"That attack was pretty strong!" He casually commented as a fist the size of a boulder loomed over his head. "I can understand how it got the best of all those world-class magi."

Lilith couldn't believe what she was staring at. "You're shitting me..."

"W-wha—?" Through the gaps in her bangs, the orc's eyes widened. And she recoiled in shock. "How did that not break every bone in your body?!"

"I... got lucky?"

Aggravated by his irreverent tone, Gretchen gnashed her teeth. "Well, whatever spell you used just now, you can't keep it going forever, human! You're only delaying the inevitable!"

Unleashing a bellow of rage, the orc drew back and swung her fist down like a hammer, smashing the man square on his head once more—to no effect. Undeterred, she delivered another heavy blow, then another, each failed strike only fueling her frustration. A flurry of wallops descended upon Thomas; countless shockwaves swept across the plains, churning the earth around him and stirring palls of dust into the air.

Yet the man stayed anchored to the ground, unharmed and unbothered. As Gretchen tried her hardest to pummel Thomas into oblivion, Nia and Lilith silently watched in awe. Never before had they seen their friend struggle with something she was proficient at—that is, crushing people like ants. Minutes elapsed, and the crater beneath the man's feet only grew and grew. While stamina was not an issue for the orc, the clock was ticking.

And when it seemed like an eternity had gone by, the elf rose to her feet. "That's enough!"

Knuckles riven with spidery cracks and her hulking body on the verge of collapse, Gretchen wheezily panted. "I... I can still whoop his ass, Nia! I've got plenty of mana left! I'm about to bust through; I can feel it!"

"That's not why I stopped you, Gretch. I stopped you because your hour's up."

Thomas, who had endured the onslaught with not even a scuff on his tight-fitting shirt, redirected his attention toward Nia. "O-oh, you were keeping track, Nia?"

"I had a hunch you didn't really grasp how long an hour would take. So, I took the initiative. Besides, it was getting rather tiring watching a fight that was going nowhere."

"B-but I can still fight," the orc protested. "I'm so close—!"

"Gretch. It's over."

Coming to terms with the reality that she wasn't going to have her way, Gretchen relented. "Tch... consider this a draw, human."

With a snap of her fingers, her earthen shell disintegrated, crumbling back into the soil and revealing her true form once more. Her dark robes were caked in mud, and the glow on her staff's orb had dimmed considerably. Avoiding eye contact with the man, the orc flounced away from him and grumbled to herself. On her way back to the rock where Nia and Lilith rested, the halfling brushed the dirt off her backside as she pushed herself off the rock.

"It's about damn time," Lilith sighed, having folded a pile of paper cranes to pass the time. "I was wondering when you'd give it a rest. My ears are still slightly deaf from the constant pounding."

"Taking a crack at it next, Lily?" Gretchen eyed the small girl. "I'll warn you now: that human's sturdier than a mountain. Don't know what kind of spell he used, but it never once gave away."

"Are you a dumbass? Of course, he's sturdy. Look at him; he's a friggin' beefcake! Your only mistake was going at him with physical attacks like you typically do, musclebrain."

"Ho-ho? So you think you have a shot at taking him down, munchkin?"

"Hmph, just watch and learn." Picking up one of the paper cranes from the floor by her feet, Lilith skipped over to the man, wearing a fake yet convincing, innocent smile. "Hey, mister!"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

As he climbed out of the hole he was in, Thomas gazed at the halfling capering toward him. "Ah, Lilith! You're up next, are you?"

"Yup!" She spoke in a sickeningly sweet voice and leaned in, hands behind her back. "By the by, hold out your palm!"

"Um, okay?" Puzzled, the man did as she told him to.

And gently, the girl plopped the paper crane in his hand and took a step back, tilting her head to one side and clasping her fingers together. "Here, this is for you! I know we're up against each other... but I just wanted to give you this to let you know there are no hard feelings between us. Think of it as a good luck charm!"

Thomas examined the folded white bird, hit with a wave of nostalgia and stunned by its quality. "My, my, this certainly brings back memories. Paper folding was all the rage in Linxuei. I remember specifically being obsessed with getting the frog one right."

"T-there's a frog one?" Interest piqued, the cutesy guise that the halfling donned nearly unravelled.

"Yeah! Want me to teach you how to fold it later? I got pretty darn good at it!"

Tempted by his offer, she paused, only to shake her head and slip back into her facade. "N... never mind that, mister! Let's focus on finishing our match first! Wouldn't want to keep the others waiting, now would we?"

"Ah, you're right. Let's not get sidetracked. Thanks for the paper crane, Lilith. I'll be sure to cherish it forever!"

"Glad to hear it!" Lilith pivoted on her heel and walked away from the man; a wry smile played on her youthful countenance. And when she'd put some distance between herself and Thomas, who had repositioned himself away from the crater, she reached into the pocket of her robes and whipped out a sleek, silvery wand, intricately inscribed with runic letters that ran along its full, attenuated length. "Are you ready, mister?!" She called to him.

And the man waved at her. "Yep, all set! Your hour starts now—!"

With a flick of her wand, Lilith detonated the paper crane, which concealed a magick circle within. In a single blistering instant, a massive fiery explosion engulfed Thomas—a blast so powerful that an imposing mushroom cloud bloomed where the man once stood. It thundered across the landscape and scarred the pristine greenery with a blackened patch of charred earth. Even Oscar, seated on his far-flung hill, espied the aftermath.

"Like I said, no hard feelings." Haughtily, the halfling tossed her pink tresses as she marvelled at the inferno of her own creation. "You may be immune to physical attacks, but multi-layered runic hexes? Even the strongest defence spells can't protect you against that."

But when the blaze died down and the smoke thinned, she furrowed her brow. The fire parted to reveal a silhouette unscorched by the fire. "A-ah..." Shakily, Thomas held the ashy remains of the paper crane, which had been reduced to embers. "My crane... it's burned up..."

Confidence shattered, Lilith gritted her teeth and glared at the man. "Oh yeah? Why don't you join it then! Aer gaoth!" Violently, the halfling raised her wand and aimed it toward him.

Nia and Gretchen felt a draft emerge from the large sack beside them, and they braced themselves as it intensified into a howling gale. Hundreds of paper aeroplanes flew straight out of the bag, carried by the speeding current, and swarmed the sky in droves. Propelled by an eddy of blustery wind, the folded aircraft circled the man overhead like a flock of vultures. Mesmerised by the spectacle above, Thomas was left speechless.

Lilith wasn't a particularly strong magus. Her mana pool was relatively small, and the output of her spells was unremarkable—traits that were especially detrimental for an aeromancer like herself. What she did excel at was inscribing runes: spells in their written form represented by symbols used by the ancient dwarves. As the runes themselves are complex and require near-impossible precision to even function, very few runic scribes exist in the world.

Yet those who took up the art hold an advantage no other person has: access to the six elements and beyond, limited only by knowledge and skill. Unlike her peers, however, who'd spent decades studying and perfecting their craft, the halfling was a natural savant, able to reproduce runes perfectly with pinpoint accuracy after just a glance. Thus, anything that involved runic hexes, from constructing magick circles to enchanting equipment, was within her area of expertise.

"Smart. It's harder to predict what spell she's going to use next when she doesn't have to shout it out," Thomas thought to himself. "This method of spellcasting is pretty neat. It utilises her strengths and compensates for her weaknesses as a magus well."

One edge runic hexes possessed over normal spells was that they didn't require incantation. And so, without so much as a whisper, Lilith waved her wand; the paper aeroplanes, each imbued with different runes, swooped in on the man. Sparks of electricity crackled, icy blizzards howled, and balls of fire roared as a barrage of elements assaulted Thomas from all angles. Yet, no matter how many times he was struck, he kept his stance and resisted the bombardment.

Lightning fizzled out before reaching him, the frost melted into steam, and flames extinguished as the runes were destroyed alongside the paper they were written on. And when the last of the folded aircraft combusted into a puff of poisonous gas, the halfling, out of options but unwilling to concede, decided to knock the man down with wind magicks directly. It may have been a last-ditch effort, but she had no intention of admitting defeat.