A question: In the era of cold steel, how do you stop a legion's charge?
Answer: Form your own defensive line… and fire the first damn volley!
Right now, the Loki Familia didn't even need Finn to spell it out. The adventurers were already moving.
"Two o'clock direction, fire attribute spells! Aim at the ground, prepare to bombard."
"Careful not to ignite the forest."
"Ice mages, hold position! Be ready to contain fire spread, and… target the Firebirds."
"Lefiya, you'll handle the densest group of monsters, Lefiya?"
"Ah, yes!"
While Aether and Lumine took their place in the vanguard to form the frontline, the mage corps at the rear began their work.
One after another, perfect circular magic arrays lit up in colors across the battlefield, pulsing with power.
No time to keep glancing back now.
Aether and Lumine each summoned their blades, Traveler's Sword and Sword of Dawn, fixing their gazes on the vanguard monsters charging at full speed.
Our first opponents… are the Fighting Boars.
Aether quickly ran through the information in his head.
Fighting Boars, as their name suggested, they were wild boar-type land monsters.
Unlike normal boars, their hulking frames rivaled Earth's rhinoceroses. From their spines, two forward-curving bone spikes jutted out, shaped like the tail fins of a warplane.
Their attacks? The same as an enraged bull charging a red cape. One word: impact.
Even a Level 2 dwarf adventurer specializing in strength couldn't withstand their charge.
And the real problem, their attacks carried Stun.
Because monsters' abnormal attacks weren't just physical, they came with additional properties. For the Fighting Boars, it was a stunning impact.
Among the mid-floor strength-types, they were apex predators.
But they also had a glaring weakness.
"Aim three inches above the brow."
"I know, that's their softest spot."
Their mental link carried the brief exchange, both narrowing their eyes in focus.
The moment came,
WHOOSH~
Neither Aether nor Lumine tried to block head-on. Like expert matadors, they sidestepped the charge.
In military formations, if numbers allowed, lines were usually staggered.
Here, though the expedition was small and vastly outnumbered, there was still buffer space between the sole frontline and the mage rear guard.
That buffer served two purposes:
To give the vanguard room to retreat when mages needed to fire close-range bombardments.
To give elite fighters like Aether and Lumine space to dodge and counterattack.
And so–
SHNK!
Lumine's blade pierced cleanly into the first boar's brow. The beast, momentum carrying it forward, stumbled several meters before dissolving to ash, leaving behind a fist-sized purple magic stone.
SHNK!
Aether mirrored her, dropping another boar.
As the next one charged, Lumine met it with a nimble sidestep, blade flashing.
Over and over, the rhythm repeated.
Until,
BZZZZ~
Several Swallowtail Dragonflies dove from above, their gaudy pale-violet carapaces a warning of poison.
Flying enemies with venom, annoying.
"Wind Blade!"
Planting a foot on a fading boar's corpse, Lumine leapt high. Her right hand gripped her sword while her left palm gathered vicious wind mana, swirling into a vortex.
"Scatter!"
BOOM!
The prematurely detonated Wind Vortex Sword burst outward, blasting back all the dragonflies.
The attack lacked the power to kill, but their wings shredded, the monsters plummeted helplessly.
SLASH SLASH SLASH~
Waiting on the ground, Aether's blade flashed thrice, every dragonfly sliced apart as they hit the earth.
FWOOM~ FWOOM~ FWOOM~
Ash drifted, purple stones clattering onto the dirt.
Their coordination was seamless. Compared to other adventurers struggling to hold lines, their side flowed like water.
Meanwhile,
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Flames erupted farther ahead as fire mages unleashed volleys into monster packs, dampening their momentum.
Even Lefiya, protected in the innermost circle, was finally holding steady.
With allies guarding her flanks, no sudden ambushes could rattle her. She closed her eyes and began her chant.
Proud warriors, archers of the forest, plunderers of our homeland stand before us…
Raise your bows, answer your kin's cries, nock your arrows…
Enflamed with fire, the forest's light commands you, shoot, elven flames raining like a storm…
Sweep away the barbarian horde…
As her long, mana-draining aria reached its end, a dozen red circles lit up around her, each like a loaded cannon.
**Fusillade Fallarica!!!**⁷
The name of the spell, the trigger.
At once, the red arrays belched streams of flame.
Fiery javelins streaked across the battlefield, tails blazing, raining destruction across the far front.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!
The successive detonations shook the ground, waves of heat searing the jungle.
Monsters caught in the core of the blasts were obliterated. Those on the edges were badly burned and crippled.
The ground lay scorched and blackened.
The sheer power, the efficiency, a frontliner at her level would need ten minutes of hacking to match this one barrage.
"Cease magic fire!"
Finn's clear command rang out as the tide turned. "Vanguard, move forward and finish the stragglers!"
"Understood!"
Cheers rose as adventurers finally charged forward in counterattack.
Running with them, Aether and Lumine glanced back.
"No wonder she's called the Thousand Spells Elf."
Aether exhaled, lips quirking. "When she gets her mindset straight, she's a real Archmage."
"Let's hope she keeps this up."
Lumine smiled faintly. "The more she leans into her strengths, the better for all of us."
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FootnotesTraveler's Sword – A divine, indestructible blade wielded by Aether.
Sword of Dawn – Lumine's matching divine weapon, also unbreakable.
Fighting Boars – Large, rhinoceros-sized boar monsters from the Middle Floors with powerful charges.
Stun – A status effect that incapacitates the target temporarily after impact.
Swallowtail Dragonflies – Flying poisonous monsters with dangerous aerial mobility.
Fusillade Fallarica – Lefiya's high-level elven fire magic, firing multiple flaming javelins in rapid succession.
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