The distance between Lefiya and the monster closed in a heartbeat.
Vines lashed outward like whips, tearing grooves into the ground as the creature surged forward.
Compared to before, this particular plant monster was slower... its movements heavier, more sluggish... because of the damage it had already sustained from fighting the Amazon Twins earlier.
Several of its petals had been violently torn away, and many of its vines hung limp or half-ripped, leaking thick green sap that splattered across the stone floor.
Its overall combat strength had been reduced by nearly an entire level.
This monster was clearly on its last legs.
Lefiya was aware of that.
But weakened did not mean harmless.
Her heart thundered in her chest.
Too fast...
Too close...
Instinct screamed at her to retreat, to put distance between herself and the charging beast.
But Lefiya refused to run away.
She stayed firm and planted her feet.
'Immerse yourself in the process.'
Judas' words surfaced in her mind, cutting through the rising panic.
She let go of every unnecessary thought... the fear, the doubt, the countless what ifs that usually flooded her thoughts.
The flow of mind gathered around her staff, steady and obedient.
The trembling in her hands eased as her breathing fell into rhythm.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Each breath aligned with the pulse of the spell forming within her.
The world around her dimmed, fading into darkness, until only two things remained in her vision...
Herself.
And the enemy before her.
"I wish upon the name of Wishe. Ancestors of the forest, proud brethren. Answer my call and come to the plains...."
A vine whip suddenly lashed out toward her right, cutting through the air with a sharp crack.
Lefiya's ears twitched.
She shifted her body just in time, the vine grazing past her robes by a hair's breadth.
She didn't stop chanting.
She didn't lose rhythm.
"Connecting bonds, the pledge of paradise. Turn the circle and dance around. Come, ring of fairies.
A magic circle flared beneath her feet, emerald light blooming outward and illuminating the area.
"Please - give me strength... [Elf Ring]."
Tione, who had been watching with a serious expression, widened her eyes.
"Huh? Lefiya can do concurrent chanting now? Since when?"
She clearly remembered their most recent expedition... Lefiya standing still, completely vulnerable whenever she cast a spell, always needing someone to protect her.
"Hehe... looks like you need to catch up on the latest news, sis."
Tiona giggled, grinning proudly as she watched her friend in action.
"So you knew this whole time?"
Tione said, raising a brow.
"So I was worried for nothing."
While the Amazon sisters exchanged words, Judas' attention was fixed elsewhere.
'Elf Ring.'
His eyes narrowed slightly as he analyzed every aspect of Lefiya's magic.
He had heard of this spell before.
Simply put, it was a cheat-like magic... one that allowed Lefiya to replicate any spell as long as it originated from an elf.
It was the reason she had earned the alias Thousand Elf.
The reason she had become Riveria Ljos Alf's disciple... and her successor.
And also the reason she was one of the exceedingly rare individuals capable of bypassing the three-magic-slot rule.
Lefiya Viridis was undoubtedly a genius.
In fact, in terms of potential alone, she surpassed even Riveria herself.
That was Judas' most honest evaluation.
And yet...
'Why didn't someone like her show up in the anime?'
The thought crossed his mind naturally.
Perhaps she was one of those characters destined to appear later in the story.
After all, after Season 3...
That was where Judas' knowledge... passed on to him by Alden... ended.
Everything beyond that...
He would have to witness with his own eyes.
...
As adventurers who had survived repeated expeditions into the deep floors, making such observations was not optional... it was instinct.
When facing the unknown, hesitation born from ignorance was often fatal.
Knowing what an enemy could do... how it moved, what it reacted to, what it prioritized... could mean the difference between walking back to the surface... or never returning at all.
Even Lefiya had already noticed it.
This plant-like monster reacted abnormally strongly to magic power.
Every time she gathered mind, its movements sharpened.
Its attention locked onto her completely, abandoning every other target as if they no longer existed.
That was why the monster continued to chase her relentlessly while ignoring the others.
And Lefiya understood that better than anyone.
Yet despite the monster's relentless pursuit, she didn't stop.
She didn't break her stride.
She continued chanting.
Beads of sweat rolled down her face, dripping from her chin as her breath grew ragged, yet the words continued to spill from her lips without pause.
"Harbinger of the end, the white snow. Blow with the wind before the twilight..."
The monster slammed its massive body into a wall, rebounded, and lashed its vines wildly, thorns scraping against stone as it snapped its jaws, trying to tear into its prey.
Still, Lefiya did not halt.
"!!?"
"This chant—"
"It's Riveria's magic."
The realization struck the Amazon Twins at the same time.
They recognized it instantly.
"Closing light, the freezing land. Blizzard, the three severe winters - my name is Alf..."
The magic circle beneath Lefiya's feet expanded, intricate runes layering over one another as emerald light deepened into an icy, luminous blue.
This was no ordinary spell.
It was magic bestowed by the Princess of the Elves herself... the woman publicly recognized as the most formidable mage in the world.
An absolute zero freezing magic.
"Wynn Fimbulvetr!"
Lefiya raised her staff the moment the chant concluded...
And what followed was not sound...
But blinding, absolute light.
The light swallowed everything.
For a brief instant, sound, color, even motion were erased beneath the overwhelming brilliance pouring from Lefiya's staff.
CRACK—!
The temperature plummeted.
A shockwave of frost exploded outward, coating the area around them in an instant.
Ice raced across stone like living veins, sealing cracks and freezing the air itself.
At the center of it all stood the plant monster.
Its charging body froze mid-motion.
Vines stiffened, petals crystallized, and the green sap spilling from its wounds turned solid in a heartbeat.
A layer of ice enveloped it completely.
Silence followed.
An oppressive, reverent silence.
Lefiya stood there, staff still raised, her entire body trembling as the residual magic power bled out of her.
The magic circle beneath her feet flickered weakly before fading away.
Her knees buckled.
Before she could fall, she forced herself to stay upright, planting the butt of her staff into the frozen ground and gasping for air.
"I-I did it."
She whispered, disbelief lacing her voice.
She had finished the chant.
She had maintained it under pressure.
And she had executed it without anyone's help or protection.
Lefiya finally lowered her staff.
Her hands were shaking.
Her lungs burned.
Yet for the first time, there was no shame weighing down her chest.
Only exhaustion...
And a quiet, undeniable pride.
Judas stepped forward at last.
"...Well done," he said simply.
Two words.
But to Lefiya...
They meant everything.
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