Just like when Kain first led his team to defeat Cecilia, what he did was control very minor elents, but those elents triggered a chain reaction, ultimately pushing Cecilia step by step towards defeat.
To ra’s question, Kain simply replied,
"Because I noticed. After entering that state, this person did nothing else besides using physical attacks and regeneration. Whereas if he truly mastered [Earth Magic], this battle would have been much harder."
"aning... that’s his limit?"
"Exactly. He was pushed to his absolute limit, causing his perception of external factors to narrow significantly. ra, you know that Magi need to be very focused when casting magic, right? And this guy had almost no breaks."
"Oh, I see."
ra nodded in understanding.
The Final Showdown Looms
anwhile, while the two of them were still conversing leisurely, Faith’s team had already eliminated Tolimus’s team.
Fortunately, Tolimus had lost consciousness and was eliminated before seeing Kain defeat Cody. Otherwise, he might have died of rage, realizing Kain didn’t even bother to reinforce his team.
At this point, Kain turned towards Faith’s team. ra, standing beside him, also directed a serious gaze towards them, especially towards Elna.
Although Tolimus’s four team mbers had tried to resist, Faith’s team’s nurical advantage and superior average strength ant that all of Tolimus’s efforts only managed to eliminate one mber of Faith’s team.
The unlucky person eliminated was only Selena, the weakest mber of the team.
This ant that now, Kain and ra’s opponents were still four people.
Elna and the other two stared intently at the two young Magi who had just eliminated Cody, their strongest mber. Kain and ra were indeed formidable opponents, but compared to them, the two of them had expended more energy.
After all, they had just faced Cody.
Faith picked up the rolled-up map that had belonged to Tolimus, and smiled at Kain.
"Does this battle need to continue?"
"Considering our numbers and their consumption, we’ve definitely won."
Although Faith said that, Kain knew Faith was trying to buy ti for his team’s healer to recover his mbers.
But a healer? Kain also had one.
"Katie!"
Kain shouted. Imdiately, Katie ran from a nearby bush. Without a word, she began healing Kain and ra. From her performance, Katie’s proficiency in this area seed slightly superior to Faith’s healer.
Clearly, Katie was also a contingency plan for Kain.
In reality, both Kain and Faith had long seen through this situation, and their struggle arose from that understanding.
Faith had known early on that Kain had decided to eliminate a mber from Tolimus’s team. This was the only way Kain could avoid being torn apart by both opposing teams; Tolimus would be forced to depend on him, and Kain would then use Tolimus’s team as a living shield to exhaust and pin down Faith’s team.
Therefore, Faith had already prepared to bring Elna here, creating a one-sided destruction of Tolimus’s team. He had also anticipated that Kain would bring ra here in a similar fashion to how he had brought Elna. This would then give Tolimus new hope, once again making him a tool in Kain’s hands.
That’s why Faith sent Cody out.
Cody was very strong, but strength wasn’t Faith’s only reason for choosing him. Faith chose Cody to face ra and Kain because he was the one who could resist and survive the longest, and the facts had proven that true.
If Cody won, all the better, but if not, he only needed to tie down Kain and ra long enough for Faith’s team to finish off Tolimus’s team, thus forming an encirclent. Kain’s team would be certainly defeated.
At this point, with Tolimus’s map in hand, Faith could boldly lead his team to hunt down Pegasus’s team, claim the victory flag, and secure an undeniable victory.
It could be said that Faith had accurately judged the battle’s situation, ticulously set up every small detail in his strategy, utilized all available elents, including his enemies, and allocated combat power reasonably. Even all the strategies Kain had deployed from the beginning were understood by Faith and used as building blocks to perfect his own strategy.
He was a devilish strategist.
Even Kain couldn’t help but admit this was his most challenging battle yet. His opponent was soone who calculated almost everything without missing a beat.
Compared to Faith, even the monster king in the Dungeon, whom Kain had described as "not bad," couldn’t compare.
Unfortunately for Faith, Kain defeated Cody faster than anticipated, even before Faith’s team could thoroughly eliminate Tolimus’s team. This led to the final encircling blow having to dissolve in regret.
Consequently, the favorable situation for Faith gradually reverted to a balanced one.
So, in this situation, did Kain rely bet on winning against Cody to draw with Faith?
Not entirely.
Faith used Kain’s strategy as a springboard, and Kain also used his own strategy as a springboard.
Did Kain eliminate a mber of Tolimus’s team at the crucial mont just to maintain his position? Of course not entirely, because he also wanted to eliminate Tolimus’s team.
And there were many preparatory actions taken before that. For example, Kain led ra here using a type of cipher carved into trees that he had taught ra and Myra when they first prepared to enter a Dungeon together. This allowed ra to track him.
In short, this was truly a battle of strategic equals.
Kain faced Faith, their gazes locking. Kain saw excitent in Faith’s eyes, while Faith saw determination in Kain’s.
Suddenly, Kain offered a wry smile and said,
"It seems you’re really enjoying all of this, aren’t you?"
Faith chuckled in response.
"Of course, thank you for a truly satisfying ga of chess, Kain. It’s ti to end this now."
"You’re right, it’s ti to end this."
Just as Kain finished speaking, the ground seed to tremble slightly from a shockwave.
Everyone paused, turning towards the source of the tremor. From the shadows of the forest, Myra erged, with several Golems trailing behind her.
Kain had played his trump card.
Everything that had transpired until now was rely to exhaust Faith’s forces, leading up to Myra’s arrival with those hidden weapons.
Now, victory was undeniably tilting in Kain’s favor.
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