Blazing waves of hot air danced through the air, but the girl with fiery red hair remained standing. The tip of her blood-red spear faced the ground as she eyed the monster made of lava and stones in front of her.

"Leslie, Soliana, circle around the flanks. Blaine, cover us."

"Got it!" the three girls in her party answered back and got to their positions. The gray-haired wolf-kin Leslie and the long-eared elf Soliana rushed over the streams of lava as they circled Magmata. From the back, the human girl Blaine pushed her hand forward and an ethereal bow appeared in her hands. She locked her aim at the monster and calmed her breathing.

Hopping a bit on the spot, the red-haired girl raised her spear and rushed towards the monster.

"MAAAATA!!" Magmata screamed and met her charge with its own. With a roar, a beam of blazing hot fire shot toward the girl.

"Hmph." A haughty smirk covered her face as she brought her spear in front of her and spun it in circles. The blood-red spear dissipated the streaks of fire behind her as the girl continued her charge. Though the flames grazed her, they couldn't even leave a mark on her.

That was the special ability of the daughter of the Exise family. A half-human and half-fairy, Seraphina Exise. A fairy of flames was largely unaffected by them. This terrain and this enemy were one made specifically for her.

As Seraphina continued cutting through the beam of fire, she swung her spear to the side and got rid of the flames. Just then, a large boulder of stone came rushing towards her right from behind the flames.

"Uh oh."

Seraphina used the spear to try and block the boulder but was hit by it regardless. She flew through the sky and landed all the way behind Blaine, the archer at the back.

Magmata prepared for another beam of flames, but the others didn't let this chance go to waste.

"[Entrapment (D-)]" Soliana screamed from the side.

Thick vines rose from the ground and wrapped themselves around the monster's feet. Magmata flailed ahead before turning to the vines. It used its flame breath to burn them off when an arrow made of mana swerved through the air and crashed right into its mouth.

"GRAHH!" Magmata raged after being hit. Leslie was about to take the chance and shove her daggers into the monster's head when it went berserk. Magmata broke through the vines and flailed around as it started to punch the air mindlessly. One punch landed on Leslie's stomach, burning through her battle suit and sending her flying back!

She was going to fall into a stream of lava when an arm wrapped around her back and pulled her to safety.

"You ok?" Seraphina asked, her eyes fixed on the monster.

"Sera..." Leslie looked at Seraphina who had saved her right on time.

With another smirk, Seraphina patted Leslie's cheeks lightly and spoke in a low tone. "Don't worry, that guy's getting exhausted. Leave it to me."

A faint blush appeared on Leslie's face as she nodded. Seraphina let go of Leslie and brandished her spear as she walked ahead again.

"Soliana, step back. Blaine, you know what to do."

Once again lowering her stance, Seraphina locked her eyes on the raging Magmata, it was extremely minimal, but she could sense it. The monster's movements became increasingly haggard with each passing second.

"Now then, shall we dance?"

Seraphina rushed into Magmata's blind spot and charged at it with terrifying speed.

"GRAHH!!" Magmata continued to scream and punch all around itself, the air seemed to shake with each hit as small craters were formed on the ground.

In the blink of an eye, Seraphina was a few feet away from Magmata.

"[Blazing Spear Dance (D+)]!!"

Like the movements of a trained dancer swinging to the fast beats of the orchestra, Seraphina and her spear danced through the air in bold waves. Flames circled around the tip of the spear before extending down to the handle.

-Clang!

A fluid hit landed on Magmata's feet, melting through bits of the monster's rocky legs. Magmata swung its hand down in rage, but Seraphina continued her dance and narrowly dodged the hit. Before the monster could even follow her with its eyes, two arrows of mana embedded themselves into its eyes.

-Clang!

The hands

-Clang!

Its torso

-Clang!

A beautiful dance of flames and blood broke out between Seraphina and Magmata with Blaine pulling the strings of music from the back. With each hit, she crushed more and more of the monster while after each attack the monster was blinded and led by the arrows.

"Wow..."

"As expected of Sera, she is making light of the boss monster..."

Though it tried and even managed to land a few attacks back at Seraphina, she barely flinched at them, her dance raging on.

Soon, the monster's movements became visibly dragged as it lost its vigor. Its arms slumped down and the arrow-riddled face started drooping.

"Now! Leslie! Soliana!"

At Seraphina's command, the two of them rushed toward the monster.

"[Entrapment (D-)]"

Vines grew out from the ground once more, wrapping the weakened Magmata completely.

"[Status Awakening: Paralyze (E+)]

Leslie launched her dagger at the monster, a green glow surrounding it. As the dagger landed in the center of the monster's head, the last of its resistance came to an end.

At last, Seraphina leaped into the air. Her body swayed above the monster with the blazing spear reaching up into the sky. Turning in the air, Seraphina's spear cut into Magmata's head. It melted through the top of its body.

"GRAHHH!"

The monster screamed as the spear dug deeper, cutting through its head, neck, and down to its torso.

"DIE!"

With a grunt, Seraphina increased the force of her spear. A crashing sound rang out in the air as the monster's body was split in two.

-CRACK!

As the monster's body fell limp to the ground, a pink glow emerged from its heart as the magic stone was cut into two as well.

"Haah, haah..." Seraphina panted, her gaze fixed on the two halves of the monster's body. Raising her head, she looked at the volcano as the streams of lava falling from it started to calm down and sink back in.

"Sera!"

"Waah! You did it!"

Leslie and Soliana ran up to Sera, one's ears fluttered while the other's tail wagged from side to side.

Blood dripped from the top of Sera's head, but she wiped it off with a cool smile and touched Soliana's hair, pushing back a few locks from her forehead.

"Yeah, good job, you two. I would've been in trouble without you."

The two of them blushed more fiercely than ever at Sera's actions.

"Sera..." Blaine came up from the back and interrupted the three of them. "We didn't make any tents or anything, did we..."

Seraphina froze in place.

"No water either, we'll have to sleep in the open today."

"Nooo!"

***

The night had deepened outside of the Dream Gate as well. The jovial noises at the broadcast from the day should have subsided by now, but Seraphina Exise's battle was so engaging that no one moved from their seats. In fact, more people left their homes and walked into the bars and the pubs all over Agriche City, giving their business a boom.

The people cheered when she attacked and boo'd when she was hit. Calling for more beers at every turn and laughing at the end when Blaine landed the harsh truth that washed over Seraphina's victory high.

A similar situation was unfolding in the bright room where the examiners from Agriche Academy gathered. Don Brocious chuckled as he saw Seraphina's battle come to an end.

"P-professor!"

One of the examiners called out.

"Hendrickson Leone! The son of the seventh-ranked hunter has defeated the Great Sandworm!"

"What? When!" Another examiner asked.

"Just now! Everyone in the desert was dragged into the battle and Hendrickson Leone managed to land the most damage and the final hit!"

"Amazing! Two battles unfolded at the same time..."

"This year's entrants are truly amazing..."

"We'll have to review that fight and grade them, what a pain."

All kinds of sentiments flowed out in the room. Don Brocious agreed with them himself, but now that the three zones were taken care of, a new thing bothered him.

"There... is no one exceptional in the rainforest, yes?" He said. "I think one of these students will have to go there."

The other examiners closed their eyes and nodded in agreement.

"In fact, Luke Reese is already going in that direction," the senior professor who changed his bet to Luke said. "He'll be able to handle it."

"Wait! What is this?!"

A surprised scream pulled the attention of everyone to a projection showing the rainforest.

"What in the..."

"They have formed an entire militia here!"

"How in the world?"

A group of students had come together into a makeshift militia in the rainforests, at the center of them was a winged young man and a boy with black hair.