After reaching the Dark Mountain, Miss Lumina made it absolutely clear to both Leon and Alice.

"Do not, and I mean do not, try attacking any Greater Demon or anything ranked above it. At your level, the most you both can handle are Chimeras or Lesser Demons. Understood?"

At her words, Leon and Alice exchanged a glance, then nodded at the same time.

"Understood!"

Alice raised her hand in a mock salute.

Leon only rolled his eyes.

'If only all my actions weren't being recorded, I'd give those demons a taste of my light.'

The three of them had been stationed just at the Zone of the Black Mountain. There's a detection magic spell surrounding it. If Leon takes just one step in, it would alert the demons inside.

Though Leon couldn't see very clearly, all thanks to his poor eyesight, he could tell that the number of demons and chimeras was less. It must be because of Lumina's atomic bomb earlier. The high-ranked demon must have sent a portion of its troops to scout the impact area.

Leon squinted his eyes to get a proper look ahead, but he couldn't see any difference in his eyesight.

"Haaah…" He sighed.

'I need glasses.'

The skill that he copied from Eula had evolved to a stronger version; now he could use it on anyone, no matter the rank, but there's a bigger price to use it on stronger opponents.

'Fuck, if I use it on a primordial, I will become completely blind.'

What's the point of having an OP skill if he became a blind man in return?

'Who the hell is deciding this assholic limitation?!'

Leon was pissed; he still had to check on the rest of his Unique Skills.

'Well… let's just hope that one of the skills doesn't have an "instant death" penalty.' He joked to himself.

Leon will surely check it when he returns. Right now, he will focus on experimenting with his techniques.

"How are we gonna get past the Detection Spell?"

Alice asked, glancing at Lumina.

The entire Black Mountain is covered with the Detection Spell; even if they were to fly over it, they would be detected.

Lumina grinned.

"It's simple." She said, raising one of her legs right at the edge of the zone and slamming her foot down with a loud thump. "You don't."

The ground cracked where her foot made an impact, and the detection spell activated; the ground glowed with a faint white glow, making an intricate pattern of magic formula.

Alice's jaw dropped.

Leon grinned in admiration.

Lumina said, glancing behind to both of them, "Face them upfront, that's my go-to strategy. And either way, they are just Abyssal Demons."

'Just…?' Leon truly envied her. He wants to have her confidence… no, he wants to reach the same level as hers.

"Hm?" Her ears perked, turning her gaze to the front, she said, "Looks like they sensed me."

After she said that, Leon and Alice took out their weapons.

Alice with her scythe, and Leon with his newly acquired Moonblade.

On the other hand, Miss Lumina had a normal single-edged sword.

Leon focused his eyes as he entered the Zone.

With his blurry vision, he can somewhat tell that there are at least three hundred chimeras inside. Though he can't see their faces clearly, and he doesn't want to.

'Well, it's still less than what Ethan had to go through.'

"Hey," Alice poked him from behind.

Leon turned.

With a whispering tone, she asked, pointing at the chimeras,

"Are you sure we can handle them?"

In response, Leon simply pointed at Miss Lumina.

"You saw what she did to that poor mountain, right?"

Alice glanced at her, then back to Leon.

"Haaah… why did I even ask? Alright, I think I can handle seven or ten chimeras on my own." She then turned to Leon and asked, "What about you?"

Leon raised his Moonblade and simply said, "Twenty at max."

"Huh?" Alice frowned. "In your dreams."

"I am not joking, by the way."

"Oh? Then let's see who scored more—"

Interrupting them, Lumina shot Alice a serious glare.

Leon and Alice shuddered. Miss Lumina looked kind of pissed. Maybe they shouldn't take this serious situation as some kind of competition.

"You two," she coldly said, narrowing her eyes, "stop talking… and also, I can take 300 at once."

"..."

"..."

After this point on, both of them decided not to flaunt their capabilities in front of her.

KREEEEEEAAAAA!

All the chimeras' heads turned to them, screeching at the same time.

A wave of stench and rotten breath hit them like a wall.

"Fucking hell!" Alice muttered, scrunching her nose.

Leon covered his mouth with his sleeve, trying not to gag.

The chimeras were even worse than those he had previously encountered. Half-eaten bodies, disfigured faces, dangling organs… it was like looking at a horde of undead, which they literally are.

But their movements were disturbingly quick, and the way their limbs twitched made Leon's skin crawl.

'Disgusting, they look like zombies… but with regeneration power.' Leon thought, tightening his grip on the Moonblade.

What made them dangerous wasn't just their size or strength. It was their regeneration.

Each time one of them lost a limb, it slowly grew back.

A simple slash or stab wouldn't finish them. To truly kill one, they needed to either blast it to pieces or slice it so fine that no part could regenerate.

"Leon… and also Alice," Lumina's voice cut through the tension. She turned to both, and gave another instruction.

"Let me witness how much you both have improved. Magic and weapon arts are both allowed, and don't worry, you won't be harmed.... I'm keeping an eye on you."

Leon and Alice exchanged a quick glance.

A test inside a test.

Alice was the first to make a move.

As a horde of chimeras approached her, she slammed her scythe's blade onto the ground, generating enough tangential force to launch herself into the air.

"Heeyaaaa–!"

She stepped onto her scythe, using it as a pivot, and catapulted herself upward, the momentum amplified by the sharp twist of her thighs. Leon, even with his blurry vision, could clearly picture the wild grin plastered across her face.

Leon and Lumina, arms crossed, simply watched Alice soar through the air.

She rotated her body vertically, bracing the scythe against her thigh to channel the spin into the blade. As she descended toward one of the chimeras, she unleashed a violent swing powered by the torque of her legs and the twist of her body.

BOOOMM—!

The impact slammed into the chimera's head, splattering blackened brain matter across the ground.

SPRUTT—!

Before the creature could regenerate, Alice's scythe ignited with bright flames.

The chimera, its skull still impaled with the blade, started burning and it didn't even get a chance to scream before its body was reduced to a crisp.

Two more chimeras lunged at her from either side.

Alice, already anticipating them, used the same technique again. She launched herself into the air, rotated with her thighs providing extra angular momentum, and struck them down one after the other.

In just sixty seconds, Alice had taken out three chimeras.

"..."

Leon bit his lips.

'What a show-off.'

"Are you not going to join her?" Lumina asked. "You must have already figured out that Alice's weapon control is more refined than yours."

Leon remained silent.

He already knew that. After all, Alice's stamina was S-ranked.

Leon wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Now, about Alice's S-ranked stamina. Leon remembered a meme he once saw on the internet. He did not want to talk about it. After all, he was in a teenage body now, and it would affect him.

'Fuck those memers,' he cursed, trying to ignore it.

He turned back to Lumina, standing calm at his side.

He kept his tone flat. "Nah. Let her do her thing first. It is better if she wears them down. I can finish them after."

Lumina narrowed her eyes at him. The look she made at Leon felt like he stole something.

'What? It is a strategy.' he told himself.

Five minutes passed. Leon and Lumina stood there, arms crossed. They did not move much. Alice kept moving.

She had taken out seventeen chimeras so far. More than she told.

She had cut and amputated up to fifteen. Those were still twitching, trying to regenerate.

'The demonic necromancers must be watching her. Gosh, she is gonna be the first target,' he thought.

Then he saw it.

Alice started to struggle.

Not tired in breath. She was not even panting. She was simply overwhelmed.

More than five chimeras attacked her at once.

Claws, jaws, rotten limbs. They came from three sides. She tried to spin, tried to leap up, but they kept closing in.

"Haaah… guess I have to go," Leon said, calm as ever.

He did not sound excited. He did not sound scared.

"Good luck," Miss Lumina said, voice flat.

Leon lifted his Moonblade. He held it easily, like it was nothing. He aimed at the five chimeras surrounding Alice.

'Let us see how many I can drop in a blink.'

He activated his Short Teleportation.

Zoop—!

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