"Thanks for the fight."
Falling to the ground, Kai simply closed his eyes. It had been a long time since he had struggled that much. His opponent's abilities were undoubtedly on another level compared to his previous enemies.
"There are so many mages stronger than me… imagine those with higher circles."
To be honest, he wanted to fight another opponent, especially since he still had a unique ability he hadn't used in that battle. It was his Dimensional Duplicate ability. The reason he hadn't used it was because Kilihit's magic could bypass it by splitting into electricity.
'It's a shame I can't get up…'
Even if he wasn't as intelligent as other mages, he could make good decisions when necessary. And the best decision right now was to rest without fully closing his eyes. Another opponent could appear at any moment, so it was better to stay alert.
'Now that I think about it, how are those two doing?'
Remembering the duo fight his friends would have, he grew slightly irritated again over his impulsive decision.
'Great, now I'm in a bad mood.'
Meanwhile, the two of them were sitting on a stone waiting for a gate to open. Enrico had Incandis on his lap while Valença was testing a new spell.
"You're improving your lava magic a lot. It's already reached ninety percent of the fifth circle."
"I trained a lot, especially during the two years you disappeared."
Valença looked at him with a neutral face, but there was a hint of dissatisfaction in her eyes. He simply turned his head aside and whistled. The magic she was casting created a line across the area around her. It was the same magic as Val'Drakar's that enhanced lava magic, just in a different way.
'She now has a fire zone and a magma zone. If she combines both, she'll get a good temporary boost in both affinities… and if she keeps growing her lava affinity like this, reaching fire affinity won't take long.'
"Dad, the… the gate opened."
Incandis pointed at the gate, making both of them turn their heads in that direction. Just as she said, it had opened. That meant Kai had won his battle. Valença stepped through the gate to check what was inside.
"Looks like Kai won."
'Nothing surprising coming from the protagonist.'
"That just means it's our turn to do our part."
With a nod, she raised her arm toward Incandis. The little girl transformed into her spirit form and flew toward her summoner. Once mounted, she extended her arm toward Enrico.
"Flying is faster."
"I can fly—"
"I told you to get on, dear."
Seeing the threat in Valença's eyes, he grabbed her hand and climbed onto Incandis. Once up there, his hands were guided to her waist.
"Safety first."
She had that neutral expression in front of him, but he knew she must be enjoying the moment. And that was true, because when he glanced forward, she had a slightly silly smile while Incandis began to fly. Behind them, a barrier closed the gate, since only two could enter that area.
The trees there were white, but unlike the others, they were deformed in straight, linear shapes. It was strange how they sometimes seemed to move. In two different directions were two cocoons—one three meters from a lake, and the other outside the water, slightly buried in earth.
"We're here. I'll go first."
"Alright, be careful."
They were still some distance from the lake, so with a jump, he used charged impulse midair and quickly reached it.
'They can't awaken unless there are two opponents, but I can use this time to get something interesting.'
Entering the water, Enrico used his deep water affinity to control the lakebed. A small current formed at the center and began bringing a chest toward them. Grabbing it quickly, he stepped out of the river.
'System, I hope you handle this properly.'
[You say that like I'd do something wrong.]
'I know you'll want to look before I do.'
[I'm waiting for you so we can see it together.]
The chest disappeared from his hands. That item was mainly used by elves and would vanish once the battle was completed. The reason he knew that was because the author sometimes wrote comments in the chapters.
'The only thing I know is that it's something very important for the elves.'
In fact, the author wrote many comments, but only three truly mattered—this chest being one of them. At that moment, the author had sounded disappointed that the characters never found it.
'He talked as if the characters were real… and honestly, now I know they might have been.'
The more he thought about it, the more he wondered if the author himself had sent him there. Maybe he was a god who created this world, like the true dungeons. It was a suspicion he had, since the system once mentioned his world wasn't as normal as he thought.
'Now why did he send me here?'
[You're thinking a lot.]
'I have many reasons to think a lot.'
Wringing his clothes to remove the water, he saw Valença approaching. Deciding to hurry, he used fire magic to dry himself faster.
"Incandis, get ready to launch attacks from above."
"Alright… Mom."
Valença jumped down from Incandis and landed softly beside Enrico, her gaze fixed on the two cocoons.
"So it's really going to be a duo fight."
"Yes… now that I think about it, this is our first team battle in quite a while."
'That's why I'm going to destroy these guardians.'
Her eyes and aura grew stronger, making Enrico snort in amusement. She seemed quite excited, so he couldn't fall behind. Just like her, his eyes turned toward the cocoons, which began to crack as blue and brown light emerged from each of them.
'If it's not too troublesome, I want to use them as stepping stones to evolve.'
An excited smile, as always, appeared on Enrico's face as a pulse of mana completely shattered the cocoon. His two opponents, covered in dust, looked at them as if inviting them to attack.