Chapter 105: Today, I Get to Be the Boss
Having now lived through the challenge multiple tis, Erika moved through it with fluid ease.
After dispatching the 1st encounter battle without effort, she arrived quickly at the 2nd.
She had the positions where the Magical Creatures would appear morized completely. Before they could fully enter her field of vision, Erika had already released her magic in advance, striking toward the sky and the ground.
The poor duck-billed rats couldn't so much as mount a single shred of resistance before they were burned to well-cooked pieces of at in the surging flas.
Arriving at the location of the 3rd encounter battle, Erika had her magic constructed in advance.
After so many failed attempts, she knew the Magical Creatures' attack patterns inside and out.
The Magical Creatures in the earlier rounds were completely powerless to stop her.
Erika didn't even need to spend her natural energy—with nothing but the magic in her hands, she could chip away at these creatures' HP little by little.
The Mosquito Fiend lurking hidden within the green wilderness ca swooping in to ambush her again—but this ti, she took just a few steps to her right rear and perfectly evaded its attack.
A ball of fla magic she had prepared long in advance shot straight into the Mosquito Fiend and struck it down.
1 creature, 2 creatures, 3 creatures.....
And just like that.
Under Erika's practiced assault, the Magical Creatures fell dead one after the next.
The green-glowing Teleportation Formation appeared again behind Erika—but she didn't turn back.
Instead she walked straight toward the lush path growing up through the grass waves.
She knew that this ti, this was the real challenge.
Passing through the shadowy forest path, a wide open plain spread out before her once again.
This ti there was no foxtail grass swaying in the breeze—only dust-filled air and scorching earth.
Erika walked to the center of the plain and suddenly heard a faint rustle rustle rustle.
5 mounds of earth on the ground began to churn.
Without the cover of swaying grass, they were plainly visible.
5 black shapes in the sky were also diving straight toward her.
This was the final battle.
All at once, facing the attack of 10 Magical Creatures.
The 1st ti she had co in here, Erika had been a complete ss.
After all, fighting 10 Magical Creatures simultaneously was a scenario she had never faced before.
The difficulty of 10 Magical Creatures versus 5 was absolutely not as simple as multiplying by 2.
But after so many failures, Erika now knew the creatures' attack patterns like the back of her hand.
Standing here for her 10th attempt, her gaze held nothing but the certainty that she would pass.
Without a single mont of deliberation, she relied purely on muscle mory to imdiately break out of the Magical Creatures' encirclent.
She kept her body low, dodging the lunging duck-billed rats and the corrosive liquid sprayed by the bats.
She dodged 1 attack cleanly, only for a creature waiting in the gap to imdiately launch the next.
Multiple Magical Creatures began circling Erika relentlessly, at tis leaving her feeling as though there was no safe opening to attack from—her survival space was being compressed without stop.
But this ti, Erika was thoroughly prepared.
She positioned herself behind several duck-billed rats—the bats were busy adjusting their posture, loading black liquid into their abdons, and had no ti to attack her.
Seizing the split second the creatures turned, both her hands blazed with fierce flas.
【2nd-Tier Magic: Ring of Fire】
The flas from both hands were flung outward with force, wrapping around the 2 creatures directly in front of her and enveloping them completely.
The violent combustion in the sealed space produced an explosive effect—the 2 creatures were blown apart into bloody fragnts that gradually dissolved in the air.
As though triggered by the deaths of their companions, the remaining creatures let out strange quack quack cries and continued charging at Erika.
Once the number of Magical Creatures decreased, the difficulty lessened in proportion.
Erika did not fall into a panic. She watched the bats diving toward her, and on the ground, constructed a green Formation.
After embedding a peculiar Rune into the Formation, she stood in place and waited for the creatures' attack.
3 bats spat their sli, then tried to pierce Erika with their mouthparts.
But in the instant they drew close, a layer of green vines erupted violently from the dust-covered ground, catching the bats' mouthparts between the gaps in the vines.
Erika snapped her fingers—spikes jutted out from the vine barrier, completely skewering the creatures' bodies.
She clapped her hands, and the vine barrier gradually withered and disappeared, the bats' corpses dissolving along with it.
The remaining duck-billed rats and bats were no longer any match for Erika.
She conjured 2 spheres of water in her hands and hurled them at the bats still airborne.
The powerful impact sent the bats reeling and unsteady, significantly reducing the speed and force of their dive.
Erika wrapped vines around both hands and suddenly seized the lead bat by the throat.
Like 2 spears, she grabbed the bat and used its own mouthparts to drive straight into the duck-billed rat charging at her.
The 2 collided—the duck-billed rat was pierced through by the bat's mouthparts and died.
And the vines completely consud the bat in turn, until it too was dead.
Erika dusted off her hands and looked at the last creature remaining.
"The rest of you might as well just finish yourselves off."
Sadly the Magical Creature couldn't understand Erika's words—it stubbornly spat out a few drops of black sli.
But against such overwhelming power, that sli acted like a conductor—a bolt of lightning passed through the sli droplets one by one and struck the bat's own body.
The creature twitched several tis in the air and dissolved beneath the blazing sun.
Its attack hadn't so much as grazed Erika.
Erika blew softly on her fingertip.
Like the lone gunslinger left standing at sunset.
Looking at the emptiness all around her, Erika felt no hollowness—only a heart brimming with honor and pride.
She had done it!
All at once, the surrounding illusion began to shift violently.
The wasteland shattered like a mirror.
In an instant, it was as if reality and illusion had been cleaved apart.
"......"
Erika blinked, taking in the scene before her—like sothing drawn from a painted scroll.
A gentle breeze drifted past, the star-filled sky slowly turning.
The fields ahead seed to stretch on without end.
Green trees and blooming flowers, blue mountains and clear waters—boundless and infinite.
In the canopy of heaven, countless points of light flickered, as though stars were falling to earth, illuminating every inch of the world.
Windmills swayed, wind chis rang softly.
This breathtaking scenery left Erika rooted to the spot.
She drew a long, deep breath of fresh air, carrying the fragrance of earth.
Feeling the air fill her tired lungs, it was the first ti she had ever felt that air could be so wonderful.
"Congratulations, Erika."
"You are the 1st student to achieve a perfect score."
A voice rang out from nowhere—as though it ca from sowhere beyond the mysterious starry sky.
Viktor's silhouette appeared slowly, the coat at his back billowing and rippling.
The red and green patterns, beneath the night sky, looked so strangely mysterious.
"Viktor......Professor?"
Viktor looked at Erika, and in his gaze there seed to be a asure of approval.
"As the 1st student to pass, I can grant you 1 reasonable request."
"Speak. Whatever you wish—the power of a Mage will bestow it upon you."
Erika had not spoken face to face with Viktor like this for a long ti.
There were no other living beings in this space besides the 2 of them—whatever she said now, no one would interrupt.
Her every impulse, her every question.
Perhaps the person standing before her would answer all of them.
At last, she thought of the 1 thing that would satisfy her completely.
"Professor, I want......"
"I want to challenge you. I want to know—the gap between you and ."
Yes.
Erika said to herself:
I want to know just how hard I have to work to catch up to the figure walking ahead of .
Viktor didn't answer, but the corners of his mouth curved upward slightly.
As though he had known all along that Erika would say this.
"The choice you make today will beco the dal of valor you carry for the rest of your life."
"Then."
The mont those words fell, everything around them began to turn at once. A vast forest erupted from the plain, tearing out of the earth and stretching its towering body toward the sky without end.
Wildflowers and grass gradually climbed up past Erika's thighs. The night sky was swallowed whole by an enormous sun, and the endless stars seed to dissolve entirely into the blue sky.
Sunlight filtered down through the dense gaps in the canopy and fell upon Erika's golden hair.
Boundless vitality, a perfectly tempered warmth, nourishing the earth—all things growing in wild abundance.
Like sothing carrying infinite weight, it swept toward Erika in a great wave.
On Viktor's coat, a pair of eyes opened.
Between those eyes, light of red and green burst outward in a strange, blazing glow.
As though 2 monstrous beasts of imasurable power hung suspended in the sky, hovering behind Viktor.
In that instant—Viktor, with every last shred of his power revealed.
Like a Calamity descended upon the world.
"I accept your challenge."
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