Shadow mantis.

The twelve creatures that had materialized on the burning plain were all classified as 'creatures that one should never face'. And that danger level increased to 'rest in peace if you encounter a group of them'.

They were rare creatures, mainly found in the forbidden bamboo forest of the eastern empire, and were absolute hunters that could hunt down creatures twice as strong as them in an advantageous confrontation.

The black mantis of death. It was a nickname the adventurers of the east gave them, and certainly, these creatures were worthy of that name even from Lucy's perspective.

One would face all the difficulties in the world if they encountered one of them in a forest area, but at least these fire plains could have been a little advantageous for them.

But, he was facing not one or two but twelve of them, which was ultimately disadvantageous for any of the adventurers.

And to top it all off, they weren't actual creatures that would rarely ever form a group. They were an artificial creation of this dungeon simulator.

They were a group here, so it was no easy task to face them all in a frontal confrontation.

[04:50]

Thankfully though, Lucy wasn't only a swordsman.

[Elemental magic]

Thanks to the divine grace of his holy sister Auriel, Lucy was a magic swordsman, someone who had a deep understanding of magic as well as the sword.

The preparation time was for them to prepare for the battle. One knew the opponents they were going to face beforehand, so they could prepare for the battle ahead of them. And...

He had known a good lot about magic, but after being trained by her all these years, he had his own unique style of magical arts.

[(Flame tornado)]

[(Thunderstrike)]

[(Dark fog)]

[(Anti-friction)]

"Lastly…"

There were three core types of magic spells he had mastered. One that directly involved his sword, the other was the trap magics that he had just set all over the surrounding area, and lastly, a very simple form of magic that only involved the materialization of his Mana into a thin wire-like form containing different properties, his so-called 'Magic wires'.

El called them [Wires of painless death] though. But the name wasn't important.

[00:03]

He finished his preparations, walked back at a certain point, and just stood there with a cold gaze.

"Sketchhhhhhhhhh!"

The clock clicked, the mantis woke up, and all their eyes were drawn to their prey standing freely before them.

His weapon was on the ground, he was crouching down and looking at them with a mocking look, fearless even after seeing their dreadful eyes and passive fear-inducing expressions.

"Khaaaaaaa!"

He was unpleasant so, all of them frowned at that wretched little creature, and without even looking at each other, they all dissolved into the shadows, moved through them, and closed in on the lone swordsman.

However, half of them met a bitter fate.

-Booooooooooom!

-Zap!

-Zapaaak. Zapaaak. Zapaaak!

Powerful spells that seemed to be on par with high-level [Grade-2] skills, struck them from all directions.

Not just from the ground, but also appearing out of nowhere in the surrounding atmosphere, they ultimately turned all of them into fine blue particles of light.

However, only half of them fell prey to these traps.

The half that had remained standing were all enraged at the death of their partners. And all that rage was directed towards that fkin bastard.

"KHAAAAAAAA!"

They were creatures of darkness and shadows. The main attack pattern they followed mainly contained going in and out of the shadows to confuse their opponents.

However, at this point, they didn't care about that. They can take out the weak child with their pure combined strength alone… or what they thought until they all closed in on him.

-Snap.

"And done."

One snap of his finger, and the very next moment, all six remaining shadow figures were chopped into multiple pieces by that strange thin wire set throughout the area before him.

They certainly were creatures he couldn't have been able to handle easily had they been real. But, these were artificial creatures, which meant they didn't have any real battle experience, which ultimately meant they were dumb insects. Nothing more.

[(Level-16) complete.]

[Initiating (Level-17)]

[Preparation time: 4:00]

[Opponents: <E> rank monsters, (Level-90) Dark souls*20]

"Skip the preparation time, Vienna."

[Asking permission for the…]

"Hmmm? Yes."

"Yes~!"

"Is it time for the last battles or something? It's a yes from me as well."

Lucy himself had asked for the time skip, and Eva was curious about this since there was a unique smile on the two of their faces that they only had when something actual fun was about to happen.

"Yes~! It's time for the last battles~."

That was El's answer as she poked her finger in the cheeks of the unconscious elf beside her. And, she was smiling 'warmly' while saying that. Which meant the moment she wanted was also almost there.

[Response accepted.]

The timer vanished, and the twenty dark souls resembling the dark skeleton souls of hell surged forward towards him mindlessly.

These dark creatures were dangerous and bad, only found in the great graveyards of the world, looking over the graves, watching the dead that had already passed from this world.

They were creatures born from the remaining desires of the people, creatures or more like spirit creatures that were mostly energy and rarely contained any mass.

They were still strong though, not something even the top powers of the country dared to go against if they did not have the help from a powerful light element user.

And since it was a rare power, few in the world possessed it naturally. Howeve…

-Snap. Snap.

Lucy snapped twice and the wires of Mana which were almost invisible until now, glowed with a yellow light, and, as soon as the creatures that could not be affected by physical attacks touched these wires, they all also met the same fate as the dumb insects prior to them.

[(Level-17) complete.]

[Initiating (Level-18)]

[Preparation time: 9:00]

[Opponents: <D> rank monsters, (Level-95) Lesser demon skeleton*2]

The battle until now, though something that had made the spectators skip a heartbeat on multiple occasions, was the easy part of the advanced test levels.

They were pretty easy from Lucy's perspective, something he had managed to overcome with only a little effort. But now…

"Good luck darling~."

This was the last phase of the battles that had been going on for far too long.

And at this point, the branch manager of this great association building had also come to many conclusions of his own.

He knew something unprecedented had happened today… and the unshakeable smile on his face caused by the unexpected things he was seeing right now, was the first 'tick' on Lucy's daily goal list of today.

They had achieved a few things they were here for already, but, the last part of the great battle, the last three battles that he would fight against only the demons of diverse strengths, was something all parties involved here were excited about.

At least, all parties except the poor elf examiner sleeping on that certain chair.

The poor thing was in great danger that he was yet not aware of…

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