"Wait, this is a distance of several hundred meters. Are you saying you are going to support us from all the way over here?"
Lyra found it incredibly hard to believe.
She was a Pallum, much like Finn—quick-witted, brave, and highly analytical.
Common sense dictated that, aside from massive wide-area annihilation magic, very few spells had a range exceeding two hundred yards.
The current distance was several times that limit.
Accurately firing magic from here? That was simply impossible.
"Its fine. Noah said we can trust him," Alise smiled.
"Captain..." Lyra sighed, feeling a little speechless.
Unlike Alise and her sweet naivety, Lyra was much more of a realist.
She would doubt everything in her sight to prevent her comrades from falling into danger.
To her, the only people she could fully trust were her Familia sisters.
"I just think the risk of this operation is way too high," Lyra said, looking away.
It was clear that no matter what Alise decided, she would not press the matter further.
After all, Alise was the captain.
Noah watched their reactions, silently noting their doubts.
It made sense.
After all, they hadn't actually interacted that much. Unlike the Loki Familia expedition, where he and the elite team had entrusted their lives to one another in the Deep Floors, his dealings with these girls had always been strictly business transactions.
What's more, on paper, he was only a Level 2 blacksmith.
Anyone who didn't fully understand his unique abilities would certainly not find his bold claims very reliable.
The "risk" Lyra mentioned was actually an implicit reference to his presence slowing them down.
'Hmm...' Alise looked somewhat troubled.
On a personal level, she truly wanted to believe Noah.
But since no one else objected after Lyra voiced her opinion, it meant her other comrades also shared her doubts.
"Sorry, Noah," Alise said softly. "Can your freezing magic be used at close range?"
"Well, yes. That is not a problem."
"In that case, could I ask you to come with us? I will be personally responsible for protecting you! I absolutely will not let you get hurt!" Alise said sincerely.
A fiery resolve was palpable in her tone.
This was the girl's absolute promise.
Noah spread his hands and smiled. "Then I will be in your care, Captain Alise."
"Oh! Leave it to me!"
Seeing that Noah was easygoing, the girl's tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed.
Because she was a simple, straightforward person, she hated it when the atmosphere between her friends became tense.
It made her feel like she was drowning and unable to breathe properly.
"Hold on, I need a disguise first."
As Noah spoke, he pulled out a dark hood hidden inside his coat and pulled it over his head.
He looked at Neze and said, "Let me carry the cargo package for now. This way, the enemy will think I am just a weak supporter working with you and let their guard down."
"Ah, um, o-okay." Neze put the heavy backpack down, but she still looked concerned. "This is very heavy. Are you sure you will be okay?"
Noah didn't answer with words, but with action.
He grabbed the heavy package, lifting it with absolute ease and settling it firmly onto his back.
Ryuu, who had a much keener eye for observation, instantly noticed something strange.
Even though he was carrying such a massive load, the boy's steps were not hindered in the slightest.
The most likely possibility was that the boy possessed a special carrying skill.
But something else seemed different.
That's right.
It was his footsteps.
The footprints he left in the dirt were no deeper than if he were lightly equipped, and the sound of each step was just as soft as a feather.
'This... must be a magic skill, right? After all, he didn't chant at all, nor had he inscribed a glowing magic circle like he did earlier.'
"Alright, preparations complete. Let's go!"
....
The group casually crossed the petrified thicket and was spotted by the enemy within seconds of walking into the clearing.
The people hidden in the dark shadows didn't move an inch.
The only person standing out in the open next to the Firestone crates raised his hand when he saw them, giving a secret signal.
On their side, Lyra responded with the exact same secret hand sign.
Once both sides had confirmed each other's identities, the man hidden in the heavy black cloak pulled his hood halfway down, revealing his face.
He was a young man who looked somewhat old for his age, with a brutal scar cutting across his face.
He likely revealed his face just to make the girls lower their guard.
Noah discreetly used Truth Seeker to appraise him.
He was shocked to discover that this man wasn't a Level 2 grunt, nor was he even a member of the Rudra Familia!
[Dix Perdix] > * Level: Lv. 5
Affiliation: Ikelos Familia (Captain)
Race/Gender: Human / Male
Age: 21
Class: Spear Fighter
Equipment: Night Burglar's Cloak, Magic Spear (Cursed).
Skill: Phobetor Daedalus (A curse skill that adds a hypnotic effect to speech, causing the listener to unconsciously lower their guard and fall into a brutal nightmare. The skill becomes completely ineffective if the listener becomes aware of its effect.)
"Yo! You're finally here, Astrea Familia," Dix feigned a friendly, charming demeanor and took the initiative to greet them.
But one of his hands remained hidden deep inside his sleeve.
Noah knew that hand was gripping a cursed magic spear.
Hearing the high-level enemy greet them, a sudden flash of tactical inspiration struck Noah.
He stepped out from the group of girls and happily jogged toward the man.
Initially, Dix became highly vigilant seeing the stranger approach.
But suddenly, he heard the boy cheerfully say, "Hey! Isn't that Dix?! Long time no see!"
Being called by his real name so suddenly, Dix panicked for a fraction of a second, but mostly he was just completely confused.
'Could this kid be an old acquaintance of mine?'
But the voice wasn't familiar at all in fact, he had never heard it before in his life.
In the exact microsecond Dix was stunned by the confusion, Noah activated his Construct C3's Anti-Gravity Engine.
His whole body abruptly accelerated, crossing the distance and arriving right in front of the Level 5 in the blink of an eye.
"Wha—"
Before Dix could even react, he saw a hand covered by a dark gray metal gauntlet enlarging before his eyes.
The next second, his face was brutally grabbed and he felt an incomparable, agonizing pain erupt from his entire body.
It wasn't physical damage, nor was it a mental attack.
It was a deeper, far more terrifying pain.
Noah tightened his iron grip on Dix's face, violently slamming the back of the man's head directly into the wooden crate full of Firestones.
Spell-Weaver's ability to directly manipulate souls smashed down brutally on the captain's spirit.
With just that one agonizing move, Noah felt the Level 5 man in his grasp lose absolutely all ability to resist.
Noah himself had never experienced the pain of having his soul crushed, but based on Dix's reaction, it seemed to be extremely difficult to endure.
Having instantly stripped the powerful enemy of his combat ability, Noah used his free hand to pull out a specialized magic bullet inscribed with freezing magic.
He loaded it directly into the newly added firing chamber of his Raven Feather gauntlet.
Thanks to his slime technology, the firing chamber could be completely hidden when not in use.
After loading the ammunition, Noah decisively pulled the internal trigger, using the Raven Feather as a medium to blast the freezing magic circle point-blank into Dix's chest.
In an instant, massive ice crystals bloomed into the air.
After a blinding flash of blue light, the unconscious Dix and the massive wooden crate filled with explosive Firestones were both completely encased in a massive, unbreakable block of solid ice.
It all happened in an instant.
Before either friend or foe could even react, the main threat was over.
...
"Damn it! What have you done?!"
An angry roar came from the shadows.
A man holding a short sword in each hand charged out of the trees, bellowing in rage.
Noah calmly raised one hand.
He pointed his thumb up, with his index and middle fingers extended forward together, making a simple gun-like gesture with his bare hand.
The Evilus assassin didn't understand the gesture and immediately dropped into a lethal attack stance.
'His optimal attack range was one meter.'
'He would begin his sword swing at 2.3 meters, a motion that would take a total of 0.9 seconds to execute.'
Noah stood there completely motionless, his expression perfectly calm.
Just as the man charged to within five meters of him, a single word escaped Noah's lips.
"Bang."
The man abruptly noticed something invisible flying straight toward the space between his eyebrows.
In his fright, he hurriedly raised one of his swords to protect his face.
Clang!
He narrowly blocked the attack. But before he could even feel happy about his quick reflexes, the spiraling bullet of compressed wind sharply curved in mid-air.
It shot cleanly into his temple, piercing straight through the other side of his head.
Within a five-meter radius, Noah could manipulate all mana and elements at will.
Making a "bullet" curve around a sword was just a basic, effortless move.
For an ordinary adventurer, this was a terrifying, first-encounter kill.
Even a Level 3 adventurer would find it very difficult to dodge a bullet made of invisible wind if their agility stat wasn't high enough.
In fact, Noah had been quietly charging up the mana to increase the power of this attack ever since the man started rushing out of the trees.
He released it all at once the exact moment the man entered Weaver's absolute range.
In terms of raw magical power, the destructive force of the wind bullet was at most a Level 2 attack, it was just that its sudden invisible nature was incredibly lethal.
After all, he wasn't a certain golden-haired elf who could unleash a magic attack comparable to a Level 4 while only being a Level 2, wiping out an entire group of monsters in one go and firing in rapid succession.
"Whoa, whoa... after using such a powerful ice spell, he immediately followed up with chantless wind magic? He took out two people just like that! Is he a monster?!" Lyra gasped. She was already deeply regretting her earlier doubts.
'Was it possible... that if we had just followed his original plan, this battle would already be over by now?'
"Truly impressive," Kaguya Gojouno said, her sharp eyes narrowing slightly in sincere praise.
Seeing their explosive trap inexplicably fail, the remaining Evilus members hidden in the shadows simply roared and charged out into the open.
"Damn you, Astrea Familia! So you figured out our plan?! But we still have the numbers! Get them! Kill all these women!"
"Hmph! As if we would ever be beaten by the likes of you!" Alise declared, decisively drawing her sword.
But this only drew the enemy's loud ridicule.
"Hahaha! What the hell is that?! It doesn't even have a blade!"
Alise remained silent.
She simply tightened her grip on the crimson-gold hilt and poured her raw magic into it.
The fiery red mana instantly transformed into a blazing, roaring crimson blade of pure heat.
Before the enemy's shocked eyes, Alise just lightly swung the sword in her hand and sliced his heavy, broad-bladed battle-axe cleanly in half.
"Wh-what?! Impossible! What kind of sword is that?!"
This broad-bladed battle-axe was a highly expensive Second-Grade weapon he had looted from a Level 4 he murdered!
It was sliced in half so easily?!
"Damn it! Are you a monster too?!" the assassin screamed.
Alise elegantly flicked the tip of her blazing sword twice, then flashed a cute V-sign with her free hand right in front of her beautiful eyes.
"To describe a beautiful delicate girl like me as a monster... you have just added to your unforgivable sins! Prepare yourself!"