Before advancing to Level 4, Lefiya had possessed only a single skill.
It was a skill that amplified the effects of her magic, limited strictly to offensive magic, with the enhancement effect doubled—Fairy Canon.
Because of Fairy Canon, combined with her outstanding MAG, Lefiya had been able, at Level 3, to wield magic with attack power comparable to that of a Level 5, and was therefore regarded as Riveria's successor.
After advancing to Level 4, Lefiya finally awakened her second skill.
It was born from her admiration for two swordsmen, from her vow to catch up to them and not be left behind by them, and from her determination to help them no matter what.
Ultimately, that wish was transformed into the excelia required by Falna, and, as a skill, appeared upon her back alongside her level-up.
It was the skill she was activating at this very moment—Sword Canon.
Unlike Fairy Canon, Sword Canon was not a passive skill, but a skill that could be activated at will.
Upon activation, Lefiya had to choose one of the following two effects to trigger.
First, the chanted magic was converted into a crystal short sword and placed into a standby state. The longer the standby time lasted, the stronger the magic contained within the crystal short sword became, until her mind was completely exhausted. The magic held in standby could be released freely at any chosen moment.
Second, the chanted magic was converted into a silver short sword, which then carried out autonomous attacks. The more attacks it performed, the weaker the silver short sword became. The number of attacks depended on the amount of mind consumed, with an upper limit of ten attacks.
According to Loki, this was an extremely flexible, extremely rare, and highly strategic skill.
Regardless of which effect was used, Sword Canon could make Lefiya's combat style highly variable and diverse. If employed properly, it could even allow her to defeat opponents of a higher level.
Now, she had activated the skill and triggered the first effect, turning the magic she had just chanted into a crystal short sword and placing it into standby.
From this moment onward, her mind would be continuously consumed until it was completely depleted, while the crystal short sword in standby would grow stronger without pause, until the magic held within reached a level that could make one feel fear.
"Lefiya?"
Ais seemed to notice the crystal short sword floating at Lefiya's side and revealed a surprised expression.
"New skill?"
Riezel also noticed it and could not help but pause, looking somewhat stunned.
Lefiya, however, did not stop.
While keeping the crystal short sword floating beside her, she chanted her next magic with a firm expression and a resolute tone.
"Harbinger of the end, the white snow."
"Blow with the wind before the twilight."
"Closing light, the freezing land."
"Blizzard, the three severe winters - my name is Alf."
Lefiya chanted Riveria's ice-attribute wide-area annihilation magic.
"Wynn Fimbulvetr!"
A magic circle spread out beneath Lefiya once more.
Just like the earlier Arcs Ray, it was not released, but instead transformed into a silver short sword that floated on her other side.
Lefiya held her staff, with a crystal short sword floating to her left and a silver short sword floating to her right—the sight of her was unexpectedly imposing.
And anyone who saw those two short swords could not help but shift their gaze to the hands of Riezel and Ais.
In Riezel's hand, his almost translucent, thin crystal sword, Fool, bloomed with a dim, subdued radiance.
In Ais's hand, faint traces of cold light flickered across the blade of her silver sword, Desperate.
Clearly, those two swords were the same as the crystal short sword and the silver short sword floating at Lefiya's side.
It was only natural.
After all, Lefiya had awakened this skill precisely because of her admiration, reverence, and love for the two of them.
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
In that moment, the surface of the water exploded once again, sending water spraying high into the air as multiple Raider Fish shot straight toward Lefiya.
Clearly, her repeated use of magic had drawn the monsters' attention, making them uneasy and increasingly agitated, and this agitation prompted them to launch an attack on her.
"!!!"
Only then did Riezel and Ais react.
In the very next instant, their figures shifted as they instinctively moved to rush in front of Lefiya, intending to block the monsters' sudden surprise attack for her.
Needless to say, this reaction could be described as a conditioned reflex.
In the minds of Riezel and Ais, Lefiya was a Level 4 mage, a backliner specialist who possessed no close combat techniques and did not truly understand close combat methods, since she could only cast magic under her companions' protection, relying on them as a meat shield while she repelled powerful enemies and decided the battle with a single decisive strike from behind.
Someone like her could be injured even by monsters whose level classification was below her own once they closed the distance.
Hence, Riezel and Ais almost reflexively tried to protect Lefiya to prevent her from being hurt by the monsters.
However, just as they thought this, what happened in the very next second left them completely stunned.
Just as the group of Raider Fish darted in front of Lefiya and were about to bite down on her, the silver short sword at the right side of her body moved.
*Swish!*
Accompanied by a faint tearing sound as it cut through the air, the silver short sword advanced instead of retreating, shooting straight toward the monsters.
*BOOM!*
As it arrived before the monsters themselves, the silver short sword swung down violently from above and unleashed a vast surge of ice and snow, releasing a blizzard that howled as it swept outward and engulfed an entire group of Raider Fish.
*Ka-cha!* *Ka-cha!* *Ka-cha!*
It could be said that there was no suspense at all, as every Raider Fish caught in the blizzard was frozen solid in an instant.
Meanwhile, the silver short sword continued its charge, repeating the same motion as it scattered ice and snow again and again, freezing an entire section of the wastewater channel.
"Liberate!"
Watching as large numbers of Raider Fish were consecutively frozen by the silver short sword, which looked like a magic sword capable of casting ice magic, Lefiya let out a clear cry.
In the very next second, the crystal short sword at her left side shattered abruptly.
*BOOM!*
In an instant, a massive beam of light, not much weaker than the Arcs Ray personally released by Riezel, surged forth like a raging torrent.
Amid deafening explosions, everything in its path—whether the frozen Raider Fish or the Blue Crabs crawling out from the frozen wastewater channel—was annihilated as if erased by the light itself, evaporating completely in the blink of an eye.
However, it didn't stop there, as the beam continued to race forward, cutting through both the frozen water and the unfrozen flowing water alike, before plunging into the darkness at the end of the sewer.
"..."
An eerie silence descended upon the sewer.
At this moment, whether it was Lefiya, who had unleashed Arcs Ray, or Riezel and Ais, who had been scrambling to evade, all three of them were left speechless, staring together at the sewer, now smoking in many places and visibly damaged, one face turning pale while the other two exchanged silent looks.
"H-How did this happen?!"
All the color drained from Lefiya's pretty face as she cried out in panic.
"I was already holding back!"
Hearing this, Ais silently glanced at Riezel, her gaze seeming to say: 'Did you teach her to say that?'
Riezel, as if understanding the meaning behind her gaze, had his right brow twitch.
"Lefiya…"
He walked up to Lefiya and spoke in a helpless tone.
"I already told you this place wouldn't be able to handle it, didn't I?"
Hearing this, Lefiya looked extremely aggrieved.
"B-But I didn't use fire magic…"
As she spoke, she sounded as if she were crying out her grievance, making Riezel sigh.
"It's fine, Lefiya." Ais, on the other hand, tried to comfort the aggrieved elf, speaking haltingly. "Just now… You were really amazing."
In her eyes, Lefiya really was amazing.
Just now, the power of the Arcs Ray she unleashed, while not reaching Riezel's level of being able to possess the attack power of Level 7, was absolutely top-tier among Level 6 attacks.
Lefiya, who already possessed attack power comparable to Level 5 when she was Level 3, had clearly become even more absurdly powerful after reaching Level 4.
With the reinforcement effect of the crystal short sword from Sword Canon added on top, if she had not held back and had poured the maximum amount of mind into that magic, her attack power might very well have touched the threshold of Level 7, or even stepped into that realm.
After all, in theory, as long as her mind was not yet exhausted, the magic stored within the crystal short sword would continue to strengthen while in standby, all the way until her mind was completely exhausted.
In other words, if she were willing to ignore the risk of Mind Down, the current Lefiya truly had a way to unleash an ultra-powerful magic attack with Level 7's attack power.
On top of that, the silver short sword of Sword Canon could function like a magic sword, releasing magic instantaneously up to ten times and doing so through autonomous attacks.
With all of this taken into account, Lefiya fully deserved Ais's evaluation of 'really amazing.'
"Is this your newly awakened skill?"
Riezel no longer focused on the excessive destruction Lefiya had caused and instead asked with evident curiosity.
"Y-Yes..."
Being stared at by both Riezel and Ais, and knowing very well under what kind of feelings she had awakened this new skill, Lefiya blushed.
"It's a new skill I learned when I leveled up called Sword Canon. Loki even said she'd never heard of a skill like this before, that it's definitely a very rare skill…"
Even her ears had turned red, yet Lefiya still mustered the courage to say this, as if she wanted to tell the two people she admired that she had become stronger.
"Mm, Lefiya really is amazing."
Ais praised Lefiya honestly and immediately, making Lefiya's face grow even redder with embarrassment.
"Sword Canon, huh?"
Riezel, meanwhile, cast a subtle glance at Lefiya.
He clearly remembered that in the original story, Lefiya had also awakened her second skill upon reaching Level 4, but it was called Double Canon, not Sword Canon.
Still, the skill she had now seemed even stronger than the original one, and by a significant margin.
Realizing this, Riezel felt relieved.
'Well, isn't this a good thing? As long as it's not a bad thing, then there's no problem, right?'
No matter what, Lefiya was his teammate, so naturally, he hoped that Lefiya, like Finn, Ais, and the others, would become stronger than she had been in the original work.
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