Tiona Hiryute.
She was strong.
Ever since she first set foot in Orario five years ago, she had been Level 3. Then and now, she was a powerhouse acknowledged by all.
She was an exceptionally skilled adventurer with vast experience in the Dungeon.
Because of this, she could evaluate the suspicious man before her with a far more objective and professional eye than the still-inexperienced Lili.
*I don't know who this guy is or where he's from, but he's at least a Level 3 mage.*
The first small spell was fast and potent.
However, it was weaker and slower than the magic of Ais, her fellow Familia member.
The subsequent fire spell was fairly powerful.
Yet, it still fell short of the magic wielded by another comrade, Lefiya.
Ultimately, both spells were at a level Tiona could endure to some extent with her raw physical durability.
If that was the case, there was no need to overthink. She just had to tank the hits and rush him down!
"Yiaaaaaah!"
Boom, crash!
"Oops."
As her massive weapon sliced through the air and slammed into the floor, a violent impact rang out, shattering the ground into flying fragments.
But the man dodged her attack with unexpectedly nimble movements, then fired another magic bullet to keep her at bay.
Bang! Bang!
"Ugh, so annoying!"
Tiona had a strong feeling that while those magic bullets weren't devastating, getting hit by them would be extremely troublesome.
Trusting her adventurer's intuition implicitly, she blocked every single shot with her weapon, refusing to let her guard slip for even a second.
But that brief opening was exactly what the man wanted.
"[Thunder chariot. Gap of the spindle. Divide them into six with light]."
Along the man's mana-infused fingers, arcane symbols were embroidered into the air.
The symbols connected and flowed, eventually elevating into a single geometric image.
"[I wait at the source of the pool of dialogue]."
The image he drew consisted of six lines.
Soon, the lines expanded into planes, growing into six shimmering magic circles.
"[Thirty-six, Sixfold Radiant Thunder]."
Pop-pop-pop!
"Huh? What is this now?! I can't move!"
The six circles of light left the man's hand the instant the chant ended, shooting toward Tiona at blinding speed.
At first, Tiona raised her weapon, thinking it was an attack spell, but the sudden paralysis of her limbs made her realize it was a binding spell.
"Hah, this little thing!"
Creak! Groan!
Under her violent struggle, the magic circles began to creak and shake; it didn't seem to be a particularly powerful spell.
In truth, the binding was still incomplete, and the man wasn't expecting much from it.
At best, it would hold for five or six seconds.
"That's enough."
The man smiled confidently and produced a small glass bottle from his pocket.
He tilted the bottle, scattering the contents onto the floor.
Drip.
"[Boil, my blood]."
Bubble, bubble... gurgle!
The contents were nothing more than a few drops of an unidentified liquid.
Yet, it began to boil like a kettle on a stove, rapidly swelling until it grew to the size of a child.
Finally, the liquid stopped expanding and settled into the simplest form imaginable.
"[Autonomous defense, designated attack mode]."
A beautiful, silver, spherical organism now sat beside the man.
Like a slime made of molten metal, it trembled at his command, activating the functions hard-coded into its core.
Sensing an instinctive danger, Tiona redoubled her efforts to break free from the binding.
"This is really... ah, I'm free!"
Clang!
"You're free? Then let's start the game. [Slash!]"
"W-wait, wait!"
Just in time, the light binding snapped under her strength, releasing her.
Escaping the restraint, she knocked aside a flying silver blade with her weapon and searched for an opening in the man's defense.
But the respite was short-lived.
Clang! Ching! Clang!
"Th-this! Is! Pretty! Fast!"
The silver blade was fast and sharp.
Moreover, it wasn't light.
Every slash from the two blades was heavy and powerful.
A monster of this caliber would be more than enough to overwhelm a second-class adventurer.
"B-but!"
It was too simple.
She acknowledged its sharpness, toughness, and speed, but the technique lacked depth.
For Tiona, who had fought countless monsters in the Dungeon, the silver slime's attacks were absurdly straightforward.
The proof was that even she—far more reckless than her fellow Familia members—had managed to close the distance without taking a single wound.
The man was well aware of this.
Bang!
"Ugh! Annoying, wha—!"
Crash!
While Tiona was evading with ease, the man changed his tactics.
His magic bullet cleverly targeted a gap in her defense; though she blocked it, she failed to avoid the slime's follow-up attack.
"Cough, spit! Damn, are you going easy on me now?"
At Tiona's question, the man simply shrugged.
The attack had taken the form of a heavy hammer rather than a sharp blade.
It was a clear sign of leeway—a deliberate choice not to kill her in a single stroke.
"Hmph! Don't look down on me!"
"Shouldn't you prove that yourself, miss?"
"I was planning to do exactly that anyway!"
Tiona still had room to spare. If that last hit had been a blade, she might have been in real danger, but she could easily endure this level of blunt impact.
She could push herself further.
"All right! Now I'm really going all out! Be ready!"
"Hmm, [Slash]."
Unlike the fiery Tiona, the man issued a calm command to his subordinate.
Whoosh! Clang!
"Ngh!"
This time, it was a slash.
An attack form she had already seen.
The method remained simple.
Nevertheless, Tiona focused even more intensely, blocking and deflecting the silver blades.
Still, if this continued, the cycle would simply repeat.
Bang!
As expected, the man's magic bullet flew in, aiming for her opening.
She blocked it once more, but the slime's tentacles struck from both sides, exploiting the gap.
Up to this point, it was identical to the previous exchange.
The difference would lie in what happened next.
And her choice was...
Crash!
"Ghk! Uraaaaaah!"
"Oh."
A head-on breakthrough.
"Don't look down on meeeee!"
Tiona was certainly a strong, experienced adventurer.
But her nature was fundamentally simple.
What she liked was good; what she disliked was bad.
Knowing herself well, she didn't overcomplicate the situation. She judged the battle in the simplest terms possible.
One: the magic bullets were weak, but annoying, so block them no matter what.
Two: the silver blades were dangerous, so block or dodge them as much as possible.
Three: everything else was bearable, so ignore it and close the distance!
"Ooooooraaaaaah!"
"I had heard the Amazons were a very aggressive race, but..."
He hadn't expected this level of intensity.
The man gave a bitter smile as he watched Tiona charge.
Her bold judgment and action, trusting entirely in her own physical prowess to throw herself forward.
It wasn't a bad strategy.
In fact, for an adventurer of her caliber, it was a perfectly viable move.
But it was also reckless.
What if he had truly intended to kill her and unleashed a lethal slash?
Had he done so, her actions would have been nothing more than foolish bravado.
"No, maybe it wouldn't have mattered?"
Perhaps she had charged in believing she could dodge or endure even that.
A fearless, reckless confidence.
Still, if one aspired to be a hero, that kind of spirit was necessary.
"But you're too soft."
Keening ring!
The man took a stance and reached out toward Tiona's approaching weapon.
He concentrated mana into his hands, arms, and legs.
Soon, a strange aura enveloped his entire body.
"Hup!"
Thud!
First, the man's left hand struck the flat of Tiona's weapon, shoving it slightly aside.
But her weapon was a massive double-bladed sword.
Tiona used the momentum of that shove to spin the weapon around, closing the distance even further.
Clang!
"Huh?"
"Close-quarters combat is essential for a modern mage."
Second, his left knee rose while his elbow dropped simultaneously, trapping her weapon between them and pinning it in place.
Tiona was momentarily flustered.
But she reacted quickly, letting go of her weapon and rushing him with a clenched fist.
"Still. One move left."
Whoosh!
Third, as his raised leg came down, his remaining hand moved.
Tiona tried to respond, but...
Thwack!
"Kah?!"
An incomprehensible, impossible-to-ignore shock surged through her.
She didn't understand what had happened.
All she knew was that in a fleeting instant, two vital points had been struck almost simultaneously: the back of her neck and her solar plexus.
Had the slime's tentacles ambushed her?
No, that wasn't it.
The two tentacles were still extended, not yet withdrawn.
Then why?
"As expected, the 'snake' is reliable. Its performance is solid."
Snake.
Yes, it felt exactly like being bitten by a snake in the jungle.
With that absurd thought, Tiona's eyes closed.
As she reeled from the blow to her vitals, the man's hand clamped tightly around her neck and hurled her straight to the ground.
With that, her consciousness sank beneath the veil.