Laflez, who now had a changed appearance with blue marks across his body from the absorbed core and thanks to the evil god Sairao granting him part of his power, was now a level two Nartheis Faizes. Behind them, some Elves who seemed to be in decomposition stood just behind—these were the Elves who had been forcibly corrupted, and since an Elf couldn't enter, he turned these Elves into another type of being, naming them "Failures." Further behind, five other Nartheis of Faizes level stood as the main fighters.
"Very well. Should anything happen, I will take your body for a time."
A shadow spoke beside Laflez, who only obeyed its orders. Sairao looked at the barrier—ever since he saw those boys entering and disrupting the plan of gathering the power of his original body to destroy Val'Drakar once and for all, it had failed. As he was being constantly interrupted by the god of blessings, he couldn't extract everything at once, so he had to do it bit by bit.
"But since these worms appeared, I had to advance the plan even in an incomplete form."
He had already used part of his power to break the rule left by his greatest failure, and now even more to break this barrier. If he were to classify himself in terms of these creatures, he would be in the Ranvil rank.
"But it's still not enough. Still, I can't let my sacrifices for creating my body leave this place."
He was close. He only needed fifty more of them for the body to become complete and descend. Perhaps if they hadn't appeared, he could have completed this plan in nine years.
"Be ready. I'll be in the shadows, waiting for the right moment. Do not disappoint me after the power I gave you, Laflez."
He disappeared into the shadows, watching the barrier fall. Laflez and the soldiers began to run toward the barrier. As they approached, one of the Faizes-level Nartheis—one of the five main attackers, a brown monster with four arms and a single eye on its forehead—was first in line.
As he stepped a few meters from the barrier, he was met with a double kick covered in fire, thrown backward and crashing into the failed Elves, who were also knocked back. The first to appear was Enrico with those same dull eyes. All the failed Elves ran at him and were met with six consecutive Zero Impacts from Enrico. Laflez immediately jumped at him, but a red sword forced him back.
"Old friend, let the boy fight the others and come to me so I can put you to rest."
Val'Drakar had a feeling of sorrow surrounding him. Laflez took an attack stance on all fours, gathering magic in his mouth. He bit the air, and Val'Drakar, already anticipating it, quickly stepped two steps back. In the place where he had been, a mouth of earth had bitten down.
"As always, techniques where you barely need to move, lazy lizard..."
An explosion erupted on the left side with failed Elves being thrown far away. Valença had fired a blazing ray much stronger than any used so far—not just because she had reached circle two, but also thanks to Incandis empowering her.
"I'm much stronger now... That means I'm the second strongest in Class A, right, Incandis?"
Incandis was confused because he didn't know for sure, but he agreed. A Faizes hawk with wind magic spun around her, closing off the escape route. She felt a tremor below and jumped, seeing a Faizes-level Nartheis earthworm.
"Incandescent Ray!"
The magic hit the worm and pierced a hole through its middle. Seeing that it couldn't take another hit, it began healing as much as it could and burrowed into the ground. From above, the hawk let out a scream that distorted the surrounding wind, disorienting Valença for just a second—enough time for it to dive in with an attack.
"Quil"
Incandis made her feel better just in time to dodge the attack. These two weren't normal level one Faizes—together, they were worse than Val'Drakar.
"This is going to be tough."
A drop of sweat ran down her forehead, but she calmed down seeing how Enrico fought three Faizes-level Nartheis. Spinning her staff, she focused on just one thought—she would overcome this challenge and evolve.
With Enrico, he dodged the strike of the four-armed Nartheis. Jumping into the air, he spun to dodge another Nartheis with a liquid orange form. In mid-air, Enrico launched two fireballs, forcing them back, but a second later, he was wrapped by a tail. The third Nartheis was a green snake with ram horns. Channeling fire magic through his body, he burned the snake's skin, loosening it just enough for Enrico to break free through brute force.
All three attacked at once. Assuming a pose with both arms above his waist, four Zero Impact punches struck the trio, pushing them back—especially the four-armed one, who took two hits. Using a loaded boost, he landed a knee into the four-armed one and launched a small blast into the snake's face.
Liquid stuck to his clothes, paralyzing him in place. He took five hits from various orange liquid projectiles that emerged from the goo. Enrico quickly incinerated his clothes, leaving only his pants, and stared at those surrounding him, taking on a battle stance—the same one seen by Val'Drakar on those nights.
The snake Nartheis shot a jet of venom at Enrico, who narrowly dodged and rushed forward. Raising his arm slightly, a red glow shone from it. With a strike, he pierced through the snake, splitting it in half right where the core had been. The remaining two Nartheis prepared to attack, seeing that the arm used in that attack now had broken and burned fingers—it meant he couldn't use that strike often. Enrico merely lowered his arms, loose and swaying in the air, taking a completely open guard as he prepared for the next move.