The dust settled.
The fallen spirit's laughter abruptly ceased.
Yet the scorched ground did not remain empty as she had expected.
The figures of those troublesome insects still stood upon the blackened earth.
Their armor was nearly shattered, their specially-made clothing charred, their appearances utterly battered.
But.
"That hurts!"
Tiona cried out in pain, her face twisted in agony.
The others weren't faring much better. If not for the life-or-death situation, they would have gladly passed out from the pain.
Still, despite the pain...
"It hurts, but there's no actual damage!"
Tione growled as she examined herself.
Indeed.
Including the supporters, everyone remained completely unharmed. Gareth, standing at the forefront, wore an expression of utter disbelief.
"Ugh..."
Only Eiji.
He groaned as intense dizziness assaulted his mind, his body swaying unsteadily.
Several hands immediately reached out from behind to support him, preventing his collapse.
"Mental exhaustion... He used up all his magic power at once."
Ais steadied his right arm, her gaze sweeping over his face as she instantly assessed his condition.
"Potions, now!"
Finn immediately ordered.
Raul Nord and the others endured their pain as they retrieved mental recovery potions from their packs.
"Hey, look at that fallen spirit!"
Bete supported Eiji's other arm while staring in horror at the distant monster.
"Hummm—!"
The figure a hundred meters away had spread her arms at some unknown moment.
The red particles scattered through the air were now flowing back into her body like swallows returning to their nest.
"Recovering dispersed magic power? I've never heard of such a thing!"
Gareth brushed dust from his body, his lips twisting in confusion.
"This is bad! At this rate, she'll unleash another magic attack soon!"
Lefiya's face paled, her delicate features twisting with urgent anxiety.
"What do we do?"
All eyes turned to Finn.
Even Finn himself bit his thumb nervously.
That magic was absolutely unstoppable!
It had shattered Riveria's strongest defensive spell, sent Gareth flying, and drained Eiji's magic power completely. Only after these three layers of defense had they barely managed to remain standing.
Now with Riveria down, Eiji needing time to recover, there was no way to withstand another magical assault!
The situation reached an impasse.
One by one, everyone fell silent.
"...Buy me some time."
Then, a voice suddenly spoke.
Finn's gaze sharpened as he turned to look at Eiji beside him.
"Just hold off the next magic attack."
Eiji gulped down the mental recovery potion in large mouthfuls, not caring that it spilled onto his clothes, while making a declaration that shone like dawn.
"I'll take that thing down!"
If they could just block the next magic attack and buy enough time for recovery...
He could defeat that monster.
That's what Eiji claimed.
Which meant—
"You still have a trump card?"
Finn murmured quietly.
What to do?
Should they bet on him?
No.
There was no need for hesitation!
Finn raised the Spear of Dominion in his right hand and the Indomitable Spear in his left, issuing a resolute command.
"Cover Eiji and buy him time!"
"Yes!"
The group responded with unwavering determination.
Trusting their comrades—this was the greatest strength of Loki Familia!
"O earth, heed my call—"
As if resonating with their resolve.
The fallen angel smiled as she began her chant.
This time, a black magic circle emerged beneath her feet, radiating dark magical light.
"Come, come, come, crust of the earth, black jewel, hammer of the stars, descend by the covenant of creation! Traverse the sky, shatter the earth, bridge the heavens, remake the world, pour forth, the great axe of the sky, calamity of destruction—"
So fast!
Incredibly fast!
In just a few seconds, her chant was already halfway complete.
"Let's go, everyone!"
Finn raised his twin spears and charged forward at the forefront.
Responding to him were the slender tentacles extending once more from the monster's lower half, easily surpassing a hundred meters in length as they soared into the sky before raining down upon Finn like a storm.
Yet Finn made no attempt to block.
With nimble movements, he weaved through the rain of tentacles, his small body slipping past them all like an elusive catfish!
"What?!"
Even the Demi Spirit was stunned.
Such agility was nothing short of miraculous!
If Eiji's dodges were thrilling, heart-stopping, and spectacular to watch, Finn's were purely for evasion—stripped of all excess, honed to the absolute limit, a testament to his relentless discipline.
The Pallum were a weak race.
Dwarves possessed immense strength, beastmen had unique talents, Amazons boasted formidable combat instincts, but Pallums—aside from decent eyesight—were inferior to even the most average humans in every aspect.
Finn understood his weakness all too well. Knowing he could never excel in raw power or agility, he pushed his dexterity to its utmost limit.
His Dexterity was 999.
This was the advantage best suited to the Pallum's diminutive frame.
"If that guy doesn't come up with something good, I swear I'll make him pay!"
"Just shut up, Bete!"
Bete and Tiona flanked Finn, smashing aside the incoming tentacles.
"Ora!"
At the same time.
The moment the Demi Spirit's attention was fully fixed on Finn, Tione roared and hurled Gareth from the rear.
"Huh?!"
The fallen spirit reacted instantly, lifting other tentacles to strike.
Whoosh!
A fierce gust of green wind surged from behind, blowing away the tentacles targeting Gareth.
Ais rode the gale into the sky, sending slashes of wind to sever the spirit's appendages.
Boom!
Gareth landed unimpeded at the forefront of the battlefield.
Laughing heartily, he raised his twin battle axes and brought them down upon the vine armor before him!
Crash!
Under his peerless strength, the armor that Eiji could only barely crack shattered layer by layer.
"Ora ora ora—!"
Gareth roared relentlessly, disregarding defense entirely. Even as wounds opened and tentacles pierced his organs, he cared not, cleaving through the vine armor with unstoppable fury.
A straight path leading to the Demi Spirit was opened!
"In the name of the proxy, I command thee—grant me the title of Earth Spirit, Earth Incarnate, Queen of the Earth—!"
Seeing the fierce assault, the monster hastened its chant.
Only one second remained before the magic would be unleashed.
Neither Ais, Bete, nor Tiona could keep up with the speed of its incantation now—they hadn't even finished clearing the regenerating tentacles surrounding them.