Ley's Madness (4)

"Is this still not enough!?" Professor Harry asked angrily while observing the messy battle from the screen. "This has gone too far!"

"Again, we received orders to not interfere." Professor Scylla sighed. "Be patient, that is the only thing we can do."

"Are you sane!? At this rate, they are going to kill each other!"

"It's alright. The barrier will protect them."

"Shit! Are you blind!? It's obvious something is wrong with the barrier!"

Professor Scylla hesitated. "… It's alright. Nothing has happened yet."

"So we must wait until a tragedy happens before acting!?"

Professor Scylla put on a guilty expression.

"Both of you, stop." Professor Doris sighed. "Scylla is right, Harry, we must follow orders. No matter how much we dislike the situation, we must not stop the dungeon dive."

"This damn... What about the headmistress? What did she say?"

"Nothing… It looks like she doesn't plan to interfere."

Professor Harry cursed again.

"What a load of bullshit."

Doris smiled bitterly in agreement.

"For now, we can only trust the students."

Harry's face became ugly.

He looked at the screen showing the battle between Andrew and Ley and let out a long breath. On the screen, the two of them were battling fiercely, showing a level way beyond freshmen.

All around them were traces of destruction. Uprooted trees, flattened hills, and parts of the swamp dried out. 

It seemed like a tornado had passed by, but instead, it was the result of two students battling.

"By the way, what is Ley's skill again?" Professor Scylla suddenly asked.

"It's a mental-type skill called [Mental Resonance]. Why?" A professor asked.

"Nothing. It's just that her skill seems more powerful than I expected."

…

A sword light cut through the trees, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier that crushed it before advancing toward Andrew.

Andrew grunted and swung his sword, releasing another sword light while stomping on the ground and rushing toward Ley.

The sword light cut through everything in its path, but just like before, it was stopped by another invisible barrier. It did not even come close to reaching Ley.

Meanwhile, Ley's ice-cold eyes glared at him as she clenched her hand. Andrew felt as though the space around him was compressing, trying to crush him.

He clicked his tongue and released a burst of mana, pouring it into his domain and using it to resist Ley's attack.

Even so, he was forced to stop his charge and land on a felled tree nearby.

But he barely managed to land when an invisible hand appeared above, crashing down on him.

"Dammit!"

He cursed and kicked the ground, darting away as the tree he was standing just a moment ago was crushed into bits.

But as he moved, he failed to notice an enormous alligator leaping with its maws open wide to bite him in half.

Fortunately, Karime shouted out.

"[Ice Barrier]!"

A wall of ice appeared between Andrew and the alligator. The wall of ice barely managed to last for one second before being crushed by the alligator's strength, but it gave Andrew enough time to react.

"Thanks!"

As soon as the wall fell, a metallic light flashed, and the alligator's head fell to the muddy ground.

At that moment, his expression changed.

Without hesitating, he jumped toward Karime while swinging his sword.

Under Karime's terrified gaze, the sword cut through an invisible attack that was about to fall on her.

"Are you alright?" Andrew asked Karime while panting slightly.

But before Karime could reply, Ley swung her hand in their direction, releasing several attacks simultaneously.

"Fall back!" Andrew shouted and filled his sword with mana. He then swung his sword sharply, cutting through every one of the invisible attacks.

All of a sudden, he felt a chill on his spine. Andrew reacted instantly, jumping back without hesitation, only to see an invisible attack destroying his previous location.

'That was close…!' His back was filled with cold sweat.

He was lucky his instincts were sharp, otherwise, he would have been done for.

Even so, he did not know how long he could keep this up.

The battle had been going for five minutes, but despite that, Andrew had not managed to come close to injuring Ley even once.

Quite the opposite, he felt he was slowly being cornered.

'When did Ley become so strong!?'

The current Ley was much stronger than what he remembered. So strong that he felt overwhelmed.

Moreover, he felt Ley was slowly becoming stronger, as though she was getting used to her abilities.

'At this rate, I will fail to protect Karime!'

He wanted to tell Karime to run, but he only managed to protect her because he was near her. If Ley released one of these strange attacks without him nearby, Karime would be unable to defend herself.

The only option was to defeat Ley.

Just at that moment, two students appeared attracted by the commotion.

When Andrew saw them, his expression brightened.

"Help!" He shouted immediately.

But before the two students could react, Ley moved first.

She glanced at them and released a burst of mental energy.

*Bam!*

The invisible attack caught the two students off guard. They did not even notice the attack, only feeling something hitting their bodies violently before losing consciousness.

Fortunately, the barrier activated and protected their lives, but their injuries were severe.

Ley stopped caring about them and focused on Andrew again.

But Andrew had taken advantage of this opportunity to grab Karime's arm and run away.

"Do you think you can escape!?" Ley's angry voice resonated through the swamp. She gazed at them and raised her hand before swinging it down.

Her mental energy surged in their direction, sweeping away everything in their way.

Andrew's expression changed. He hurriedly grabbed Karime and pulled her down.

"Barrier!" He shouted.

Karime reacted quickly and cast an ice barrier around them.

The next second– 

*Bam!*

Ley's mental energy crashed on it, destroying it almost instantly.

Andrew gritted his teeth and stabbed his sword on the ground while pouring mana into his domain to help resist Ley's attack. 

Thanks to that, they managed to stay uninjured.

When the attack finished, Andrew looked up and found everything around them destroyed. 

A clearing had been created with them as the center, and a auburn-haired girl hovered in front of them while staring at them with a chilling gaze.

The remaining alligators appeared around them, circling them slowly while preparing to attack.

"Any last words?" Ley asked.

Andrew said nothing and just raised his sword.

"Then die."

But then, something fell from the sky.

*Bam!*

A spear, clad in lightning, pierced the place between them.

Andrew, Ley, and Karime looked at that spear with surprised expressions.

They then looked in the direction from where the spear was thrown from.

There, a black-haired young man was walking toward them with a smile.

"It looks like I'm not too late."

His eyes, however, were filled with killing intent.