1555 Combat Circuit [3]
Rose didn't care for battle, Ruyue did it out of necessity, and Iris was experienced enough to view it as a sport.
The only one among them who really enjoyed battle to its fullest was Elena.
She was also the only one who had any particular excitement for the war itself, rather than just the things that came along with the deployment notice.
Elena had multiple purposes for leaving the palace, but fighting Straea was one of the main ones.
This was where Rose and Ruyue differed heavily. Even Iris wasn't so much interested in the war as she was in the side quest she'd given herself recently.
Obviously, they all knew that the war was important. When Straea was gone, Void Palace would be able to expand its rule far more than ever before. Moreover, with all internal enemies gone, they could properly focus on the Foreign Races.
However, they just weren't strong enough to make a real difference. The true powers in this world were all Gods. Without the strength to fight against them, their worth was only a little better than dirt. What was the point of being overly involved with a war like that?
Even if their goal was to help Damien or help the palace, there were better ways than joining the war.
Nevertheless, Elena loved to fight. Straea was a perfect test dummy, an influence that could constantly provide her with strong enemies to test herself against.
Since Damien had given her a gift, assigning her a group of
Demigods to fight and leaving the door open for her to fight more, she naturally wouldn't decline his good intentions.
'As for the Valkyries...'
She didn't have any clues, and she didn't know where to start looking. It was more of a problem to think about it than to try and solve it for now, so she left it in the back of her mind.
'If I find something, I can put my full attention into it. Until then, there's no point in obsessing over something that won't get me anywhere!
Despite what she said, Elena continued pondering the matter of her heritage until she reached the site of her battle.
Unlike Ruyue, she didn't approach quietly.
The group of what was meant to be ten or so Demigods was no longer just that much.
Apparently, a few incidents in the past few days led to Demigods forming larger groups as they feared extermination.
Twenty-five Divinities stood against Elena now. Ten of them were high-rank Demigods, while the other fifteen were middle-rank. 'Well, this might be a bit...'
"How's everyone doing, gentlemen?"
Elena's approach was an unexpected one, but the people she faced didn't act like those Ruyue encountered.
Rather, they looked at her in confusion, questioning if this single woman was really planning to challenge all of them.
It just didn't seem possible.
And with how awkwardly Elena had entered the area, could anyone make the assumption that she was trying to attack?
However, if it wasn't used, what was the point of its simplicity?
The twenty-five Demigods got into formation, entering a state where none of them would ever be unguarded.
Elena prowled in the darkness, watching their every move.
'They're good!
They'd effectively removed her chance to stealthily take them down one by one.
'But it's not enough!
The current Elena wasn't someone who needed to use tricks like that.
'Yggdrasil!
It was a move that she'd used plenty of times in the past.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
BOOOOOOOOOM!
Tendrils of thick wood burst out of the earth and weaved themselves together into a massive tree.
The tree extended its roots for thousands of kilometers within a few seconds, putting the entire area inside a domain of law.
'Nice!
That was more than enough setup.
With Yggdrasil and the deathly mist working together, there wasn't really much she actually needed to do.
As long as those Demigods weren't allowed to leave the radius of those two forces for a prolonged period of time, all of their life force would eventually be sucked away and plundered.
But such a slow style of fighting just wasn't Elena's style.
She'd kill her enemies before her passives could.
'Alright. With everything set up, I should be good to start testing!'
Elena was fighting this battle not only for experience and enjoyment, but to test the attacks and techniques she'd created during her time in seclusion.
When she first saw twenty-five people waiting for her, she was a bit intimidated.
However, the instant she realized that more enemies just meant more chances to test her attacks, Elena's expression lit up.
This battle would be great fun for her.
But for her enemies...
Well, they had definitely seen better days. That much could never be argued.bende