One after another, arrows shot from Shanghai's small golden bow like meteors, piercing hole after hole into the black giant's body.
By now, Goliath's body was riddled with cavities from head to toe, resembling a sieve, yet Shanghai continued to fire relentlessly.
Alice felt beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
"This guy really has gotten stronger since last time," she muttered with some frustration, sensing the rapid drain on her magical energy.
An enhanced species Goliath.
If the previous Goliath Alice had defeated possessed the potential of Level 4, then this mutated variant undoubtedly had the potential of Level 5.
Shanghai's attacks were highly effective, inflicting significant damage.
However, none of these wounds could be considered fatal. Though enhanced by Alice's magic, the power of the magical arrows was substantial, but against a Goliath as massive as a small mountain, it still fell short.
As Shanghai continuously drew and fired, more hollow cavities appeared across Goliath's body.
The loss of blood made Goliath feel its life slipping away. Though a monster of the Dungeon, it still possessed its own biological instincts. As death approached, the creature grew increasingly frenzied.
It roared loudly, its voice filled with rage and terror, struggling desperately to rise from the ground.
The magical glow of Alice's gravity circle flickered brightly again as Goliath fought against its restraints.
Alice could feel the rate of her magical energy depletion accelerating.
'Need to finish this quickly,' Alice thought, furrowing her brow. Last time, she had used a hydrogen-oxygen explosion to obliterate the Level 4 Goliath, reducing it to nothing but ash. Aside from the drop items, not a single speck of debris remained.
While she could use the same method this time, recalling the sheer scale of the previous explosion made Alice shiver involuntarily.
That blast from the Level 4 Goliath had practically plowed through the entire floor of the 17th level.
Now facing a Level 5 Goliath, tougher and more resilient, if Alice employed the same tactic, she feared the entire 17th floor might be blown to bits.
"The magic stone.."
Just as Alice was pondering how to deal the final blow, Lefiya's voice chimed in from the side.
"Every monster has a core magic stone inside its body. Destroying the stone means destroying the monster. The core magic stone is the most obvious weakness for the Dungeon's creatures."
Lefiya reminded Alice.
Alice's fighting style was that of a classic mage—no matter the monster, a single spell could incinerate it entirely, leaving nothing behind.
When hunting in the wild, Alice's methods would mean losing out on a lot of potential income, since creatures outside wouldn't simply turn to ash.
But in the Dungeon, her approach was more typical, as drop items wouldn't vanish along with the monster's corpse.
Warrior-type adventurers paid close attention to the location of a monster's core, because for them, directly destroying the core crystal meant vanquishing the foe.
Mages, however, weren't so concerned. Not just Alice, but all mages in Orario tended not to worry about where a monster's core was located.
"The core crystal, huh?" A glint flashed in Alice's eyes upon hearing Lefiya's words.
Goliath's size was enormous, and in the Dungeon, larger monsters generally housed correspondingly large core crystals.
For a floor boss like Goliath, the crystal inside would likely be even bigger.
Soon, as Shanghai kept firing, Alice spotted a purple glow emanating from the area around Goliath's waist.
Immediately, Alice dispelled the gravity magic restraining the giant.
"Hourai, prepare the cannonade!" Alice shouted. "Shanghai, get ready to lure it in!"
Upon hearing the command, Hourai removed all enhancement magic from Shanghai and began preparing her own cannonade spell. Shanghai promptly stowed her weapon, took to the air, and flew straight toward the Goliath.
The disappearance of the gravity magic made the enraged Goliath feel suddenly lighter.
When the giant saw Shanghai—the source of its immense pain—flying toward it, it raised a furious fist and swung down hard.
But Shanghai's form was tiny. Facing the massive fist, she simply adjusted her flight path slightly and easily dodged the blow.
At that moment, Alice called out again.
"Shanghai, into the gap!"
Obeying the order, Shanghai slipped directly into a gap in space and vanished.
The instant she disappeared, a blinding pillar of light shot forth, striking Goliath squarely in the waist.
Riveria and Lefiya, observing from a distance, felt the surge of magical power Alice unleashed and stared wide-eyed in shock.
Although Alice had previously displayed her vast reserves of magic, tossing out spell after spell as if mana was limitless...
This magical cannonade was visually far more stunning than any common spell they'd seen before.
Combining gravity magic with the power of boundaries consumed an immense amount of mana, especially with Goliath struggling, doubling the drain. Even with Alice's rapid recovery rate, she couldn't sustain it for long.
Once she released the gravity spell, her internal magic began replenishing swiftly.
The pillar of magical energy struck Goliath's body, but given Alice's current—though recovering—mana reserves, it still wasn't quite enough.
Thus, despite the severe injury inflicted, it wasn't a fatal blow.
Moreover, if Alice's mana couldn't keep up, Goliath might very well recover.
The gap between Level 5 and Level 4 was like heaven and earth.
However, Alice showed not a trace of panic.
Riveria and the others had no intention of stepping in either.
Because at that very moment, as Alice fired her cannonade, Hourai had finished preparing her own.
Sensing Hourai was ready, Alice allowed a slight smirk to touch her lips.
"Hourai, begin."
"Double Magic Cannon."
As Alice's words rang out...
Hourai unleashed her own powerful blast. The two pillars of magical energy merged into one, piercing straight through Goliath.
Alice cut off the mana supply to her cannonade, and the brilliant pillar gradually faded.
Goliath stood frozen in place. All the wounds Shanghai had inflicted ceased healing. And at its waist, a massive hole now gaped.
Through the cavity, they could see the Goliath's enormous core magic stone. The irregularly shaped stone now had a section missing from its top.
The shape of the breach perfectly matched the arc of the magic cannonade.
--+--
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