just hard to say, squandering Mind like this, how long he can hold out."
The three Familia leaders, who knew something of Leo's situation, understood at once where that astonishing Magic firepower of his came from.
The Leo of today did indeed have astonishing Magic firepower, but not to the degree of leaping three Levels to wound a Floor Boss.
His current Magic firepower could at most rival a Lv.4, and only a Lv.4 whose abilities were all at the bare minimum across the board, nowhere near the level of rivaling Lv.5.
Knowing full well that this wouldn't wound Goliath, Leo had simply evaporated more than half of his own Mind, not only raising the Magic's output firepower to Lv.5 but tacking on several dozen extra attacks, and only thus had he wounded Goliath.
Acting this way naturally left Leo's head pounding, with a faint stabbing pain beginning to come from between his brows and his temples.
Battered all over by the dozens of thick meteors, Goliath flew into a rage on the spot. After a roar, its big feet churned rapidly, racing toward Leo at high speed, swinging its fists.
A single one of its punches could pound a great crater into the ground, throwing up dust and sending rubble flying, and even as Leo retreated fast and dodged the direct hits of its great arms, it chased after him without pause like a beast that had completely fixed on its prey, slamming down one punch after another, craters appearing one after another, the whole hall booming with constant blasts.
Leo's footwork was lightning-fast, his form weaving like a bolt of lightning as he dodged Goliath's swing after swing, but from his somewhat hurried and ragged look you could tell his dodging was a bit forced.
Don't be fooled by Goliath's huge build, its agility wasn't actually affected much, its huge soles landing and sprinting at a speed that absolutely wouldn't fall short of any Lv.4 adventurer, its fists coming down frighteningly fast too, leaving Leo able only to keep his eyes glued to its fists, using the prediction method Ais had taught him to observe the trend, trajectory, and position of the descent as it raised a fist, dodging ahead of time, and only thus did he barely manage to evade.
From this it was plain that Leo's abilities across the board still fell far short of Goliath, without doubt.
If he had no Magic, no firepower enough to hurt his opponent, then there would be only two outcomes to this fight: either flee in disarray, or die partway through.
But even so, Leo's evasion was limited, and there were always moments he couldn't dodge.
Yet every time this happened, Leo would unhesitatingly squander his Mind again, releasing thick meteors straight into Goliath's body to drive it back.
That's right, he didn't chant.
"That Magic... he can actually cast it without even chanting?!"
"What kind of Magic is that?"
"I've never seen Magic like that!"
At this, never mind the Loki Familia people, even the outsiders broke into an uproar.
Magic that could be cast with no chant... forgive their shallow experience, but they really had never seen it.
The Elves of the innate magic race especially went wild after seeing this.
"Why doesn't that Magic need a chant?"
"Lady Riveria, have you ever seen Magic like that?"
"What kind of Magic is that?"
A crowd of Elves chattered noisily around Riveria, every trace of their usual grace and composure gone, Lefiya among them.
Riveria said nothing, gave no response, only gazing at the magic circle that appeared when Leo released his Magic, as if analyzing something, her eyes full of inquiry.
And by this point, Leo was already a little unable to hold on.
"This way of fighting, recklessly squandering Mind... it feels good, sure, but it's really miserable too."
Leo's vision was already going haywire and his head growing groggy, and he sighed inwardly, his right hand already sheathing the sword, fishing a Magic Potion out of the pouch at the small of his back and tipping his head back to gulp it down.
The taste of the potion... Leo could no longer make it out.
His mind was already intensely focused on this fight, with no leisure whatsoever to savor what a Magic Potion tasted like.
But the moment the potion touched his lips it took effect at once, his previously groggy head feeling as if it had suddenly been plunged into ice water, a wave of coolness and comfort coming over him, and even that ever-sharpening stabbing pain eased considerably.
Goliath's roar still went on, its great arms and huge soles still coming down without pause, shaking the whole hall while pushing this fierce battle gradually toward white-hot intensity.
The fight was extremely tense, but the situation hadn't changed much, still Goliath roaring furiously without stop, chasing Leo, leaving Leo dodging in disarray while looking for chances to counter with Magic.
Sometimes it was a clear chant followed by releasing countless thick meteors to bombard, sometimes in an emergency it was abandoning the chant to release a single meteor to force his opponent back, and Leo dueled with Goliath like this. Though it was ragged, grueling, even somewhat fraught with danger, he held on through it all, steadily and surely racking up results, working damage onto Goliath's body.
He had all but given up on close combat, fighting Goliath with Magic alone.
It wasn't that he didn't want to fight up close, but with abilities that could only rival a Lv.3, there was simply no way to wound Goliath's Lv.5-class Endurance with a sword whose power didn't even reach the level of Second Class equipment.
Only Magic, which could raise his firepower to the Lv.5 level, was the one means by which Leo could harm Goliath.
So Leo could only grind it down in this near kiting fashion, until he ground Goliath to death.
Of course, the result of doing this was that his Mind drained faster than water from an opened sluice gate, leaving Leo able only to drink Magic Potions like water too, just to keep himself going.
Thanks to that, with the fight only a dozen or so minutes in, Leo had already used up a full ten-plus Magic Potions.
His Magic Potions were being used up at almost a rate of one a minute, sometimes even before a minute was up, otherwise his Mind's recovery rate simply couldn't keep pace with his Magic's output rate.
His stamina was draining fast too. Even just dodging Goliath's attacks and playing this game of chase with it was a serious drain on stamina, so the potions for restoring stamina were being used up quickly all the same.
Leo had even used up two or three High Potions to treat his wounds. Though he hadn't yet been hit by Goliath's attacks, the shockwave thrown up the instant Goliath's great arms slammed down would send him flying from time to time, rolling along the ground in disarray, and the flying rubble and debris would cut his skin and strike all parts of his body, leaving him bruised or bleeding all over.
A chunk of rubble shot toward him like a bullet, suddenly striking Leo before he could dodge, hitting him in the forehead.
"Ngh..."
Leo's forehead bled instantly, his form giving an almost imperceptible jolt, a brief stall appearing.
"Not good!"
Seeing this, Finn, Riveria, Gareth, and the others all contracted their pupils at once.
And in that very instant, Goliath's roaring great fist came thundering in.
Amid the loud crash of impact, Leo was at last struck dead-on by Goliath's great fist, his whole body knocked flying like a rubber ball, smashing into the wall and crashing it to pieces.
"Leo!"
"Mr. Leo!"
Tiona, Tione, Lefiya, Line, and the others all went pale at once.
"Damn it!"
Even Bete couldn't help his face changing, his feet tensing, nearly bolting out on reflex.
He might detest small fry, and find Leo an eyesore, but to sit by and watch a Familia comrade die under a monster's fist unmoved, he wasn't of so base a character as that.
And if even he was like this, then all the more so for Ais.
The hand gripping her sword hilt had already drawn the blade, and though she hadn't charged out, the air around her churned as though stirred up by a sudden gust of wind.
Looking closely, a faint black sheen surfaced in those clear golden eyes of hers, as if some pitch-black flame were burning, turning her aura extremely dangerous.
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