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Chapter 104: Level 3 Aiden
Facing the encroaching monster tide, Robin took a single step forward.
Her silver-purple hair fluttered gently in the searing updrafts. Her vibrant teal eyes, normally filled with calm composure, now perfectly reflected the violent ocean of flame and crimson approaching them. Yet, there was not a single trace of fear within them.
The pearl and star-shaped adornments decorating her gray, white, and purple dress began to emit a silent glow.
They were not reflecting the ambient firelight; they were illuminating from the inside out, sparking to life like a fragment of a brilliant, shattered galaxy.
She slowly closed her eyes, completely severing herself from the deafening roar and crushing pressure of the battlefield.
"Listen to the starry melody that weaves destiny—"
Her voice was ethereal and distant, sounding as if it resonated from a plane far beyond this physical world.
"Use the melody as a stairway to cross the barriers of mortality—"
An incredibly complex magic circle, shimmering with intense starlight, snapped open, centering perfectly beneath her feet. Countless streams of stardust surged forth like living rivers, gently spiraling around Aiden's body and wrapping securely around Tifa's limbs.
In the empty air, a song began to play.
The timbre of the voice belonged unmistakably to Robin, yet it felt as if it were echoing from all directions—from the heavens above, the earth below, and the deepest recesses of everyone's soul.
It was the song of Harmony, the song of the Family. A hymn of those willing to sacrifice everything for one another to face destiny together.
"Now, soar to the heavens with me—"
Robin's eyes snapped open.
Those teal eyes were impossibly bright, shining like two ignited emeralds, like twin stars that had accidentally fallen to the mortal realm.
Fine beads of sweat broke out across her smooth forehead, sliding down her pale cheeks. Casting a rank-up enhancement magic on two targets simultaneously placed a mental burden on her that far exceeded her estimations.
But she didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second.
"Vox Harmonique, Opus Cosmique!" Extended Chant, perfectly executed.
Accompanying her clear, unwavering declaration, the starlight entwined around Aiden and Tifa detonated in a brilliant flash.
In that split second, Aiden felt as though he had been cast headfirst into a roaring furnace of pure power.
An unimaginably vast torrent of energy violently washed through his limbs and bones. This wasn't his own power; it was Robin's supreme gift—a colossal enhancement that temporarily elevated an adventurer's core stats by an entire Level.
His Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic... every single fundamental attribute forcefully spiked, propelling him directly into the realm of Level 3.
Tifa felt it just as intensely.
She subconsciously tightened her fists. The surging, oceanic power rushing through her veins made her exhale a sharp breath of scorching air.
Every muscle fiber, every tendon, was brimming with an unprecedented, explosive force.
Had she faced this monster tide as a pure Level 1, she might have barely managed to hold the line. But now? Now she possessed the absolute confidence required to seize victory.
The moment the magic finalized, Robin staggered slightly, her balance failing her. Hyacine, who had been guarding her side, instantly caught her.
"Are you alright, Robin?" Hyacine asked, her voice tight with deep concern.
Robin gave a small, gentle nod. Despite the undeniable exhaustion flickering in her teal eyes, the smile on her lips remained composed and supremely confident. "Overture of Inebriation is already taking effect. Don't worry about me."
A warm, soothing current was already slowly rising within her mental landscape, rapidly replenishing the massive mana expenditure she had just suffered.
She lifted her head, looking at Aiden and Tifa—two figures still cloaked in the fading afterglow of starlight, looking like war gods descended from the heavens.
"Go," she whispered, her voice soft but radiating absolute power. "Bring us victory."
Aiden tightened his grip on his hilt.
He didn't even turn back. He simply answered his companion's absolute trust with immediate action.
A pillar of fire erupted from his body, transforming into a heaven-piercing beam of absolute incineration.
"Ride Upon This Wheel of Flame—" A shockwave of maximum heat blasted outward, frantically tearing through the cavern. Countless jagged rocks were blown away, and the solid stone floor was plowed into deep, charred trenches.
The monsters at the vanguard, howling as they charged, let out terrified shrieks in the face of this god-like display of power. Their relentless formation instantly staggered.
In the next second, the inferno condensed, clinging tightly to Aiden's skin like a living, constantly fluctuating mantle of liquid fire.
He drew the Fire Spirit Sword from his waist. The blade instantly ignited with a blinding, cherry-red blaze. The extreme temperature was so intense that the surrounding air literally shrieked, twisting and warping violently.
"Advance."
A single word, delivered like an absolute judgment.
Aiden moved.
His speed was so terrifyingly fast it left only a crimson afterimage burned onto the retinas of his allies.
Every step he took left a deep, molten footprint in the solid bedrock. Every stride closed the distance to the enemy line with logic-defying speed.
The Hilichurl charging at the very front didn't even register his movement before a blinding arc of fire sliced cleanly through its neck.
There was no spray of blood.
The head vaporized the instant it was severed. A second later, the headless corpse violently combusted, turning into a cloud of drifting ash.
The second, the third, the fourth—
Aiden's silhouette became a crimson lightning bolt, violently carving into the heart of the monster horde and unleashing a horribly one-sided, utterly catastrophic storm of fire.
Wherever his blade swept, the Hilichurls fell in droves like wheat before a scythe. The Pyro Slimes, unable to withstand the overwhelming ambient heat of his approach, violently ruptured the second he drew near. Their orange magma splattered in all directions, but evaporated entirely before it could even touch his dancing mantle of flames.
He was walking calamity.
But ultimately, he was only one person.
As devastating as his firestorm was, facing an endless, surging tide of enemies meant he could only clear a single path of blood.
Fifty Hilichurls, twenty Pyro Slimes, and ten Samachurls constantly hurling cursed fire from the rear.
Even if he could annihilate ten with a single swing, the sheer volume of the remaining horde could easily swamp the Ley Line Monolith behind him in a matter of breaths.
"Shine."
With a soft, sharp cry, another figure cut into the chaotic battlefield, utilizing a completely different, yet equally devastating style.
Tifa's fists were wrapped in the pure, unadulterated glow of non-elemental mana, striking like two precisely aimed, plummeting meteors.
She didn't possess Aiden's horrifying area-of-effect lethality, but every single strike she threw was surgical, fatal, and dripping with the violent aesthetics of martial arts.
A straight punch shattered a Hilichurl's wooden mask and the skull beneath it with a sickening crunch. A blindingly fast spin-kick accurately detonated the core magic stone inside a Pyro Slime, silencing its squeal instantly. A fluid, spinning elbow strike landed squarely on the face of a Samachurl just as it raised its staff to chant, the heavy thud of shattering bone ringing clearly over the din of battle.
Her movements flowed like a silent poem of war. Amplified by her Battle Rhythm skill, every attack and every evasion continuously stacked her speed and physical power. Her silhouette blurred faster and faster; her strikes grew heavier and heavier.
But even with their combined might... it still wasn't enough.
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