"All of you… Attack them!"

As soon as the order was given, the undead charged at Merlin and the others without the slightest hesitation.

Catrine, Nysera, and Lisa didn't flinch. They raised their weapons and faced the incoming monsters head-on.

Merlin wasn't afraid either. He summoned his pair of Primordium daggers and charged forward.

Slash!

With a single swipe, an undead's head was severed from its neck. Merlin then leaped forward and slashed through three more undead in an instant.

His movements were so fast that they were nearly impossible to follow with the naked eye.

Lisa wasn't about to be outdone. With one casual swing of her weapon, hundreds of undead were instantly reduced to dust.

The average strength of the undead was only around level three, while the strongest among them barely reached level seven. To Lisa, they were nothing more than weak and fragile ants.

"Nysera, I'll take the right. You take the left!"

After saying that, Catrine vanished and reappeared in midair. With a single horizontal slash, hundreds of undead were frozen solid before shattering into countless pieces.

Nysera spread her wings and soared high into the sky. She opened her mouth, and a sphere of cold energy slowly formed before her.

Whoosh!

She hurled it toward the horde of undead below, instantly turning them into frozen statues.

The next moment, cracks spread across their bodies before they shattered into countless shards of ice.

A battle—no, calling it a battle felt inaccurate. It was nothing less than a one-sided massacre led by the four of them.

Luna, Margaret, Liora, and Monica swallowed hard as they watched the overwhelming scene unfold before them.

"Is that the power of the Second Spirit Core? It's incredible…" Liora murmured in awe.

Merlin's, Nysera's, and Catrine's strength had increased dozens of times compared to before.

In their eyes, the undead were nothing more than insignificant ants.

For the first time, Liora felt a desire to become stronger. Before this, she had only wanted to live a carefree life and planned to return home after finishing her studies.

But not anymore. Becoming strong was a necessity. Only then could she defeat her enemies and protect the people she loved.

Margaret, Luna, and Monica were lost in their thoughts. It would be a lie to say they weren't envious of Catrine and Nysera.

The two of them had been given the chance to experience what it felt like to reach the Second Spirit Core level.

An opportunity like that wasn't something one could get twice in a lifetime.

However, they also knew that only Catrine and Nysera deserved it.

Boom!

Merlin unleashed a barrage of fire spells at the horde of undead monsters, reducing them to ash.

However, since they were undead, they continued to rise again, as if they could never truly die.

Merlin knew it was all in vain unless the monster controlling them was defeated.

He looked up and stared at the creature, which was still in the process of recovering.

"Lisa, don't get distracted by the undead! Attack that monster!" he ordered loudly.

Lisa shifted her gaze toward the monster and darted toward it.

"Trying to interrupt my recovery!? Hahaha! Impossible!"

It stomped its foot. Suddenly, a massive barrier appeared, completely shielding its body.

Lisa wasn't deterred. She raised her sword and swung it.

Slash!

The slash, capable of splitting a mountain, was easily blocked.

"What!? How is that possible!?"

The sword she wielded was of semi-mythic grade. Combined with her power at the Ninth Awakening level, it should have been impossible for a mere magical barrier to withstand it.

"Hahaha! Give up! You won't be able to destroy it! Just wait until I'm fully recovered, and I'll slaughter all of you!" the monster laughed heartily.

Lisa was furious and kept attacking the barrier, but her efforts were in vain.

Seeing this, Nysera and Catrine rushed to help her. They gathered all their strength and attacked the barrier as well, but it remained completely unmoved.

"Brother, this barrier is too strong! What should we do?" Catrine asked anxiously.

The monster's recovery was nearly complete. They had to stop it as soon as possible, or they would be overwhelmed once it fully recovered.

Merlin fell silent, his mind torn between using his trump card or not.

Even Lisa's attack hadn't been able to break it, which meant ordinary methods and artifacts wouldn't work.

Suddenly, Lyserra's voice echoed in his mind.

"Throw one of the daggers in your hand to Lisa. With that dagger's level, breaking through that barrier will be easy."

Upon hearing that, Merlin immediately threw the dagger in his right hand. "Catch it, Lisa!"

Lisa caught it and quickly understood his intention. Even though she wasn't certain it would work, she had no other choice.

She raised the dagger high and channeled her power into it.

The dagger instantly emitted a blinding golden light.

Catrine and Nysera were startled. They could feel the extraordinary power radiating from it, as if a single slash would be enough to split the entire space in two.

Lisa herself was also surprised. The power stored within the dagger was twice—no, perhaps four times greater than what she could unleash on her own.

At the same time, however, a sense of joy welled up inside her.

With this dagger, she was certain she could cleave through the powerful barrier before her.

A smirk slowly spread across her face. The monster saw it, and a chill instantly ran down its spine.

"D-Don't even think you can destroy my magical barrier! It's impossible!"

As soon as those words were spoken, Lisa swung her arm. A massive slash tore through the air and struck the barrier.

The atmosphere instantly fell silent. There was no explosion or massive collision, as one might have expected.

The monster's smile slowly returned. But the very next second…

Crack!

Cracks spread across the surface of the barrier before it finally shattered into pieces.

The monster's eyes widened in fear.

"H-How is that possible!?" it cried in horror.

That magical barrier was its strongest defensive spell. Even those who had reached the highest level in this world should not have been able to destroy it.

Yet now, the spell had shattered right before its eyes. It made absolutely no sense.

"Hahaha! What's wrong? Surprised? Where did your arrogance go?" Lisa let out a hearty laugh.

Truthfully, even she didn't understand why Merlin's dagger was so powerful. A single strike from it was equivalent to several of her strongest attacks.

"Could that artifact be at the mythical level?"

That was the only possibility that came to her mind.

"Alright, let's not waste any more time. Young Lady Catrine, Young Lady Nysera, attack it!"

"Yes!" they both replied enthusiastically.

Soon after, the two of them charged toward the monster and unleashed one deadly attack after another.

Merlin didn't join the attack. He simply hovered in the air, calmly observing the battle below.

"[Master, why aren't you joining the attack?]" the system asked in confusion.

With the monster already weakened, Merlin should have stepped in to end the battle quickly.

"No need. The three of them are enough," Merlin replied, shaking his head.

If he had known it would end like this, he wouldn't have bothered drinking the strength-boosting potion.

It was nothing but a waste of system points.

The system fell silent. It hadn't expected Merlin to be so cunning, using the three of them to complete the mission it had assigned.

Unfortunately, it couldn't protest. The mission only required the defeat of the final boss; it didn't specify that Merlin had to intervene personally.

After fifteen minutes of battle—no, a one-sided slaughter—the monster finally fell.

Its massive body crashed to the ground in a pitiful state. Both arms had been severed, and one leg had been torn off, leaving behind gaping, horrifying wounds.

"How… is this possible? Why did I lose so easily!?" It roared in anger and despair.

It had waited a thousand years for its resurrection, only for everything to end in failure.

Resentment, rage, and despair intertwined, causing the entire hall to tremble violently.

"Lisa, kill it now!" Merlin ordered urgently.

Lisa nodded. She darted toward the monster's head and plunged the Primordium dagger into its forehead.

In an instant, the monster's body stopped moving—it was completely dead.

Merlin let out a sigh of relief and smiled broadly. In many of the fantasy novels he had read, monsters like this could still revive if they weren't properly finished off.

He flew over to Catrine and Nysera and praised them.

"Good job. You both did well."

The two exchanged glances and smiled at each other. It was their first time fighting together, and surprisingly, it had been quite enjoyable.

Suddenly, they felt their strength drop sharply, followed by a wave of exhaustion.

Before their bodies could collapse, Merlin caught them and gently brought them down to the ground.

"Sit down for a moment. The exhaustion will only last a few minutes," he said.

They both nodded and tried to relax.

"Merlin!"

Margaret's voice came from behind him.

"Is it over?"

Merlin turned to look at her and the others, then nodded slowly.

"It's over."

"Thank goodness…" Luna, Margaret, Liora, and Monica breathed a collective sigh of relief.

But suddenly…

"Merlin, don't let your guard down! This battle isn't over yet!"