In an instant, a delicate card materialized in Alice's hand. It had a crystal-like texture, yet with the slightest pressure from her fingers—
—it shattered into dust.
"Huh…?"
Nothing seemed to happen at first after Alice's action, but Bete's instincts screamed danger. The fur on his tail stood on end.
A sense of peril washed over him. It wasn't the aura of death, but it was unmistakably threatening.
Then, Alice murmured softly:
"Fire Sign."
"Basic Barrage."
As her words faded, a massive swarm of fireballs materialized in front of her and shot straight toward Bete.
"Hey, hey—you've gotta be kidding me! Is this really Level 3?!" Bete stared wide-eyed at the incoming attack.
Crimson fireballs blotted out the sky.
He could tell each individual fireball wasn't particularly powerful, but the sheer volume was overwhelming. If he took the full brunt of it, even as a Level 6 adventurer, he'd be in serious trouble.
At the very least, his fur wouldn't make it out intact.
As a werewolf, Bete didn't have much fur to begin with—only on his head and tail—so he was especially cautious around fire.
However.
Although he was initially startled by the overwhelming barrage, Bete's experience as a high-level adventurer quickly allowed him to spot the gaps in the attack.
Placing his hands on his hips, he neither attacked nor defended. Instead, with subtle shifts of his body, he slipped through the openings between the fireballs, effortlessly evading Alice's assault.
'Her technique is still green. Full of openings. The magic itself is strong—if she could condense all that firepower into a single blast, it'd be a supremely powerful spell.'
In an instant, Bete had assessed Alice's capabilities.
Frowning, a troubling thought crossed his mind: 'This brat… she can't really be unaffiliated, can she?'
For any adventurer, mana and magic were precious resources.
Timing was everything when using spells.
Even Riveria, when she cast magic, waited for the perfect moment to maximize its effect.
Magic was every adventurer's trump card.
It had to be deployed at the most critical juncture.
Even a Level 1 adventurer knew that—because magic consumed immense amounts of mana. The stronger the spell, the greater the cost.
Mana was tied to one's mental fortitude. Recklessly expending it without considering the consequences was suicidal. If you had allies nearby, maybe you'd be okay.
But if you were alone? Drain your mana dry, pass out in the Dungeon, and you'd become a free meal for monsters.
In Bete's eyes, the magic Alice was using was flashy and intimidating. In terms of pure firepower, it was fairly impressive for Level 3 standards.
But from a mana efficiency standpoint? It was downright wasteful.
It might look spectacular, but anyone who kept a cool head could easily spot the gaps in her barrage. Even a Level 2 adventurer could dodge it without much trouble.
To any magic-wielding adventurer, Alice's approach was extravagantly irresponsible.
She was burning through mana like there was no tomorrow, with no regard for the consequences. What would she do if she ran dry?
So Bete began to suspect that Alice truly wasn't part of a Familia—that she really did want to join Loki Familia.
But what Alice did next completely overturned that assumption.
Another card appeared in her hand.
Just like before, it was crystalline. She crushed it, and it dissolved into what looked like diamond dust, scattering beautifully in the air.
Then, Alice raised her hand, pointing at Bete with a finger shaped like a pistol.
"Magic Sign: Basic Magic Cannon."
A milky-white sphere formed at her fingertip, then instantly stretched into a cylindrical beam shooting straight toward Bete.
So far, Alice hadn't experienced much real combat. She'd been to the Dungeon, but never beyond the fifth floor. Anything deeper was unknown to her.
Monsters above Floor 5? She could obliterate them with a casual shot of magic.
So, she had no experience fighting monsters—let alone battling other people. Social interactions were hard enough for her as it was.
However.
Although she lacked practical experience, Alice had memories—many memories—of other people's battles. The combat scenes of Patchouli Knowledge, a user of the Seven Colored Magic, were etched in her mind.
Coincidentally, Alice—who was average in physique and strength—possessed the same unusual power as that other Alice from her memories, the one who looked just like her.
Her mana reserves were enormous, at least by this world's standards.
So what if she didn't know how to fight? That black-and-white magical girl had said: "Just make sure your firepower is overwhelming." And Alice believed her only advantage was her insane mana pool.
Facing a stronger opponent? Naturally, she had to play to her strengths.
Magic consumes mana? If it was just a Basic Barrage-level attack, all she needed was five or six seconds of rest between volleys, and she could keep it up all day and all night.
The sense of danger didn't change.
Which meant one thing: even though Alice had attacked again, it still posed no real threat to Bete.
But that beam attack thoroughly erased any doubt Bete had about Alice.
Up to now, Alice had already used three different spells.
The Puppet Magic, the Barrage Magic, and now this Beam Magic.
What adventurer started out with three spells? Even Riveria only knew one spell at Level 1.
As for Lefiya, she was an exception. Her magic, "Elf Ring," allowed her to cast any elf-restricted spell she had mastered.
Lefiya wasn't limited by the usual magic slot restrictions because of her unique skill.
And Riveria was called "Nine Hells" because she had developed linked chants based on the three spells she possessed, creating deeper variations of each.
Of course, none of that had anything to do with Alice.
But in Bete's eyes, an adventurer who knew three different spells couldn't possibly be independent. She had to be a hidden member of some Familia.
He even wondered if she might be from Freya Familia.
That kind of powerful single-target firepower, coupled with her delicate beauty, fit the Goddess of Beauty's preferences perfectly.
And honestly, Bete didn't see anything wrong with keeping someone like Alice hidden.
If she were from his own Familia, keeping her under wraps until she grew stronger would be the smartest move possible.
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
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