"What did you just say?"

Lee Hanwol rubbed his ear with a ballpoint pen and muttered, and his expression was that of confusion.

Baek Yu-Seol, undeterred, spoke again.

"I said it's five. I'll call out the list now."

Lee Hanwol shook his head, his tone incredulous. "Have you finally gotten insane? Well, I knew you were crazy, but this is a bit too much..."

Baek Yu-Seol responded calmly, "When did I go crazy?"

"Think about it with your hand on your heart.”

Baek Yu-Seol frowned, and then shrugged his shoulders, while Eisel announced the list of five demons.

"Blaze Dragon, Shadowhorn Beast, Black Mantis, Flash Fish, and Grim Hunter. Please summon them."

Her words carried more weight, and Lee Hanwol immediately nodded and ordered the demons to be summoned to the Stella Dome Control Room.

Within minutes, all five Intermediate Demons appeared, and the group of demon researchers who had been observing the performance opened their eyes in surprise.

"That combination… Hmm?"

One of them muttered, unable to hide his shock at the unusual lineup of demons.

Since they were the ones who fully understood the hidden characteristics and traits of demons, they had already visualized that combination in their minds.

However, only those with extensive professional knowledge or practical experience like Lee Hanwol could imagine the uniqueness of this combination in his mind. Others present in the room, even the seniors, were perplexed.

Even the magic professors were struggling to understand, let alone ordinary students who couldn't catch any hints from this obscure combination.

"Hey, Mayuseong. Do you get anything?"

"I'm not sure..."

Hong Bi-Yeon and Mayuseong were just as clueless, and even Edna, who was silently observing from behind, couldn't find any hints in this enigmatic combination.

"Summon complete. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Oddly enough, Eisel and Baek Yu-Seol took the center of the arena, surrounded by the five Intermediate Demons.

Eisel tried to calm her pounding heart but it didn’t work. After all, it was her first time using this ‘method’ in real combat.

"Hey, can you do it?"

"Of course."

"You just have to trust me completely."

"Do I have to keep hearing that from you?"

"Sorry, it was a trendy phrase in my hometown."

"Well, I think it must have been outdated there too. What you said sounds like an old man's bragging."

"... How did you know?"

"Heh, it was obvious."

As Eisel turned her head and caressed her staff, she suddenly realized that she felt relaxed now. It was all thanks to Baek Yu-Seol’s rambling.

"Phew..."

With Eisel beginning to calm herself down, Baek Yu-Seol looked at the five Intermediate Demons standing opposite him.

Attacking five Intermediate Demons with just two people was simple.

To take on two or more Intermediate Demons in Aether World, players had to face countless challenges.

With hundreds of demons to choose from, players could create many different combinations.

A certain player discovered that certain demons react to the characteristics of other demons.

If one knows that, the remaining method was simple.

One just needs to dig deeper into those characteristics and create a situation where demons were hostile to each other.

It was called borrowing a knife to slay the enemy. It was a strategy of killing the enemy using someone else's sword without revealing your own strength.

"... One last thing, who decided on the placement of these demons?"

"I did."

"I see. You're a knight, so you can still score points in these extreme situations. However, priests can’t do that. Isn't this strategy too harsh for a priest?"

In response to Lee Hanwol's sharp question, Baek Yu-Seol confidently replied,

"No. This is a strategy designed exclusively for priest."

People whispered at his words, but Lee Hanwol nodded his head slightly, believing Baek Yu-Seol’s words to some extent.

"Well then, let's begin."

As soon as his command was given, the demons who had regained control of their body turned their gaze to Baek Yu-Seol and Eisel in the center.

The distance wasn't too far, just enough to reach them in an instant if a gap was created.

During the time when the demon regained their sanity and looked around to find their prey, a change was detected in Eisel’s body.

She detached her staff from her hand and lifted her body slightly off the ground.

As soon as the resonance of mana spread out with a booming sound, the professors were amazed and stood up from their seats.

"That's... Resonance Phenomenon!" one professor exclaimed in disbelief.

"That's impossible... Resonance Phenomenon can only occur when a Class 6 or higher mage completely submerges himself in the sea of consciousness!"

Through closed eyes, Eisel stretched her arms wide with her staff spinning in front of her, gathering mana.

It was a deep blue, cold, and icy mana.

"However, the Resonance Phenomenon cannot be performed unless the safety of the performer is fully guaranteed.”

"Even if it's just an illusion, there's a risk that the mana could backflow and turn Eisel into a cripple when the demons attack.”

"Hey, Instructor! Stop the performance evaluation immediately! It's too dangerous!"

The professors were in a state of panic, but Hanwol paid them no heed. He didn't think there was any real danger, and in the first place, Eisel seemed to be calm.

‘Has it begun?’

Baek Yu-Seol briefly admired the scene unfolding before his eyes. Her concentration power was so immense that it could easily be described as monstrous.

There were only a handful of geniuses in the Class 3 who could perform Resonance, and besides Eisel, Baek Yu-Seol knew of no other.

"Well then, maybe I should give it a try."

As she started to concentrate on her task, it was now Baek Yu-Seol’s turn.

[Flash]

He turned into a blur and suddenly reappeared behind a Intermediate Demon named Blaze Dragon, stabbing it in the abdomen with his Argento Sword.

"Aaaaargh!"

"Blaze Dragon emits a red light from his forehead when he experiences pain.”

As Blaze Dragon’s forehead emitted a red light, another demon that looked like a robust bull reacted.

"The Shadowhorn Beast becomes crazy when it sees the red light and runs toward its target, leaving showers of dust everywhere."

"Kru, kru, kru!"

The Shadowhorn Beast, which had a huge muscular body like a bull, charged at Blaze Dragon.

Unfortunately, Eisel happened to be intersecting with the path of the mad bull, so Baek Yu-Seol used his teleportation ability once again, this time moving beside the bull.

He then struck it with all his might, causing it to charge in another direction and narrowly miss Eisel.

“What the...”

The mages were completely taken aback. It wasn't because of Baek Yu-Seol’s actions, but because of Eisel’s concentration power, which was so inexplicably powerful.

She must have heard Shadowhorn Beast’s roar and the sound of those ignorant footsteps; not to mention the wind pressure unleashed by its crazed charge, but Eisel did not stop concentrating.

“Unbelievable… What resolve…”

“No. Perhaps it's because she trusts the knight to protect her perfectly.”

Kwoong!!

As the two Intermediate Demons collided, an enormous amount of dust was scattered in all directions from the Shadowhorn Beast’s body as its center.

The dust touched Flash Fish’s skin, causing it to dry up, so the fish generated an enormous amount of water.

The Flash Fish sensed the threat to life, stopped in its tracks, and started secreting water.

Since the platform was surrounded by a barrier, the water began to accumulate.

“Grim Hunter; if it senses moisture, it’ll make a roar of at least 7 octaves.”

Kiyoohhh!!!

Black Mantis was a demon that was sensitive to sound and couldn't help but attack when it detected sounds of over 7 octaves.

Suddenly, five Intermediate Demons began to entangle with each other, followed by a loud commotion. The mages who were watching finally realized the strategy behind the combination.

From the beginning, Eisel Group thoroughly understood the characteristics and attributes of the demons, and aimed for that kind of phenomenon.

"Oh my goodness. Are they aware of all the characteristics of the demons?"

"Even as someone who majored in demonology, I've never even thought of such a thing...."

"It's too reckless and ignorant."

"But..."

Thud, kukugung!!

The demons were too busy fighting each other to pay any attention to the Eisel Group in the center. The dust swirled; the water on the ground continued to rise, and the red light became more and more intense.

In the midst of it all, Baek Yu-Seol performed his role as a ’Knight’ perfectly.

As the name suggested, he was responsible for protecting and blocking enemies until the priest cast her spell.

When a demon rushed blindly towards Eisel, Baek Yu-Seol instantly teleported and struck the demon’s ankles with his sword, causing it to fall.

The demon couldn't get up due to being attacked by the other demons, so it couldn’t regain its wits.

Another demon charged in, but Baek Yu-Seol threw his body to block it, and at the same time, he flashed to intercept any coming from the other direction.

"Wow, amazing. So damn cool."

He kept moving back and forth.

Maybe because of the Argento Sword's beam, a trace of blurry light was left in the place where he used the Flash.

One, two, and these flashes of light slowly captivated people's eyes.

He flashed to the east, and flashed to the west.

It wasn't just cool to look at, but he was perfectly efficient in his movements, defending the priest’s from all directions alone.

His figure depicted the most fantastic form of 'knight.'

A knight who flawlessly protected the target being guarded.

As the fight became more intense, the demons gradually became tired and injured.

Flash!

Finally, Eisel opened her blue eyes and grabbed her staff.

Then, the accumulated water on the ground froze, and a giant flower grew high in the sky.

It was an ice flower that emitted a cool blue light from its petals.

"Crystal Flower."

It was dazzling and beautiful.

"Pretty...."

"Wow...."

Despite being called a finely carved artwork, can anything really be more beautiful than that?

The professors no longer evaluated "the student's magic," they simply appreciated the magic of a mage.

Her magic was so high-level that she could not be considered just a student. No mage could perform such a beautiful magic.

The Intermediate Demons were writhing on the ground, with their injuries and exhaustion rendering them unable to move under the resistance of freezing water, which had risen almost to their ankles.

But, with time, the ice would eventually be shattered and their attention would focus on Eisel due to her high profile attack just now.

“Break.”

However, before that could happen, the brilliant and beautiful flower shattered into pieces, transforming into sharp weapons that fell in all directions.

Whoop! Whoop! Quadduk!

Kreuk! Kreuk!

Dozens, even hundreds of Ice Spheres which resembled giant spears struck the bodies of the Intermediate Demons.

Their skin tore apart and froze simultaneously, and when they tried to move, their wounds opened, so they couldn't even scream in pain.

However, the situation was not yet properly resolved.

Pssshhh...!

At that moment, steam started to emerge from Grim Hunter’s body. It was one of its hidden abilities - when it felt excessive moisture and coldness, it emitted tremendous heat.

Thanks to this ability, the frozen lake began to slowly melt.

"Ah..."

"In the end, they couldn't finish it."

"The strategy was well planned, and the battle was beautiful, but they didn't consider such a hidden ability."

"It's a shame. But, at the student level, they can still receive a high score."

The strategy narrowly failed.

Just as they were about to make that judgment, Eisel stretched out her opposite hand into the air.

Until then, no one had noticed.

The blue light cluster that had been serving as the petals of the Crystal Flower… still hadn't disappeared.

Everyone had thought it was part of the ice flower. It bloomed with the ice and turned into leaves.

But, that was a misconception.

Her specialty was magic that combined ice and lightning at the same time.

Zzzt, Zzzt!

The mages gasped in astonishment at the sparks flying through the air.

Since ice was close to an insulator, electricity could not be conducted effectively. Therefore, people assumed that Eisel had cast the Crystal Flower magic by sacrificing her other specialty which was lightning.

Unfortunately, she was not content with just being born with the blessing of ice; she also had a great love for lightning.

She couldn't resist the urge to summon it.

That was when Baek Yu-Seol came up with an extraordinary plan.

"Why don't we freeze it and then melt it again?"

Drop! Drop!

The sound of dripping water from the melting ice echoed, and the liquid form of water was an excellent conductor of electricity.

"Uh...?"

"Wait, could it be...?"

As the people finally realized what was happening, they began to moan in despair.

"Strike it down."

A beam of blue light plunged into the ground.

Crack!

The sound of deafening lightning rang through the vicinity.

The world was bathed in a blue glow, and the flower bloomed.

This time, it wasn't the Ice Flower or the Crystal Flower.

It was… a blue flower.

A flower that shone brighter and more splendid than anything else in the world.

Could one really say that the pure beauty created by magic was not art?

If it could resonate with the human psyche, one could dare say it was a work of art.

Her magic was close to art, a highly destructive art aimed at annihilating her enemies. As long as her attacks did not hit Baek Yu-Seol, anyone could be amazed at the beauty of the artwork she created.

"Hah..."

Eisel stared blankly at the spectacle she had created.

"This is my magic..."

She could hardly believe it. Even the formidable Hong Bi-Yeon had not demonstrated such magic.

It was a magic that was only possible because of her.

"What the hell is this plan? It’s a perfect plan, right?" she asked him.

"Of course. About 1%, though," he replied.

… What did he say?

Eisel remembered how stunned she was when she first heard that from Baek Yu-Seol.

"The remaining 99% is up to you. If you don't do your part, I'll be the one who's screwed."

"Me...?"

She couldn't believe it. He entrusted her with that grand plan of defeating five Intermediate Demons.

"You can do it," he said.

"That's..."

"No, you have to do it. My score depends on you.”

She thought he was crazy. If he did this just to boost her confidence, it was a complete failure. She believed that whatever plan he had, he would inevitably fail if he trusted and relied on someone like her.

But, Baek Yu-Seol smiled confidently as he spoke, and seemed to trust her more than anyone else.

"I believe in you," he said.

"That's..."

"So just trust me once. Because you can really do it."

That was the first time he seemed serious. Although he was still smiling, his expression and tone were sincere, creating a sense of burden in her chest.

However, it was not a bad feeling.

"You can do it, right?"

Eisel reluctantly nodded her head.

"Yeah."

Somehow, she came to trust him.

Was she persuaded by his foolish words?

She didn’t know herself.

If there was someone who could resist his sincere appeal, that person must have no heart.

So... She ended up doing such a dangerous thing, all while being lost in the belief of Baek Yu-Seol.

"Ah..."

But then…

"It’s pretty..."

He didn't even know that she could do it so perfectly.

Eisel slowly closed her eyes, giving a last fleeting glance at the blue flower which currently encompassed the world, and dwindled on the brink of extinction.

She was someone who had lived with just a tiny flicker of hope.

But, even that small hope was fading away.

That was when Baek Yu-Seol pulled her out of the darkness, proving that she could do something this amazing.

Until now, she had felt like she was adrift in an endless sea.

No matter how hard she tried to charge ahead against the waves, there were times when she wavered, wondering if she was on the right path.

But, not anymore.