After around a full minute of continuous fighting, where the remaining monsters threw everything they had at him in a desperate final attempt to overwhelm him, the result ended up being exactly what Leon had expected from the start.
Their last assault was completely useless.
One after another, the leftover [Pyroman Apes] and [Fire Hobgoblins] fell under Leon’s attacks, unable to keep up with the constant pressure of his spells and sword strikes.
Their numbers rapidly decreasing until there was nothing left standing in the clearing except for a single figure: the [Hellish Hobgoblin].
The boss slowly straightened its posture, its massive body still covered in wounds from Leon’s previous attacks.
Yet despite that, it lifted its flaming bat once more, its breathing heavy but steady enough to continue the fight.
Then, without warning—
Fwoosh!
It swung its weapon down with full force, aiming directly at Leon’s head.
Leon reacted instantly.
He raised his sword sideways, positioning it carefully to deflect the incoming strike rather than trying to tank it head-on, knowing very well that eting that kind of raw power directly would be a mistake.
But the mont the two weapons collided—
BOOM!
A powerful shockwave spread through the clearing as the impact echoed loudly, and even though Leon managed to block the attack, the force behind it was far greater than he anticipated, forcing his body downward slightly as his feet dug into the scorched ground beneath him.
’Tch...’ Leon narrowed his eyes slightly as he held his ground, ’The double strength blessing doesn’t apply here... it only works when I’m attacking...’
That realization was annoying, but not unexpected.
If he wanted to take full advantage of his strength multiplier, he needed to be on the offensive, and right now, the boss was forcing him into a defensive position.
Before Leon could even adjust—
Fwoosh!
The [Hellish Hobgoblin] lifted its bat again and brought it down once more.
BOOM!
Another impact. Then again.
Fwoosh! BOOM!
And again.
The cycle repeated itself rapidly, the boss relentlessly attacking without giving Leon any ti to breathe, each swing carrying enough power to crack the ground beneath them.
It was clear what it was trying to do: force Leon into a mistake and overwhelm him through sheer pressure.
But despite the intensity of the attacks, Leon didn’t panic.
He held his ground, carefully adjusting his stance with each impact, his muscles tightening as he absorbed the force and redirected it as best as he could, waiting for the right mont to strike back.
He knew that he couldn’t keep this up forever.
At so point, he would need to counterattack, even if it ant taking a hit in the process.
’I might have to drop the [Darkness Barrier] and just trade damage,’ Leon thought as he prepared himself ntally, his grip on his sword tightening slightly, ’As long as I can land a clean hit, this fight is over.’
He was ready to commit. But right as he was about to move—
Fwoosh!
A sudden blur cut through the air from beyond the clearing.
"GARGHHHHH!"
The [Hellish Hobgoblin] suddenly let out a roar of pain, its body jerking slightly as sothing struck it from the side.
Leon’s eyes widened as he instinctively looked up.
And what he saw imdiately made him understand: Celeste. She had arrived.
Her figure was suspended mid-air, her [Phoenix Wings] spread wide behind her, glowing with a fiery brilliance that made her stand out against the burning environnt around them.
The wings themselves were majestic, far larger than Pyra’s, yet clearly sharing the sa origin.
Flas were dancing along their edges as they carried her effortlessly through the air.
Without hesitation, Celeste had used her speed and montum to drive her spear directly into the side of the boss’s neck, managing to pierce through its defenses just enough to draw blood.
Of course, the attack wasn’t nearly strong enough to kill it.
Her [Combat Power] was still lower than the boss’s, and this kind of enemy couldn’t be taken down in a single strike by her alone.
But that didn’t matter. Because the mont she created that opening, it was already over.
While the [Hellish Hobgoblin] turned its attention toward Celeste, montarily distracted by the unexpected attack, Leon didn’t waste even a fraction of a second.
Fwoosh!
He dashed forward instantly, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.
Crescent Slash!
Energy gathered at the tip of his blade as he swung it forward, releasing a sharp crescent-shaped attack that forced the boss to react.
Instinctively, the [Hellish Hobgoblin] raised its bat to block.
Exactly what Leon wanted. Because at that exact mont—
"Die."
Leon was already right in front of it.
SLASH!
His sword moved in a clean, precise arc.
The blade cut through the air... and then through the boss’s neck without resistance.
For a brief second, everything went silent.
Then—
Thud!
The massive body of the [Hellish Hobgoblin] collapsed to the ground, its head separated cleanly, its life extinguished instantly.
Ding!
[You have killed x40 "Pyroman Apes" and gained 1,300,000 experience points.]
[You have killed x49 "Fire Hobgoblin" and gained 1,960,000 experience points.]
[You have killed "Hellish Hobgoblin (Boss)" and gained 800,000 experience points.]
[100% Drop Rate has triggered...]
"Nice," Leon muttered with a small, satisfied smile as he lowered his sword slightly.
But right after—
Beep!
[Unfortunately, your "Storage Space" is full so the remaining items will drop on the corpses.]
"Yeah... I expected that," Leon sighed lightly.
With only 160 slots available in his [Storage Space], and many of them already occupied, it was obvious that defeating nearly a hundred monsters at once would exceed his capacity.
All around him, glowing items began to appear, scattered across the battlefield, shining brightly as they remained on the ground instead of being automatically stored.
anwhile, Celeste slowly descended from the air, her wings fading away as she landed in front of him, a small but satisfied smile on her face.
But the mont Leon looked at her properly, his expression changed: there was blood on her side.
"Oh shit," Leon said imdiately as he stepped forward, his eyes narrowing slightly as he focused on the injury, "What happened?"
"I got clipped by one of the [Fire Hobgoblins] earlier," Celeste replied with a light smile, clearly trying to downplay it, "It’s nothing serious... my phoenix flas will heal it eventually."
Leon didn’t respond right away.
He simply looked at the wound for a few seconds, making sure it wasn’t anything critical, before finally nodding.
"Alright... just be careful," he said calmly, before shifting the topic, "By the way, how did you even find ?"
Celeste tilted her head slightly before answering.
"The monsters I was fighting suddenly stopped and rushed in this direction," she explained, "So I figured sothing big was happening here and followed them... I guess that worked out pretty well."
"Damn," Leon muttered.
That probably ant Emilia might also be heading this way. But for now, Leon turned his attention back to the battlefield.
It took him around ten full minutes to gather everything, moving from corpse to corpse, collecting the items that had dropped and placing them all together in one spot to properly evaluate what he had gained.
And when he finally finished, even he paused for a second.
...
A/N
I didn’t forget about the experience points or [Celestial Hand], it’s next Chapter.
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