Dimensional Descent

"Blast through?" Aina's expression changed. She looked at Leonel as though he was a madman.

She could tell that Leonel meant that he wanted to speed things up and rush through the maze by breaking through the walls. But, if that was so easy, everyone would be doing it. They just witnessed together how hard it was for Leonel to deal with that platform, and that had been a thin walkway to begin with. What kind of effort would it take to blast through reinforced walls?

The Rapax obviously hadn't built their Nests like mazes for fun, there was a purpose behind it. It made it far easier to defend and gave them an added buff toward enemies. The fact it had taken so much effort to get here in the first place was a testament to that.

However, toward Aina's words, Leonel only grinned.

"Cut them down for me. I need a bit."

Aina met Leonel's gaze for a moment before she nodded. She would just have to wait to reprimand him for not explaining another time. This situation was even worse than before with Rapax still streaming in. So, she had to prioritize their safety first.

The moment Aina stepped in front of him, Leonel took a breath and settled his mind. This region seemed flooded with nothing more than Fifth Dimensional solider Rapax. He hadn't even seen a Runed Rapax yet, which was part of the reason their fight until now was so easy.

Thanks to this, he didn't have to worry about Aina's safety at all. He could focus his everything on this.

With a flip of his palm, a fingernail sized gemstone appeared in his hand. It seemed almost inconspicuous, but the moment it touched Leonel's palm, it was as though it had been lit on fire. Even when Leonel squeezed his hand shut, radiant light spilled out through the cracks, causing rays of red-gold to splinter off in all directions. But, he remained silent, his mind soothed and calm.

The feeling was a bit exhilarating and Leonel even felt a hint of excitement bubbling up, but he forcefully repressed it. For at least the first time, he needed it to be absolutely perfect. That way, he could replicate it through his absolute control and achieve the same result again and again.

Medium. This was why they used wands and staffs. Some of Modred's most powerful spells could

called Spiritual Trees. But, in Leonel's understanding, these so-called

study of the Natural Force Art left behind by Merlin, Leonel was able to learn that the best Spiritual Medium of a mage was actually their own

up and looked a lot like one would expect a Spiritual Tree to look.

of Leonel's Mage Core each represented a separate Element. One for Fire, another for Space, and more for Light, Variant Earth, and now there was even one for Water. As Leonel improved, these petals grew more detailed and his Mage Core grew, allowing Leonel to pull more and

spells with great effort on his part

Leonel thought about it, the more he loved the comparison. In fact, an Innate Node was just an even more intimate part of

with as a child, the very one his mother suffered to birth with him, the very one that called down the Phenomena upon his birth. The intimacy he had with it, even after so long had passed, transcended almost anything else he had

SHUUUUUUU!

to form around Leonel. In that moment, his eyes snapped open, a wild red-gold light

'Junior Scarlet Mage.'

exhaled a breath, the temperature around him skyrocketing more and more with every passing second.

after. He was bathed in a red

then… he tapped his

flames spread out from his, quickly drawing a majestic magic circle that surrounded him in the blink of an eye. Each line of fire seemed to

"Aina. Follow me."

more as Leonel stretched a hand out. In quick succession, several fire balls formed and shot past her, the heat

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

collapse. When she looked back, she found a hole where Leonel had been, her heart threatening to beat out of