"Flames, grant me strength...!!!"
CRACKLE...
Fire roared to life with an explosive burst. Magic converged wildly at the tip of his staff, and in an instant a monstrous Fireball three meters across blazed into existence, a furious sun that tore through the darkness, its light and heat washing over the adventurers and burning away the dread that had settled over them.
Leon felt the scorching heat above his head, his eyes went wide, and he roared:
"FIREBALL!!!"
His right foot slammed forward, his left arm whipped the staff back as far as it would go, and then his whole body torqued from the hips as he hurled it forward like he was spiking the thing.
"HAAAH!!!"
The massive Fireball lit the Wall of Grief chamber bright as noon, streaking over the heads of every adventurer in the chamber, a trail of destruction screaming through the air at a speed no Level 2 could track with the naked eye.
BOOM...!!!
"GROOOOAAAAAHHHHH...!!!"
Goliath howled in pain, and in the next instant an explosion rocked the chamber hard enough to shake souls loose. The shockwave alone felt like it could rip the ceiling off.
"What the..."
"Brace! Shockwave incoming!"
"Son of a... Orario, warn people before you fire something like that!"
The blast wave rolled through the hall like a physical wall, carrying searing heat and a hail of dust and stone. Every melee fighter in the front lines cursed and threw their arms over their faces, their bodies rocking from the impact.
Kaguya's eyes, always cool and narrow, froze. The reflection of that all-consuming blaze burned in her pupils, and for once, genuine disbelief flickered across her face.
Alise had been about to lead the charge. The confident grin on her face locked in place, and her forward momentum died as if an invisible hand had grabbed her by the collar.
Lyra staggered back two full steps before finding her footing, the corner of her mouth twitching, eyes blank with confusion.
And Ryuu's hood was ripped clean off by the blast, sending her striking golden hair whipping through the superheated wind. Her pale blue eyes reflected the inferno, wooden sword in hand, and for a moment she simply stood there, lost.
The one responsible for all of this stared at the staggering, half-scorched giant and found himself in a similar state of shock.
"Holy shit..."
Leon looked at the savage power of his full-output Fireball and realized he'd scared himself.
"That's still a Fireball?"
He exhaled hard and muttered under his breath:
"That's kind of terrifying."
He'd dumped a massive volume of Mind into a single burst, brute-forcing a spell that was only rated for ultra-short Chanting into something that hit like a full-length incantation, all by stacking charge time on top of the chant. Combined with his skills working in concert, this single Fireball, buffed to the ceiling, had scraped the threshold of Level 3 power.
The only word for it was insane.
Of course, in Orario, where broken builds were everywhere, crossing one level wasn't exactly headline news, especially for a mage. That alone didn't earn you a seat at the table.
What made it absurd was this: the spell could be fired as an Instant Cast. Leon didn't have some game-breaking enhancement skill. He didn't even have the Mage Development Ability that was practically a mage's badge of honor. He'd pulled this off purely by exploiting his charge-up skill.
And the scarier part? With a Mind pool a hundred times larger than normal...
He pulled down his face guard, and his grin spread wider.
"Let's go!!!"
That Fireball was the starting gun. The adventurers it had fired up erupted in a deafening war cry and surged toward Goliath like a dam had broken.
The Astraea Familia members snapped out of their daze almost simultaneously, exchanging glances before their eyes drifted, as one, to the man who had left such an "unforgettable" impression on Kaguya. Curiosity burned bright in every pair.
"What a powerful mage!" Ryuu said, her voice calm but admiring.
"With power like that, it won't be long before his name is known across all of Orario!" Alise couldn't contain her own praise.
"Alright, alright, eyes forward, everyone!"
Alise switched back to her usual energy in a heartbeat, twirling Crimson Order through an elegant flourish. "We're in the middle of a Floor Boss fight! As for Kaguya and that handsome guy..." She gave a sly wink. "We can gossip all we want after we win!" Before she'd even finished talking, she dropped low and shot forward like a streak of red lightning.
"You and your overactive imagination! Shut up!"
Kaguya flushed, one hand gripping her scabbard and the other on the hilt, her body cutting diagonally into the heart of the battlefield like a gust of wind as she called out:
"Gokou!!!"
Lyra saw her companions move and flipped the short throwing blades in both hands, turning quickly to Ryuu.
"Be careful! Goliath's attack range is enormous, so focus on evasion. At that size, taking hits head-on is suicide for us."
Ryuu nodded, expression hard. "Understood."
The word had barely left her lips before she grabbed her wooden sword in one hand, trailing it behind her as she blurred into motion, following Alise and Kaguya straight at Goliath.
"Ryuu's fast, as always..." Lyra allowed herself a small laugh before vanishing into the fray.
...
The Astraea Familia hit Goliath head-on, and the rest of the adventurers poured in behind them.
Arrows fell like rain. Javelins screamed through the air. Crossbow bolts shrieked. The rear guard and Supporters poured everything they had into covering fire for the charging vanguard.
But the barrage landed on Goliath's rough, gray-brown hide and left nothing but faint white scratches, barely denting the surface.
"Damn it, even if we can't break through, don't stop shooting!" one of the elves shouted, his face grim.
Leon watched Goliath, the same giant his supercharged Fireball had knocked off balance, now standing firm and lashing out with savage counterattacks, and his brow furrowed tight.
"Defense-type Floor Boss for a reason. That hide... normal attacks can't even scratch it. Wouldn't qualify as a back rub." He turned to Laurier and Aura. "You two, priority one is covering Rose and Jeanne. Don't even think about trying to damage Goliath directly. With that defense, attacking it is a waste of energy. For us, surviving this fight is the win. That alone nets us a massive pile of high-quality Excelia. Nothing else matters. Clear?"
"Clear!"
Laurier and Aura answered in unison, faces dead serious. Their shortbows sang in a steady rhythm, sending precise arrows to intercept falling debris, loose stones, and every threat that came at Jeanne and Rose from the sides and above.
Up ahead, at Goliath's feet, the battle had turned vicious.
Jeanne moved with her heavy Banner Lance, golden braids tracing bright arcs behind her as she leaped and dodged with fluid precision. She narrowly evaded a massive chunk of flying rock, then closed in on the giant's shin with a sharp burst of speed. Her wrist snapped, channeling every ounce of her strength through the lance tip, which flashed cold and bright as it drove into the giant's muscle.
SHUNK...
The tough brown hide finally gave. Dark red blood erupted from the wound.
"Tch, tough bastard!"
Jeanne's brow knotted. Without hesitation she shifted from a one-handed grip to two, planted her foot forward, and threw her full weight into the shaft, trying to drive the Banner Lance deeper.
"GRAAAHHH...!!!"
The pain in its leg sent Goliath into a frenzy. It let out a roar that rattled teeth, and one arm, thick as a stone pillar, came scything down toward its own right leg with a sound like tearing air. The shadow of that enormous hand swallowed the ground where Jeanne stood.
"Jeanne! Above you!"
Rose's shout was raw with urgency. She abandoned her position without a second thought and sprinted toward Jeanne at full speed, her kite shield already blazing with brilliant white light.
"Barri!"
The shadow falling from above and the crushing pressure that came with it drained the color from Jeanne's face. She made the call instantly, ripped the Banner Lance free from the wound, and threw herself backward.
But against Goliath's attack range at that size, a clean escape was asking for too much.
BOOM...!
The palm that could shatter cliff faces slammed down on the spot Jeanne had just occupied, trailing a wave of destructive force.
"No good! Kaguya, get to the left flank!" Alise had been leaping through the air, each sword stroke carving deep gouges into Goliath's body, but when she caught the danger on the left her focus snapped and she called for backup.
"Tch!" A flash of surprise and gravity crossed Kaguya's face. "I told the other squads to keep it to harassment, not hit hard enough to draw a counterattack like that..."
Her mind raced with questions as she moved toward the left flank.
A Level 2 that can actually hurt Goliath? How is an adventurer like that unknown in Orario? Something doesn't add up.
...
BOOM...
The ground shuddered as if struck by a battering ram, dust and rubble erupting skyward.
When the cloud thinned, Jeanne saw the shield planted in front of her, radiating that unbreakable white glow, and the tension drained out of her. She let out a long, shaking breath.
"You okay, Jeanne?!"
Rose had her teeth clenched, every drop of strength poured into the shield as she absorbed the catastrophic blow. She didn't turn around, the question coming fast and clipped, her arms trembling from the impact.
"I'm fine! Thanks, Rose. You saved me!"
Jeanne's voice was thick with gratitude and relief.
"In that case," Rose said, her own voice unsteady, the pressure clearly pushing her to her limit, "on three, we pull back together. This thing's strength is beyond anything I can hold much longer!"
"Go!"
"Three! Two! One! Move!"
Their boots hammered the ground and they exploded backward, two arrows loosed from the same string, clearing Goliath's kill zone in an instant.
KRRASH...!!!
Almost the same heartbeat they cleared out, the unimpeded palm came crashing down again with even greater fury, punching a crater into the floor and sending stone shrapnel spraying in every direction.
Leon had been watching the whole thing from his position, and when Jeanne and Rose made it out clean, he let himself exhale. His palm around the staff was slick with sweat.
"You two got Goliath howling in pain and you're calling me the kid?"
The tension broken, he couldn't resist the jab at both of them.
Birds of a feather, as they say. For all their differences, when it came to certain things, the three of them were clearly cut from the same cloth.
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