Somewhere on the 18th floor... two figures were locked in a clash of magic.
'I refuse to lose!'
Lefiya screamed inside her head.
The fact that Belle was a level below her or had only been an adventurer for a short time did not matter.
Her competitive spirit refused to yield to this rookie who was currently receiving the praise of the entire city.
"Haaa!"
She poured more and more mind into her attack.
On the other end, Belle was visibly struggling, teeth gritted, feet dragging against the ground.
'I knew it... a twenty second charge Firebolt isn't enough to compete with a mage's magic attack...'
Against an actual mage like Lefiya, Belle was losing ground in terms of raw magical output.
'This is the innate weakness of Firebolt… it's fast, but its attack power is quite weak.'
She was being pushed back.
Feeling herself getting cornered, Belle's eyes sharpened and she abandoned the magic clash entirely.
She darted to the side, barely avoiding the beam of light that sped past her, and rushed toward Lefiya.
In less than a second she was right in front of her, ready to swing.
'Wait... something's off.'
Lefiya's expression was completely calm.
She hadn't moved her staff from its original position.
Belle turned her head.
The beam of light that had flown past her had curved around... and was now tracking her like a guided projectile, closing fast.
'It can do that!?'
Her eyes went wide.
In a split second, she activated Argonaut in her legs, gaining a burst of speed that barely allowed her to evade the attack.
But since she was still new to using her Argonaut skill, she immediately lost control of her momentum and crashed straight into Lefiya.
"Arh!"
"Urk!"
Both of them hit the ground in a heap, faces and clothes plastered with dirt.
At the same time, a loud explosion echoed as Lefiya's Arcs Ray struck a distant boulder.
But the two girls ignored it.
Still lying on the ground, they looked at each other, taking ragged breaths.
"I think… we should stop now. I'm alright with a draw."
Belle said between breaths.
Lefiya didn't respond immediately, but her silence was answer enough.
'I didn't lose...'
She thought, squeezing her hand into a fist against the ground.
'Then why… why do I feel so irritated?'
Of course, she already knew the answer.
'Because I wanted to win.'
She pushed herself upright and picked her staff off the ground.
"Next time... next time I'll win."
She said, bangs falling over her eyes.
"Oh... sure."
Belle replied absentmindedly.
Hearing that, Lefiya's lips twitched, a vein popping on her forehead.
'Why does every word that comes out of her mouth annoy me so much?'
Still, knowing they had been away for too long, the two decided to head back to camp.
...
"Luna Aldis."
Lefiya cast her healing spell over herself and Belle as they walked.
"Wow... I heard you could use a lot of different magic, but seeing it is something else. You're incredible, Miss Lefiya."
Belle said, genuinely impressed.
"A-amazing, you say?"
Lefiya went visibly red.
"W-wawawa-what are you saying all of a sudden!?"
"Don't go throwing compliments at me like that! And I don't want to hear it from some cheater who didn't even need to chant for her magic to go off, you hear me!"
"Seriously! An instant spell? I've never heard of anything like that!"
Lefiya shouted, having just finished the healing.
"Oh, you mean Firebolt?"
Belle blinked.
"Judas doesn't need to chant for his magic either though..."
"How dare you put yourself in the same sentence as him! He is obviously on a completely different level!"
'And what is with that casual way of saying his name...'
Lefiya was fairly certain her blood pressure had gone up three hundred points since she started talking to this girl.
'As I thought… I really don't like you.'
When they finally reached the edge of the camp...
"Can I ask you something?"
Lefiya said, glancing back at her.
"How old are you?"
"Oh. I'm fourteen."
Hearing that, Lefiya couldn't help the smile creeping onto her lips.
"Hehe... that makes me your senpai. Both as an adventurer and in age."
She puffed out her chest proudly, wearing a smug expression like she had just won the lottery.
"You two are getting along now?"
A soft feminine voice came from nearby.
They both turned to find Ais walking toward them, head tilted slightly to one side.
"Did something happen? Did you guys fight?"
Her gaze moved to the state of their clothes.
"Ah… I see… a good battle really does help people get along."
Ais nodded in understanding.
"What!?"
Lefiya jolted.
"You've got it completely wrong, Ais! Something like that could never happen in the entire history of the world!"
She reached back, grabbed Belle by the collar and pulled her forward.
"Tell her! Explain to her why that is completely impossible!"
"Haha..."
Having already gotten a read on Lefiya's personality by this point, Belle could only manage a strained laugh.
"Yep. You two are getting along."
Ais nodded again, fully convinced.
"Ais, you have it all wrong!"
Lefiya screamed toward the sky.
...
Meanwhile...
"Those two should be heading back by now."
Judas said quietly to himself as he opened his eyes, hovering above a pit that opened into a shallow pool of acid far below.
'Those are... the remains of dead adventurers.'
Dozens of corpses lay submerged at the bottom, along with the warped and half-dissolved remnants of their armor and gear.
"All of this must be this thing's doing, huh?"
He shifted his gaze.
Clinging to the walls on the pit was a pitcher plant-like monster.
Its main body was a sickly yellow-green mottled with patches of vivid color, the lower portions a deep red.
A single eye sat at its center, above which sat a crown-like protrusion.
Evilus called this monster Venenthes.
'I'm guessing this is another monster being nurtured by Evilus.'
"Its strength is around level 4… but since it's rooted in place and can't move much, even a decent party of level 2 adventurers could subjugate it."
As he finished speaking, Venenthes hissed and launched a volley of high-speed tentacles at him.
Judas raised a barrier.
The tentacles slammed into it with a series of heavy impacts, but the barrier didn't budge.
Venenthes kept at it regardless, hammering away with relentless persistence.
The force disturbed the acid pool below, sending splashes up against the barrier that hissed and fizzled against the surface without leaving a mark.
"How boring."
Judas muttered, locking eyes with the creature.
A second later, a slicing sound echoed through the air...
And Venenthes was reduced to hundreds of pieces, as if struck by countless invisible blades.
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