An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

In this regard, despite Kaori's exceptional aptitude for all light-attribute magic, she couldn't match the barrier mastery of Qian, and therefore couldn't employ multiple barrier tactics. Even so, she could still deploy barriers at the fastest speed, in the most appropriate locations, and at the most perfectly angled angles, neutralizing attacks like Aikido... Her technique was truly exceptional.

All of this is the result of her continuous hard work and research in order to not lose the ones she loves again. In the critical situation, Kaori worked hard to save the lives of all her companions.

The three Chimeras, their attacks neutralized, seemed a bit angry and prepared to launch another attack. They probably thought that Kaori had only gained a short time, and that it was ultimately a pointless struggle of the weak.

However, although it was only a short period of time, it was still a precious opportunity that Kaori had fought for, and Kouki and the others would not let her efforts go to waste.

"Stay away from Shizuku!!"

Kouki roared in anger, using his "Shrinking the Earth" technique to instantly close in on the Chimera attacking Shizuku. His movement speed surpassed the normal focus of the human eye, creating an afterimage. The holy sword he held high shone even brighter, and he was about to chop off the Chimera's head with one blow.

at the same time--

"Don't even think about it!"

Ryuutarou also assumed a karate punching stance, ready to stop the Chimera from charging towards Nagayama. He decided that rather than charging directly, it would be quicker to utilize the gauntlet-shaped artifact's power to launch a shockwave to rescue. A powerful aura erupted from Ryuutarou, and his magical energy flowed towards the gauntlet.

In addition-

"Devour, the Mother of Red—'Flame Wave'!!"

Embracing Ling, Eri extended a hand and unleashed a powerful spell, a technique she had never demonstrated before. "Flame Wave" was an intermediate-level fire-attribute spell. As its name suggests, it manipulated waves of flame. If classified, it would be an area spell, making it difficult for even the most agile enemies to dodge.

The shining holy sword, carrying with it immense power, swung down from the sky; Ryuutarou swung his fist with incredible grace, and the powerful shockwave from his fist advanced like a cannonball; Eri summoned a wave of deadly flames, about to devour her target and burn it to ashes.

however……

““Roar!!””

Just when Guanghui and the others' attacks were about to hit Chimera, two shadows appeared from nowhere, roaring and attacking Guanghui and the others.

「!?」

"What!"

The sudden incident made Guanghui and Ryutaro shudder.

Two shadows rushed towards Kouki and Ryuutarou at a fierce speed, swinging their metal batons vigorously.

In the critical moment, Guanghui used the centrifugal force of the sword to twist his body and avoid the attack; Ryutaro had already swung his right fist, but he raised his left hand, which was originally retracted at his side, to block the war stick approaching him.

Kouki lost his balance and rolled on the ground. Ryuutarou parried the baton, but was knocked back by the enemy's second fist attack.

The monster that attacked Kouki and Ryuutarou was about two and a half meters long and looked very similar to Brutal.

However, while Brutal, like the orcs and ogres in RPGs, was built like a pig, that monster was lean and sturdy, like Brutal who had trained his body to the limit. In fact, judging by the sneak attack just now, their arm strength and movement speed were not comparable to Brutal's.

"What the hell are these guys!?"

"Damn it, where did he come from?!"

A demon they had never seen before, clearly extremely powerful, suddenly appeared. Kouki and Ryuutarou cursed and wondered—

“Guaaaaa!!”

Right in the middle of the two of them, Endo cried out in pain and bounced and rolled on the ground.

"Endo!?"

"Hey, everyone, be careful! The enemies aren't just visible monsters! There are invisible enemies everywhere!"

Guanghui called out Endo's name in surprise. Endo pressed his side abdomen. He seemed injured, but still issued a warning.

After receiving Nagayama's instructions and concealing his presence, Endo used the assassin's skill "Invisibility" to sneak up behind the female demon.

Before Endo could successfully circle behind her, the negotiations had already broken down. His breath was fading from his shaken spirit, and he still tried desperately to close in on the enemy, only to be sent flying by a powerful blow from the side. He saw that the enemy that had sent him flying was the same monster that had sent Kouki and the others flying, and the Brutal-like monster was accompanied by a Chimera. After sending him flying, the fake Brutal touched the Chimera and vanished once more.

In other words, the enemy used the Chimera's invisibility ability to hide their forces everywhere, and their combat power was even enough to destroy all the monsters on the 90th floor.

As if to confirm Endo's warning, a new enemy also appears on Eri's side.

A "whoosh" sound was heard, and the wave of fire under Huilibu shrank to a point in the blink of an eye and gradually disappeared, as if a hole appeared in space and sucked all the flames into the hole.

"You must be kidding..."

The area magic had been dispelled. This was so shocking that Eri was mentally shocked and froze in place. The flames and heat in front of her sight completely disappeared.

In the peaceful space, the culprit who had caused the flames to vanish appeared. It was a six-legged, turtle-like monster. Its shell was stained a crimson, the same color as the flames that had just burned the enemy to ashes.

The next moment, after the multi-legged turtle absorbed the flames, its mouth, which had been closed for a while, opened again; at the same time, the shell on its back emitted an intense light, and a red light appeared deep inside its mouth, as if it was gathering energy and preparing to fire a laser cannon.

“Oops!”

Seeing this, Eri's face lit up with anxiety. She had just cast a spell and didn't have the energy to react. However, her friend in her arms, with her usual lively voice, dispelled her anxiety.

"Don't underestimate me! The overlapping protective lights will awaken as long as the will remains - 'Tian Jue'!!"

In an instant, twenty overlapping barriers of light appeared in front of Qian and the others, all set at a forty-five-degree angle. As the barriers appeared, the multi-legged turtles unleashed a high-heat artillery barrage, shattering them and deflecting the fire upwards.

Even so, the continuous bombardment was more powerful than the Chimera's attack just now, and it broke through the barrier in an instant.

Ling gritted her teeth and chanted, continuously building new barriers. Using her skills as a barrier master, she built new barriers at a speed that rivaled the speed of the Centaur's artillery fire. Despite the effort, she managed to redirect all the artillery fire.

The redirected fire struck the labyrinth's ceiling, causing violent vibrations that shattered the surrounding area and sent molten minerals raining down.

“Damn it! What the hell is going on?!”

"What kind of monster is this!?"

"Damn it! Anyway, let's go too!"

When things got to this point, Hiyama, Nomura and others finally recovered from the chaos and took up fighting stances while cursing.

"Nagayama-kun! I'll attack! I'll leave the rearguard to you!"

"Okay, leave it to me! You go ahead, Yaegashi!"

Shizuku and Nagayama, who were originally injured, were also healed, and each attacked the Chimera that appeared before them.

Shizuku entered a world of super-speed where even afterimages could not be seen. In an instant, the sound of breaking wind was heard, and Shizuku disappeared. The next moment, she appeared right behind Chimera, holding a sword that had been sheathed at some point, and slashed with it using the essentials of sword drawing.

She utilizes the skill "No Rhythm" to move and strike without preparatory action. Her invisibility isn't simply due to her movement speed, but rather to her inability to keep up with the rapid pace. Her swordsmanship-derived skills increase both her slashing and drawing speeds. Combined with the speed of her unsheathed sword, this creates a swift strike beyond the reach of ordinary beings.

Shizuku's movements seemed to be a response to the attack she had just received. This move was a technique from the Yaegashi-ryu sword technique, 'Cut the Sky' - using the thumb of the hand holding the scabbard to press down on the hilt of the sword, accumulating reaction force, and at the moment of drawing the sword, the thumb flicked out in the opposite direction, increasing the speed of the sword drawing to the maximum.

The power of this move lived up to its name, capable of even severing space. A flash of silver light streaked across the void, and the next second, the Chimera's tail was split in half.

“Gahhhhh!!”

The Chimera roared angrily and swung its claws as it turned, but the strike missed. Shizuku had already circled to the other side and slashed a second time, severing the Chimera's wings.

"hateful!"

Shizuku used her speed to manipulate the enemy, causing damage without fail, but her expression showed no joy. Instead, she wore a bitter expression, unable to suppress a complaint.

The reason was that the enemy's actions were different from what she had anticipated. Shizuku's first strike was intended to sever the Chimera's body, but the snake's tail blocked it just before the blow, preventing the strike from reaching the body. The second strike was intended to sever the Chimera's body, but before the strike could reach it, the Chimera ducked down a split second earlier, allowing Shizuku to sever only its wings.

The Chimera couldn't keep up with Shizuku's speed, but it wasn't completely unstoppable. While it could hide, albeit with some difficulty, its reflexes could handle Shizuku's top speed, making it a truly nightmarish foe. Although Shizuku desperately wanted to defeat it and rescue her companions, for her, no foe was more formidable than it.

Shizuku then struck with her third and fourth blows, leaving countless wounds on the Chimera's body. Each cut was too shallow to be fatal. Furthermore, the Chimera seemed to be gradually catching up to Shizuku's speed, causing anxiety to appear on her face.

For Shizuku, no, for Shizuku and the others, the disaster was more than just that—

“Jiuaaaaaaaa!!”

Such a cry suddenly rang out in the room, and Shizuku saw the Chimera with its wings and tail cut off. Its body was covered with dark red light, and its injuries healed in the blink of an eye.

Since Kaori's 'Circulation' had been weakened, it had almost no healing effect, so even a shallow wound wouldn't be easy to heal. Shizuku opened her eyes wide, carefully guarding the gradually healing Chimera, while glancing in the direction of the cry.

Then, Shizuku noticed a two-headed white crow had landed on the shoulder of the demon woman who was watching the fight from the mountain. One of the crow's heads was facing Shizuku, or more precisely, facing the Chimera in front of Shizuku.

"Is there a monster responsible for recovery?!"

After finally inflicting damage on the formidable foe, the wound healed instantly. The longer the time dragged on, the more the Chimera adapted to Shizuku's speed, and the slimmer her chances of victory grew. Unexpectedly, there was a skilled healing monster waiting in the wings. Faced with this desperate situation, Shizuku couldn't help but let out a cry of grief.

Looking closely, it wasn't just Shizuku, but companions elsewhere were also making the same distressed cries.

Guanghui also fought against the Pseudo-Brutal with support. Although he caused fatal injuries to one of the Pseudo-Brutal, after the White Crow's head looked at the wound and cried out, the Pseudo-Brutal's wound gradually healed as if the movie was rewound.

The battle between Ryuutarou and Nagayama unfolded in a similar fashion. The second Pseudo-Brutal Ryuutarou faced, its abdomen ruptured and one arm broken, was healed by the crow's cry. Meanwhile, the other Chimera Nagayama, tasked with guarding the rearguard, also had its dents healed instantly.

"It seems like your situation is quite tight. How about joining us? If you decide now, I can still consider letting you join us."

The demon woman, arms folded across her chest, calmly watched the bitter struggle of Guanghui and the others, once again urging them to join her. However, she seemed to know exactly what the answer would be, her expression remaining impassive, and her prediction had proven correct.

"Don't be ridiculous! We won't yield to threats! We won't lose! I'll prove it to you right now! Look at me—'Limit Break'!"

The demon woman's words and attitude filled Guanghui's face with rage. He once again used his holy sword to deflect the false Brutal's swing of the war club, seizing the split second to activate "Limit Break."

Limit Break is a skill that temporarily triples your base stats by expending mana. However, as its name suggests, since it pushes your limits, it cannot be sustained for long and cannot be used at will. The power weakens proportionally to the duration of the attack, causing the user to experience intense fatigue and only exert half their normal strength. Therefore, this move is a crucial weapon, requiring careful consideration of timing and circumstances before use.

Seeing that the enemy monster was very powerful and could recover from injuries, Guanghui judged that if this continued, the morale of his companions would collapse and they would be defeated. So he decided to launch a "Limit Break" to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.

As Guanghui declared "Limit Breakthrough," pure white light enveloped his body. Simultaneously, the pseudo-Bruttal, whose war club had been deflected, ignored the change and attacked Guanghui again.

"O blade-like will, dwelling in the light, severing the enemy—'Light Blade'!"

Guanghui bent down to avoid the war club swung by the false Brutal, attached the sword of light to the holy sword, and swung it upwards from below in one breath.

He had previously used the Light Blade to strike diagonally, but that had only inflicted heavy damage, not the enemy's combat capability. However, this time, the Radiance's stats, tripled by the Limit Break, combined with the Light Blade's multiplier effect, sliced ​​the false Brutal's body in two with ease.

The fake Brutal's body split apart diagonally, and with a thud, it fell to the ground. Guanghui followed his footsteps, accelerating rapidly in one breath, and rushed towards the demon woman.

There was no barrier between Guanghui and the demon woman. Even though the demon woman was a race skilled in magic, all she could do was pray. Everyone believed that she would be killed along with the White Crow.

At that moment——

“““““Roarraa ...

"What!?"

Five spaces shook, and monsters roared and attacked Guanghui. Seeing the chimeras surrounding her from all sides and attacking simultaneously, Guanghui couldn't help but open his eyes wide and screamed in shock.

Guanghui braked suddenly, bent down, dodged the frontal attack, and at the same time used the holy sword to cut down the Chimera attacking from the right. Trusting the performance of the Holy Thorn on his body, he used his body to block the sudden attack from behind and survived the fatal attack.

However, that was all he could do. Guanghui's shoulder was scratched by the Chimera attacking from the left, and the impact sent him flying. At that moment, the last Chimera outside the encirclement pounced forward, piercing Guanghui's shoulders with its claws and pinning him to the ground.

“Guuuu!!”

A sound of pain came from between his clenched teeth. Although the Chimera wanted to bite Guanghui's neck with its sharp fangs to kill him, Guanghui barely blocked its mouth with his holy sword.

The claws piercing his shoulders gradually robbed him of the strength he had to block the fangs. Despite being under the effects of "Limit Break," Guanghui was still powerless and was gradually pushed back by the Chimera's jaws.

"The grace of gorgeous light fills this place—'Scorched Sky'! 'Seal'!"

Seeing that Guanghui was in danger, Kaori immediately used light magic.

"Scorched Sky"—a mid-level healing spell for one person—was more effective than "Return to Heaven," a spell meant to heal multiple people. However, Chimera's claws dug into Guanghui's shoulders, and this spell couldn't heal the wound.

Therefore, Kaori simultaneously activated the intermediate light-attribute binding magic, "Seal." "Seal" creates a cage of light centered on the target, trapping them. Kaori cast this magic on Kouki, and the cage of light instantly opened, centered on Kouki, repelling the chimera that was pressing against her.

With the claws away from his shoulders, "Scorching Sky" was able to fully exert its effect, instantly healing Guanghui's injuries.

Meanwhile, the rearguard, who were dealing with the Chimeras and Centipedes that were attacking them, cast attack magic at the Chimeras that were about to attack the Shining. However, due to the distance and the fact that the Chimeras had not been cast with the "Circulation of Heaven" spell, it was difficult to see their movements and aim accurately, so they were unable to inflict much damage.

Even so, Guanghui still bought time to regroup. Guanghui raised the holy sword again, and while receiving healing, he finished the chant and began to counterattack.

"—[Four Wings of the Soaring Sword]!"

Kouki swung the holy sword, and the slash of light drew a curved line, flying towards the four trembling spaces. The Chimeras attacked seemed to feel threatened by Kouki's ultimate move, which had been enhanced by "Limit Break", and tried to jump away to avoid it, but at this moment -

"——『Brilliant Binding Chain』!"

Kaori's signature light-attribute binding spell, "Brilliant Binding Chain," was activated. The chimeras tried to dodge, but countless chains of light flew out from beneath their feet, entangling their heads, feet, and bodies. With the chimeras' strength, breaking the chains wasn't difficult, but their movements were inevitably hindered for a short while.

As a result, the four Chimeras were directly hit by the glorious "Sky-Soaring Sword", and blood and flesh flew everywhere, killing them on the spot.

Guanghui turned to face the female demon, pointed the holy sword at her, glared at her and said:

"Unfortunately, your ultimate weapon won't work on us. There are no monsters left to protect you!"

Hearing what Guanghui said, the witch's expression was one of confusion and speechlessness. She thought to herself, "Is there really any need to say that kind of nonsense at this point? Wouldn't it be better to just chop him down without saying anything?"

Seeing that the female demon was forced into a desperate situation but still had an attitude of ease, Guanghui felt angry.

The Chimera at first, the Pseudo-Brutal at the next, and the Chimera just now, all employed surprise attacks, which was what angered Guanghui. In other words, Guanghui thought the enemy was always attacking by surprise, refusing to fight openly, while he stood by and watched, which was truly despicable.

"...That's not really a killer move."

"Stop being so arrogant!"

"Whether you're showing off or not, wait until you've defeated these guys. I've roughly confirmed the strength of the so-called 'heretic apostles'. We really don't need you anymore."

"What are you talking about—"

“Aaaaaaah!”

The female demon seemed to be very annoyed and said this while lifting her hair. Just as Guanghui was about to question her, a wailing sound came from behind.