Leon said he had a counterstrategy—
but in truth, he still needed to think it through.
A seasoned fourth-tier man-eating flower existed here?
He'd never heard of that in his previous-life game experience.
But this side quest only opened on the Part Two timeline—seven years later.
So it wasn't strange if, before the side quest became available, some passing adventurers had already wiped out that fourth-tier plant.
"Iris—besides Armor-Piercing Light Spikes and flight magic, what other intermediate spells do you have?"
"One more," Iris said. "Light Radiance."
Light Radiance?
Leon's mind stirred.
This was the upgraded form of Light Illumination—just like Armor-Piercing Light Spikes was the upgraded form of Light Instant Spikes. It was a wide-area, high-radiation light spell driven by greater mana, and its light also carried a purifying effect against foul energies.
It was generally used for battlefield cleansing, large-area anti-evil purging, or melting and clearing ice-and-snow environments.
As an aside: the difficulty jump from beginner to intermediate magic wasn't linear—it was exponential.
Spell imagery and mana consumption grew increasingly complex as tiers rose.
Without class amplification, even a fourth-tier caster trying to use intermediate magic purely through raw force would find it extremely difficult.
And there was also an upper ceiling to "just pour in more mana to make it stronger."
Like how a single-cylinder engine can't out-accelerate a four-cylinder engine no matter how hard you step on the gas.
Once a spell is invented, its core "maximum output" is essentially fixed.
Unless the caster's proficiency, understanding, and imagery control have reached a level that turns decay into wonder, they can only operate within that ceiling.
Leon had trained beginner spells to an extremely high level—chantless and high-speed casting—he could honestly be called a king of beginner magic.
But he still couldn't "rank them up" the way techniques could, because magic's depth and rigidity far surpassed body-based combat techniques.
Still, once he advanced to second tier, his casting costs would drop again, and his trump cards would increase.
"How much mana does Light Radiance cost?" Leon asked.
"Probably about the same as Armor-Piercing Light Spikes."
So roughly 15–20 mana, then?
After thinking, Leon asked, "Can you compress its coverage the way you do with Light Illumination?"
"It's very hard," Iris admitted, lowering her head in embarrassment. "I'm not that proficient with it yet."
She'd already guessed Leon's plan.
Light Radiance's biggest advantage was its enormous coverage. If she could compress it into a narrow beam, she could threaten the man-eating flower from over a hundred meters away.
With the terrifying heat created by concentrated light, it should deal huge damage.
And it would be hard to defend against—subtle, long-range, and safe, as long as they were careful. Vines wouldn't easily reach them.
But Iris knew her limits. She couldn't do it.
Freely controlling an intermediate spell's range and output usually required fourth-tier class amplification at minimum.
"It's fine," Leon said. "I don't need you to do anything that extreme."
He raised a finger and gently tapped Iris's lowered forehead.
"Even moderate damage is enough. The priority is your safety. And compared to the man-eating flower, we have a huge advantage—and it has a huge weakness. Do you know what it is?"
Iris held the spot he tapped and puffed her lips like she wanted to say something, but Leon's question pulled her attention away. She answered:
"It can't move its main body freely?"
"Exactly!" Leon said. "And that means we can treat it as a long-term ranged spell practice target!"
"That makes sense! We have abundant mana replenishment sources—we can stand far away, keep wearing it down, and also improve our spell proficiency at the same time!"
Iris's gemstone-yellow eyes lit up.
For high-tier casters, this might be unnecessary—just brute-force a few intermediate spells and call it done.
After all, a man-eating flower was fundamentally a weak monster. It was terrifying to low-tiers, but not that special at equal tier.
But for Leon and Iris, this approach was perfect.
…
A short while later, the two silently appeared outside the castle's perimeter.
The straight-line distance to the man-eating flower was a full 120 meters.
Far enough that the vines couldn't quickly reach them.
They began casting in turn.
Iris, of course, used intermediate Light Radiance.
Armor-Piercing Light Spikes had excellent penetration, but its effective range topped out around 70–80 meters—beyond that, the spikes couldn't maintain solidity.
As Iris waved her staff, a massive amount of mana gathered.
"Great Sun, blazing bright!"
"Sun that burns the dark—sky-roaming radiance!"
"Shine forth—Saint Hermes' blazing golden light!"
A fierce, overwhelming light abruptly appeared near the cavern ceiling, forming a scorching ring that swept down and covered the man-eating flower.
The flower writhed in place like a snake.
It detected the two of them casting from afar and lashed vines toward them.
But at this distance, the vines were already stretched. By the time they slapped over, Leon and Iris easily dodged.
This time, Iris used the incantation to strengthen her spell control, compressing Light Radiance somewhat.
But she was still a beginner at it—her compression wasn't clean. A hundred-meter ring only shrank to a little over fifty meters.
When it hit the flower, it caused some drying and yellowing, but still couldn't deal major damage.
Of course, against undead-type monsters, that kind of radiance would likely purify them instantly.
Against water-type monsters, it would probably do excellent damage too.
Unfortunately, the enemy ahead was a near-seasoned fourth-tier man-eating flower.
"Nice work, Iris. Eat some jerky to restore mana," Leon said. "Now it's my turn to fire one."
After dodging vines that were already losing strength at this range, Leon began chanting.
That made Iris's eyes widen.
Because this was the first time she had ever heard Leon chant.
"Flame shot—leap and dance!"
"Core of detonation—fire that scorches the sky!"
"Fly forth—Hephaestus' crimson iron pellet!"
As mana gathered in Leon's palm, a deep red fire bolt the size of a water bucket formed out of nothing and blasted forward.
Beginner magic, modified Fire Bolt!
Mana: -5.
The original Fire Bolt produced five fist-sized fire bolts at once.
Leon's modified version fused those five into a single stronger bolt, increasing range and speed.
At the same time, he used chanting and mana to push the spell right to its power ceiling.
Immediately after, he cast another spell at high speed without chanting.
Whoosh!!
A thick gale surged out, wrapping the high-speed fire bolt and blasting it forward.
It was the 5-mana version of the beginner wind spell Gale.
Combined, it formed Leon's pseudo-intermediate spell:
Hurricane Flame Bolt.
Compared to the earlier pseudo-intermediate Tornado and Cold Front that cost 9 mana, this one had significantly longer and more precise attack range.