mimou

  As the sixth wave of battles cluded with a Dark Elf victory, both sides were ned neck, each winning 15 battles so far. The humans were perf better than in the previous round, but they had already used three out of their five els, and even their general, Asami Hito, had fought. She nearly achieved a fwless victory, but two pyers were picked off by a suicide squad of assassins who struck at the edges of the pany’s formation, narrowly avoiding a perfect oute for the New World Kingdom.

  More words soon appeared in the sky:

  [panies who have been notified, advao the field number prepared for you, and fight.]This time, Sora’s pany was summoned.

  He turo his team, meeting each gaze and seeing the hope they'd pced on their strategy. “Let’s get those points!” he anded, and his pany roared with a fighting spirit that echoed across the field.

  They soon appeared otlefield. However, the sight that met them made many in Sora’s pany falter. fusion and a hint of fear flickered across their faces.

  Seeing this rea, Sora asked Richard, who had a grim expression as if he’d tasted something foul, “What’s wrong?”

  Before Richard could answer, a voied from across the field. The enemy pany leader sneered, “The stro Dark Elf el pany versus the weakest Human pany... Looks like I get to farm some free points today. Let me show you the way to Heaven.”

  Sora instantly uood. They had been matched against one of the stro enemy panies. His lips twitched with a grin—there might o be a small tweak in the pn to avoid casualties, but that would be it. His fidence remained unshaken.

  In response, he retorted, “That’s what she said.”

  The human troops paused, a few stifling ughs that quickly turned into uproarious guffaws.

  “Who?” demahe Dark Elf el, fused by the joke.

  “Your mother,” Sora shot back, an embarrassed smile on his face.

  The Dark Elf el was left gritting his teeth, but before he could react, the tdown started, and he had no choice but to bottle his rage and focus on the fight.

  Sora called to his troops, “Let’s get it started. Regroup! ”

  His pany had already gathered, f a solid, protective mass around their weakest members. It looked even more shameful than a turtle formation...

  As the fight began, Sora summoned ah Dome] that surrounded his pany, leaving only a narrow horizontal slit at the front to allow them to see and use skills from within. A rger doorway at the front allowed the Vice-Captains to defend if necessary, and this opening could be reinforced easily. He then summoned [Blood es], pg two es by the entrand two to patrol the rear of the dome, and sending the other 6 all over the pce, them to distract the enemy.

  On the Dark Elf side, soldiers were beginning to murmur, sensing Sora’s i. “Is he seriously going to try soloing us all?” muttered Echo, a Dark Elf Vice-Captain, in disbelief. “He ’t be that fident, he?”

  The el’s face turned red with fury. “No one has ever looked down oo this extent—not even enemy generals dared treat me like this,” he snarled, recalling past battles against some formidable foes. He posed himself and gave orders in the voice el. “Squads 17 and 18, go on the hunt. Find a way in—through that dome or from below. Ray, choose a support, and break through. Make them regret this!”

  He then turned his attention to the rest of his troops, barking, “Archers, prepare to stun. Wizards, freeze the ground around him. Everyone else, you know what to do!”

  Sora watched them advance, fully buffed and ready for a bloodbath. He rooted himself with [Titan’s Might], a skill that made him immuo crowd trol for ten seds, knowing full well he would be targeted with all manner of trol skills. His feet pnted firmly on the ground, he began casting [Ice Rain]. Dark clouds gathered overhead, and the first shards of mana-infused ice rained down across the battlefield.

  The Dark Elf soldiers scrambled to dodge the hail, but the ice shards quickly became dense and unavoidable. As they struggled, a few scoffed, “This barely hurts—what’s he pying at?”

  The Dark Elf el, called Captone, quickly picked up on the skill's effed shouted, “Ighe damage! It’s weak, but watch for the frost—those shards are slowing us down. Wizards, heat the ground and clear it of ice!”

  Several wizards plied, casting fire spells to melt the frost.

  But Sora had anticipated this. With a smile on his face he murmured "Let me help you heat the floor then", and unleashed [Floor is Lava]. The grouh the Dark Elves turned red-hot as va covered up the floor, f them to scramble as the fire spread beh their feet.

  Captone’s eyes widened. “What are you doing? I told you to melt the frost, not burn us!”

  “It’s not us!” shouted a panicked wizard. “It’s him!”

  Realizing the enemy's skill, they began to ter by using fire resistaions and lifting themselves off the ground. Some of them began to fly, while others braced for the attack.

  He summoned another dome, made of wind to imprison the air surrounding the opposite pany, making the space airtight.

  'This is the part i don't trol perfectly yet' he thought to himself

  Sora’s expressirave as he focused his fury, eling thoughts of betrayal and loss to activate [Extreme Bloodlust]. His emotions spiraled, fueling his skill. He felt his eyes burn, his vision tinged with red as blood trickled from his nose—a clear sign of how much he had let go of his mental barriers.

  The Dark Elves in front of him froze, their expressions twisted in terror. Sora ched his fists, grappling with a wave of anger he hadn’t felt in months. But beh that fury rofound sense of loss that threateo choke him. He let the emotion surge through him, activating [Titanic Strike] and sending shock waves that stunned or tripped his oppos.

  “DEFEND THEM!” Captone roared, desperate to rally his troops. Tanks, who had barely mao avoid the stunning effects, moved to shield their allies, wary of the attack that Sora would unleash .

  An explosion was heard in the middle of the sturoops, making all heads turn, trying to find the source of the explosion.

  Sensing immi doom, Captone’s voice was a hoarse scream, “Get out of there! FLY! RETREAT! MOVE!”

  His troops scrambled to obey, abandoning their allies as they scrambled to escape the va field. But explosions followed them.

  Like water boiling on a heated pan, Sora had made sure the lid covered the pan. Each drop of icy rain that hit the superheated ground triggeri another bst, resulting in a rapid, chaotic series of detonations. There were also extremely powerful explosion that paihe battlefield red..

  As each bst tore through the arena, Sora’s heart hammered. He hadn’t anticipated the destru being so absolute. His stomach twisted as he observed the aftermath—his enemies reduced to light particles in a matter of seds. The sight left him hollow, not triumphant.

  His hands ched, and he could feel the bile rising. These weren’t just mohey were pyers like him, with lives and stories. He tried to swallow down the shod guilt, fog on the mission.

  The battlefield was nearly silent, with only the distant echoes of retreating Dark Elves.

  'What am I doing?'Sora felt a lump in his throat. It was a massacre. They were defenseless, and his ade sure they had no ce of surviving. The weaker party would always fall to the weak, that's what he was taught when he first joihe Adventurer's Guild.

  However ...

  'Why do I feel so bad ? Isn't this a ... game ?'

  He could see the tears on the face of the st warrior desperate to run and survive, his mana in turmoil, and his voice buried by the sounds of explosions before he died too.

  As Sora turned back to his pany, he expected to see shock or perhaps even fear. But what he found instead left him momentarily speechless.

  Some of his soldiers looked at him with wide-eyed admiration, pride swelling in their expressions. Others were still processing what they had just witheir faces refleg a mixture of awe and disbelief.

  But then his gaze met Kara’s.

  She stood behind the group, her shoulders tense, her eyes glistening with uears. He felt a pang in his chest as her sorrow struck him with an iy he hadn’t expected. She must have sensed his turmoil through their [Soul Link], sharing in his pain as he grappled with the enormity of what he had done. Her empathy was overwhelming, and it made the weight of his as all the more real.

  Through their e, she uood his heartbreak—the shame and sorrow that came from wielding such savagery against others, even enemies. She khat in the final battle, he might have to do it again. That time, however, it would be against pyers who would never respawn.

  Sora’s heart sank further. The prospect of taking perma lives, the brutal iability of what y ahead, settled like a stone in his stomach. Kara’s silent tears were a testament to the horror they both shared—a grief for what they might yet have to do. her of them was truly prepared for the violehat awaited, nor for the toll it would take on their spirits.

  Yet, as they stood there, each processing the moment in their own way, a resolve began to build within him. He couldn’t let the others see his doubt, not when they looked to him with such hope and vi. In this war, if he didn't kill enough enemies, his allies would pay the price.

  Outside the scorg range of Sora’s [Floor is Lava] and the ice-cround, the Dark Elves gathered themselves, gasping for air as if they had just survived an apocalypse. Except the twelve who had attempted to infiltrate the [Earth Dome], o pyers remaihe others lost to the relentless explosions. Twenty pyers were left.

  Captone sed the battlefield, his eyes narrowed with grim determination. It was clear now: the biggest obstacle to their victory on the Northern front wasn’t a a general or a el but this netain. He owerhouse standing alone, anding both the elements and the battlefield.

  He opened a unication el with the remaining troops, urgency sharp in his tone. “Everyo—no holding back. I don’t care what it takes, but if we’re going down, we’re taking one of them with us.”

  The surviving Dark Elves, hardened by the sight of their fallen rades, steeled themselves. Each felt the weight of the task ahead, knowing there was a high ce of failure. But even if this battle was lost, they could still force the others pyers to take one of them denying the total ace to this monster Captain.

  With o collective breath, they moved, surging toward the [Earth Dome] with renewed ferocity, willing to give everything to tear through its defenses and cim at least otle victory for their side.Some disappeared, entered undergrounds, or flew above the dome. They wao make it impossible for Sora to get them all before they killed someone.

  As they charged, Sora stood his ground, anticipating their final, desperate onsught.