Moments earlier, just when the ground rift opened.

"I’ll handle this," Arthur said.

He noticed the first monster leap out. It was an orc.

Orcs usually moved in pairs. The moment he saw one, he knew the whole place was about to be surrounded with orcs.

Not just a few.

He sighed.

It had been a while since he let loose. This was the reason he wanted to train the possible system wielder or at least the SSS-rank mage.

The council members were not allowed to even spar. This was to prevent any form of animosity.

After his sigh, he summoned his staff and fired a beam that fried the first orc.

"Who’s next?" he shouted.

They were still making it out of the portal one at a time.

Things were slow. Beam after beam. One blast at a time. He brought them down.

After a while, some of the monsters got past his beam. He wasn’t firing fast enough. It’s not that he couldn’t, he just wasn’t pressured at the time.

"This is boring."

He stopped firing.

He took a break. This break would last for exactly twenty seconds. In that time, Arthur believed the monsters would have increased in number.

He was right. He was now surrounded by orcs.

All green.

’The green ones aren’t the strongest,’ Arthur thought.

’That’s if I remember correctly.’

He grinned.

"Light talent," he chanted.

"No 863. Eternal Judgement."

A simple but self-sustaining spell. The Eternal Judgement would create light-based weapons.

The weapons would change form with every kill.

He couldn’t control what weapon it would morph into. He just had to follow through somehow.

He started with a sword and zipped right past a group of orcs. He could only kill one before the weapon would change. This didn’t matter. After all, he was faster than the change sequence timing.

"Ha. I’ve still got it!" Arthur shouted.

"Come here."

"Come on. Don’t you want some?"

He teased.

One lunged at him. The weapon in hand was now a giant hammer.

He swung back and retaliated. The monster burst immediately. Blood everywhere.

Next change.

Now the weapon was a bow and arrow.

He fired a single shot that went through multiple monsters all at once.

"Ha."

He chuckled.

Another change. He was back to a sword.

Swoosh.

He zoomed past another set.

One held his leg. It was slashed but not dead.

"Disgusting," Arthur said.

The weapon had changed to some kind of spear, and he thrust it, ripping through the monster.

Another change.

This time it was a device. Nothing so primal.

He summoned his staff and flew into the air. He was above ground, but not by much.

His weapon now resembled a small orb.

He threw it, aiming at the center. When it landed, it resulted in a small explosion.

He flew down immediately. Weapon back in hand. This time the hammer again.

One orc charged.

Arthur whacked.

The remaining monsters continued charging hopelessly.

They all fell before him.

Arthur knew he was only buying time. This wasn’t solving the underlying issue. The rift was still spawning them.

He knew the only way to handle this was to buy time. He would have to wait it out. There was no closing rifts unless one was a once-in-a-lifetime spatial mage like Solomon.

He was an exception, not the norm.

"Shield."

The monster that charged lost his hand.

Surrounded.

In his hand was now a shuriken.

He threw it. It killed a bunch of the monsters in an arc.

"This is so boring," Arthur said.

He was now with a knife.

He ran headfirst.

Smashed one’s head in with his own two hands.

Stabbed him and gave him a mean kick, sending him backward.

He was now with a spear again.

He lunged it towards one that had just come out of the rift.

"Score!" he shouted.

He was with a sword now.

He noticed a change in the atmosphere.

"It’s here," Arthur said.

He cracked his neck.

He needed the flex as things could get rough.

It was an A-rank boss.

The only sure way known to stop rifts was to wait them out. The other way was never certain. Sometimes it proved to work, other times, well...

The other way was to kill the boss. Sometimes the rifts could be a result of the boss’s spell.

The monster spoke.

"Ok. Good. That’s how I know you’re the boss," Arthur said with a smile.

It was barely even clear. It could understand Arthur, but Arthur couldn’t understand it.

A fireball immediately spawned on Arthur.

It went boom.

The explosion was so loud even those inside heard.

"Ha. It spawned instantly. Tricky thing," Arthur noted.

"You’ve got tricks. That’s good. It really is."

"I’ve got some of my own as well."

He summoned his staff to fire a beam.

The boss waited.

"Ha. Kind of you to wait. Too kind."

The boss was just watching while Arthur summoned a mana beam. He was changing it.

"Not yet."

"Not yet."

Arthur didn’t want to fire a half-assed beam. He wanted to know the boss’s upper limits. This way he would know how much he would need to work himself.

"You ready?" Arthur asked.

He released the attack, but just as he did—

He exploded.

His grip was now lost alongside his aim.

The beam got sent upward.

A total waste of mana.

"Screw it. I’ll just skip this."

Arthur wasn’t the type to stick to the ground and think. He was going to do as he always would have. He was fine diving headfirst.

"Light talent. No 745."

"Sun’s Armor."

An invisible reflective and refractive armor surrounded him.

It was reflective, so barely visible at the same time.

He grabbed his staff.

This wasn’t a spell he could use together with another spell. He needed the defensive protection.

This just meant he would have to end things with one massive mana beam.

Left foot forward.

Then right.

He began to charge dramatically towards the boss.

He was set ablaze time after time.

The flames had little effect.

Little effect because the environment itself suffered. If he alone was being considered, then the flames had no effect.

As he charged towards the boss, he was also charging a powerful beam.

He came into direct contact with the boss.

His staff barely a distance away from the boss’s chest.

The staff itself had its tip illuminated by the beam.

Arthur stopped.

He smiled.

And his beam was released instantly, vaporizing the boss.

"That can’t be right. There’s no way that thing was A-rank," Arthur noted.

The sound of the explosion resulting from Arthur’s final attack was even louder than the first.

-

’I hope Arthur’s ok out there,’ Perzeus thought.