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"You're a one trick pony, lad. Is that all you know?" Borfus mocked him with a rough laugh, charging toward the other Thrallgus with his shield raised high.
"I'm learning, old dwarf! Stop annoying me!" Reinhardt complained, gripping his weapon tighter as he followed close behind.
"Let's quickly take care of the other two," Archivald said firmly, his polearm already spinning into position.
Elizabeth nodded as she saw the pair of monstrous beasts coming straight at her. She quickly stepped back, her protective barriers fading away as the two creatures charged forward with furious speed.
Their heavy claws scraped against the stone floor, sending sparks flying into the air. She moved away from their reaching claws with incredible and dexterous, agile movements, weaving between their attacks like a shadow.
Afterward, she conjured Demon Bite and quickly covered the monsters with a flurry of dark, snapping bites that tore into their hardened scaled skin. The attacks left deep marks and weakened their tough outer layers, giving the other three the opening they needed to finish the job.
Borfus took the incoming attacks with his sturdy shield, bracing himself against the impact before swinging his heavy hammer and striking their hands with crushing force, breaking the bones with loud cracks.
Archivald advanced without hesitation into the front lines, absorbing several blows against his armor before fighting back with his polearm, swinging it in wide arcs to mercilessly cleave into the monsters' thick bodies.
Reinhardt, finding the perfect opportunity, used Grass Cutting on the monsters' knees, slicing through tendons and forcing them to collapse face-first onto the ground. He then moved in quickly to strike the back of their heads with precise, powerful blows.
"They're doing well, but what about the rest?" Elizabeth wondered quietly to herself.
She directed her eyes toward the rest of the adventurers still fighting across the arena. Some of them were trembling in fear, their faces pale, but they continued to fight nonetheless. The Thrallgus were formidable monsters that required either excellent teamwork or overwhelming individual strength to take down. One wrong move could easily end in disaster.
The Oni Girl seemed to be doing fine on her own at first, cutting down lesser beasts with clean sweeps of her naginata. But she was suddenly cornered by three Thrallgus as a larger Berserk variant advanced rapidly toward her, roaring loudly and snapping its jaws. She avoided the first charge, but the other three attempted to block her path and close in from the sides.
"Tsk!"
She swung her naginata mightily, cutting through the monsters with incredible precision and sending sprays of dark blood into the air. Yet she miscalculated her next set of movements and ended up tripped onto the floor. She hit herself hard on the chin and cried out in pain as one of the monsters punched her down with a heavy fist.
"Agh!"
The Thrallgus smiled viciously at her, showing their sharp white teeth as they began drooling, clearly imagining the delightful meal that this small Oni could become. They grabbed her limbs and started trying to pull them apart with brutal strength.
"Aaagggh! L-Let go of me!!!" she screamed, her voice filled with raw panic.
Her arm that held the naginata was forced back, and her hand was crushed under a powerful grip. The weapon fell from her fingers as she cried out in agony, watching her fingers become completely destroyed. Tears streamed from her eyes as her usual stoic and cool façade quickly dropped in this moment of dire adversity. Pain and fear overtook her features completely.
"Now!"
A strong voice echoed across the battlefield right as she thought it was over. Five Adventurers roared together and attacked the Thrallgus that were trying to tear her apart, taking advantage of the moment when the monsters had all turned their backs. A few swordsmen stabbed deeply into their backs, a single spearwoman thrust her spear forward and pierced the spine of another, axe wielders cleaved into the monsters' rear sides, and a magician conjured paralyzing thunder shocks mixed with exploding fireballs.
The constant barrage of explosive attacks made the monsters roar in pain, groaning furiously as they swung their long arms against their attackers. Several of the adventurers were sent crashing down and rolling across the floor from the heavy impacts.
But this chaos created a perfect opening. Elizabeth stepped forward in an instant, suddenly appearing above the Thrallgus Berserk that was about to harm the Oni Girl. She looked down on the creature, her eyes gleaming bright red with focused intensity.
"?!"
The Thrallgus was visibly shocked. It was as if she had suddenly disappeared from one place and then reappeared directly above its head. The monster had been completely unaware of Elizabeth's previous Class as a Rogue and the incredible Skill called Stealth that came with it.
There was also another Skill within that Class, one that had even managed to Rank Up and become far stronger.
Knife Rain.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
"G-GAAAAH?!"
The Thrallgus vomited blood as dozens of small knives made of ice pierced its entire body from multiple angles. Blood poured freely onto the floor. It did not even realize the moment these knives had stabbed into it, yet at some point Elizabeth had thrown them all in a continuous rain of deadly ice.
The powerful Rank 4 monster's eyes rolled back as it collapsed onto the ground, blood spreading in a wide pool beneath it. This allowed Elizabeth to reach the Oni Girl safely and extend her hand. She began healing the severe injuries using Harmonious Restoration combined with Small Corruption Touch through her Skill Weaver ability.
This combination created a temporary fusion called "Dark Restoration Touch," which healed even Demons such as Oni without harming them through the pure light of Harmony. Regular light-based healing often struggled with demonic physiology, making this method far more effective.
"My hand..." the Oni Girl whispered in shock as her crushed fingers recovered almost instantly under the dark green glow. "You... You're amazing. How strong... how strong are you?!"
"Strong enough," Elizabeth replied with a warm smile. "I'm still lacking compared to many other people out there, but that's why I want to become an Adventurer. So I can learn more and grow alongside other people."
"..." The Oni Girl felt a wave of shame for having needed rescue, but she accepted Elizabeth's offered hand and stood up carefully. "Thank you. You're Elizabeth, correct? I never introduced myself properly. I am Kurogane Hikari. Or just Hikari for short. Outside of Yamato, people don't usually call each other by their clan names, is that right?"
"Uh, nope," said Elizabeth with a small laugh. "Well, nice to meet you, Hikari. I hope we can get along. That's a pretty name!"
"Thank you," Hikari nodded with a kind smile, the tension in her shoulders easing slightly. "Ah, watch out!"
She flashed forward in a blur, appearing behind Elizabeth and swinging her naginata with full force. A potent shockwave was unleashed as the blade was struck by a Berserk Thrallgus' heavy claws.
CLAAASH!
RUMBLE!
The floor beneath them cracked lightly under the impact as the giant creature roared, swinging its claws with no refined technique and relying only on raw power. Hikari swiftly stepped to the side to avoid the next strike, but she realized Elizabeth was still standing in the danger zone.
"Elizabeth, run!"
"I thought those were the last ones. Are there even more coming? Is this even legal anymore?" Elizabeth muttered under her breath.
She disappeared once more, appearing high in the air right behind the Thrallgus as if she had never been standing on the ground before.
"?!" Hikari gasped, noticing the refined Skill at work. "She has Stealth?! And an advanced form... Tier 2?! Those knives from before... Is she a Ninja? Or a Rogue?"
"Rogue, or well, was," Elizabeth smiled from above.
As she fell downward, she summoned two sharp knives made of ice and threw them using Knife Rain. The blades pierced the Berserk Thrallgus' eyes with perfect accuracy, blinding it completely.
"Now, Hikari!"
"...!"
Hikari nodded sharply and swiftly unsheathed her blade once more. A Skill activated that enhanced her attack speed and power the moment the sword left its sheath. The attack struck true, beheading the giant in an instant by severing its head with a single clean and powerful slash.
"Wow!"
Elizabeth clapped her hands together in genuine admiration.
"That was amazing, Hikari. You're the real deal, a Samurai through and through!"
Hikari sighed and blushed a little, the color turning her blue skin a soft shade of purple.
"You flatter me too much. I have not even completed my training... I had run away from home, seeking new opportunities here after... well, no, never mind."
"Huh?"
Elizabeth became a little interested in her background and knew she could use Nebula of Memories to look deeper, but she decided not to pursue the situation for now. Some stories were better left until the person was ready to share them.
"I think we're done here!" Borfus laughed loudly, standing triumphantly over a fallen monster's head. "Gahahaha! We did it!"
"That was hard, but we managed to survive," Archivald said with clear pride in his voice, resting his polearm on his shoulder.
Reinhardt sighed in deep relief. "W-Wait! It's finally over?!"
Elizabeth looked around carefully and found that all the adventurer candidates had survived to some extent. Even the trembling ghost girl she had not yet had a chance to speak with had managed to thrive, though she had spent most of the fight hiding behind cover.
However.
RUMBLE!
"What's that?!"
"Wait, they're not done yet?!"
"Why are there even more coming here?!"
"The monsters are coming!"
Without even being able to catch a proper break, the candidates watched in rising horror as the heavy gates trembled once more. A second batch of monsters began pouring into the arena.
After the Thrallgus and the few Berserk variants had been taken down, the candidates had truly believed this trial was finished.
But they were wrong.
Alfrion furiously tapped several buttons within the holographic windows floating around him, releasing a second and far more dangerous batch of monsters into the field.
"Tsk, who do you think you are? You think you deserve to be adventurers even after all of this? This is nothing. You have yet to even face what being an adventurer is truly all about!"
The furious Ice Elf quickly brought over even more terrifying creatures. This time they were not Thrallgus but an assortment of powerful beasts.
Giant lions with burning manes and fiery gold eyes, known as Blazing Mane Lions.
Tall ostriches covered in icy feathers with razor-sharp beaks, called Ice Beak Ostriches.
Large giraffes covered in swirling white clouds, with spinning tornadoes constantly circling their long necks, named Wind Soaring Giraffes.
And lastly, sleek panthers coated in a thick veil of pure darkness, known as Shadow Panthers.
These were not ordinary monsters. They possessed Elemental Magic and Spiritual Energies, and they were catalogued as Spirit Beasts, similar to the ones Elizabeth had faced inside the Ice Dragon Realm.
There were only three of each type, but every single one was a dangerous foe. Although they were officially classified as Rank 4, their Elemental Powers and Magic raised their effective difficulty to something closer to Rank 5.
Together, this entire group of monsters could easily massacre an entire small town if there was no one strong enough to defend it.
It was a ridiculous challenge. Alfrion was demanding these novices to take down creatures capable of crushing them to a pulp with a single swipe of their claws or a burst of elemental force.
"Are you insane?!" Reinhardt shouted furiously, his face red with anger.
"Damn elf! You want us to die or something?! How do you expect us to fight against this?!" Borfus roared, slamming his hammer against the ground.
"S-Spirit Beasts...! And so many of them?!" Archivald trembled slightly, swallowing hard as he stared at the new arrivals. "This is impossible. The gap in power is too vast. We're not dealing with simple brute strength or hard scales anymore...!"
Alfrion responded with a gentle, almost mocking smile. "Well, you've been receiving the help of a gifted young magician a bit too much. I believe that was close to cheating. You should put in more effort as well. If you can at least take down one of each of these beasts, I'll consider all of you to have passed!"
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