A chill ran through him, and he instinctively eled his lightning to fly away from the spot, reappearing above his own army, sweat beading on his forehead.

  'What was that?' he worying to catch his breath. Whatever it was, it had nearly taken him out.

  Lois’s voice came through his earpiece, slightly annoyed. “Why are you back already?”

  He quickly expihe sensation he’d experienced, and Lois responded, her tone serious. “That was Sarsha, the Dark Elf el you faced before. No wonder we could not find her yet. She’s lying in ambush, hidden among the panies. Wherikes, her first hit is nearly impossible to defend. " Pausing for a moment she added, with a different tone "She wants to assassinate you? Let her try agaiargeting Captains, and if you meet her again, make sure to survive with yhtning fast reflexes, and tell me immediately.”

  Sora took a deep breath, nodding to himself. This battlefield was vast, chaotid dangerous even to him. But he’d made his choice, and he would see it through. With renewed focus, he resumed his mission, darting bato the fray.

  From the early probing, the battlefield had transformed, with powerhouses from both sides locked in bat, effectively holding each other back. Meanwhile, he roamed the field freely, harvesting lives without opposition.

  As Sora tinued cutting through pany Captains one by one, and he was starting to feel the effects of his harassment. The might of the enemies, who had much higher levels due to the debuff on humans, was starting to show signs of weakness, as their officers died and their panies were crippled.

  He wondered how Kara was faring on her end but trusted in her resiliend skill. As he approached his fifteenth pany Captain, a familiar, and overwhelming, pressure bore down on him.

  Sora immediately reacted and used lightning movement to evade Sarsha's attack as he had before. But this time, the tactic failed. Just as he attempted to disappear, a strange barrier appeared around him, stopping his movement skill.

  He quickly tacted Lois, who replied, “Stall her—We have a way to kill her.”

  Aowledging her and, he paid attention to the notification.

  [The enemy has used {Cut Retreat Scroll}][You are bound to this space for 30 seds. You ot exit this area]He gnced around, realizing he was trapped within a limited space. Turning to the area where Sarsha had aimed, he smiled. “You don’t remember how it e time, do you? I’m not the orapped here with you. You’re trapped with me.”

  Despite his challenge, he was disappoio see that Sarsha ignored him, staying out of sight. He activated his [Mana Eyes] and sed the area, only to find—nothing. The space around him was empty. He could only see ... Mana ?

  ‘She must have figured out how I kept trag her and started letting the mana flow through her differently. How she adapt so fast? Is this the effect of an item from the [War Shop]?’ Sora mused, unfazed by the challenge.

  While Sarsha's ambush teique was formidable, he wasn’t intimidated. With a calm resolve, he summohousands of [Wind Bdes], anding them to spin around him in a relentless storm.

  Hidden nearby, Sarsha watched him, shocked. ‘He dodged my ultimate skill... twice?! How a pyer who hasn’t even reached level 100 have such rea time?’

  She charged again, preparing to unch a different strike. But as she approached, her gaze fixed on the wall of [Wind Bdes] that appeared. ‘How does he have so much mana? trolling so many bdes takes insane patibility with the Wind Element, not to mention mana reserves and precision trol.’

  Frustrated, she gritted her teeth. ‘This [Cut Retreat Scroll] was totally wasted on him. There's no way I break through that storm. Argh, I hate this!'

  She made the decision to wait out the remaining time, blending bato the air around her.

  Sora stood alert, sensing no immediate threat. After a moment, he sent his [Wind Bdes] outward in a sweeping wave, effectively sing the space ahead of him. Suddenly, he felt a faint impact from the bdes. Without hesitation, he rushed to the spot were blood appeared, grabbing Sarsha as she materialized, eyes wide with shock.

  Through gritted teeth, Sarsha spat, "I let my guard down... Damn it!"

  She quickly activated her [Damage Immunity Token], barely avoiding the deathly sp from Sora's hand, which glowed with the yellow light of the [Earth Element].

  Realizing her precarious position, she immediately sent a message to her fa, requesting help.

  On the human side, Sora reported to Lois, “I’ve got Sarsha, but she's immuo damage. Just let me know what you wao do.”

  Lois replied swiftly, “On my signal, bring Tom a back here as soon as possible!”

  Sora uzzled 'Tom ? A signal ? What is she talking about?'

  But before he could fully process, Sarsha vanished from his grasp—repced by someone else entirely. Startled, Sora raised his other hand, ready to strike, until he realized he was holding onto a human, instead of the Dark Elf el.

  The man held up a hand, scared but smiling slightly. “Hi, I’m Tom.”

  Sora’s eyes widened as realization dawned. Without hesitatiohrew Tom on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and flew back towards his fa’s side.

  As they approached, he saw Sarsha in panic, desperately pounding at the walls of a familiar cage.

  Nearby, Kara stood with five copies of ... his Ralph appearance, eae radiating with power and focused on Sarsha in her [Life Cage].

  Around them, a team of pyers was diligently debuffing her, while a few others buffed the damage dealers preparing for the one final burst.

  Overhead, Lois hovered, casting her gaze across the battlefield and preparing her skills for a devastating attack the moment Sarsha’s [Damage Immunity] wore off.

  The terror in Sarsha’s eyes was almost palpable.

  Dropping Tom, Sora readied himself, joining the team’s efforts, determio finish this ond for all.

  Sora charged his [Alternate Echo Strike], noable of stag up to 15 yers and positioned himself.

  “Thirty seds,” he reyed over the team el.

  Suddenly, Lois shouted into the unication el, her voice urgent and strained, “Stop him! Don’t let him get close! Oliver, I need you now—fet about Captone. You’ve got to hold Klunor off for a few dozen seds! We ’t let him save Sarsha!”

  It seemed that Asami, with her skills restricted to assassination and harassing enemies, couldn’t stop General Klunor from breaking through the front line, rushing straight for Sarsha.

  ‘Twenty-six seds,’ Sora noted, cheg the time in his head. 'No point reminding them; it’ll only add pressure', he thought.

  He gnced upward, catg sight of Klunor tearing through their fa’s lines, his speed relentless and seemed unfazed by crowd trol. He was bulldozing through them like a missile, unstoppable.

  An explosion shook the air as Klunor’s path was intercepted by a bald warrior.

  For a moment, Oliver held Klunor back, but the Dark Elf General’s power proved overwhelming. A few seds ter, Oliver was sent crashing to the ground like a meteor.

  Wounded, Oliver scrambled to his feet, visibly exhausted from his fight with el Captone. Low on mana, he resorted to physical strikes to hold his ground.

  Quickly, support-css pyers flooded him with buffs, Kara and Sora among them.

  With rerength, Oliver leaped bato the fray, charging to intercept Klunor once more.

  Sora, keeping an eye oimer, debated whether he should join in—but with only twenty seds left, would he make it in time to stall Klunor aurn to strike Sarsha?

  He decided to send his [Blood es] to aid Oliver, hoping it would buy them precious seds.

  Seds ticked by.

  ‘Fifteen seds,’ he ted, feeling the tension rise.

  Oliver held the line, but Captone soon reappeared, backed by hundreds of reinforts. The battlefield erupted into chaos as buffs began raining down on Klunor, his strength surging as he sent Oliver flying once again, surviving only because of his allies impressive buffs, heals and shields.

  The Dark Elves were breaking through—rushing forward with brutal momentum, sacrifig dozens of their elite troops.

  Sora’s instincts kicked in the moment he saw the Dark Elves breaking through.

  Without hesitation, he cast [Earth Dome], yering it thickly, p mana into it like never before.

  He focused on reinf the Northern side where the enemies pressed hardest, even if it meant leaving the Southern side weaker.

  The mana cost was absurd, and he could feel it draining him every sed. But as soon as his mana dipped low, [Mana Evolution] kicked in, flooding him with fresh reserves, keeping up with the endless casting.

  Simultaneously, he cast enormous [Wind Wall] spells, pushing his allies out of harm’s way and repg their positions with more [Earth Domes], the barriers f in quick succession, eae bigger tha.

  Klunor’s furious shout echoed across the battlefield, “Damn you, Ralph Eden! How you have so much mana? This is impossible!! ”

  She general, but uood his frustration. As soon as the enemy saw a sliver of hope, he snatched it away.

  “Two seds!” Lois’s voice crackled in their s, her toe relieved, seeing the dome imprisoning hundreds of allies with one lone enemy inside. “Get ready!”

  Ihe cage, Sarsha sat in eerie stillness, her earlier struggles proving futile against the powerful trap she was in. She had tried every trick to escape, but this cage was beyond anything she could overe, even impossible to phase through.

  Her heart raced when she saw her friend and general, Klunor, charging with Captone and reinforts in tow.

  For the first time in what felt like forever, she dared to hope. She eveears welling up as she watched them breach the outer defenses. 'Maybe… just maybe…'

  But then, the sun vanished as something appeared above, casting a shadow over everything. The smile faded from her face as her heightened senses slowed the se around her, each agoniziail clear as day.

  She saw the enemy captain, her nemesis, castih Domes] oer another, his mana reserves seemingly endless.

  'So, this is it', she thought, tears streaming down her cheeks. 'To fall to a monster like him… it’s not the worst way to go, I suppose. But it’s a shame…'

  She g the timer, her heart heavy. Two seds.

  She took a deep breath, steeling herself for the iable and stood up. Her life had brought her to this final stand, and she would face it with dignity.

  As her immunity disappeared, the cage vanished, and the sky seemed to explode with spells and ons, eae aimed directly at her.

  In that split sed, she felt the crushi of Captain Ralph's staff among the barrage.

  Her voice trembled over the s, “I’m sorry for today’s losses. I’ll be… leaving first.”

  mimou