Leon was just about to open his [Storage Space] so he could check the items he had received from killing the carnivorous plants.
But before he could even bring up the panel, a sudden commotion among the nearby players caught his attention.
"Holy shit, look at her!"
"Damn... don’t get too close, she seems way too strong..."
The voices were filled with both amazent and caution, and the direction everyone was staring toward made Leon pause before he slowly turned around to see what was happening.
"Oh."
It didn’t take long for him to recognize the source of the excitent.
It was... Celeste again.
She was currently surrounded by a large horde of monsters that had gathered around her.
And yet despite the number of enemies around her, her expression remained completely calm and neutral as she rushed forward with her spear firmly gripped in her hands.
SLASH!
Her weapon moved with incredible precision.
With a single swing, she cut one of the approaching monsters in half.
And the mont the blade passed through the creature’s body, a burst of blazing phoenix flas erupted outward from the strike, scorching several of the nearby enemies that had attempted to surround her.
The flas crackled violently across the vines covering the ground.
But Celeste did not stop moving.
A vine-like creature suddenly burst out from beneath the soil behind her, its body twisting violently as it lunged toward her back in an attempt to catch her off guard.
However, she reacted instantly.
Her body moved with smooth precision as she jumped into the air, narrowly avoiding the attack before spinning around mid-air and driving her spear downward.
THUD!
The spear pierced straight through the monster’s body and pinned it into the ground before the phoenix flas erupted again, burning the creature from the inside out.
Celeste landed gracefully before pulling the spear back out and continuing forward.
The battle around her was chaotic.
Monsters attacked from all directions, erging from the vines, lunging from underground, or charging from the front.
But she responded to every attack flawlessly.
She spun her spear in elegant arcs, cut through enemies with powerful thrusts, and released bursts of flas whenever her weapon struck sothing.
Leon watched the entire exchange carefully.
’Her spearmanship is amazing.’
Every movent she made was precise and efficient.
There was no hesitation or wasted motion.
’She really is very strong.’
Death did not carry the sa consequences for phoenix-race players.
Even if they were killed, they could eventually revive through their race’s special abilities.
Because of that, many fought recklessly, relying on their racial traits to compensate for mistakes.
But Celeste was completely different.
Despite having that advantage, she fought with incredible discipline.
Leon could barely find any openings in her defense.
Every movent she made left her ready to counter the next attack.
Eventually, Celeste seed to gather energy into her spear as she noticed another group of monsters approaching from the distance.
She spun the weapon once in her hands before suddenly throwing it forward.
BOOM!
The spear pierced through several monsters at once, impaling them in a straight line before exploding into a wave of blazing flas that spread outward and burned everything nearby.
At least a dozen monsters died instantly. Even Leon found himself slightly impressed.
Of course, he was capable of defeating these creatures as well, and probably even faster.
But seeing Celeste fight like that was still satisfying.
However, just as the battle began tilting completely in her favor—
ROOOOAR!
A powerful roar suddenly echoed across the plains.
The sound was deep and heavy, vibrating through the ground as if sothing massive had awakened beneath the vines.
Everyone nearby turned toward the source.
The ground began to shake slightly.
And then a gigantic creature slowly erged from the earth.
---
[Wild Plant King (Boss)]
[Level: 65]
[Talent: Deep Earth Affinity (B-Level)]
[Combat Power: 380,000]
[Details: A lone plant chosen by the "Will of Nature" to beco the king of other plants.]
---
The monster stood nearly three ters tall. Its body was ford entirely from thick twisting vines.
Bwere blooming across its body, giving it an oddly majestic yet terrifying appearance.
ROOOOAR!
The creature roared again as the vines forming its arms suddenly extended outward.
They lashed toward Celeste with trendous force.
Many of the nearby players reacted instantly.
Several of them turned around and ran without hesitation.
Even though every person present had been strong enough to be transported to [Higher Domain #1], none of them wanted to risk their lives fighting a boss monster like that.
Leon, however, did not move.
He calmly readied both his sword and his staff, observing the situation carefully.
He could step in at any mont if necessary.
But for now, he wanted to see how Celeste would deal with such an opponent.
At first, the battle seed to go surprisingly well for her.
Phoenix flas were a natural weakness for plant-based monsters.
Every ti her spear struck the boss, the fire spread across its vines and forced it to retreat montarily.
But even so, the [Wild Plant King] was still a boss-level creature. It adapted quickly.
More and more vines began erging from the ground around Celeste, slowly surrounding her and limiting her movents.
Then suddenly—
SLAP!
A massive vine erupted behind her.
Celeste was busy deflecting two other attacks in front of her and couldn’t react in ti.
The vine was about to strike her directly from behind.
And so at that exact mont, Leon decided to act.
Powerful Fireball!
He launched a blazing sphere of flas directly toward the boss monster.
BOOM!
The explosion struck the [Wild Plant King] squarely, interrupting its attacks and forcing the surrounding vines to recoil.
Leon’s fireball alone wasn’t enough to kill the boss.
But it was clear the creature had taken heavy damage.
Celeste quickly turned her head toward Leon.
Her eyes widened slightly when she recognized him.
Still, she gave him a quick nod, silently thanking him for the assistance.
ROOOOOAR!
The boss monster roared furiously.
Its body began shifting as the thorns across its vines sharpened, gathering energy as it prepared to unleash its strongest ability.
But before it could release the attack—
Fwoosh!
Sothing suddenly erged from Celeste’s chest.
It looked like a tiny bird made of flas: a small phoenix.
"Kyu~"
The creature floated gently in the air. And Celeste smiled softly as she saw it.
She reached out and patted the small phoenix.
"Kill it," she said playfully. "And I’ll give you a treat."
"KYU!"
The tiny phoenix, roughly the size of a cat, flapped its fiery wings and floated higher into the air.
Then—
TORRENT OF FLAS!
A massive pillar of fire erupted from the ground beneath the boss monster.
The flas surged upward violently, engulfing the [Wild Plant King] entirely.
"...What?"
Even Leon was caught off guard by the sheer scale of the attack.
He instinctively raised his arm to shield his face from the heat.
When the flas finally faded, the result was obvious.
The boss monster had completely disappeared. Its entire body had been reduced to ash.
The small phoenix slowly floated back down and landed comfortably on top of Celeste’s crimson hair.
"Thank you~" she said happily.
Leon ignored the system panels appearing around him for now and stepped forward.
"I did say we’d et again," he said with a grin. "Though I didn’t expect it to happen... this quickly."
Celeste nodded slightly, "I appreciate the help again."
"You would’ve been fine," Leon replied calmly. "You have that thing after all."
Celeste gently patted the phoenix.
"Her na is Pyra. I received her as the reward for completing the S-Rank assessnt in the [Interdiate Divine Temple]."
Leon raised an eyebrow, "And she hatched instantly?"
"It only took a few hours," Celeste explained. "But we’re still getting to know each other. She’s very strong."
Leon imdiately activated [Appraisal] on the small phoenix.
---
[Queen of Phoenix’s]
[Na: Pyra]
[Level: 2]
[Rank: Ascendant]
[Skills: Torrent of Flas, Fla Sense...]
---
"Wow."
An Ascendant-Rank pet. That rank was only one level below Divine.
And considering her title as the "Queen of Phoenix’s," Pyra clearly possessed enormous potential.
’Amazing.’
Leon slowly extended his hand and gently patted the small phoenix.
"Kyu~"
The flas surrounding Pyra burned slightly, and Leon could feel the heat against his skin, but it still felt surprisingly pleasant.
Celeste blinked in surprise.
"I’m shocked she allowed you to do that," she admitted. "It took several attempts before she let touch her!"
Leon laughed, "Hah, maybe it’s because I saved you earlier."
Then he suddenly realized sothing.
"Actually... that reminds . Why didn’t you summon Pyra when Alexander tried to attack you earlier?"
Celeste sighed slightly, "I don’t fully control her yet. She cos out whenever she wants."
"Oh."
Leon understood imdiately. Their bond probably wasn’t strong enough yet.
Still, judging from their interaction, Pyra’s loyalty toward Celeste would likely increase quickly over ti.
"I don’t bla her," Celeste said. "But I still need to beco stronger myself."
Leon nodded. The events had unfolded in a rather unexpected way.
But one thing was certain.
Since they were both in the sa [Higher Domain], their paths were bound to cross again, over and over.
So Leon decided to ask sothing instead.
"If you’re planning to participate in the event at [Divine Academy City], why don’t we just stay together for now?"
Celeste froze slightly, and her entire body trembled.
She had actually wanted to ask him the sa thing earlier, back when he saved her from the [Imperial Guild].1
But she hadn’t dared to take that risk.
Now, after Leon had helped her again, and even Pyra had accepted him...
She felt much safer around him. Slowly, a warm smile appeared on her face.
"You know what?" Her voice carried newfound confidence, "Why not?"1
...
A/N
The second waifu is here, I hope I did a good enough job introducing her!
Intense action stuff is about to happen soon, trust !
Yes, Leon did say she could take her ti, but he decided to take the initiative himself now.Celeste is not schyzophrenic, she just gained enough confidence to accept to get a party mber after refusing everyone else.
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