Chapter 152: Fall Into Formation—Strike While the Iron Is Hot!
Those warriors were suspended mid-air, twisting their bodies in an attempt to tear free of the tightened vines.
But no matter how hard they struggled, the vines held like shackles of steel, fixing them completely in place.
Elsa stood alone in silence—she alone had not been bound by this magic.
She looked at her subordinates, every one of them now stripped of their fighting capacity, and let out a slow, steady breath.
She tightened her grip on the large blade at her hip, raising it before her, bracing herself as though facing a mortal threat.
Auréliane, anwhile, had been deftly moved to Viktor's side.
"I can tell you're very eager to fight ."
Viktor looked at Elsa, who stood ready and on guard, and said with flat indifference:
"What is it that's been keeping your fury in check?"
Elsa's body sank low, pulling taut like a drawn bow—like a hunting leopard coiled to spring.
Viktor looked at her. The corner of his mouth curled upward, and he suddenly laughed aloud:
"Because of Cindy? That warrior I crippled?"
In an instant, Elsa's eyes flew wide open and she shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, moving at blinding speed. The air around her seed to crack open in a sharp, cutting rift under the force of her charge.
In a heartbeat, Elsa beca a blur. A flash of cold light traced a silver-white arc through the air, aid directly at Viktor.
The blade trembled continuously in the vibrating air, its cold edge growing sharper still.
Auréliane, standing to the side, instantly widened her eyes.
So fast!
The sheer velocity of that charge made it completely impossible to track Elsa's form.
And yet...
Viktor's reaction was faster still.
The mont the afterimage lunged, Viktor simply extended one hand—and caught the blade. Just like that.
A layer of lava coated his palm, forming a powerful defense that couldn't be seen through.
The instant Elsa's blade was seized, she caught sight of that impossibly strange lava gauntlet and her eyes went wide.
Viktor rely looked at her with contempt:
"Do you know how I beat that Cindy?"
A sharp sense of danger surged directly upward from above—Elsa instinctively tried to wrench her blade free, but Viktor's enormous lava-wrapped fist was already crashing down from overhead at speed.
"Like this!"
Thud!
A heavy blow slamd squarely down on top of Elsa's head. The overwhelming impact knocked all sensation from her senses for a mont, leaving her mind a complete blank.
The intense pain surged to an enormous magnitude in an instant, sending her crashing face-first into the dirt, rolling uncontrollably.
It was a long while before Elsa's awareness gradually returned to her body.
And that only delivered even more violent pain in its wake.
The blue light in Viktor's eyes faded slightly.
【Strength Boost (Large)】
"It seems your strength falls short of Cindy's."
"A speed-type warrior? Or perhaps—an Assassin?"
Elsa forced down the pain and retreated to a safer distance. Her form began to fade, blending seamlessly into the surrounding environnt, as though becoming one with it.
This was the Assassin's skill.
【Stealth】
It was hard to imagine—a woman carrying a blade that enormous, and yet an Assassin.
Although Assassins had a natural advantage against glass-cannons like Mages, still...
"You're not yet worthy of my full effort."
Viktor extended a finger. A flash of Magic Power at his fingertip—and Elsa, hidden from sight, was instantly drawn toward him.
His large, powerful hand closed around Elsa's throat and lifted her into the air without hesitation.
Elsa struggled violently in Viktor's grasp, pouring every ounce of her strength into prying his fingers open, not even caring that her large blade had dropped to the ground.
Viktor gave a sharp swing and hurled her directly away—she slamd into a massive tree trunk and embedded into it.
A cloud of dust and debris erupted from the impact. Even the Elves watching from behind were startled by the force of the blow.
Auréliane stood to the side, staring blankly at Viktor.
The way Professor Viktor fought was... how to put it.
Different from other Mages?
Was this the proper way for a Mage to fight?
She felt like sothing was beginning to dawn on her—but then suddenly realized.
Right now, the situation had grown far too serious.
Professor Viktor and the Rether Family had actually co to blows!
All at once, the warriors tore free of the vines.
With no continued infusion of Viktor's Magic Power, the vines had grown sowhat brittle—just enough for the warriors to barely wrench themselves loose.
They dropped to the ground. Before they had even steadied themselves, they were already moving to support Elsa.
But in the next instant, Viktor extended one hand and pressed it gently downward.
A gray formation materialized in midair at rapid speed.
【2nd-Tier Magic: Gravity】
Enormous Magic Power flooded into the formation, slamming countless warriors hard into the ground—not a single finger could be lifted.
"As spectators, you're welco to continue watching from the side."
"I have no leisure ti to spare for playing around with you."
With that said, a sharp whistling of wind reached his ears.
At so point unknown, Elsa had already gotten back on her feet, large blade back in hand, and ca charging at Viktor once more.
Viktor extended a finger and rapidly conjured a red formation before him—like an enormous lion holding a solid shield aloft.
The totem rged into the center of the red formation, and a barrier materialized in front of Viktor.
【2nd-Tier Magic: Moses's Protection】
At the instant the high-speed Elsa made contact with the barrier, the red shield shattered with a crash.
She was just about to press the advantage—to strike Viktor in the brief mont the shield disappeared.
But Viktor was completely unhurried. He brought a single finger to rest against Elsa's forehead—a light, casual tap.
Elsa froze slightly, a sense of foreboding rising from sowhere deep within her.
By the ti she realized what was happening, it was already too late.
【2nd-Tier Magic: Light Burst】
Almost instantly, a crimson explosion detonated with a thunderous crack, sending smoke and dust rolling outward in waves.
Subjected to an enormous impact, Elsa flew out through the smoke like a kite with its string cut.
The dust gradually settled. Viktor stood calmly where he had always been, not even a fold out of place on his Coat.
Watching Viktor handle Elsa's attacks without the slightest rush or urgency, Auréliane felt herself perceiving a certain quality that belonged to Viktor and Viktor alone.
Elegance.
It was difficult for her to connect that word with the profession of Mage.
The more powerful the Mage, the more powerful the magic they used—and the longer the casting ti, the more thorough the preparation required.
Every Mage who had ever served as her teacher had been more or less like that.
That kind of laborious, cumberso image was difficult to associate with elegance.
But watching Viktor fight felt almost like a form of enjoynt.
What he employed was nothing more than the most basic, most ordinary of spells.
And yet against an Assassin, he moved with absolute ease—in fact, he was crushing her.
It was as though...
He had fought through a hundred battles.
Viktor continued to et Elsa's attacks head-on, countering each move as it ca, his attention spread across the entire area around him.
He simply stood in place—and yet seed utterly without weakness.
But why was the professor using only 1st and 2nd-Tier spells?
Could it be...?
"Professor is teaching !?"
Auréliane was struck dumb.
Even in a situation like this, Professor Viktor intended to give her a lesson?
But Viktor's effortless composure, to Elsa's eyes, felt more like humiliation than anything else.
She grew incensed beyond asure. The muscles across her body seed to tremble continuously; her blood surged at high speed through her veins.
The speed of her attacks grew faster and faster still.
The cold flashes of her blade struck in rapid succession—yet Viktor seed to foresee every one of them, evading with ease and grace, sending her back each ti with the simplest of counters.
The large blade carved furrow after furrow into the earth, slashing deep gouges across the ground.
A long while passed. Viktor remained completely unscathed.
The large blade never stopped its relentless dance, and Elsa grew increasingly unhinged.
"Why! Why, why, why!"
She couldn't accept it. Even if Viktor had used 4th-Tier magic and crushed her with full force, she could have accepted that.
But her opponent had kept to nothing but low-tier spells from beginning to end.
1 defense, then 1 offense.
Every counter was devastatingly effective.
The damage wasn't high—but the humiliation was overwhelming.
Elsa's dense, rain-like barrage of attacks had not touched Viktor once.
Her composure crumbled. She began to doubt herself.
The attacks grew faster and faster, faster and faster still.
Until her body suddenly froze in midair.
【1st-Tier Magic: Telekinesis】
"Had enough?"
Viktor extended a finger and let it fall.
Thud—Elsa crashed hard into the ground.
She tried to push herself back up, but Viktor raised one foot and placed it atop her head.
It rendered her completely unable to lift her head.
She struggled continuously, attempting to raise it—but even that simple motion was beyond her.
Viktor looked down at Elsa from above, commanding and unhurried.
"What is your relationship with Cindy?"
"Husband and wife? Lovers? Or perhaps..."
"You simply like him? Admire his strength?"
At those words, Elsa's struggling grew more violent than ever.
As though he had gotten his answer, the corner of Viktor's mouth curved slightly upward.
"I see."
"Then compared to him—I should be considerably stronger, shouldn't I?"
Elsa's face was pressed into the earth. Abruptly, her struggling ceased entirely.
Viktor saw her reaction and laughed with genuine amusent.
As though sothing entertaining had occurred to him, he smiled—and words that carried the cadence of a devil drifted to Elsa's ear.
"I can release that 4th-Tier warrior. I can release every single person here."
"But the price is this: you follow . You beco mine."
"And then—with your own hands—you cripple Cindy."
At those words, Elsa flew into a fury beyond asure. But Viktor continued:
"Otherwise, tomorrow you'll find that man's corpse hanging from the front gate of the Rether Family estate."
At that, she stopped struggling entirely.
Viktor was satisfied.
"Choose. I trust you'll make the right decision."
Though the warriors' bodies were pinned into the earth, they still managed to shout hoarsely from where they lay:
"No! Don't agree to him!"
"Our reinforcents are almost here—Lady Elsa, please hold on!"
"My Lady! Please give us the 【Upgrade】!"
But Cassana showed not the slightest reaction—and Viktor turned his head, his gaze drifting toward her.
"Upgrade?"
The Crow on Viktor's shoulder—its eyes flashed gold, like the light of early morning sun, filling one with a sense of calm.
Viktor's body was suddenly enveloped in a layer of holy radiance. A mysterious power surged through his bloodstream.
Every attribute of his body began to skyrocket.
The warriors strained to lift their heads—and what they saw was Viktor, radiating a golden-yellow glow, leaving them utterly stunned where they lay.
"That familiar ability..."
It was unmistakably Lady Cassana's power!
But why—why had that power been granted to Viktor?
Their gazes moved to Cassana, kneeling on the ground, lost and vacant.
Lady Cassana—have you betrayed the Rether Family?
Viktor withdrew the foot he had placed atop Elsa's head and turned around slowly.
As though carrying the weight of a sacred authority, he gazed down with contempt at the warriors pinned into the earth.
"The Upgrade you ntioned."
"Is this it?"
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