"Crack—!"
The ice wall, which wasn't particularly thick, shattered upon impact, sending shards flying in every direction!
"Hahahaha! You stupid little bitch! Still casting? Die—!"
Kofman burst through the ice wall with a savage grin, his scimitar swinging down with lethal intent.
However.
What greeted him wasn't a face filled with panic, nor a fragile shield.
Instead, it was a pair of black eyes... brimming with mockery, derision, and even a hint of pity, as if looking at a clown.
And, a washbasin-sized, orange-red fireball that had already finished forming right in front of him, mere inches away.
No incantation.
No casting bar.
It simply hovered quietly in Leon's palm, the fiery patterns on its surface visible in sharp detail.
"Im... impossible—!!"
Kofman's pupils shrank to the size of needle points. In that instant, his worldview collapsed.
A spell of that energy level... should take at least four seconds to cast?! Is he cheating?!!
"Well played!"
Leon looked at the wolf face inches away and gave a lopsided grin:
"I'm sorry!"
The instantly formed 【Pyroblast】 shot out from his hand.
"By the way, I have a bad habit—I don't like waiting for casting bars."
"Boom—!!!!"
Zero distance.
The fireball, contained with terrifying power, slammed squarely into the werewolf Kofman's face.
The violent impact, coupled with devastating high temperatures, sent the heroic-level thief and his blade flying backward!
He didn't even have time to scream. Like a tattered sack hit by a train, he flew through the air, smashed through the wall at the other end of the corridor, and exploded with a thunderous crash in the empty room next door!
Flames swallowed everything, instantly turning him into a piece of smoldering charcoal.
"Wait! There's another expert?!"
Almost at the exact moment Kofman broke the ice and Leon released the Pyroblast!
"Bang!"
By the window of the room behind them, another 【Arcane Trap】 Leon had set was suddenly triggered!
Amidst the roar of the explosion and a strange cry of "Waya!", an extremely short, dark shadow was flipped over by the shockwave, tumbling clumsily through the window and into the room.
"Swish—!"
Losing balance, a poisoned dagger flew out of the shadow's hand, cutting a cold flash through the air.
It streaked past Leon's ear and then... accurately flew through the ruined doorway, embedding itself in the thigh of the burning charcoal corpse at the end of the hallway.
"Sizzle—"
The sound of venom corroding the corpse was grating to the ears.
'Wasn't aimed at me?'
Leon didn't have time to check if Kofman was truly dead, nor time to think. He stomped his right foot hard!
【Frost Nova】!
"Crack, crack, crack—"
A visible wave of extreme cold radiated from the sole of his foot, instantly covering the entire room!
"Don't..."
The small figure, who had just been dazed by the explosion and barely managed to steady himself with a kip-up, didn't even have time to stand firm before his feet were frozen in place. A layer of white frost rapidly climbed up his shins.
Leon turned around, giving the opponent no room to breathe, and raised his hand with an 【Arcane Impact】.
"Bang!"
The small figure was slammed hard against the wall by the invisible shockwave, letting out a muffled groan.
However, the opponent's resilience and agility were clearly extraordinary.
Just as Leon thought this combo was enough to incapacitate him, the figure performed an incredibly strange breakfall the moment he hit the wall, forcibly nullifying most of the impact.
Immediately after.
"Crack!"
The thin layer of ice from the 【Frost Nova】 actually shattered!
A faint, almost imperceptible surge of shadow energy flashed through his body—it was 【Shadow Cloak】, a thief's god-tier skill for breaking crowd control!
The moment he broke free from the frozen restraint, he didn't hesitate. He ducked low, attempting to blend into the shadows in the corner of the room to force a stealth state.
"Trying to run?"
Leon's gaze turned cold.
He once again grabbed the already dazed Lucrezia beside him and drained another 10% of her mana.
"Move!"
Then, he shoved Lucrezia to safety and opened his hand toward the empty space where the dark shadow was about to vanish.
【Cone of Cold】!
"Whoosh—!"
A blast of frigid wind spread out in a fan shape, covering the entire corner!
"Achoo!"
The figure that had just entered stealth was instantly "blown" out by this indiscriminate cold wind.
His originally transparent silhouette became clearly visible as it was covered in frost, even the tips of his furry cat ears were dusted with white frost.
"F-f-freezing me to death! Meow's sake!"
The figure shivered violently, teeth chattering, and had to raise both hands as if intending to surrender.
"Wait, d-don't hit me... I..."
"Take this!!"
At that moment, a sharp cry rang out.
Lucrezia, who had somehow circled around to his rear, was holding a heavy, solid wood table leg she had scavenged from somewhere.
With her eyes shut tight, she used all her strength to swing it down like she was playing whack-a-mole, slamming it into the back of the figure's head.
"Thud!"
A muffled sound followed.
The figure saw stars, his eyes rolled back, and before he could even utter a final word, he slumped to the ground.
"Huff... huff..."
Lucrezia panted, looking at the fallen enemy, and lifted her chin proudly:
"Hmph! Trying to ambush me? Maybe in your next life!"
Leon watched this scene, his mouth twitching as he stopped the hand that was about to deliver a finishing blow.
"Huh?"
Lucrezia held the table leg and leaned in to take a closer look, letting out a confused sound.
"This... isn't this that blind cat-man beggar from earlier today? Why is it him?"
Leon's movements paused slightly.
He waved his hand to dissipate the sharp ice spike that had already gathered at his fingertips and looked at the "beggar" on the floor thoughtfully.
Then, he glanced toward the ice crystal mirror used to observe the hallway.
The real trouble was still outside.
Though their leader was dead, about a dozen reinforcements seemed to have swarmed in...
"Boss!"
"Boss—!"
In the corridor, the surviving Black Tail Gang lackeys looked at the blasted wall and the charred corpse, their souls nearly departing in fear. They were about to rush over recklessly to check the situation.
"Don't move! Nobody go over there!"
A slightly shrill yet undeniably authoritative voice suddenly rang out, stopping their commotion.
A relatively small demi-human with a pair of fox ears—Harvey, the second-in-command of the Black Tail Gang—stepped forward from the crowd.
Harvey's face was currently filled with a perfectly staged look of "grief" and "solemnity."
'No, no! I can't laugh yet, I have to hold it in!'
He stared fixedly at the thick ice wall Leon had raised again, which completely sealed the corridor. He fought to suppress the corners of his mouth that wanted to curl up wildly, causing his expression to look somewhat distorted.
'Just a little longer... let the boss, no... let that idiot Kofman die a bit more thoroughly!'
Rate on N.U.
