Dimensional Descent

Leonel steadied his breathing, his gaze narrowing. 

Had he been just a bit slower, he would have been forced to take on an attack from the front and the back simultaneously. Taking on such an attack from two such powerful individuals would be like asking for death. 

At the same time that Leonel was steadying his quickly beating heart, the two Demon Lords were looking toward him with exceptionally serious expressions. They didn’t know if Leonel had lucked out or if he had seen through their plan in such dire straits, but if it was the latter… it was simply too monstrous. 

There weren’t many who could remain calm in the midst of battle. But, remaining calm and analyzing the situation so quickly was something straight out of a fantasy novel. There were those who could make appropriate actions like Leonel’s on instinct honed through countless years of battle. But… Leonel was simply too young to have cultivated a battle sense of that level. 

The little mink grew restless seeing these two. These were the same two demons that had been bullying Leonel during the third trial. The moment the little guy recognized them, he bared his little fangs, growling. Though, due to his small size, Little Blackstar’s growling sounded more like the purring of a kitten than the prowling call of a predator. 

’Alright, alright little guy.’ 

Leonel smiled, somehow feeling more at ease after seeing Blackstar’s antics. 

”Yip! Yip!”

Leonel’s gaze became more serious as he looked back toward the two Demon Lords. 

’No, let me fight them on my own for now…’

A small circle of wind surged around Leonel, his eyes becoming somewhat dull. 

Since he began these trials, he had yet to get a chance to test his own hypotheses. He originally wanted to see if it was feasible to use his Dreamscape in place of his battle sense. What better opportunity was there than now?

As his gaze became dull, the entire battlefield was projected into his Dream World. A replica of himself stood, as did one of both Umred and Cralis. 

Everything before him was broken down into numbers and percentages. They flickered by his eyes like the words on a screen, his mind becoming faster and faster with each passing moment. 

The two Demon Lords suddenly felt their hair stand on end. They felt an overwhelming sense of danger for a moment, but they had no idea where it was coming from. Did this boy get help? But that was impossible, this was a trial set up by Merlin himself. 

Before the two could truly understand what was happening, Leonel took a step forward, firing a simple arrow. 

It was just a simple arrow, but Umred felt stifled. The step he had planned to take was suddenly cut off. He had no choice but to change his tactics midway, but the result was a taboo in battle. He thought too much about his next move, making his reactions slow. 

In the end, he could only hurriedly block with his two axes in a sorry fashion, stumbling backward due to his base not being solid. 

Cralis watched this happened with an incredulous gaze. At first, he thought that Leonel and Umred were teaming up to put a show. Could it be that Umred planned on using Leonel to get rid of him?

He definitely didn’t put such an action past the #2 Demon Lord. After all, they were demons. Plotting, scheming, and backstabbing one another could be considered just another event of the day. 

However, in the next instant, he realized that it wasn’t Umred scheming against him at all. He couldn’t understand how a single arrow could put him into such a sorry situation. 

It had no flare, no complexity, there was hardly even any curve to it. It simply didn’t make any sense. 

Cralis roared, swinging down his broad sword with all his might. But, due to the fact Leonel had shot through his collarbone earlier, he could only use a single hand, causing him to end up in an even sorrier state than Umred. 

Leonel’s barrage was relentless. Even with ’Heat Streak’ being on cool down, he had long since unlocked the Silver Skill ’Superior Quick Fire’ which cut his reload time to 0.70 seconds. Such a small time wasn’t enough for the two Demon Lords to recover. 

As though that wasn’t enough, Leonel had already ungraded to the Silver Quiver.  His quiver could now hold 50 arrows and it could respawn 2 arrows every 20 seconds. In addition, this quiver had the an added effect called ’Random Reload’. There was a 10% chance of an already fired arrow reappearing within the quiver after being let loose. 

By Leonel’s calculations, if he fired at his highest rate, he could expect ’Random Reload’ to activate 2-3 times every 20 seconds. This essentially meant that Leonel could expect 5 extra arrows whenever his quiver’s respawn was ready. If he went all out, he’d had 55 arrows to use in a single spurt. Maybe more if he got lucky. 

All of these thoughts and calculations spun by Leonel’s mind, but they neither uplifted his mood, nor diminished it. His entire focus was on the battle at hand while Umred and Cralis were like two frogs in slowly boiling water. 

Leonel shot another arrow with every step he took. His imposing aura was no less than a mighty warrior. If it wasn’t for the bow in his hands being so obvious, one would thing he was wielding a halberd, brandishing it to taste the blood of his enemies. 

The moment the two Demon Lords lost the initiative, it was like they could never gain it back. Leonel seemed to perfectly see through their weak points, not allowing them a chance to regain their footing. 

And, in that very instant. 

PENG!

Leonel activated ’Shooting Star’ causing a light of panic to enter Cralis’ eyes. He hurriedly blocked with his great sword, only to find he couldn’t step as far back as he thought he could. All this time, he had completely forgotten that they were still within the castle walls. The pressure Leonel placed on them made them forget everything about their surroundings but him. 

He awkwardly blocked with his great sword, unable to get as much leverage as he was expecting. However, that was when something completely astonishing happened. 

Leonel’s arrow skimmed off the side of Cralis’ sword, changing its trajectory and appearing before Umred in the blink of an eye. 

The crimson demon felt his life flash before his eyes. He was still reeling from Leonel’s last attack. It could be said that the only reason he survived until now was because Leonel had to split his attention between the both of them. How could he possibly challenge two attacks at once?

He hurriedly tried to block with his two axes but it was to no avail. He had never regretted choosing two such heavy weapons in his life. It had always been his pride and joy. But now… now he definitely regretted it. 

PCCHUU!

The arrow tore through Umred’s chest, lodging into one of his beating hearts. Even though he had two, they were both reliant on his each other. With how large his body was, it was simply impossible to survive for long with just one. 

It was at that moment Umred saw Leonel take another step forward, his dull eyes flashing with thoughts of victory. 

’It can’t be… he predicted this…? … Monster…’

A crimson demon with the horns of a devil calling another a monster… It was truly a great irony…

But… that was when the second unexpected thing of the battle occurred. 

Leonel suddenly stopped. 

Not only were Umred and Cralis confused, but even Leonel himself seemed to be confused as well. It was only after his dull eyes slowly regained their clarity that things began to make sense. 

Leonel’s expressionless visage became flushed. Sweat began pouring down from his brow and his steady breathing became heavy. His muscles twitched uncontrollably as though they had been overdrafted, his mind and thoughts feeling languid and slow. 

’Shit…’

Leonel had never expected for such a thing to happen. He had calculated everything, but he hadn’t considered the possibility of his Soul Force running dry. All this time he had never had to worry about such a thing. Even when he was casting Three Star Magus Arts, it was child’s play to him. How could he account for such a thing? He never thought that his greatest strength would actually fail him at such a crucial moment. 

The sound of clapping entered Leonel’s ears at that very moment. Without the support of his Soul Force, his spell maze was severely weakened and collapsed in the next instant, allowing sounds he couldn’t previously hear to reach him. 

Leonel’s expression had already flushed and then paled beneath his fatigue, but it only got worse when he saw that the one clapping was Lamorak. 

Unknowingly, the battle within the castle had begun to inch outside. It was clear that the two Demon Lords had been doing their best to run. 

Leonel had already long seen through this, but he had also calculated that he would be able to kill them before they could leave the range of his spell maze and alert those who hadn’t entered the castle. 

What he didn’t expect was for Lamorak to be waiting outside the large doors of the castle. And, not only was he waiting, but he had also gathered up a dozen men who had entered this capture the flag game with them…