Rosaline looked at Malloch stolidly, pulling the ropes in both hands to test their strength. Meanwhile, Malloch charged in a blind frenzy, hoisting his weapon to strike her just as her provocation intended.
The Hunter girl watched with a composed demeanor before raising her ropes to clash directly with the opponent!
CRACK!
The ground beneath Rosaline's feet gave way instantly. Arcs of black electricity surged throughout the area, accompanied by a violent gust of wind born from the impact, forcing everyone to raise their hands to shield their eyes.
"Grey Hood!"
"Ms. Grey Hood!"
Amalin and Eugene both shouted at once. Seeing the situation, the two of them rushed forward to help, while the others remained hesitant.
"Stay back!" Rosaline shouted to the two of them. "I'll handle this myself."
"You're far too arrogant!" Malloch roared, pressing his hammer into the clash with monstrous force.
Rosaline said nothing; she only smiled. That reaction irritated Malloch even further. Despite wearing metallic gloves and boots, she seemed completely unaffected by the strikes of the black lightning.
Malloch increased his power once more. The black lightning nearly swallowed Rosaline whole, yet the Hunter girl remained unfazed, causing him to start losing his confidence.
"Why?! Why?! Why won't you succumb?!" Malloch lost his temper as he saw the results were not going as he desired.
Upon seeing this, everyone stood in awe at the sight before them, their minds flooded with questions about what exactly was happening.
"This is a rope made of Graphene-infused copper," Rosaline said, staring into Malloch's eyes with a piercing, serious gaze.
"What nonsense are you talking about?!" Malloch screamed, refusing to accept what was occurring.
Charlwind spoke up while pushing his glasses up with his hand. "'Silver' is the best conductor of electricity in the world, but 'Graphene' is pure carbon synthesized by scientists. It is the basic component of 'Graphite' that we know and use primarily as coal or… pencil lead."
Alka stood silent, listening to his explanation.
"Graphene conducts electricity better than silver and is the best heat conductor in the world. It is also incredibly strong and resistant to impacts, making it suitable for high-tier equipment for Hunters."
"But that's not all, is it?" Alka looked toward the ends of the metal ropes anchored to the ground. He clearly observed Malloch's black lightning snaking along the ropes and away from the center.
"This theory is called creating a 'Shortcut' for electricity—The Path of Least Resistance. The electricity that flows in will 'skip' the body and travel into the ground at the ends of the ropes instead. Almost all the electricity chooses to run along the Graphene rope because it is easier than traveling through a human body, which has higher resistance. This helps reduce the risk of heart failure caused by flowing electrical currents."
Charlwind explained while adjusting his glasses.
"But if you do that, it's just grounding the electricity…!" Alka spoke up before his eyes widened, turning toward Charlwind. "And besides, what about the heat accumulation?! If the electricity doesn't dissipate fast enough…! That girl!"
"It's fine…" Charlwind said with absolute confidence.
Rosaline still stood her ground, no matter how much Malloch increased the electrical current. She remained standing until the black lightning completely enveloped Malloch's frame, turning his body into a conduit of pure lightning.
The situation looked terrifying, causing many to turn pale and tremble. The cave shook, filled with flickering sparks of lightning. Those who could not intervene slowly backed away from Rosaline and Malloch.
Rosaline's expression remained perfectly still, while Malloch reached a breaking point, pressing down with even more force.
But there was no way Rosaline would give in. At this moment, if anyone let up their strength or shifted their stance first, they risked becoming the loser in the blink of an eye.
Everyone watched the Hunter girl, whose expression remained unchanged, with utter shock. But the only person who understood everything about this event was Charlwind.
"How… with that much lightning, how is she still standing without being electrocuted? Normally, even if it's Graphene, there should be sparks or heat burning her hands by now," Alka marveled at the unexpected turn of events.
"Right now, the gloves made of the same material act as a 'Collector' to allow the electricity from the source to flow into the Graphene rope at full capacity without sparking against her skin. The tight-fitting gloves prevent internal sparking, and she just borrowed some of my newly requisitioned insulating gel to use."
Charlwind went silent for a moment to let the audience fully absorb the vital information before continuing.
"As for the metal boots, they act as a 'Backup' system. If the rope were to snap back from the ground due to magnetic force or if the electricity became too much for the rope to handle, the excess power would run through Grey Hood's body into the metal boots to reach the ground via another path."
"But the most important thing for this plan is thanks to the copper mixed with the Graphene. Mixing it with copper results in a rope that 'cools' very quickly because it dissipates heat into the atmosphere almost immediately. Otherwise, Grey Hood's hands would have been scorched by the heat long ago."
Alka's jaw dropped. He had been an Artifact Hunter for many years, and for the most part, Hunters relied almost entirely on their skills. He had almost never seen a battle fought through such specialized mastery of equipment.
"Haha! This is it… this is how high-ranking Hunters fight!" Charlwind told Alka. "Grey Hood's battles always excite me! Sometimes she comes up with the most unbelievable ideas… To me, she is like the 'Cheese in a Burger.'"
Alka looked at Professor Charlwind's expression, which betrayed an excitement he couldn't contain. He returned his gaze to the fight before him with a sense of disbelief. But in that moment, his heart found the answer as to why he had never been able to move from a mid-tier Hunter to a high-tier one.
It was because a strong Hunter is not strong through skill power alone, but must also rely on experience, imagination, decisive judgment, and even sheer audacity!
Rosaline exerted every ounce of her endurance. She could feel the electrical current flowing through her. Although the Graphene rope was working well, Malloch's power—which had increased for some unknown reason—made him difficult to handle.
Rosaline's Graphene rope began to whip slightly following the direction of the electrical current passing through it before it started to twist from the generated magnetic fields.
Some of the Hunter girl's muscles cramped from the pressure of the battle and the lightning surging past. Although she was skilled at handling De-vons that used electricity as a weapon, there had never been a time when this copper-infused Graphene rope and equipment couldn't hold. But this time, she was starting to feel uncertain.
Black lightning from the excess of the rope appeared on the ground around her feet. It began to melt the floor into glass, indicating the sheer intensity of Malloch's electricity. Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the cave was filled with an intense chlorine-like scent that stung the nose. It was a sharp, sterile smell—the scent of air being scorched by massive electrical charges. Every time Rosaline inhaled, she felt a faint metallic taste on the tip of her tongue, and the smell grew increasingly overpowering.
'Hurry…' the Hunter girl prayed in her heart. 'Hurry!'
"This doesn't look good…" Charlwind said before stepping back and commanding everyone. "Get out of here, quickly!"
Amalin beat a hasty retreat along with everyone else. The pickaxe in her hand was being pulled toward the point of impact. Similarly, the knives in the hands and the coins in the pockets of the other Hunters began to vibrate, and the shaking grew heavier by the second.
"Grey Hood!" Amalin cried out, but there was nothing she could do. Her equipment was not prepared to encounter anything like this in the least.
"I'll kill you!!!" Malloch continued to scream with a voice that didn't sound human.
"You can't do it, and you never will, you loser!" Rosaline spoke with a booming voice.
"You shall be defeated! Grey Hood!" Malloch spoke again as Rosaline's metal boots sank deeper into the ground.
Rosaline's eyes spotted the mana orbs orbiting around her. Now she was waiting for the time to execute her plan… the single attack that should be able to reach Malloch!
At this moment, the ends of the Graphene rope that should have been flexible were pulled taut and constricted until they grew thin as if about to explode. Even the muscles in Rosaline's arms were compressed by the magnetic field until her veins bulged clearly!
"Alright… Now! Everyone, drop your weapons and open your bags!"
Everyone followed suit immediately. Especially Charlwind, who had been holding his conjured blades in wait, released the knives in his hands.
Amalin's pickaxe, the daggers of the trainee Hunters, or even someone's sewing needles were floating in the air. They raced toward the figures of Malloch and Rosaline.
"Even though her skill cannot be used on every single item, this should be enough," Charlwind spoke softly with a satisfied smile. "Right, Grey Hood?"
SHINK!
Rosaline fired a mana orb at Malloch's knee to shatter his stance.
The giant figure buckled to the floor while Rosaline quickly threw herself backward to create distance.
And finally…
"Leeching Edge," Rosaline spoke in a faint voice. Simultaneously, every sharp metallic object began to glow with a red radiance.
Every single one of them lunged toward Malloch with incredible speed.