Five minutes fly by if you have someone to spend the time talking with. Glia is a great help; talking to her not only makes the wait shorter, but just seeing her makes me want to become stronger to protect her.

"It's time." I rise gently from my seat, Glia returns to her cube, and I ready my skills.

"Why have they only increased by five?" I find it odd that I can only sense twenty skeletons in my domain. A slight chill runs down my spine—that means danger.

I dodge the three arrows aimed at my chest with a simple movement. Having lived through this pattern once before, I won't fall for it again. I move in at the same time and quickly realize why I felt that small shiver on my back—they have a different mage with them, and he seems quite strong. I'm not entirely sure yet if he has any Law or not.

The five shield-bearers advance quickly to intercept me, with the other melee attackers close behind. Arrows and spells try to catch me, but I evade them with a backward jump, gaining some time. At that very moment, I have to roll on the ground to dodge an enormous spear aimed at my head from above—without my domain, it would have been impossible.

I stare at the skeleton leader and notice how its jaw trembles as if it were cold. Honestly, it's a bit eerie. At that same instant, I jump again as three small spears attempt to pierce my back—again the fault of that damned skeleton, who seems to focus only on long-range attacks.

I have to conjure several Joyeuse to distract the melee attackers while also sending some toward the mages and archers to force them to delay their attacks.

For the first time, I decide to get completely serious—one mistake could cost me a lot of mana to heal. I defend myself carefully from the shield-bearers with subtle movements and quick strikes. My skill is many tiers above theirs, and I manage to land some hits while retreating. A sword and spear try to take me by surprise, forcing me to move using my Charged Steps skill.

"Damn, my constructs can't distract all of them." My mind is focused on the enemies in front, the mages, and using my Joyeuse to keep the last ones busy. That's the annoying part about fighting multiple opponents at once—it doesn't matter if I can take them down in a few blows; they won't give me the openings I need to finish one off.

Little by little, I wear down each monster around me. If they're within range of my swords, I at least force them to take a hit before seeing them retreat and reorganize. That damned skeleton mage must be giving them orders while continuing to attack me with those elusive spells.

"It's time to dance!" I stop for less than a second; they take the chance to close in and try to impale me. At that exact instant, their movements become heavy, their speed slows. I take advantage of my Crushing Zone, which has distracted them, giving me just enough time to finish off two shield-bearers with cuts powerful enough to shatter multiple bones, leaving them sprawled on the ground.

"Eighteen left." My body overflows with mana and Imra. Being in this kind of situation makes me happy—the pressure of using my mind at full capacity to win makes it even more fun.

This squad of twenty skeletons could easily defeat a hundred disorganized ogres. That mage doesn't just have spells as powerful as mine—his leadership seems top-tier as well. I can feel a mana thread linking him to all of them, allowing him to give orders without speaking.

The remaining shield-bearers are more cautious now. They only close in completely when together and are always accompanied by two swordsmen. This is getting annoying. Thanks to the increased gravity, their movements have slowed, and my blows are taking effect—I've been draining their mana and stamina with every strike.

"Three down." I catch two swordsmen and a lancer off guard. I create three Joyeuse instantly and take advantage of a lapse when they're right in front of me to stab them in critical points. Their natural defenses hold for a moment against the power of my strongest quick constructs, but they eventually break, and each one falls lifeless on the grass.

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I have to keep moving because of the long-range attackers. Arrows keep coming from different angles, the spells are slower but pack more punch, and that skeleton leader won't stop hitting me with different variants. At one point, when I was about to finish off another lancer, he was teleported away, and in front of me appeared a massive sphere of concentrated mana, Imra, and some kind of Law—it exploded right in front of my eyes.

I was lucky enough to use my movement skill at the perfect moment to escape unharmed. That damned attack, upon exploding, released dark needles from inside. These needles were the size of a pen and could have pierced my armor—in the worst case, I'd have ended up looking like Swiss cheese.

"Why is it so strong?" That's my first thought. Then, in my domain, I notice something unusual—the skeleton leader has fallen to one knee. I glance in his direction to check and see that he's simply tired after using that attack. The consequences are immediate—he's stopped casting spells, and his meticulous control has dropped.

"This is my moment." I use a charge of my Charged Steps to get as close as possible to the ranged attackers, rushing full speed at the ones in groups of two or three. I don't go for the leader yet since he's surrounded by seven skeletons at the moment—I have to take advantage of the stragglers who didn't have time to return.

The two archers try to stop me by firing arrows, all of which are dodged with the smallest of movements or blocked with my swords. When I reach them, they don't last five seconds—their bones aren't as tough as the others, and my cuts wreak havoc, ending with me severing one's head and driving my sword into the other.

I intercept two mages who came to support the archers—they last even less than the previous two. Their bodies are the most fragile so far, a few powerful strikes deal huge damage, and a couple of quick movements send both their heads flying. I finally finish off a badly wounded swordsman at the edge of the leader's perimeter.

The leader begins to rise slowly—it seems he's recovered a bit of energy. I can feel his mana drained by his previous attack, though unfortunately he still has some left in the tank. I jump back to avoid a spell and some arrows. "Only half left, stop resisting." I try to taunt them, but it has no effect on their grim faces, which, up close, I notice are terrifying—bones of molten black, twisted expressions, and faint noises.

The remaining skeletons form a circle around their leader, who is still slowly recovering energy. "As if I'd give you time to do that." Using my new way of channeling the Crushing Zone skill, I make two skeletons together unbearably heavy. They can track my movements with their eyes, but their bodies lag behind. I seize the opportunity, driving a sword into one's core while severing the other's arm with a horizontal slash, bone fragments flying everywhere.

I don't stop my flurry of strikes, moving side to side, trying to find possible gaps where I can inflict heavy damage. The mana cost rises due to focusing gravity in one spot. After killing three more and leaving the rest in critical condition, I finally cancel my gravity skill.

The last swordsman falls after trying to stab me—I dodge with a slight body movement, my left sword stopping his arm while my right arm delivers a critical blow to his chest, bones cracking audibly.

The last lancer meets the same fate—his attacks were fast, and the reach advantage of his weapon made things tricky. However, once I closed in, his options dwindled, and I gained the upper hand in the exchange, stabbing my right sword into his neck. As I pull it out, my left arm follows with a horizontal slash, sending his head flying.

The last archer and mage are easy prey—they lack good defenses and have no way to stop my blades. I get closer, and they try to block me with their bodies. "Idiots, I'm also a better mage than you." Two Joyeuse at their strongest form appear behind them—focused on me, they neglect their backs and fail to sense the mana.

The ice swords pierce their skulls; I meet slight resistance at first, but my constructs break it in less than a second, finally driving all the way through. They drop to the ground like the sacks of bones they are—nineteen down, leaving the leader for last.

He hasn't been able to fully recover—standing is all he's managed. I use my movement skill to appear at his side, landing the first cut on his ribs, another on his shoulder. With a quick leg movement, I hit his leg and then his arm. He can't follow my movements and struggles to defend himself with that wooden staff.

I create four ice swords to surround him—two aimed at his head, one at his abdomen, and one at his core. He can't avoid them while focused on me; the swords break through his defenses but lose a lot of power tearing through the thick layer of mana and Imra around him. "Time to rest." The skeleton leader drops to his knees before me from the impacts.

One strong, precise, and swift cut to his neck is enough to finish him. Nearly out of magic and energy, he can't build a proper defense against me. He collapses, and I drive my right sword through his core. All of them begin turning to smoke at once.

"Congratulations, you have cleared the fourth level, completing half of the dungeon. You may rest for ten minutes until the start of the fifth level." The omnipresent voice echoes in my head with the same notification I've received since the first level.

"Time to eat something and take a good rest." If they've given me twice the rest time, it means a big change is coming in the next level. How exciting!

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